Target audience profile

Our group decided to collect both primary and secondary data in order to obtain reliability and a true picture of our target audience. The primary research included a set of questions structured in a questionnaire. Using this primary method, it gave us a chance to capture the truth from our audience as all questions were the same we could generalise accurate results from our data. We asked questions like age and gender in order to see if preferences in films relied on these factors. We then selected 10 girls and 10 boys with differences in ages to complete our questionnaires and return them back. We asked our target audience their favourite thriller films to see if people had favourites. From our questionnaires, we can conclude that our target audience ranged from 15-65. We also realised that males tend to enjoy more crime films then psychologicial films. This may be because boys tend to associate more with crime. Considering that our film has the genre of a psychological thriller, we now have an aim to focus on getting males interested in actually watching our opening sequence and capturing their attention. We can also include from the occupation question, that those with higher annual salarys tend to watch thriller movies more often in a week then those with lower annual salarys. This may be for practical reasons however, it is still one aim of ours to create a non-biased opening sequence for both people with higher and lower annual salarys.

We then used secondary data via the Internet on the website of http://business.pearlanddean.com/audience_profile to gather existing data about the different ages, sexes and gender etc that watch thriller films. We researched the crime film of Tower Heist to inform us about the different ages, gender and class that watch this specific film.

We compared the results of Tower Heist crime film to that of a psychological film of Shutter Island. We found (by a small percentage) that more males preffered crime films as shown in our primary data. However, because that statistics are so small, we will still be targeting males and females for our film.

The largest age group that watched both crime and psychological films were aged between 15-24. Their was a small minority who were elder that watched either crime or psychological which we also found out in our questionnaires.

 From establishing our target audience we are now confident with who we will aim to entertain. The use of our primary and secondary data really helped our group discover the trends and made us realise how factors such as class, gender and age all have an influence to preferences and time spent watching thriller films. From our data we can now conclude that males watch more crime films then females and that the largest age group appears to be 15-24. This works well with our film, as the antagonist is at the age of 12 which fits into the gap of those who watch thriller films the most. Hopefully, by the use younger characters we will attract that younger generation as they are the ones who seem to spend more of their time watching films.

From both our primary and secondary research, we were able to come up with a suitable mood board for our target audience. Seeing that the most popular age was between the age of 15 and 24, we have created a mood board for a male and female that represents the life of someone aged 15 to 25. The mood board consists of various objects that we associate people between the age of 15-25.

Analyis of sound in Inception and Shutter Island

Inception is a 2010 British-American action thriller by Christian Nolan. I will be analysing the first 2 minutes of the opening sequence. The opening sequence begins with sound fading in at 3 seconds whilst "legendary pictures" label appears. The sound begins mysteriously and deep but then gradually builds up pace for the climax that consists of waves hitting into each other.The music remains cut whilst the camera focuses of the ambient sound of crashing waves. The camera then frames a character arising from the sea. The dark and gloomy contrapuntal music begins again when the character lifts his head to see his surroundings. The music is contrapuntal as the view of the sunny beach and children playing contrasts with the spooky and mysterious music. Ambient sound of children laughter and playing begins whilst the audience see the point of view of the character laying in the sea. When the camera cuts to the scene of characters deliberating, in a low-key lighting dining room their is music playing continuously in the background. The slow pace music is parallel as the props such as guns and bullets correspond with the suspicious background music. The slight noise of the non-diagetic music maintains the continuity and keeps the viewers on edge. The dialogue is spoken over the music but at the music is sustained to a lower level in order to maintain clarity for the audience.

Shutter Island is a psychological thriller, released February 2010. The film is rated 15 as it contains strong language, bloody injury and disturbing images. Music from the Motion Picture was released on February 2, 2010, day before the movie was initially released, this was produced by Rhino Records. The film has no original score. Instead, Scorsese's longtime collaborator Robbie Robertson created an ensemble of previously recorded material to use in the film. Two final discs of music was featured throughout the final film.

I will be analysing the different sounds used within the opening thriller of Shutter Island. At 20 seconds sound begins to fade in, a mysterious and dark sound, at this point the title appears and the music is just suttle. By keeping the sound suttle, it builds up suspense to whats going to happen next, making the audience ask enigmas at the beginning of the sequence. After a minute passes we hear ambient sound of splashing water, we don't see anything as the screen is foggy, a ship then fades in making the sound of the waves stronger setting the scene more. Diolgue is used within the two minutes of the opening sequence, the main character (Leonardo Dicaprio) is shown throwing up, this is diegetic sound we also hear him speak to himself, as well as non-diegetic sound in the background, the sound is slow and quiet, we hear a fade in and fade out sound as if the sound is the horn of the ship. Hearing these noises sets the scene and creates realism to the opening sequence, the horn and the sound of the waves help this.

