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1. Part 1
Primaryresearchisresearchthat isdone firsthandby the productioncompaniesinthe formof
surveys, exitpollsandtestscreenings/focusgroups.Surveysare usuallyaskedtothe general public
and theyusuallyconsiderfindingoutthe target audience byfindingoutaboutthe characteristicsof
the people askedandif theywouldbe interestedinthe film/genre/castor not.An exitpoll isasked
to the audience thatcomes outof the cinemaafterthe filmandtheyare askedaboutwhat theyjust
saw soit’sfreshintheirmindsandask themquestionssuchaswhat theywouldrate the filmoutof
10 and whattheyspecificallylikedordisliked.Testscreenings/focusgroupsare usedtoshow a
groupof people the finishedmediaproductorwhenit’s inprogresstosee how people receive the
filmandwhattheythinkof itpersonallyandare askedquestionsaboutthe characters,mainlythe
protagonisttosee whattheythinkaboutthemand theyalsoask themaboutthe plot andusually
the endingtosee howit’sreceived andthentheycollate thatdataand decide if actionneedstobe
made before the filmsreleasedsothe filmisbetterreceived.If theydecide actionisneededthey
will reshootwhateverwasseenasthe problem, probablythe mostfamousexample of thiswaswith
whenthe filmIam LegendstarringWill Smithwasbroughtto a focusgroup andit came to lightthat
the audience didn’tenjoythe endingwhere the protagonistactuallyturnedouttobe the antagonist
theyreshota completelydifferentendingwhere the protagonistremainsaheroand sacrifices
himself andleftthe originalendingasa bonusfeature onthe DVD butnow the original endingis
perceivedasalot betterthanthe reshotone so youhave to be careful whenitcomestofocus
groups.
Part 2
Target audience
I thinkthe producerstargetedacertainaudience thattheyknew isoutthere because of previous
filmssuchas takenwhichhasa similarplotandsame leadactor soit had the same target audience
whichwasabout 15-35, Middle classto workingclass,C1- E, ProbablyMale wouldbe the majority
but Womenare a bigtargetaudience too.Theydidthisbecause itguaranteedtohave an audience
because of past films.Alsobecausewe see itisbasedonthe booksthere will be anaudience of
people whoreadthe bookwhoare prettymuchguaranteedtosee itbut the producersand directors
will have tostickto the source material to keepthataudience happyotherwisetheycouldface bad
reviewsfromdedicatedfansof the bookwhomaythinkit strayedfromthe source material.
Setting
In the beginningwe hearthe firsteventhappenedinabar in WashingtonHeights,New York(We
hearthis thoughexpositioninthe formof the maincharactersvoice over).WhichIsa conventionof
crime actionthrillermoviesbecause quiteafew actionthrillersare setinnew Yorkand otherbig
citiesandisusedin thisandwe knowfrom the getgo what the genresare. But there isno clue to
where he isafterthe event;we assume it’sthe same place.Alsointhe trailerwe see the protagonist
ina graveyardmultipletimestosignifydeathandit’sobviouslyasuitable settingforanaction
thriller,butwe knowthroughthe graveyardthe protagonistisgoingtobe dealingwithdeathin
manyways.

2. Characters
A protagonistisconventional toActonthrillers.A strongcoldfigure thatreallyissoftonthe inside.
Who ishuntingafterthe unknownantagonistorgroupsof antagonists.The antagonistshave killed
one of hisclient’swiveswhoplaysthe role of the victim.The husbandof the victimscharacteris
originallyshownascaringbutthenseemsmore shadywhenwe hearthathe doesn’twantthem
killedhe wantsthatbroughtto him.Thissuggestshe isa more complex characterand maybe
involvedinthe plotmore thanoriginallythoughtandhasthe potential eventobe asecondary
protagonistorantagonist,we don’tknow yet.
Narractive
There is Expositionof the manbeinga formerpolice officerbyanunknownmanand thenits
switchedtohimbeingaprivate detective trackingdownakidnapperwhohe’scome acrossbecause
of hisworkas a newlyformedvigilante/private detective butistoldnottoturn theminby the
husbandof the victimand bringthemto himinsteadwhichsuggestsbadintentions.There isalso
some narrative enigmacodesusedinthe formof a pastiche reference tothe child’sstorylittlered
ridinghoodandanchors us into the plotline of kidnapthroughthe reference andmakesuswonder
if there will be similaritiesinthisfilmsnarrative and if itwill be sobluntasto copy the plot.It’sused
to make people wonderandthinkaboutthe filmmore the essence of enigmacodesinfilm.
Iconography
Liam Neesonhimself isaniconfor the actionthrillergenre because he hasbeeninsomanyaction
thrillersSuchastaken).Theychose LiamNeesontodraw the audience inusingstartheorybecause
we knowhimfor being sosuccessful infilmssuchasTakenand we know there are people whowill
go to see the filmjustbecause LiamNeesonisinit.Gunsare also usedwhichare obviouslyamajor
conventioninactionthrillerandthere isa gunalmostin everyshotsowe know there will be alot of
action.
Technical features
The editinggetsfasterandfasterpacedto buildtensionthroughoutthe trailer.There ismultiple non
diegeticmusictracksusedinthe beginningthe musicbuildssuspenseandthenlaterthere isa more
melodictune played.The misenscene andlightingthroughoutisverydarkandominoustokeep
intactwiththe genre of actionthriller.There isnota single highkeylightingshotthroughoutthe
traileruntil we see awomanwhoassume isthe victimthat the protagonististryingto save and itis
usedto try and conveyoverthe innocence of the victimbyusingthe highkeylightingandmaking
herlookangelicespeciallycomparedtothe restof the shotsused.
Part 3
Codesandconventions
There are a couple thingsthatare typical of actionthrillersone of thembeingthe actual actor
himself,LiamNeesonveryrecentlyhasbecome notjustaconventionof actionthriller’sbuta
Empire state buildinginbackground.Typical shadybarforactionthrillers.New Yorkshowntypical
locationforactionthrillermovies.

