Audience Research Questionnaire

Below is the results of the poll we posted on the blog and also the questionnaire we printed off and gave to the general public in order to get feedback on our thriller.

Audience Research Question a Ire

Facebook Group Page

Facebook has many features that make it an easily accessible program in which to make our production company's fan group. The facebook fan page is a tool in which you can extend your social network, connect with your target audience and consumer promotions alike. I created the page for our film in order to get constructive feedback from our audience and also discussion. This can also aid us in our evaluation.

Production Logo

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Character Profiles

Name: Sophie McDonald
Age: 17
Appearance: Dark hair
Height: 5ft 4
Costume: hand bag to carry bag, leggings ugg boots.
Sophie is a vulnerable teenage girl who is cautious about herself but sometimes can be careless which gets her into a lot of trouble as we will see as the film goes on.

The character of Sophie is now being played by Georgie Watters who was a replacement for Keira Stone. Georgie fits the description of our character as she looks like a student and also vulnerable. She is also reliable and could make the filming times. I have chosen Georgie to play the character of Sophie because we wanted Sophie to have a student looks and have a typical teenage so her character is easily recognisable to the audience. We believe that Georgie has all these attributes as she is studying and has the right look that we are looking for in the character of Sophie.






Name: Betty Blackstock
Age: 22
Appearance: Dark hair
Height: 5ft 6
Costume: white t-shirt, cardigan, leggings.
Sophie is an intimidating women in her 20's who has no concious and kidnaps women for the prostitution industry. She works for a mafia boss and cares only about her wellbeing and fears nobody.

We chose Haley Male to play the role of betty because we wanted betties character to change from nice when she asks Sophie for the time to villain when she brutally nocks her unconscious and drags her away. It was vital that her appearance can be intimidating and she can act the role of a protagonist very convincingly and i feel she can play the role well.

Antagonist

Name: Jerome Brown
Gender: Male
Age: 17
Appearance: Tall, black hair, brown eyes,
average build 6ft 3
Costume: Dark jeans, hooded top and white trainers
Props: Media textbook
Character Profile: Jerome is an innocent
teenage college who is mistaken for an attacker.


For the character of Jerome, we would want an intimidating looking person so that we can scare the audience into thinking that Jerome will attack Sophie. We would want Jerome to be wearing all black, moreover we would want to try and play with many stereotypes that the audience might have. So the location of an alley with the character of a black man which Jerome is would add expense to the scene. When the audience see that he is chasing Sophie then they’ll think he will attack her due to their stereotypes then the suspension will go down when they find out he does not.

Preliminary Task

The preliminary Task enabled us to get fimiliar with the eqiupment and filming.The task featured somebody walking into a room having a conversation and then leaving. The preliminary had to include a long shot, close-up shot, two shot, match on action, shot reverse shot and also show the 180 degree rule. It took us two attempts to film the preliminary, becuase in the first attempt changes in the diologue meant it could not be edited. The task enabled us to fimiliarise ourselves with final cut pro, the software in which we will be using to edit our thriller. The role of editor was given to peter who succesfully completed the editing of the preliminary task.


180 degree rule had to be followed in order for the continuity in the Priliminary to work .

Treatment

Product
We are creating the opening 2 minute sequence to a thriller. We chose the thriller genre as it is very popular amongst many of the big box office films and also has broad codes and conventions. Our thriller is called ‘Abduction’ and is based on the theory of an unclear protagonist. At the beginning of the 2 minute sequence it appears that Peter is the antagonist as he is chasing after the protagonist Sophie. We have shown this through the location as it is partly set in a dark alley which is a confined space and has a connotation as dangerous and remote. The casting of Jerome who is black creates a stereotype to the audience that he is violent and threatening as he is of black ethnicity. The lighting in the film is quite dim as it adds danger and suspense which are codes of the thriller genre. Score non-diegetic music is used when the first antagonist Jerome is chasing Sophie. The music helps to create atmosphere. The antagonist threat changes to Betty who approaches when Jerome leaves the scene down the alley after handing the book to Sophie. She is now seen as a mysterious character and at the end when Sophie is knocked unconscious it is clear that betty is the antagonist. Throughout the thriller the antagonist changes to create a twist in the plot therefore creating a realistic thriller. We are marketing our film through you tube. We have chosen www.YouTube.com because it is a globally known website and would be accessed by our target audience, as statistically the age category of 16-35 is the dominant age group for you tube users.

