Primary Research - Research into your audience analyses

After each member in my group (myself, James Thompson and Harry Devonport) completed all their individual questionnaires, we all put all our results on to tables on Excel to clearly demonstrate our findings where we can draw the information from. The free tables below show the information we collected from our questionnaires.

My Results:



From the results I have gathered, It shows I and gathered clear results. I have found that 100% of people wanted and expected a male protagonist, 70% of people expected ominous music in a Thriller opening sequence and 60% of people did enjoy Thriller films. From this evidence and results, We can use these three results when making our opening sequence to make it ideal for the majority of the audience. 

James' Results:

From the results James has gathered, it shows he has gathered precise information. James found that 100% of people expected the protagonist to be male, 70% of people expected a Thriller opening sequence to be set in the evening and 80% of people watch 1-2 films a week, We can use this when making our opening sequence as eye catching and that it will make the audience watch on as much as possible.

Harry's Results:

From the results in the tables above, you can see many different people have different opinions about different questions. Harry found that 70% of people expected the protagonist to be male, 50% of people expected a hriller film the be set at night and that his questionnaire were anwsered by a number of different aged people, therefore we will try to involve am many things we can to draw audience from all different ages to watch our sequence.

As you can see, we as a group have found many different things the audience would want and expect to see in a Thriller opening sequence. Due to this we will try and incorporate as much as we can to attract the audience. We Study the results more carefully and ten further decide on how we are going to use all our findings to make our opening sequence.

 

Primary Research - Research into your audience questionaire

With the others in my group, we together compiled a questionaire with question about Thriller films and what the audience would expect to find in a Thriller opening sequence. The three of us in our group got 30 people (10 each) to anwser our questionnaire to find out what the audience would expect and want in a Thriller film opening sequence.

Below are three of the questionnaires that I got two people to complete.

Through the completion of the questionnaires, my group has gathered various information that we will be able to use in the making of our Thriller opening sequence to make it the most intresting and audience pleasing as possible.  

Conventions of the genre Thriller

In A thriller film or TV drama, there are many different conventions for the film to fit in to the 'Thriller' category. There are many different conventions that make the film a certain genre and in this I will explain the specifics for thriller.

Withholding a lot of information:
This is one of the most key conventions associated with the genre Thriller. This means that a large amount of information is hidden/withheld from the audience. This makes the audience want to watch on and find out the hidden information. This would also create a mysterious atmosphere towards the audience as they are unaware of all the information associated with the characters and storyline.

Clues:
As well as the opening sequence withholding information, it will also give clues and hints about the characters who the characters are or what has happened in the scene. This can help the audience understand the characters and give would foreshadow what will happen next.

Serious Tone:
Another key convention to the genre is having a serious tone. This will craft a tense atmosphere towards the audience and this will set the tone for the rest of the film and give to audience clue to what genre it is and what may happen. 

Possible viewing of the Protagonist:
One common convention is the audience getting their first look at the protagonist. This gives the audience thier first impression of the protagonist for their appearance, personality and motives. This will give the audience clues to what may happen during the film.

Possible viewing of the Antagonist:
One uncommon convention is the audience getting their first look at the antagonist. This gives the audience thier first impressions of the antagonist for their appearance, personality ans motives. This can give the audience and insight into what the antagonist is doing, why is he doing it and why is he like that. This may give the audience hints as to what may happen later in the film.

Equilibrium broken early on:
Another common convention is the Equilibrium being broken early on in the sequence/film. This will disrupted the normality of the setting and create a tense and mysterious tone towards the audience as they are unaware of what it happening and will make the audience want to watch more to find out what happens and this will also make them ask questions.

Makes the audience ask questions:
One other convention is that the opening sequence will make the audience ask questions. The audience will ask questions such as what is happening, who are the main characters, what is going to happen and why. This will also keep the audience interested as they want to watch more so they can find out.

Low key lighting:
A general convention that many thriller films have in common is low key lighting. This creates a mysterious and intense atmosphere towards the audience and makes them ask questions. This will also give the audience a hint as to what may happen and what genre the film is.

Slow paced score:
The convention of a slow paced score is used to slow down the action on scene and to re-enforce the atmosphere create. This will make the audience want to watch on and ask questions.

Titles:  
This is probably the most common convention, not only for the genre thriller but all genre's. This will introduce all the people who helped make the film and this can also emphasis the tone set though the opening.

Costume:
The convention of Costume is used to emphasis and create character personality and attitude. This can also help the audience from an opinion on them and help fit the character into a certain stereotype. From example: Black costume could show a representation of a bad guy whereas pink could show the innocents of a little girl.

Props:
Another convention, the use of props, it done to re-enforce a certain situation or to make the audience stop and think about what may happen or what has already happened. This can also help the audience form an opinion on the characters depending on the props they use or have on them. 