3. stereotype.Apartfromthatthoughinthe weakfallow areawe see a gunin his righthand whichis
obviouslytypical of actionthrillers.There isalsoagraveyardinthe backgroundwhichsymbolises
deathwhichisanotherconventionof the actionthrillergenre.
Anchorage
The image of LiamNeesonanchorsusbecause he isthe onlythingin the foregroundandhe is
centredsohe isthe thingthat draws oureyesin.Alsobecause he addressesthe audience bylooking
directlyintothe lenstogive ita more personal feel.There isalsoabitof depthof fieldusedjustso
Liam Neeson’scharacterlooksmore focusedwhichmakesusfocusonhim.
Modesof address
Liam Neeson’scharacterislookingdirectlyintothe lenstomake the posterhave a more personal
feel toitbecause itmakesit looklike he islookingdirectlyatthe audience andaddressingthem.
Part 4
I completedsome primaryresearchafterthe screeningof awalkamongthe tombstonesinthe form
of an exitpoll.The exitpollconsistedof 10 questions andwasaskedto100 people intotal andI
collatedthe datausinga seriesof charts.
Question1was genderandthe resultswere that60% were female and40% were male whichshows
us the primaryaudience wasfemale butonlyjust.
Question2was age,80% were from16-20 and 20% were 35+ so we know that the primaryaudience
were youthful byquite alot.
Question3was howdidtheyhear aboutthe film, 42% saidword of mouth33% saidcinematrailer
8% saidmagazinesandnewspapersand17% saidTelevision.Thisshowsushow broadthe marketing
campaignfor the filmwasandhow muchmoneywasput intoit butwe can still see nomatterhow
much moneyyouputintomarketingwordof mouthis the bestformof advertisement.
Question4was whatmade youwantto watch the film55% saidbecause of the star LiamNeeson,
36% saidbecause of the trailerand9% said the book.So we can see the thingthat baitedthe
audience the mostwasthe star. So itwas obviousthe people whocastthisfilmusedstartheoryto
theirfavourto drawthe crowdsin.
Question 5 wasdidthe filmlive uptoexpectations the majority83% saidyesand17% saidno, so
we can see that the filmtothe audience wasasuccessbut there wasa group of 17 people that
thoughthigherof it.
Question6was if the filmdidlive uptoyour expectationswhy?33% saidLiam Neeson’sacting33%
saidthe action 17% said the storyline and17% said itmatchedthe book.We can take away fromthis
that people thoughtitwasa successbecause of a groupof aspectsnot justone.
Question7was if it didn’tlive uptoyourexpectationsand50% said itwas cliché and50% saidthere
was notenoughactionso we can see the criticismsare more agreeduponwhichmaybe goodand

4. bad forthe producersbecause there wasn’tagroupof thingsthatwere wrongbut the thingsthat
were wronggroupsof people agreedupon.
Question8was will yoube buyingthe filmonDVD/blu- raywhenitcomesout 50% saidyesand
50% saidno sowe see thatpeople thinkthe filmdoesn’thave muchdepthbecauseonce you’ve
seenitthere’snotmuchdesire itto see itagainbut there isanother50% whowouldlike tosee it
again.
Question9was isthere any specificcritiquesyouhave,33% saidit couldhave beenfasterpaced
33% saidcliché and33% saidnot enoughaction. The same critiquesasbefore sowe can see the
audience isconsistentonwhattheybelieveandwe see thatthe filmobviouslyhasitsflawsand
people have pickeduponthem.
Question10 wasdo you thinkLiam Neesonsuited the role and100% of the audience saidyes.Sowe
can see the people whocast Liam Neeson made agooddecisionwhenusinghimandwe cansee
that the use of star theorypaidoff.
Question11 waswouldyourecommendthisfilm, 80% of the audience saidyesand20% saidno,we
cans conclude thenthatthe filmwasrelativelyasuccessandwill spreadevenmore throughwordof
mouth.
Conclusion
Overall Ithinkit’sfairto say fromthe statisticsfrommyprimaryresearchthat the filmwasa success
mainlydue tothe use of star theoryby castingLiamNeesonasthe protagonistbutthe filmwasn’t
withoutflawswiththe audience consistentlysayingthatitneededmore action,neededtobe faster
and lesscliché.