Audience Feedback (Survey Results)

(1) This question shows us what age ranges have responded to our survey. Our target audience (15-18) are the majority respondents which allows us to really see how our opening will appeal to them. We are able to not only see individual responses in this age range but in the others as well which shows us how other age groups will respond.

(2) This question gives us the main idea of whether thrillers appeal to our audience. The majority response being 'sometimes' lets us know that it depends on the film and storyline more that the genre itself this allows us to focus on how the opening looks and making sure it captures attention.

(3) This question helps us see how intense we should make our opening. The majority response was one below 'very' showing it should be intense but not terrifying allowing us to put a limit on how far we go into the thriller genre.

(4) This questions help us to see how effective our idea of flashbacks will be on the audience. The overall answer was no, which is positive for our opening. However 14 people out of 37 did respond as well, meaning that in able to appeal to the audience fully we need to be careful and selective with when and where we place the flashbacks in order to avoid any confusion or misleading information.

(5) This was definitely an overall answer of Yes. This is very helpful for us as a very important aspect to our opening is that the man is seen but has a hidden identity. The results have shown that our expectations of the effect of this were right and this will hopefully be effective.

(6) The majority answer here is Yes. This is very helpful for our planning process as our piece includes a climax of action which end on a generally quite tense outcome (revealing the shadowed mans face). We have specifically planned to build up the tension in the middle of the opening and have an almost anti-climax (the women is fine in the forest following flashbacks - continues running) however we are also adding tension and enigma by showing the man following her (present day) in the woods. This will create tension at the end of the opening, and these results can confirm that this will be effective.



(7) As we can see the majority answer for the question "In your  opinion should the storyline be clear from the opening sequence?" we found the answer is yes. this means that our opening will need to  understandable for the audience on what is going on in the opening.

(8) Many people were not sure on if there should be more than 2 or 3 characters in the opening sequence. but for our sequence the maximum amount of characters we are having is 2.

(9) For the question "if mildly disturbing/ creepy shot flashed onto the screen would this put you off of the sequence?" 83.78% of our viewers suggested no while 16.22% said yes

Week Plan - 24th Feb

Because of the way all three of our timetables work, we are unable to film until next Tuesday (3rd March). So we are setting some goals for the this week to achieve that will contribute towards the pre-production planning.
We want to use this week to practice the shots & lighting we plan to use so that filming will be efficient we can get it done as quick as possible.

Tuesday (Today): Firstly, we have made a survey. Today we need to review the results from the 37 responses and come to conclusions based on what the audience feedback has said. After this, we are going to practice lighting. We will be focusing on the lighting in the flashback sequence as we need to create a specific atmosphere (mystery, fear, etc) and keep the man a hidden identity. All photos taken will be posted to the blog.
Friday (27th Feb): We plan to practice shots in this time. Especially the tracking shots following the running women as we again need to create an effect which makes it feel like the audience are following her. We will also be exploring the camera angles we have planned for the same reason. All practices will be posted to the blog.

Lighting
We went through the shot list and picked specific shots we wanted to create in practice. We found this so helpful in getting a sense of the kind of atmosphere we want to create through the lighting. Here are a few examples:

We chose to try out a shot sequence in the flash backs that show the male character walking alongside a counter, this consists of shots focusing on the characters hand and legs. The first shot we tried was a close up on the characters hands running along side the counter, we decided we want to have his legs in shot. We created this with one LED light on medium strength from above the character.

Using the same lighting as the previous shot, we created the medium close up of the character walking along the side (from his mid thigh down)

(2) Next we decided to replicate a CU we have planned of the women's (in the flashback - been kidnapped) foot moving from out of a spotlight into darkness/ a shadow. (In the actual shot she will be bare foot) we did this using again, one LED light coming from above (slightly at an angle) her foot, with the strength very low however close to the subject. We want to create mystery in this shot.

To experiment, we then tried adding some filters to the light. Not many made a significant difference to the shot, however the purple filter sheet (used in the shot above) did make a difference to the shot. The purple definitely made the shot more interesting and enticing, however it did also take away some of the darkness and mystery. We are not 100% sure on this shot yet.

(3) Third we were keen to try and create some of the shots of the mans face (trying to keep his identity hidden). This was definitely harder than expected and took us quite a few times to get it right. We created both shots with one LED light and no filters. The top shot we tried to create by placing the light directly behind him, however it ruined the shot as we couldn't see anything. So we worked out that putting the light directly on top of him created the mysterious effect we wanted - only lighting up his hood and cap.

This is our favorite one we based this on a specific picture we found on Google (used to describe his costume on a previous blog post).

