Q5: How did you attract/address your target audience? My opening sequence targets and addresses my target audience (both genders aged 15-24) in several ways. This was important in making my opening sequence more appealing, as it is easier to address a specific group of people rather than a large spectrum of people with varying interests. As a result, more people will want to see the sequence because I have attracted many people of one demographic rather than a few people from many different demographics, addressing specific ideas according to that group. This will draw in more money for the production when the target audience shares it with friends who also fit into the demographic.

Narrative In our opening sequence, females and younger viewers were attracted to the sequence through the obstruction of the audience's view of the victim's death. Through my audience research, I noted that females tend to stray away from gore-filled thrillers in favour for less aggressive narratives. The BFI Statistical Yearbook informed me that 66% of the audience for the fantasy thriller Twilight (containing practically no gore scenes) was comprised of females. This figure fell to 34% for the sci-fi thriller Prometheus which contained significantly more violent scenes, such as the scientist's face being burnt with acid (right). As a result we decided to obstruct the audience view of our murder by placing the murderer in front of the victim (right). In doing so, females within the target audience who do not like gore scenes in thrillers can still enjoy the sequence, but the general audience will still be thrilled by the death. This also made the sequence suitable for the lower end of my target audience (15-17) who may not enjoy such graphic scenes either due to their young age. We have therefore addressed the needs of some females and younger viewers within our target audience, attracting them to the production more.

Locations The second half of my opening sequence was set in a suburban area. This was evident in the point of view shot of the victim being dragged backwards into the garage, where bungalows are somewhat visible across the street. As my target audience is very young and suburban areas are usually in close proximity to schools, they are more than likely to have lived in such an area at some point in their life or are currently living there. My audience may therefore consider that someone is being killed in an area similar to where they are currently living or have lived. My target audience would therefore be attracted to the narrative because it represents aspects of their life, making it more thrilling (due to the realism to the piece) and ultimately more enjoyable for that demographic to watch.

Casting In the sequence, we decided to cast a female in the role of the victim and a male in the role of the murderer. This was based upon feedback in my audience research survey - a survey I posted to Twitter to gain a response from my target audience - in which 80% of responses agreed with these casting choices (top graph: murderer, bottom graph: victim), indicating that my audience is attracted to thrillers with such casting. Initially, I considered that casting a male in the role of a murderer may put males off of the narrative as it is represents them as being violent, aggressive and abusive towards women - especially considering how much such actions are denounced when seen from males in the media. However, such results from the audience research survey suggests that males do not mind being typecast. This may be due to the murderer being represented as powerful and dominant, both of which are appealing traits for males, therefore attracting them to the narrative. Females, on the other hand, can relate to the sequence due to the casting of a similarly-aged female in the role of the victim. The female portion of my target audience may therefore begin to consider what they would do in such a situation as the victim, presenting another realism to the piece that attracts females. It is a thriller, after all, so providing relatable aspects that will better thrill the audience will attract the audience, because they are watching it to be thrilled. Furthermore, the female is not represented as being overly vulnerable in this sequence, attracting women who want to be represented as powerful for once. Whilst the murderer does kill the victim, the victim does make an effort to escape which is evident in the tracking shots of the victim running.

Distribution and Screening Feedback The production was distributed onto YouTube. My audience research shows that my target demographic is shifting from cinemas to other forms of media consumption, which indicates a migration towards more accessible and free forms of media outlets, such as YouTube on which my target audience - the majority of whom are probably in education or unemployed and therefore have little disposable income to go to the cinema - can watch the thriller for free and whenever they want. As a result, my production is far more accessible to my target audience, attracting them to it. After screening the opening sequence to a few people within my target audience, my group and I questioned the audience to see if our sequence was enjoyable for the target audience. Many responses were positive, but a few commented that the sequence didn't completely make sense - "It was difficult to understand what was going on." For this reason, we revised our opening sequence to make it make more sense . Primarily, the pieces of text on the murderer's corkboard were kept on the screen for longer so that audience knew the context. This clarity makes it more understandable for my target audience, attracting them to the narrative.