Q.5 Evaluation

Q5. How did you attract/address your audience?

My film ‘FORSAKEN’ is a very sad and dramatic and is for a younger target audience 15-25 years of age. If we had advertising posters the posters would be on the side of buses in popular areas where there are a lot of secondary schools to grab the attention of my primary target audience. Since my film is very urban and street related I would also put my advertising posters where a lot of young people go like outside big shopping malls such as Lakeside and Westfield. Also I would put out outside stores like Footlocker and JD because a lot of young people go there to shop, from the same target audience as my own so this will be a suitable place for my poster.  Due to the fact that Blackberry’s are so popular among youth today I would send posters to every contact through the Blackberry services to catch there attention, I would also do this on Facebook for the same reasons.

My film ‘FORSAKEN’ has many elements which attract my target audience and they go as followed:

• In the first of my opening sequence we see a pan shot, in this motion my production name ‘Faith Films’ appears. It fades into the shot which adds a mystery effect to this shot which leaves audience thinking what’s going to happen next.
• In the next shot we see a female walking down the stairs; the camera actually follows her so for audience it feels like they are walking behind the actress. This effect makes the audience feel as if they are a part of the film, so the audience will find it easier to connect with the film.
• In the next shot will maintain the element of disguise by not showing the actress’s face, this makes the audience want to watch on so they can discover who the actress is. I feel the shadow on the floor caused by lighting also adds a mystery affect because you can only see a figure on the floor. This shot is very dramatic in that it leaves the audience guessing, and questioning.
• The mise en scene of the surroundings of the character, it is very dirty and unhygienic which makes the opening sequence more exciting and different, if the place was neat and tidy it would be in the ordinary. Also the surroundings make us question why she is in this dingy looking building, and her motives for being there.
• I feel the title shot creates pictures in the viewers head of the word forsaken, it attracts the audience because nearly everyone has been forsaken, so everyone can conjure up there memory of when they were forsaken. It was written in talcum powder which I feel is very original and is done in a cheap everyday product, which links with our film because our film is far from flashy and so is our title.
• The black and white effect added in post production puts a dark feel to the film, and gives a vision of how dark and depressing the world of the character is in. I feel many of the target audience can relate to the similar feelings and emotions in the film, which makes it suitable for them.
• The shots of the drug taking are very dramatic and sad to most viewers which makes my film very attractive because people like it when there emotions are tampered with, the close-ups bring the viewers closer to the action which makes them feel as id they are apart of the film. Also the prop of the baby picture really the sequence more depressing and upsetting because of the purity and naivety of a child who has died. The highlighted pictures of the child show that it is significant in the storyline. The sounds of the baby represent the cry of Lauren’s late daughter, which is significant because it subsequently push the Lauren to suicide; this will attract mothers because they share the same motherly love.
•  The slow pan up the mothers are builds tension because the audience are questioning themselves on is she dead or not, but as shot goes up the arm reality is setting in that the character Lauren is dead, this bit tension makes the film more compelling and makes the film more complex then just sad but exciting as well.
• The flat line at the end signifies the end of Lauren’s life, it is probably not what the audience wanted but it does give a good example of the harshness of life and I feel that is what the primary audience and secondary audience will like most about the sequence, especially the secondary because they probably don’t see these types of issues first hand perhaps only through media outlets.
• The costume of the main character Lauren Ealing in the opening sequence is very urban, and it is the types of clothes that many young adults 13 – 19 were today. So this sort of clothing will invite young adults to watch it because they feel comfortable with what the character is wearing, and also the audience will be more able to connect with the main character.

I feel the prior knowledge my primary target audience will have on a genre is drama, because drama is based around realism and I feel they will like reality more than anything else because of there lifestyles. In saying this I also feel they will enjoy comedy just like must people but in drama a small percentage of comedy lies. I feel they will know the basic codes and conventions of a drama such as depression, heartache, relationships, happiness, and love. From this I have put these codes and conventions in my film such as love between the mother Lauren and her daughter Cheryl, there is depression throughout the opening sequence from Lauren due to the death of her daughter. There is an obvious relationship between Lauren and Cheryl mother and daughters, so in my opening sequence I feel I gave my primary target audience what they expect from a drama.

The main themes in my film ‘FORSAKEN’ are love, depression, drug abuse, heartache, and suicide. These themes attract my audience because it is interesting in that we viewers like to see bad things happen to others for a thrill, and also because it is things which are going on in reality today. My primary audience mostly come from the same social class as the main characters in my film so they can relate to some of there predicaments and troubles the characters are encountering. Some of the successful films which incur the same themes are films like ‘TRAINSPOTTING’, ‘THE WIRE’, and ‘HUSTLE AND FLOW’, these are a few successful films which incur the same themes as my film ‘FORSAKEN.