Both action and psychological thriller use the micro area of sound very differently to express their plot and portray emotions for the audience. Although the films have used different techniques, Inception and Shutter Island restrict their sound at the start to slowly build up pace and keep the audience focused on the narrative. The sound begins very early in Inception and remains their throughout the two minutes. On the other hand, the sound in Shutter island takes longer to settle in, making the anticipation for the audience longer.

Inital ideas presentation and feedback

Behind the sc reen from WGSGROUP5

Constructive feedback

• Pay close attention to the props used before the audience see the antagonist. For example, be creative and use something different to portray rape. Something stereotypical like using a tally chart to display how many girls the rapist has abducted, is dull and unimaginative.
• The title of "behind the screen" corresponds well with the narrative.
• Important to keep the ordinary theme continuing and not display any psychological elements about the antagonist until the viewers see the bedroom.
• Possible use of portable light from the media department in order to create the desired low-key lighting.
• Appropriate use of classification for the film as there are some explicit scenes and under 15's tend not to have Facebook accounts..
• The clothing worn by the girls should be minimal clothing and not anything that makes the viewers or the examiner feel uncomfortable.
• Maintain the same location of the males bedroom for practical reasons such as if you want to re-film.
• Make arrangements with possible make-up artist as she could be unavailable at precious filming times. Our group must prepare for the possibility that the make up artist is not committed or is struggling for availability.

Inital Ideas

Past Students Work Analysis

We have analyse the opening sequence of group two from windsor girls in 2012. This opening sequence is called ''playback'' and it is a crime thriller.

The start of the opening sequence clearly shows the production name which is ''Droplet productions''. A drop of water appears which is related to the name of the production and this makes it look more professional. The video clip has serval opening tittles such as ''a film by Lauren E Tarling" and "Pip Watkins'' which shows it is a opening sequence. The video have given details of the names of actors and crew.

When the clip begins, a handheld shot is used which portrays someone walking. This creates an enigma as we do not know who it is, but then dieagetic music gradually comes in. This music sounds eerie  . Then the scene cuts to the name of the production company again, before cutting to the walking scene once more. Close up reaction while main female character got stabbed and shows her reaction of being painful and sudden which has related to the genre of the opening sequence. The crew tried to create a natural point of view and to achieve  this, they have used handheld shot throughout the sequence.

This opening sequence is set as a crime thriller and to show the storyline briefly, the director has decided to use short shot duration to change scene to scene which has achieved the atmosphere of danger and has created a enigma. On the other hand, they slowed down the video while the character was walking into the kitchen which has created a nervous atmosphere by showing the scene quite slow.

Mise en scene was also used, when creating the opening sequence. During the opening sequence, we can see a knife covered with blood. This prop has been used to create an enigma as we don’t know what has happened or who has been hurt by the knife. The setting for this opening sequence is a house, which is an ordinary everyday setting. There is a group of girls gathered in the house which is a normal situation but after one of the girls is stabbed, it turns into an extraordinary situation. This represents an ordinary situation in which something extraordinary happens, which is a generic thriller convention.
Towards the end of the opening sequence, we can see the girl who has been stabbed. Even though we didn’t see her get stabbed, we know she has been because in the scene before, a knife covered in blood was shown and from looking at the girl’s facial expressions, we can see she is in pain after

being injured. When we see the girls in the house, we can see that they are are wearing clothing such as dresses, skinny jeans and vest tops. These are stereotypical costumes for girls to wear and as this is a thriller opening sequence, the costumes portray them as the characters in danger as it’s stereotypical that female characters in thriller’s are the characters who are in danger the most and will be in need of saving.


When the opening titles “Droplet Productions” appear, dieagetic sound is introduced straight away and this sound continues into the start of the opening sequence and throughout it. The music sounds quite eerie and spooky which is stereotypically used in a thriller as it creates the feeling that something bad is going to happen. Ambient sound is used when there is someone in the bedroom. The person who is in the room is breathing heavily, as though out of breath. We can’t see who this person is but the breathing sounds very deep, which could suggest that it’s a male character. Whilst looking round the room, the character picks up a knife covered in blood. This could suggest that the character is responsible for stabbing the girl, who we see later in the sequence, as they are breathing heavily which could be because they are in a rush to get away from the crime scene.


We believe that this opening sequence deserves a C, because the storyline isn't that clear so you would have to watch it a few times to understand it fully. The audience may not be able to recognise the storyline and this could affect their understanding of the whole film. Also, the storyline included a party scene in the daytime. This scene doesn't fit with the time of day as parties and crimes usually take place at night. However, the background music have been used perfectly to coinside with the genre of the opening sequence. The editing skills are also very good by linking all the scenes together e.g. After the kitchen scene was shown, a flash effect was used to hint that the present is a flash back which is related to the tittle ''playback''.