Audience Expectations - Thriller

Thriller is a popular genre for film within mainly young adults aged 18-25. This is because people this age are usually drawn in by the intense storylines and graphic action, which is commonly seen within the thriller genre. Unravelling the narrative as it plays out in the film, and working it out whilst watching the films attracts older audiences them to this specific genre.

However, the different sub genres of the thriller genre appeal to different ages and audiences. For example, action thrillers appeal to a more male dominated audience aged around 15-30 as they’re drawn in the by the action and fast paced edits/camera angles, whereas a more female dominated audience would be attracted to romantic thrillers such as Wicker Park. This is because they can relate the characters and storylines within the film. For example, psychological/crime thrillers such as Silence of the Lambs, Dream House, American Psycho and Fatal Attraction attract a mainly male dominated audience of the typical young adult age. This is because they’re drawn in by the conventional male leads, and can relate certain characters to people they know or even themselves, connecting and engaging the audience with the film/characters (both protagonists and antagonists). This male age range is also drawn into the action aspect of the crime thrillers.  However, films that are supernatural thrillers (e.g. The Rite and The Others) appeal to more teenage – young adult female audiences, who are attracted by the ‘scare factor’ and possibly they will get scared or slightly affected by the film. 

Target audiences also expect to be thrilled and left on the edge of their seats by thriller films. A thriller film is deemed successful if it manages to achieve this. An example of a thriller managing to have this effect on the audience would be in thriller film Dream House starring Daniel Craig. This manages to leave the audience on the edge of their seats with the scene in the house, where Daniel’s character is fighting the antagonist. The audience are left watching in suspense to see if this character they’ve watched develop manages to overcome the one who is against him. 

The audience also expects to be engaged with the characters and the storyline. The characters as they’re usually developed and have their own stories which are revealed to the audience, and the storylines because they involve the audience as they have to figure out the storyline along with the characters and unravel it themselves, which makes them want to watch more. In our own film opening sequence, we will do this by having our main character walking down the street with someone following her the whole way in the background without her knowing. Then, at the end she’s about to enter her house, he captures her, then that will be the end of the opening sequence. This will appeal and engage the audience as they will not know what will happen to her, unless they watched the whole film.

https://40thriller2013.wordpress.com/2013/03/06/target-audience-expectations/

Audience Expectations - Comedy

Comedy Films are "make 'em laugh" films designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are light-hearted dramas, crafted to amuse, entertain, and provoke enjoyment. The comedy genre humorously exaggerates the situation, the language, action, and characters. Comedies observe the deficiencies, foibles, and frustrations of life, providing merriment and a momentary escape from day-to-day life. They usually have happy endings, although the humor may have a serious or pessimistic side. 

Comedies usually come in two general formats: comedian-led (with well-timed gags, jokes, or sketches) and situation-comedies that are told within a narrative. Both comedy elements may appear together and/or overlap. Comedy hybrids commonly exist with other major genres, such as musical-comedy, horror-comedy, and comedy-thriller. Comedies have also been classified in various subgenres, such as romantic comedy, crime/caper comedy, sports comedy, teen or coming-of-age comedy, social-class comedy, military comedy, fish-out-of-water comedy, and gross-out comedy.

http://www.filmsite.org/comedyfilms.html

Comedy is a genre of film that uses humor as a driving force. The aim of a comedy film is to illicit laughter from the audience through entertaining stories and characters. Although the comedy film may take on some serious material, most have a happy ending. Comedy film has the tendency to become a hybrid sub-genre because humor can be incorporated into many other genres. Comedies are more likely than other films to fall back on the success and popularity of an individual star.

https://thescriptlab.com/screenplay/genre/comedy

Iconography - Comedy

This is a collection of pictures that represent the comedy genre, but because there is no specific style that defines comedy or specific. however i have included many posters from film genres with both classic and contemporary characters . This also includes varying types of comedy like dark humour, slapstick and mime. 

BBFC Rating

http://www.bbfc.co.uk/what-classification/12a-and-12

Sound Palette - Initial Ideas

This is a collection of our sound ideas for our final product. the dripping being the main focus for the bathroom scenes to add suspense. also the idea of underwater effects gives a sense of vulnerability that can be exploited due to the thriller genre. The shrill sounds also add a sense of ambiguity and danger to the film. all of these sounds are initial ideas and may be used in our final product.

'Sheeple' Final

Audience Reactions

This is a reactions video, made from several viewers of our final product. there is a large age range in the people reacting to this video (11-35) which gives diverse reaction pool, with the ages reacting also extends beyond our target audience, and including it. In this video there are reactions from the mother of the small girl, another media student and a french student. A reaction from a foreign student implies that our film can be diverse and allows us to see the reaction of our film from other countries (which would also be in our target audience).