Research into Already Existing Thrillers
For our media production, in a group of 3 we had to create a opening of our chosen genre - of which we chose to do a thriller. To make this successful, we had to do research into this genre so our production will contain similar conventions to the already existing ones. This page will show the process to how we concluded to our final idea.
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| This visual demonstrates the conventions we already knew were included into thrillers |
As Thrillers have many sub genres, I researched into an example of psychological, crime/comedy and crime. This allowed us to understand the typical conventions the thrillers used and it will influence our ideas and production. In these, we researched into the titles, production and distribution companies, characters, sound track, camera work, editing and mise-en-scene. The end of the Prezi has a conclusion to what we learnt from each example.
'The Orphan' - This is an example of a psychological thriller.
'The Family' -
This is an example of a comedy/crime thriller
'Silence of the Lambs' - This is an example of a crime thriller
In order to get even more ideas, we decided to research into a famous thriller producer and director. Due to doing this, we learnt his main rules and what he found to be very successful - of which will influence our final piece. I'm showing this research on YouTube, but it was originally done on PowToon- It was easier to put on my blog this way.
The table below shows the most successful thrillers in accordance to the box office. The films with a red star next to show the thrillers that include the genre of crime. Which is 9/19, showing that crime is a popular and successful sub-genre. Specifically as 3 are in the top 5 and the first 2 being crime.
This table below shows the top thrillers from last year, 2014. Which again, also shows that thrillers are still very successful and are adapting a lot to suit different target audiences. For example, the first, The Hunger Games and the third, The Maze Runner are all aimed towards middle teenagers.
We decided to brain storm ideas that we found frequently came up in all the film openings. We will then incorporate or be inspired from these. After looking into the already existing films and Alfred Hitchcock's productions, we were able to obtain a better understanding of the conventions that are typically used. Therefore, we made an interaction mind map. This shows how our knowledge on typical narratives, characters, sound, lighting, setting and props had developed and how we will adapt them into our own production.
The mind map is interactive by pressing the arrow in the middle
We had a basic idea of the types of characters that were included. However, we had little knowledge of how and the affect of these characters. To build our understanding, we decided to research into a protagonist and antagonist well known female roles - specifically linked with thrillers.
After looking into the types of female characters, we thought it would be useful to look into the different costumes. These conventions allowed us to understand the messages that were conveyed through different costumes, such as uniform. Therefore, we will be more confident at portraying a message through costumes in our production.
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| The pictures above show the stereotypical 'prisoner' outfit of which we could incorporate into our media production if we chose the sub-genre of crime. The jumpsuits are from 'Misfits' (UK TV), 'Orange is the new Black' (US netflixs original) and '22 jump street' (US FILM) |
To compliment the costume research, we researched into the use of props. We knew these were very important in thrillers for tension, but by doing research we were able to understand why they are used. So, the props we use will be use to show similar conventions.
Chosen Sub-Genre
All of the research above allowed us to produce out initial idea of identity fraud. We thought this would be interesting to research more into and be able to gain even more ideas of how the genre of crime is presented in already existing.
All of the research above allowed us to produce out initial idea of identity fraud. We thought this would be interesting to research more into and be able to gain even more ideas of how the genre of crime is presented in already existing.
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After looking into the many conventions of a thriller, we decided to research into the theme of Identity fraud for a possible narrative for our production.
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After choosing the theme of Identity fraud, we decided to each look into an example of a thriller with the same theme. I chose to look into 'Face/off', a thriller staring John Travolta and Nicolas Cage. By doing this, we were able to all know the main conventions they use in identity fraud and put them together in order to influence our final production.
Desired Audience
After deciding to make our production a thriller, we thought it would be effective to look into the typical audiences that would enjoy thrillers the most. We could then construct conventions that would be more aimed towards them. By researching into already existing productions that were aimed towards the particular age group, it would build on our understanding of what would appeal our audience. Therefore, we conducted a survey on SurveyMonkey.
Example of how our expected audience would answer the questionnaire:
Below is a PowToon of the results we gathered from the questionnaire above.
Existing Audiences
The diagram below shows the amount of each age group who attend the cinema.
The diagram below shows the amount of each age group who attend the cinema.
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This diagram shows that the age groups of 15-24 (our target audience range) is the most likely age group to attend the cinema. Even though the numbers are dropping, for a few reasons the table below suggests, the age group is still one of the dominating. This allows us to understand that producing something towards that age group will be successful as they are the most likely to actually view films in the cinema. |
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The diagram above shows how our target audience watch films. The most common ways being: Dvd, TV and cinema. This group is also the most likely to watch a film online, on websites such as Netflix - as its easier and suits the lifestyle of our target audience. Again, this also highlights to us that targeting our production towards this age group is worthwhile due to the numerous ways in which they prefer to watch films. |
Conclusion
The questionnaires gave us a better general understanding of what to include into our production in order to build a reasonable amount of our desired audience. We’ll use conventions such as sound, as our participants in the questionnaires valued this to be important when building tension – which is also a key convention from Alfred Hitchcock. Due to our target audience also enjoying action and our group not being able to create this effectively, we could foreshadow this for the rest of the production – not in the opening. As if we didn't do this, it may turn away audiences that do enjoy watching action. Another clear convention idea we gained from doing this was the type of protagonist or antagonist that is more preferred by our audiences. We found that our audiences would prefer a female antagonist with a noticeable personality to make them stand out than other characters.
UK Tribes
The screenshot below shows how the teenagers in the UK can be put into specific groups. Including Mainstream, Leading Edge, Urban, Aspirant and Alternative. These were created by a group of teenagers who went onto the streets to research into these different groups. They did these through online surveys online, in qualitative in depth interviews, and video diaries. By doing this, they were able to have thorough details into 25 different personalities ( 5 main ).
The screenshot below shows how the teenagers in the UK can be put into specific groups. Including Mainstream, Leading Edge, Urban, Aspirant and Alternative. These were created by a group of teenagers who went onto the streets to research into these different groups. They did these through online surveys online, in qualitative in depth interviews, and video diaries. By doing this, they were able to have thorough details into 25 different personalities ( 5 main ).
By having this information, we were given a more specific idea of what our audience would be. Instead of just saying teenagers, we were able to know which 'type' of teenagers would enjoy thrillers depending on their personalities, daily lives, likes and dislikes. Below is a more depth information of each of the 5 groups and how they'd fit into our genre. This concludes that our production is more aimed towards mainstream and leading edge. Then, aspirant and urban.
Flash Card Deck created by katherine martin9800 with ExamTime
The UK tribes concluded that teenagers, specifically 16-17 year olds (the middle of our target audience) are the most likely group to go to the cinema. Due to having exams, and working in the weekdays but being to young to go out to clubs or festivals. Going to the cinema and watching films is classed as their 'typical weekend' because it's cheap and quick. Whereas, they're 'desired weekend' would be festivals and going to older events. Therefore, the genre of thriller may make them seem older.
Target Profiles
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| Theses are 3 of the profiles which we would expect our audience profiles to be like if they were to watch of production. We based these on the ages of 16-25, making these at the bottom, middle and near the end of our target audience. |
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| The last target audience profile shows someone who we feel wouldn't be the expected audience, as their lifestyle and views do not compliment the genre of thriller. For example, the man is 31, which is out of the target audience. His life style revolves around his job and family, which wouldn't give him much time to be away from children in order to watch this genre - especially as money would be spent on more family activities. |
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