EVALUATION - Our Trailer and Audience

Target audience is the market segment which the film is aiming itself at. It is the group of people who would enjoy that types of film. Target audience can be defined by age, race, gender, and social class. The production company may want to know what the consumers general interests are, such as how they consume films, what they like to watch, where they buy films from etc. The production company would have to analyse the market and decide which segment they wish to aim their product at. For example a kids film at children aged 7-11 or horror film at young adults.

Our trailer is aimed at late teens, young adults. This is because it is a thriller genre, which involves romance, stalking and murder. We believe the teenagers would like our trailer as it shows the action and a reminiscent of romance. We hint the genre from the music playing from the soundtrack, as it tells the audience to feel scared and the shots of a character grabbing a large knife, with Megan frantically running around the house packing her bag, to escape. This will all appeal to the consumers and draw them into watching the whole film. It is very important to consider such elements to meet the target audiences expectations.

A production company would have to consider what techniques they would use and line of appeal to attract the audience. This includes types of editing and the clips shown, music etc. For our trailer we used quick editing and short clips of the action, ending on an enigmatic cliffhanger, to leave them wanting to solve the mystery. We used simple editing transitions, such as fade to blacks and dips to white. There are close up shots of the knife and scared facial expressions to hint to the audience that it is a thriller which they will enjoy.

There is a Uses and Gratification Theory we we have recently learnt about. This is where the audience watch trailer to be informed and educated, to be able to relate/ identify with the characters shown, to be entertained, enable themselves to socially interact with others to discuss what they have seen. And lastly, as escapism, to forget about their troubles and woes. Our trailer sticks to this theory as we do inform our audience about the narrative however, we end on a cliff hanger. They can identify with the main character Megan, by being scared of a boyfriend and the normal situations she is put in. They can escape their troubles, as Megan is in a worse position than they are in and it is entertaining as it ends with a dramatic enigma, leaving them wanting more.

Another theory is the hypodermic Needle Theory. This states that the audience responses are predictable, measurable and directly related to a specific media stimulus. There are two types of audience: the active audience who interact with the text (question it) and the passive audience who are injected with ideologies and just accept the presented versions of events the are feed. However this theory doesn't account for any complex emotional response which may occur.

Our trailer makes the audience react in certain ways from the way which we have edited our trailer together and the use of different shots. We have used close up shots of Megan's scared facial expressions which tells the audience they should be scared as well. When she gives up ad cries, the audience are supposed to feel sympathy for her. the music also tells them to feel scared as well as it builds up climaxes and our film ends with a single ring, then silence, telling the audience it is the end of something big.

There can also be a postmodern view on the audience. This is that everyone is different and we all react in different ways, so we cannot be defined.

Nikki Stock