Evaluation question 5

How did you attract/ address your audience?

By having Teenagers and mainstream thriller fans as our target audience it would then become much easier and successful to appeal to them because they are situated mostly in one place such as schools and work. In doing so to appeal to them, teenagers in particular, we could have posters for the characters and specific scenes from the film in order to have the audience feel as though they can own part of the merchandise.

How we addressed the audience however was through our actors, having them in a teenage and young adult age range. This would make it relatable for the audience and have a sense of realism instead of the story seeming as if it’s been created from an adult’s point of view on the younger generation. Also the type of character Grace is, having her personality so down to earth and real, it then has her connect with the audience and more specifically the people her age, as they may be able to understand her feelings towards a situation.  This would eventually fulfil the gratification of entertainment/ diversion as well as personal relationships as the audience would be able to see a situation or an event where their choices may have been different to that of what Grace would have chosen or perhaps both doing the same thing.

As the story goes on and Grace is faced with life changing choices, her bravery and independence will hopefully appeal to the younger audience and make them more likely to look up to her as a role model of some sorts. Also because of Graces attitude and outlook towards specific subjects and situations, the members of the audience who are perhaps the same age as Grace would have a certain need to be liker her in some aspect. By appealing to this audience with a young role model who would relate more to a younger teenage audience it would create a need to watch the film even if it’s not for the story line but instead to have a want of seeing the character or perhaps even for guidance, to take experience for this character strong attitude and influence it on their own lives.

Also because the members of our focus group showed an interest in many of the aspects that were implemented in Soul this further gave us a boost in which target audience would be best suited for Soul. The most talked topic was story line, plot twists and cinematography which we made sure to include as they considered it to be a vital part of watching any thriller film in their opinion.

On the other hand for our mainstream thriller fans we would have to take different approach to attracting them however at the same time still keeping the same aspects which would address the teenage audience. By doing so we make sure there would be plenty of intense action in the film as well as addressing the appropriate conventions in order to elaborate which genre we were influencing and to keep the natural flow of a thriller film. It was also to keep the fans interested and on the edge of their seats while watching, like any classic thriller should.

 Further more the setting of the film kept the convention of dull lighting as well as addressing a feeling of isolation which would appeal to the mainstream fans as it conforms to many other block buster films which have used this convention wisely and had turned out with great effect on their viewer.  For example, in the hotel scenes of ‘Momento’ where the protagonist is on the phone as well as the investigation facility in ‘Hanna’ follow this convention of dull lighting and colouring as well as an isolated place.  

Although the thriller genre is often seen as more of a masculine than feminine genre, we set forth to challenge that with the uniqueness of Soul. Through the vast cast of females which only just outweighs the amount of males playing an important role in the story this appealed to more of a female audience rather than male. This would surely create some contrivers amongst the film industry which would encourage more people to see the film for them to understand where these comments where coming from.

Our film would also appeal to people who are situated in the country of it’s making, and with this instants it would be England. For this the accents and clothing would be sure to shine through and appeal to audiences to perhaps see how this was portrayed as most thriller block busters are done by American production companies. For example this is clearly distinguished not only through their accents but also when Demi is talking to her assistant and asks ‘the one from England?’ showing Graces origins and home place.