Evaluation - Question Five

Evaluation – Question Five


How did you attract/address your audience?


Once we were put into our group, Matt, Rachel and I had immediately decided to create a opening sequence in the horror/thriller genre. We had chosen this genre due to watching previous year groups opening sequences and seeing that this genre was the most successful in creating emotion, particularly fear and discomfort, which is what we wanted. Focusing on this particular genre, we had to have in mind the typical conventions of the genre that we had to include in our film. One convention that we decided on was a kidnapping, this is a popular element used with this genre and since we had researched the fairytales Little Red Riding Hood and Changeling it seemed appropriate.Having a male and psychotic villain was another element that we wanted to include. I told the group about the Ed Gein character, who's mother was the cause for his mental state, and how the Texas Chainsaw Massacre focused on and the film was very successful, so he became an influential character for The Toymaker. Having a build up and keeping the audience in suspense throughout the film was a priority for us as a good psychological thriller always leaves you on the edge of your seat. These are vital elements that our audience would expect to see from this genre, so we continued and our ideas developed and grew to reach the expectations.
Analysing our opening sequence it included the expectations of a psychological thriller. Starting with the camera work, we used extreme close ups throughout too keep the suspension up as revealing the Toymakers face would kill the tension and mystery of the film. We only ever, showed his mouth, fingers and clothing, with the exception of the external scenes where a long body shot was shown yet you could still only see the back of the Toymakers head keeping his identity and the tension intact. These shots were very effective as within the workshop scenes, we attracted our audience as they would constantly be thinking, who, what, and why he was there and in this particular place. From researching the psychological thriller genre we noticed that not only did the audience appreciate the mystery and twists of the films, but they also expect and want to see some gore and disturbing scene/shots. The panning shot of the workstation is does this lightly, as it covers the glass of wine, the needles and the tape measure, highlighting a possible drink problem, the dangerous mind of this man and the hint of limited time is shown. But if you notice a the majority of the shots are ECU which created disturbing effect, particularly the shot of the needle going into the eye of the doll, as the audience, much like my teacher, would squirm at the thought of a needle going into their actual eye. These disturbing shots are effective and would attract our audience as it is the gore and shivers are what they expect and appreciate from this genre. This was very similar to that of the opening sequence of the animated Coraline (2009) where the machine is making the Coraline doll except we developed it to suit our genre. However, because we didn't want our opening sequence to have blood and guts seeping everywhere even though it is expected, we decided to take it down a notch. If you analyse the film you will notice that the colour red is very frequent and can be seen on the walls, the dolls coat, on pieces of cloth on the table, the red thread, the red wine, and on the button box. This cinematography was done purposely as red is often seen as a sickly colour and it also tied in with the Little Red Riding Hood which is in the world of our film.
The soundtrack to our film was a vital convention to our genre, as I ALWAYS say that creepy music will set the tone of your film, and too me creepy means a lullaby! Lullabies, fairground sounds and a simple piano tune were famously used in these movies, which create a awesome and chilling effect on the audience:
Rosemary's Baby
The Candyman
Halloween
Childs Play
Chucky
Coraline
Pans Labyrinth

The props on set played a large role in the composition of the workshop scene and shots. They were all precise and thoroughly thought out as we each new the exact idea of what we were going for. Before shoot, we stapled black cloth to four large slats that came together to form the background for out set and we then attached many photography, drawing, and newspaper clippings of little girls across the slats to keep the background busy. This was to give the effect that the Toymaker is twisted and obsessed and has been planning is kidnaps for a long time. This would attract the audience as the theme of obsession and twisted minds is often see in psychological thrillers, which our audience love. We also managed to find an old tabletop to which we scratch severely and tea stained it to give it and older and used effect, also scratches in this genre are commonly associated with danger or mental illness. When we arrived on location, we added additional props to add authenticity to the set, by scattering buttons over the table, tangling thread and cloth together (twisted mind of toymaker), red wine, needles and we also added a sewing machine. This was great as it’s really set the mood and introduced our audience to the creepy workshop which would make them cringe all the way through. We thought it was very clever how all of these items are used in everyday life with no horror or scary connotations, yet when the audience watch and realise what the Toymaker is doing with them, its is then when they will be drawn in through fear, disgust, sickness, and curiosity of what going to happen next.....
I, like many others often like happy endings to films, however, in most psychological thrillers this isn't the case. In recent films like Changeling (2008) where her son was kidnapped then killed. Zodiac (2007) and Saw (2004) where Jigsaw survives and many people die. Therefore, keeping with and realising the success of these movies, we chose to end the movie similarly to Changeling, yet have it so the parents get closure and the killer is found. Due to recent social build up of neglected and kidnapped children which were inspirations for our film, we felt that the audience would appreciate the ending yet twisting to give it a disturbing and psychological end.
Overall, our film has successfully addressed and attracted our target audience as it has Incorporated a balance of typical codes and conventions of psychological thrillers, whilst adding our own and developing additional twist to previously used elements to appeal and grip our audience.