Target Audience
Are group have decided through the questionnaire and research that the age demographic for our thriller is in the 16-34 category as it contains some scenes of violence which would not be suitable for the under 16 category and is to intense and action packed for 34+ age demographic.

Representations
Our thriller uses stereotypes to convey representations as in many films the woman in our case Sophie is weak and vulnerable. Also the antagonist at the start Is Jerome who is black this allows the audience to perceive him as the villain based on his skin colour which creates a representation and also his cloths in this case the hoody and the score music used.

Media Language
Our product will contain many of the normal codes and conventions you will find in a thriller. This includes action, suspense, chases, isolated locations, protagonist, antagonist and also lighting. Many different types of shots will be used like for instance a pov shot will be used to show Sophie’s view point when Jerome pulls the book out of his jacket. Close up shots will be used to show changes in emotions and mid-long shots to construct the chase between the protagonist and the antagonist. The use of score music in our thriller will help to create suspense and vulnerability for the protagonist at beginning of our two minute sequence and also at the end.

Institutions
We will be using lions gate and twisted pictures as our distributors, because they are multinational film companies that can reach our target audience on a global scale. Ikonic productions (our group) will be making the film.

Final Location Shots

Alleyway

Entrance

This shot shows the path in which Betty will walk up to ask Sophie for a cigarette. We used this alleyway because it is secluded so it fits in with the codes and conventions of the thriller genre.

College Entrance

This picture shows the outside of Havering College. The college will be used in the background when Sophie leaves the gates.

Alleyway

After much deliberation from our group we have decided that the alley above and the street opposite is the best location for the thriller as it is accessible from both entrances to allow the car to maneuver in and also the lighting is good enough to film. It is also quite so it will be perfect for filming. As well as the alley above we have decided to use the outside of Havering College in the opening scene to show that Sophie is a student this is the best place in terms of location and setting to use the college.

Textual Analysis - Bourne Ultimatum

Bourne ultimatum is the third in a trilogy of the ‘Bourne’ series of films. It is based on the novel by Robert Ludlum and directed by Paul Greengrass, released in 2007. The film is a thriller and consists of sub genres which include spy, conspiracy, crime and action thrillers. The main focus is on Jason Bourne a former highly skilled and deadly American secret agent who suffered from amnesia. As he battles to uncover his past and why this has happened to him he is also on the run from the CIA for murders he did not commit. As the title suggests the film ultimatum is looking for the final answer to Jason Bourne’s predicament. The film hones in on the murder of a journalist in London who has the answers to Jason Bourne’s past and mysterious amnesia.

The director has allowed the audience to know what has happened to him through various flashbacks and also many hidden clues as to the amnesiac Jason Bournes past. He was a member of a CIA decommissioned assassin squad and is accused of killing someone he was not supposed to kill. Bourne now fights in the reactionary mode to save his own life while explosions of memory pieces invade his attitude as well as abilities. Not all the pieces of memory that return are pleasant as he deals with the tragedies of his past. The audience is shown the corruption which shows how the director wants the audience to sympathise with the main character as he battles to remember his past and clear his name but there are many scenes were the audience is put in a state of unknown as to what will happen next much like the main character Jason the audience is entwined in his situation.

The director takes the audience on a journey across continents from the sizzling beaches of India to the snow laden streets of Moscow the audience can relate to him as Jason comes across as an outcast from society although his talents as an agent make it an action packed thriller from start to finish. There Is an enigma surrounding his character as he is appeared to be an unstoppable force in any situation that arises his only weakness appears to be himself as the memories of his past seem to trouble him.

