Audience Analysis

Target audience analysis

By Cait Humphrey

Analysis - Dawn of the Dead

The clip opens with shot of a large group of people praying before cutting to a black screen with red text on it telling us the film information. The text is red and it runs off screen like a liquid which make us associate it with blood and this suggests that the genre of the film is horror. Throughout the opening the clip constantly cuts to scenes of large amounts of violence and blood as well as showing quick cuts of people covered in blood that have been “infected” by the zombie virus. The constant cuts to scenes of violence and blood hugely establishes the genre of horror in the film. Throughout the first thirty five seconds of the clip there is no music playing, only sounds of talking as the clip cuts to a scene of reporters asking questions at a press conference. This establishes the storyline of the film as being a virus that turns people in to zombies has affected the whole world.

We find out that the name of the film is “Dawn of the Dead” and this comes up on the screen in bold, red text keeping with the red colour scheme of the other text. The text is kept on screen for the longest which emphasises it as the title of the film and the way it runs of screens emphasises its association with blood as well as emphasising the virus part of the film.

The main storyline of the film is introduced very clearly in the clip without giving anything to do with the ending away in the first two minutes. From the cross cuts to the press conference throughout the first thirty five seconds we discover that some sort of virus has affected the world’s population, turning them in to zombies. The authorities do not know what to do or how to stop it and we can see this from when a reporter asks a question and the man replies “we just don’t know.” We know that it has affected the world as there are many cross cuts to different global locations throughout the opening but this does not give us any clue to where the film is set.

After the first thirty five seconds non-diegetic music begins to play – “When the Man Comes Around” by Johnny Cash. This gives the film a possible theme of religion or judgement as the song itself is about judgement day on Earth. The opening also ends with a religious quote about judgement day again emphasising the theme of religion and judgement.

Analysis - The Ward

The clip begins with a long shot of a dark and empty corridor, the camera tracking slowly until the name of the film “David Carpenter’s The Ward” comes up on screen. The corridor is dark and empty giving the impression that the building is abandoned and no longer used, creating an eerie atmosphere and establishing the horror genre. Locations of horror films are usually dark and abandoned as they add to the daunting atmosphere and create suspense. There is a storm going on outside and lightning flashes throughout the tracking shot adding to the atmosphere. Diegetic sound from the storm such as wind and thunder is also heard throughout the shot and all of this helps to establish the horror genre as storms are common in horror films and they add to the frightening atmosphere that this genre is associated with.

After the name of the film comes up on screen, non-diegetic music begins to play and the clip then cuts to discoloured and black and white photos of people being tortured and experimented on medically while they shatter like glass. The music is contrapuntal to the photos being shown as it is quite light and high pitched but it helps add to the eerie atmosphere being created. There is also diegetic sound of glass breaking as it shatters on the screen. The music hints at the film being a psychological horror as it only creates an eerie atmosphere instead of one of suspense commonly associated with slasher films. No main characters are introduced in the first two minutes and there is no death shown either which again hints at the psychological horror genre as they do not tend to focus on death and gore. The text of the title also hints at this as even though the text is a dark colour, which is commonly associated with the horror genre, the text is a general font and this is not a convention of the slasher-horror genre. However the photos show people in pain and possibly being tortured which suggest the film may actually be a slasher.

We find out that the film is based in a hospital from the tracking shot of a hospital corridor at the beginning as well as the photos of patients and doctors being shown throughout the clip. The name of the film “The Ward” also tells us that the film will be set in a hospital. The photos suggest that it may be set in an old and abandoned mental asylum as they show patients mostly being given brain surgeries and treatments. The photos are old as they are black and white or discoloured and show out of date medical practices being done on patients and showing them suffering/being in pain and this also suggests that the film is a psychological horror. No characters are introduced to us in the first two minutes so we do not know who the main character is, although there are hints that it may be a woman as two photos are shown of the same women curled up in different positions and locations suggesting she will be a main part in the film.

Target Audience

This is an example of our target audience.
By Cait Humprey

Target Audience

Target Audience Questionnaire

This is a link to our questionnaire asking our target audience about the different genres they like and why they like them.


Questionnaire Results

This is a link to the results of our questionnaire.

By Cait Humphrey

Genre

My group has now decided on the genre horror for our film opening, meaning we will now begin to research the different conventions of horror films and see how to make our opening fit these.
We decided against doing a film opening with the genre of romance as we would struggle to make the genre clear and give an idea of the storyline in the first two minutes of our opening. 
We also decided against the genre of crime as there would have been safety issues concerning our opening storyline and if we failed to shoot it properly then our opening would fail to look professional.
This is why we decided the horror genre would be the best thing for us to make an opening for.

Preliminary Exercise

This is my preliminary exercise. It is a continuity task involving filming and editing a character opening a door, crossing a room and sitting down in a chair opposite another character, with whom she/he then exchanges a couple of lines of dialogue. This task should demonstrate match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180 degree rule.

Ideas for Film Openings

These are my group's mind maps of ideas, techniques and resources for the different genres we could make a film out of. We thought of storylines for the genre romance, psychological horror and crime.
By Cait Humphrey and Tyler Garland

Analysing Film Openings

Analysing Film Openings

By Cait Humphrey

Conventions of Media

Conventions of Media

By Cait Humphrey

Brief

I will be making and uploading a two minute opening to a new fiction film with my group Tyler Garland, Shakira Rawlins and Will Humphrey.