Face/Off (Woo,7/11/97,US)

In the opening sequence to the film 'Face/Off', the use of a piece of incidental music creates a serious atmosphere towards the audience. The increase in the pitch can suggest a serious tone and make the audience anxious as there is an alarmingly increasing sense of danger. This can make the audience ask questions such as what is going to happen, is it something dangerous and who is it going to affect.

Secondly, the Ambient sound of the gunshot and the impact of the shot creates a fearsome atmosphere towards the audience. The sound of the actually impact of the audience fightens the audience as they dont know who was shot or why. This will also leave the audience asking may questions such as what will happen to the shooter and they victim and for what reason did the character shot the other character.

In the opening sequence of te film 'Face/Off', the use of the close shot of the father and son character creates a happy and joyful atmosphere towards the audience. As the audience see the two characters smiling and enjoying themselves reassures the audience and makes the audience feel relaxed as the two characters are enjoying themselves therefore they dont need to worry about them. This will make the audience ask questions such as who are they, what are they doing and how strong their relationship is between them.

Furthermore, the extreme close up of the other male characters face and barrel of what appears to be a sniper rifle creates a dangerous and an intimidating atmosphere towards the audience. The use of the extreme close up immediately suggests that he is a bad and sinister character which will make the audience fear the character as the are unaware of what he is doing. This will leave the audience asking questions such as who is he, what is he doing, why has he got the gun and what is he going to do with it.  

In the opening sequence of the film 'Face/Off', the use of the prop (the carrousel) creates an enjoyful and pleasing atmosphere towards the audience. The Carrousel can realate to the audience as more that likely, everyone has fond memories of riding a carrousel therefore the audience can relate to the characters and can feel and share the characters enjoyment and pleasure.

In addition this, the use of preformence by the other male character can craft an intimidating atmosphere towards the audience. The cool and clam preformence by the male character as he drinks his drink and looks down the barrel of the gun can cause the audience to fear him as he dosn't try hard to be intimidating. This can make the audience ask questions likw who is he, what is he doing and why is he doing what he is.

   

In the opening sequence of the film 'Face/Off', the use of the long duration of clips of the father and son characters can create a nice and peaciful atmosphere towards the audience. the long duration of clips can suggest the father and son have a very good relationship between them and that they are really enjoying themselves. This can make the audience feel happy for them as they are have such a good time.

Moreover, the light brown colour tint creates a clam atmosphere towards the audience. The colour tint can make the shot seem authentic and a memorie. this can make the audience ask questions such as if it is a memory, what happen the either one of the chatacters and why. This can also make the audience symphasis with the characters as they dont know have has happened or will happen, therefore making them worry about the and thier well being.

Inception (Nolan, 16/7/10, US)

In the opening sequence to the film 'Inception', the ambient sound of the waves creates a mysterious atmosphere and the remoteness of the surroundings. This can suggest to the audience that a character could be located by a coastline or that the remoteness of the location can emphasise a characters isolation. This can make the audience slightly emphasis with the character as they character is alone and isolated and cannot relate to anyone. This can also create confusion towards the audience as they also don't know why or where the character is.    

Additionally, the use of the sting used in the opening sequence emphasises the seriousness atmosphere created by the presents of that certain object. The low pitched rumble followed by the high pitched stringed instruments create a stern mood and seriousness of the object and the fact that it may have significant value or meaning behind the object. This will create mystery towards the audience as they don't know what the object is/does or means to the characters. 

In the opening sequence to the film 'Inception' the close up of the character washed up on the shore creates a confusing yet sympathizing atmosphere towards the audience. as the character is surrounded by sand and is being washed over by the sea, the audience are puzzled as to what he is doing there and how/why has he ended up there. This will make the audience ask questions such as what is he doing and who the actually character is.



Furthermore, the long shot the children playing on the beach creates a engeitic yet strange atmosphere towards the audience. As the children are happy playing and enjoying there time at the beach the audience become unaware what the male character is doing washed up on the shore and do the children know anything about him. Also the audience may start to worry about the children as they don't know where they are, what they are doing there and is it a dangerous place to be because of the washed male character.

In the opening sequence of the film 'Inception', the use of the prop of the what seems to be a 'spinny top' creates a tense and mysterious atmosphere towards the audience. As the prop/object is placed on the table by itself, it suggest the object has huge amounts of impotence or meaning  to it, this can make the audience feel involved as they are intrigued by the object and as they watch on they learn more and more about the object.

As well as this, the use of the props (fine dining e.g fine food and china) crafts an eccentric and luxurious tone towards the audience. The use of the props suggests that the male characters are all upper class and have all had a well up bringing and a very wealthy/good quality of live. This can make the audience ask questions like, what are they all doing or are they discussing thing like a businesses opportunity.

  

Some appropriate locations I found that I could use to create an opening sequence in a range of genres.

For our half-term homework assignment, we had to find 3 different locations where we could film for these three genres: Romantic Comedy, Thriller and Action Adventure and write about why it is a good location to film for that certain genre.