Audience Feedback

In order to get audience feedback throughout the planning, filming and editing of our project we have made an account with survey monkey and have constructed a survey to collect ideas from our target audience. Also we will see how different age group will interpret our thriller opening.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/Q37B8ZF

With our target audience being young people ages 16-21, we are going to share the link mainly via social media. eg/ Facebook & Twitter. Additionally we will be targeting our friends. 

Animatics

Without Sound:

With Commentary:

The Plan of Lighting in The Opening Thriller

The setting of the film will take place around morning outside in the woods. So the main source of lighting will come from the sun. However, when filming we will be using a variety of LED lights and reflectors to balance the lighting in our sequence.

Shot List

Shot	Description	Time
1	Establishing shot of woods – ELS – eye level	3 seconds
2	Establishing shot on path – MS – low level	3 seconds
3	Following/pan of her running – low level – MCU – just legs	4 seconds
4	Establishing shot of stream – MS – eye level/low angle	3 seconds
5	Her running past the camera – low level – CU- just feet	2 seconds
6	Shot behind tree – pan of her running past - LS	3 seconds
7	Behind foliage – panning back to see her running past – LS	3 seconds
8	Focus of her face when she runs past the camera – face on - CU	3 seconds
9	POV – her running seeing scenery everything begins to get blurry	5 seconds
10	Tracking from behind – she stops camera keepings going and jolts back as if we are following. – MLS to MS	4 seconds
11	Pan around her 360 – her taking her earphones out - MS	6 seconds 39 seconds
12	Her sitting down – LS – Eye level	3 seconds
13	FB- Machinery – CU	2 seconds
14	Her sitting down – LS – eye level	3 seconds
15	FB - Machinery with blood - CU	2 seconds
16	Her sitting down – LS – eye level	3 seconds
17	FB - Male hand running along a counter past machinery – CU – high angle/birds eye view	2 seconds
18	FB- Bloody hand print -MCU	2 seconds
19	FB – tracking his legs walking past machinery – low level - MS	2 seconds
20	FB – outside of machine room - LS	2 seconds 1 minute
21	FB – Machinery - CU	2 seconds
22	FB – ECU of mouth – heavily breathing , smeared blood	2 seconds
23	FB – CU of a ring on side/floor – shallow depth of field of her in background	3 seconds
24	FB – foot moving back out of light- MCU- MCU	2 seconds
25	Graphic match – face hidden to her face - CU	5 seconds
26	Pov watching her from foliage - ELS	4 seconds
27	Pan up of her sitting down to standing up - MS	3 seconds
28	Her looking around confused – MLS	3 seconds
29	Her slightly stumbling forwards trying to walk – MS	3 seconds
30	Her hand hit a tree – zoom in on her hand to highlight the ring – MCU – CU - ECU	4 seconds
31	Cut to her playing her music again – CU of phone	3 seconds
32	Her putting her headphones in - MS	4 seconds 1 min 38
33	Her beginning to run again - LS	3 seconds
34	Her running down the path pan right see figure hidden	4 seconds
35	Her running past the stream - LS	4 seconds
36	Quick CU of womens feet (running)	2 seconds
37	ELS of women running along reservoir (train in background)	5 seconds
38	Still MS to ELS (as she is running away from camera) with figure following after her.	4 seconds
39
Total:		2 mins :)

Target Audience

In our opening thriller we decided that are our target audience is 15-24 years old. To show this we decided to include a lot of suspense as this is what we believe the targeted audience look for in a thriller film. We have classed this as an 15 license rated film due to the variety of strong violence it contains and discriminating language and behavior. Information can be found at http://www.bbfc.co.uk/what-classification/15







We see our opening thriller for the target audience that are fans of the thriller genre such as films like "The Woman in Black" directed by James Watkins and the film "The Hole" directed by James Dante as they are Thriller/Sub-Horror that contain the similarity of suspense and violence.

Also the main character that the audience sees in the opening thriller is in the age range leading to the audience having a connection with the character.

Furthermore, the setting where we are going to film (in the woods and machinery room) makes it appealing to this audience as it is the stereotypical thriller locations as they appear eerie and they provides tension which the audience seeks in a thriller film.


In addition the character will be wearing  a jogging outfit  as this will appeal to our target age group. Gender wise we see the idea appealing mainly to the female gender as the main character is female. However, this film will also appeal to male gender as the tension and suspense continues throughout the thriller.
Despite no verbal language, the facial expression and body language will play a key role in the opening film and will appeal to the target audience. For this to work the actress must consider that her character is a 17 late teenage girl.
The main premise of the thriller is the suspense and the unknown which we see as engaging to our main audience.