The directors inclusion of the character Nicky Parsins who is a CIA agent is to show that there is some kind of light in the darkening tunnel of corruption that is infecting the CIA as she helps Bourne in confronting a corrupt and greedy CIA executive. Along with Nicky Parsins Pamela Landy is another CIA agent who is trying track down Bourne but although she appears to be on the other side as the thriller progresses it is clear she wants to find the truth about Bourne and uncover the secrecies of treadstone.

Like many other thrillers the Bourne Ultimatum follows many of the standard codes and conventions you would expect. It delivers action, suspense, tension and lightning fast pace, this Is partly due to the cutting. Which is very fast which gives it a dizzy affect, also giving it an illusion of uncertainty. This not the pace of the editing but the quality of it. Cuts here seem rough because they interrupt actions and camera movements. Pans, zooms, and movements of the actors especially Bourne are infrequently allowed to come to rest before the shot changes. This creates a strong sense of jerkiness and visual imbalance.

Throughout the film the level of suspense, tension and action can change almost instantly through music. For instance in the opening scene the music is louder and creates more anxiety for the audience and the atmosphere is being built up and its tense. We watch as he fixes himself, and makes himself better. This shows us he is intelligent and he is well trained, it also is the theme song so it is recognised by the audience from the previous films. Then this keeps the audience aware and intrigued. It keeps the audience on the edge of their seat and curious as to what is going to happen next.

90 Minute Scenerio of Abduction

Sophie Lawson was a typical 17 year old girl who lived a normal life, with her normal family, in a normal house, she went to Havering College and everyday, would walk the normal route home until one day when it all changed as Sophie never travelled that way ever again.

It was a Friday afternoon and as usual Sophie walked home but this time she was not alone. As she walked down the street she noticed she was being followed. She started to briskly pick up the pace to loose her follower but the talk dark figure was soon behind her. She started to run towards the alley, as the menacing tall hooded man was sprinting in pursuit of Sophie as she reaches the end of the alleyway she trips over and turns to find the tall hooded man standing over her. He reaches into his jacket, at this point Sophie is frozen with fear. He pulls out a media textbook smiles and he tells her she dropped it down the road. Jerome leaves back down the alley as Sophie manages to get back on to her feet. As she breathes a sigh of relief, we are introduced to Betty a young women who emerges from the path. She approaches Sophie and asks her for a lighter. Sophie hesitantly hands over the lighter as she does this betty knocks her to the floor with one punch to the face.


Almost instantly a car emerges from the end of the road and pulls up to the alley a man jumps out of the passenger seat and drags a kicking and screaming Sophie into the backseat. The driver’s is visible in the window and hands a bunch of twenty pound notes to betty who is elated with the sight of the money. She then lights a cigarette and the car speeds off into the distance. In the car she is injected with a syringe full of heroine and driven to a house down Barnaby Street. The men tie Sophie up and drag her now unconscious body into the house; she is then put in one of the bedrooms and left there over night. She is reported missing by Sophie’s mum and dad, but the police are unable to locate were she is or what happened to her. The following day she was taken to a nearby flat and put into one of the rooms with various other young girls. Every hour or so one of the girls was taken out of the room and put into one of the bedrooms opposite. Sophie could hear the screams echoing across the flat as one of the girls were being violently raped. Whilst the others could only watch as they were being constantly drugged and beaten. Sophie was the only one willing to escape as the rest of the girls were so drugged they were barely able to keep conscious let alone plan an escape.


As two of the men left the flat Sophie managed to wriggle out of the shackles that bound her hands. She moved behind the door and fashioned a knife out of some broken shards of glass as one of the men walking in to inflict some more violent pain on the girls Sophie stabbed him in the neck with the shard of glass and franticly sprinted out of the front door narrowly missing a fist flying at her from one of the assailants chasing after her. She runs down the road and out of sight as a car seems to be circling the roads around her. She runs to a nearby police station and explains what has happened. As the police infiltrated the flat they found all of the women dead and the men know were to be seen. As Sophie laid in her bed that night she realised that if she had been there any longer she could have been dead……….