Genre 1 - Romantic Comedy:

Picture 1:

This location could be used in a scene during Romantic Comedy as it is a typical Bar/ restaurant where couples/characters could first meet or go on dates to.

Picture 2:

This location could be used as this maybe a place where groups of friends may hang out and then meet someone or be introduced to someone.

Picture 3:

This location could be used as the riverside walkway could be used in the film for the location for someones first date or a couples break up.

Genre 2 - Thriller:

Picture 1:

This location could be used in a scene during Thriller as it is a typical creepy ally where a chase or mysterious finding may occur.

Picture 2:

This location could be used as the creepy and frightening front of the church could symbolizes a death or mystery in the film.

Picture 3:

This location could be used as the remoteness and eeriness of the surrounding area can create a creepy atmosphere and suggest someone may go missing.

  

Genre 3 - Action Adventure:

Picture 1:

This location could be used in an Action Adventure as this is a typical shopping center/mall where a robbery could take place or chase. This could create an intense atmosphere. 

Picture 2:

This location could be used as the spiral stair case and suggest as chase and the different directions that characters can run and escape to.

Picture 3:

This location could be used as it symbolizes a typical car chase and escape route of the bad guys in the film.

Conventions of an opening sequence

There are many conventions that make up an opening sequence. These consist of setting the tone and the atmosphere, make the audience ask questions and withhold information. There is also many other conventions that must be used but this blog will only be talking about these three. Some other conventions are:

• Production/ Distribution Company
• Show the Theme
• Engage the Audience
• Titles
• First Impressions of the Character

Convention - Setting the Tone:

Example - Bradford Riots

In the opening sequence of 'The Bradford Riots', the tone of violence and aggression, is shown through the use of costume and props as the audience is shown many police officers with rioter shields and people throwing rocks in hoodies. This shows violence as the police are in large numbers and have weapons and shields showing that there is some sort of fight going on and that they are in need of protection. This makes the audience think that there is going to be this level of violence throughout the film.


 Example - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

 

  In the opening sequence of the film 'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire', the volume and the use of string instruments, in the soundtrack, creates a serious yet mysterious atmosphere towards the audience. The string instruments create a serious and exciting tone as the audience are excited by the opening soundtrack which will make them want to watch the film and it give away a hint that in the film, something bad or mysterious may happen, this would create  Curiosity towards the audience. 

Example - Panic Room

In this score from the opening sequence of the film panic room, a tone of eeriness and danger is created. This is done through the use of a slow rhythm of the sound as well as the change of high pitched sound to a very low pitched. The use of the high pitch puts the audience on edge as it suggests that something dangerous may happen and the low pitch emphasizes the seriousness and the dangerous atmosphere.

 Convention - Making the Audience Ask Questions: 

Example - Brick 

 

In the opening sequence of the film 'Brick', the use of the shot/reverse shot between the man and the girl makes the audience wonder what has happened. due to the camera cutting from the girls lifeless body/body parts, it makes the audience ask what has happened, what is the relationship between the man and the girl and why is the man there but not doing anything. this can also bring about the questions, if he is just sitting there, did he do something to the girl, was it on purpose or was it by accident.

Example - Iron Man 3

 

In the opening sequence of the film 'Iron Man 3', the use of the dialogue/ contrapuntal sound played over the shot of the three Iron Man suits being blown up makes the audience shocking and confused to as what he is doing. The slow calm speech played over a destructive background shot would make the audience ask questions such as, why is he doing this, why is he so calm about it and what is going happen next the protagonist/hero. 

Example -  Memento 

 

In the opening sequence of the 'memento', the three shots - one of the blood running up the wall and the two shots of the objects (a Bullet and bloody glasses) - can create a mysterious atmosphere and make the audience confused as to what has happened. It will make the audience ask questions such as what has happened, who has been there, who did it involve. The audience would be drawn in to watch more to find out what is going to happen and to see what actually happened and who done it.

Convention - Withholding Information.

Example - Brick:

 

In the opening sequence of the film 'Brick' the use of the pull focus withholds information about the character such as his facial features and identity. During the pull focus, as the shot is blurry, this is hiding the characters identity. This changed as the pull focus happens and the image start going into focus, we see the characters identity slowly revealed to the audience. This will then make them as questions as then are slowly shown the characters face and identity.    

 Example - Brick:

In the opening sequence of the film 'Brick', the use of the long shot with both characters faces not facing the audience/camera hides the Characters information. This crafts a mysterious atmosphere as the audience can see two characters and are unaware what has happened. This hides both characters identity as the audience cannot see any distinct facial features to recognize the characters by. This makes the audience want to watch on as they wan to find out who the characters are and what has happened in the scene.

Example - Wallander

In the opening sequence of the TV Drama 'Wallander' episode 'Firewall', the use of a mid shot of the back of the two female characters heads withholds the identity of the two girls. As we can also see the back of the two female characters heads, will start to create on image of what the two characters look like and their personalities. As the audience can only see the back of them, they cannot picture the characters faces exactly and relate to them.