This document discusses the target audience and genre conventions of a thriller film opening. The opening was aimed at teenagers aged 15-25. Feedback from the target audience was mostly positive, praising the suspense created and unexpected ending. Key genre conventions included stereotypical teenage characters, a derelict location, casual clothing, and themes of obsession and crime. Editing techniques like sliding titles and music built tension without overcrowding the scenes.

1. WHO WOULD BE THE AUDIENCE FOR YOUR
MEDIA PRODUCT? Q4
• This thriller opening shows a high amount of suspense and a range of
different enigma‟s which keeps the audience on edge. This media product
could easily be psychological thriller sub-genre which easily establishes the
target audience 15-25 teenagers because of the events in the opening that
involve teenagers.

2. TARGET AUDIENCE MOOD BOARD AND INDIVIDUAL PROFILES OF YOUR
TARGET AUDIENCE
• As you can see, on my mood board is
aimed at teenagers. On my mood board
you can see teenagers like
cars, clothes, console
games, money, phones, Instagram, twitte
r etc. For example, a typical boy aged
15-25 would like console games, and
watching football and money. However, a
typical girl aged 15-25 would be
interested in clothes, bags and food.

3. The opening had
so much
suspense, got me
on the edge of my
seat. Love to see
the whole film!
The ending of the film
opening was
unexpected, You‟re left on
a cliff hanger wondering
what she dropped
Wasn‟t my type of
thriller as I love
sci-fi thrillers but
the film did put me
on edge!
Loved it and the shots, well
done and edited!
Would like it if there
was more dialogue, but
I think it would of not
created as much
suspense as there was
Good use of lighting! Gave
a great effect and surely
did make tension build up
as she went upstairs!
Feedback from
others (Target
audience)

4. TO DISCUSS ISSUES RAISED AND TARGET
AUDIENCE FEED BACK
• At the start of planning our opening, our main concern was what location should we use to film
our opening that will create suspense and tension but we could have access to and that it will
be quiet enough to film. After we decided to film it at Frankie‟s house we then was discussing
the storyline and how we was going to introduce the house to the audience and to look over the
shot list and plan it altogether with the location included.
• Target Audience Feedback
The target audience feedback was mostly positive after an audience watched our opening, negative
feedback allowed us as a group to improve our opening and to see if we have met our aims and to
see if we‟ve created the storyline we wanted. We mostly got positive feedback about how we
created suspense very well; however, we also got a comment about there was not enough dialogue
however, I think the fact that there was not a lot of dialogue made more suspense which we aimed
to achieve.
We got good feedback about our camera shots and how we used the dull lighting to our
advantage, we pulled off a good shot that created tension as the girl went upstairs. We also got
complimented on our storyline as it was very different and “unexpected” which is what we aimed to
do.

5. HOW DID YOU ATTRACT/ADDRESS YOUR
AUDIENCE? Q5
• In my research, teenager‟s like thrillers because they‟re thrill's with a good story line and it isn‟t
that scary so you can enjoy it whilst being on the edge of what‟s going to happen.
Therefore, our aim was to attract teenagers so we made sure our opening had a good storyline
and to make sure it had a lot of suspense to keep the audience on the edge as that‟s what they
like in a film. We also had to meet 4 main criteria‟s such as
• Genre conventions
• Media language
• Music
• Similarities with other films
After planning all of these, it was up to the opening to see if it matched the criteria‟s and if it reached
up to the standards of our target audience. Even though our thriller opening didn‟t have action
scenes and big explosions it still had reference to our target audience (teenagers) as the girls who
starred in the film were all teenagers which the audience could relate to and also it put the audience
in our shoes so it is like the audience are experiencing what the characters are going through.
Therefore, our opening does address and attract our target audience as our opening is based
around teenagers and what teenagers would do in that specific situation.

6. GENRE CONVENTIONS
• Genre conventions are split up into 4 sections. Characters, iconography, narrative and
themes. Firstly, I will be explaining the characters traits and characteristics in this thriller
opening and how they appeal/address the target audience. For the characters to attract
the audience, iconography was highly important.
The character is first introduced as a
mysterious person which we know nothing
about because the person is hidden which
means the person is hiding their identity for
a reason. The character creates many
enigma‟s just by the look of them. Because
you can‟t see the person identity the
audience is automatically wary of this
character. Also this helps make it a typical
thriller film.
We are introduced to two new
characters, they are typical teenagers as
they‟re at a sleepover, using their
phones, chatting to each other which is
especially stereotypical for teenagers.

7. GENRE CONVENTIONS
Finally, the character reveals herself, and it is a
female which is not typical for a teenager as
she's brave breaking into an neglected house
that is owned by someone else.
To conclude, the iconography of all the characters are stereotypical
teenagers however the main character who finally reveals herself is
brave but also she is stereotypical as she is rebellious and is unaware of
the danger she could be in.

8. ICONOGRAPHY
• Iconography is what the audience can see on the screen for
example, props, costumes, buildings. Our location was the correct location for our film as
the alley had a suspicious and creepy look to it which made it fit perfectly with our
storyline. The alley looked derelict and vacant which created the isolated location that we
wanted.
• The clothing of the characters is what typical teenagers would wear, just casual outing
wear which relates to the target audience as well. Therefore this is suitable thriller
opening for our target audience as they look for uncertainty to create enigma codes.

