Evaluation question 5 - Vicky

5) How did you attract/address your audience?


There are a number of ways in which we attracted our target audience, in in this post I am going to break down exactly how we did it. I will do this by referring to the specific characteristics that make up our target audience, detailed by the previous question. I will then be inserting screen shots alongside each section, to show where in our opening sequence we used these techniques.


Males


Stereotypically, males are said to enjoy lots of actions, both in real life, and also vicariously through film. We have incorporated lots of action and violence in our opening sequence, which is evident from the blood strewn across zombie faces, and our chase scene, which has a quick pace and fast cut editing. We also appealed to males with the use of an attractive female. Research shows that people are more likey to go and see films if one of the main characters has sex appeal. Here we have done this by using a good looking actress as one of the main focuses in the sequence.

15-24 Year Olds


In order to appeal to this age range, we decided to use actors of a similar age when filming - particularly those representing main characters (survivors). All of the characters in the faced pace chase scene (the action also appeals to this age range) are aged between 17 and 18. By using people of this age, the audience will be able to relate to them more easily, as they will understand their behaviour, and also things such as fashion and style.

Isaac, who plays the main zombie, is 17 years old.

Social Class


In order to appeal to the social class D and E we did two things. After researching using the British Film Institute statistical yearbook, we found that this class is more likely to go see films with gore, violence and action. In order to appeal to this, we used these elements in our sequence, which can be shown by things such as a blood strewn bat. We also appealed to this class by using actors and characters who are also of the same class - students. This makes it easier to relate to the characters as they understand their mentalities and idiosyncrasies.

Our zombies are students (social class D/E) who have been infected with the virus.

Nationality


In order to appeal to our british target audience, our film was entirely british. This included the actors, and locations, as well as all the behind the scenes and pre production features such as funding. People have a sense of national pride, and often enjoy purchasing things and experiencing things that are strongly linked with their background and have recognisable features.

All the locations are in England

Zombie Film Fans


In order to appeal to existing zombie film fans, we tried to make our opening sequence similar to other films in this genre, which we hoped would make it look more like a real product. Below are some aspects I considered when producing the film.


Genre Conventions included in the sequence are;

• Has locations both outside and inside, in derelict looking areas
• There is a main protaganist
• The narrative follows the survivors as they escape from zombies, rather seeing it from the zombie POV
• Common iconography and props, eg. fake blood and melee weapons
• Foley effects were used to create footsteps, pounding and roars. Ambiance music was overlaid. 

Music - I used ambiance music from Soundtrack Pro for a lot of the score in our opening sequence. I used this music in order to create an eery feel and add tension to the visuals for a better overall effect. Our target audience enjoys horror and zombie films because of the adrenaline rush and intense frights you can get from them. For this reason, I added the ambiance music in order to heighten this and increase the thrills they would get.

Similaries with other films - As previously stated, our intense research meant we were able to include lots of genre conventions, which we hoped would make our film look more like a real product. However this was not the only reason to include similarities to other films. If a film concept is similar in some ways to a successful, existing product, then you can be sure that there is already a fan base available for it. An example of how we did this is with the female protaganist. This has been seen in the film 'Resident Evil', where 'Alice' is the main character. This would attract fans of this film to our product, in the hope that they would get to experience something similar to a film they already know they enjoy.


Unique Selling Point - Despite our attempts of trying to use conventions for this genre, and also making links with existing products, we wanted our film to have a unique selling point. The way we have done this is by putting more focus on the narrative. Most zombie films follow a strict plot and there is not much deviation. They are more reliant on cliches, gore, and use of cgi for spectacle. Although we did included these things, we wanted to put more effort into the storyline than these pre-existing products. We worked hard to come up with an idea, and created a more complex back story, which was to be referred to, and expanded on throughout the film as a sub plot. We feel that this would help to attract a wider audience - those that already enjoy zombie films, and those that want more from them, and enjoy aspects of mystery and articulate narrative.