9. NARRATIVE
• Narrative is when lots of events take place over time which then they're linked to the
cause and effect that then finally takes place and the way the information is ordered. My
product is only an opening therefore it wont have many causes and effects as it isn‟t the
complete film. However, in the opening you can see the some of the causes and effects
that could take place later on. One girl has been stalked on therefore there are more
causes and effects that could happen later on.

10. THEMES
• The theme is hard to identify at the start of our opening but at the end it is quite obvious
that the girl has found something to do with her as she runs out of the house. Our theme
was „obsession‟. However, I think there wasn‟t just one theme in our opening, I think there
was also a theme of crime because she broke into the house and she is creeping around
the house and took something; which is why I think the opening fits male and female
target audience as there‟s a theme of obsession involving the female gender, and crime is
normally related to males in a typical thriller.
When she breaks into the
house gives the theme of
crime
When she drops the papers on
the floor that‟s when the theme
obsession is identified

11. MEDIA LANGUAGE
We used two techniques to show media language which where
• Types of shots
• Special effects (Editing)
Media language is all the things that come together to make the opening work and take place
and without them it wouldn‟t complete the opening therefore media language is very
important. However, media language doesn‟t tell the storyline it just emphasis‟ on the genre
conventions. For example, the dull and low-key lighting makes it easy to know its genre
(thriller) which is special effects (editing).
Without lowkey lighting and dull lighting
this scene and the stairs scene wouldn‟t
be as effective as they are as they both
symbolise and connote danger as you
cant see her surroundings and where
she is.,

12. TYPES OF SHOTS
• In our opening, we used a number of various shots including tracking shots, pan shot and
match on action shots. In the beginning of the opening we used an establishing shot to
create suspense also to show the location and symbolise danger is coming for the girl as
the girl walks closer and closer to the house. We used close up shots to show the
expression on the girls face when she walks into the room to emphasis something bad
has happen which is why she has frozen because she is shocked. We used high angle
shots when the girl runs down the stairs to show that the girl has now become vulnerable.
• Having all these different shots make it more appealing for the audience to watch.
However, we didn‟t use too many as it wouldn‟t flow properly which would have been
uneasy to watch.

13. EDITING
• In our thriller opening we have used skilful editing techniques that made our opening more
effective. We made the titles slide in and slide out at different types that made it more
appealing for the audience as they was all at the beginning whilst the video is playing.
However, we made the characters names stand out by giving it a black background to
reassure our audience who the main characters are to give the audience a better
understanding. This creates more of a flow to our opening which makes it more
pleasurable for our audience to watch. The titles slide in and out which makes the titles
look more fluent because we have got a lot of titles so we had to include them in a way
where it doesn‟t look crowded and spoil the opening scenes. We didn‟t want that to
happen as the audience needs to have an understanding of the storyline therefore we had
to keep the titles fluent.

14. MUSIC
• In our opening, we firstly used non-diagetic sound to automatically create a suspenseful
atmosphere which flowed throughout the whole opening. The non-diagetic sound we used
built up the tension during the sound itself which made it easier than adding lots of sound
into our opening which would ruin the flow of our opening. It made a suspenseful beat
when we need it to but also there was innocent sounds for the scenes were that didn‟t
need suspense; it perfectly matched our opening and the events that happened in it.
• Our soundtrack appealed to our target audience as it has 2 sides. The suspenseful
mischievous sound and then the innocent un-suspicious sounds which is 2 very different
atmospheres therefore it relates to our target audience (teenagers) as they like a storyline
and to be on the edge of their seats.
• We used dialogue to make the audience understand more of the storyline so that the
audience can relate to the opening more.

15. SIMILARITIES WITH OTHER FILMS
• My opening film is similar with the film “The Desent” as the there is a man who is
obsessed with this woman, and he stalks her because he is obsessed with her. Also, it is
similar as he uses crime to stalk her as he breaks in her apartment to watch her sleep etc.
Even though they‟re both very different, they both use the same enigma‟s. For
example, In my opening the girl opens the door which creates enigma‟s and so does the
woman in the Descent. Moreover, the girl runs out of the building which is exactly what
the girl does when she finds something in the room which again, is an enigma code.
These shots are very similar but
they‟re displayed differently. For
example, when the woman opens
the door, the girl in our opening
opens the door but in a p.o.v shot to
create more suspense.
Also, in the shots below, the woman
is running. However, we done the
same shot of the girl running but
instead we done the shot from
behind to show that she is running
away from something to show that
the character is scared.

16. UNIQUE SELLING POINT
• It is rare to see a brave girl going into a vacant place by herself because she got „dared‟
to. In a typical thriller film, it is very unlikely to see a teenage girl face danger out of her
own will; as the girl is in no threat or no danger but she puts herself into danger. Which
then fits our target audience as the girl is a teenager who makes stupid decisions. This
also attracts the male and female audience as the typical woman would be scared
however the girl is not which is different and teenagers would like to see a different side of
teenagers, the brave teenager side as its rare to see a film like that now.