How did you attract/address your audience?
Film posters are used to advertise a film and they usually contain details such as the director, producer, release date and the film title. If our film was to have a film poster, it would have to be placed in relevant places to attract the target audience sensibly.
A Billboard would be an excellent space to advertise our film as billboards are large and therefore they stand out and they are always noticeable. Moreover, billboards are positioned on dual carriage ways and in popular places, where people will always take notice of the film poster Bus stops are a brilliant way of advertising films, especially a film that’s of the urban drama genre as youths use buses regularly, and while waiting for at a bus stop they will see the film poster.
Newspapers that are free on public transport like ‘Metro’ are widely read by 15 – 24 year olds (our target audience’s age range) as public transport is commonly used by this age group. Therefore advertising our film poster in these newspapers would be beneficial.
Inside cinemas there are usually advertisements of upcoming films. When going to watch a film of leaving the cinema, people who have watched a film of a similar genre to our film will see our film poster and gain an interest for our film which would attract more viewers. We as a group considered many factors and technical aspects and how they would attract/address the audience:
Camera
The first shot of the opening sequence is of the surroundings of the top of the stairs which very slowly pans while the production name is shown on screen. This draws in the audience as it gives a sense of mystery and the audience are left wondering where the film is set and also the production title covering the majority of the shot makes the audience feel frustrated and makes them want to know more straight away. The next shot is a handheld shot of the main character Lauren walking down the stairs towards the door. This handheld shot is very significant as it allows the audience to feel as though they are part of the film. Subsequently, the shot that comes after is a shot from the inside of the basement of the door opening. This is a mid shot as we can see some of the surroundings and the characters legs and feet. Thus draws in the audience as they have not yet been able to establish who the character is as only parts of the character have been revealed. Followed by the mid shot, is a very short shot of the light switch being turned on so that the surroundings become well lit so the audience can see properly as well as the character. This shot is of an everyday casual activity that anyone would do, so at this moment in time the character is normal and the audience feel comfortable with this. This shot was a close up shot focusing only on the light switch and not on anything else. The next three shots are long shots that slowly pan and show the surroundings of the location and show the living conditions of each character. The next shot shows the character walking and its long shot as we can see the characters body movement as well as the surroundings, which leads straight on to the next shot which is a close up shot of the character stepping on the broken glass which is effective on the audience as it draws them in as broken glass can symbolise so much. For example, shatter dreams, death. After this shot, it goes back to a long shot of the character walking towards an alcohol bottle and a close up shot is then used to show the character checking to see it there is anything in the bottle, showing her desperation for alcohol and drugs leaving the audience wondering why the character is like this.
The next shot is a cut away shot showing further surroundings and pipes establishing where the character is, the audience are able to make assumptions that maybe she is in a storage room, or a basement etc. These assumptions can lead to the audience making their own judgement on the character too. After that, a long shot of the character looking through bags looking for something but the audience do not know at this moment in time what it is she is looking for. Next is an extreme close up shot of the title written out in the cocaine, this pans very slowly to show the whole title so that the audience know what film they are watching. After that, is a mid shot of the character looking though the objects on the table, we can only see some of her body and the objects on the table which once again gives a sense of vagueness to the audience as the character are still not revealed. Next, is a high angle mid shot of the objects and this shot moves as the character moves, so the audience feel as though they are moving with the character. Then there is a high angle shot of the character picking up the belt and sitting down on the sleeping bag, the audience feel more dominant and powerful as the character is very vulnerable. After this, is a shot of the character taking of her jacket and it is a very short shot and a cut away shot is then used and pans over the objects on the table. Straight away after this quick cut away shot, as a mid shot of the character tightening her belt around her arm, there is another cut away shot showing the surrounding and the pipes. The shot then goes back to a short shot of the characters teeth clenching the belt. From here, there is a shot of the image of the child, which is quick and then quickly the shot changes to the character preparing to inject herself. Then once again there is another close up of a child’s image, and then the shot changes back to the character injecting herself with heroin. Once again, there is another shot of the child and then the shot changes to the heroin being injected again. The images of the child allow the audience to judge why the character is self harming herself and using drugs to do this. The next two shots are shots of the surroundings which are used as cut away shots, leaving the audience in suspense and building up tension. The last shot is a very slow gradual pan of the characters arm, revealing part of the characters face towards the end of the pan. This show allows the audience to judge whether or not the character is alive.
Lighting
Throughout the film we wanted it to be very dim lighting so that the audience can feel the themes of loneliness and darkness. Although we used black and white effects, the lighting is still very visible in the opening sequence. The lighting is very dark, up until the part of the opening sequence when the light switch is turned on, and everything becomes brighter and more visible. This allows the audience to see and gather information from what they see in the frame.Mise en Scene
The objects in the frame of the whole of the opening sequence show the contrast between the children’s toys and accessories and the drugs and alcohol. This contrast enables the audience to gain an understanding of the story line that will be shown further on in the film. The show of the character Lauren looking through the objects on the table show this contrast.
Special effects
The whole of the opening sequence was in black and white. However, there were a few exceptions. When the images of the child was shown during the activity of heroin taking place, the short shots of the child were in colour, to highlight the importance of the memory being remembered by the character which motivated her to self harm herself with the use of heroin. The audience’s understanding of this is very important as the rest of the film will rely on this understanding. After the shot of the title ‘Forsaken’ being shown on the screen, the effect ‘dip to black’ is used which very gently moves on to the next shot smoothly, allowing the audience to flow on to the next shot.
Sounds
Starting from when the light switch is turned on, there is a very faint sound of a baby crying. As the opening sequence carries on, the sound gets louder and louder so it is heard without any effort. Also, when the images of the baby are shown, the sound of the baby’s cries is at its highest to give a greater effect on the audience. Towards the end of the opening sequence after the character has injected herself with heroin, there is a heart monitor sound that goes on, until we hear the flat line, symbolising that the character is dead. This gives the audience notice of the death, without having to see the character in great detail to make this judgement. Throughout the whole of the opening sequence the music played in the background is very soft and gentle, the use of piano increases tension and suspense.
I will expect the audience to have prior knowledge of an urban drama when watching our film. I would expect the audience to expect that there will be strong use of drugs in our film as this is a big issue in today’s society and that drug use is common in youths at the moment.
Themes in our film are very common themes of an urban drama. These themes include:
Death – a theme which everyone can relate to, especially our target audience. This will attract the audience as they will be intrigued to find out who has died and how the person has died. The audience can relate to death, because nearly almost everyone has had some experience of death.
Drugs and alcohol – drugs and alcohol is a problem in today’s society especially in the younger generation. Therefore, the target audience will have an interest in this to see how our film portrays the typical problems of this. similarly, the film ‘Requiem for a Dream’ has the same theme of drugs and alcohol as the whole film is based around this Street life – our target audience are youths living in London, where street crime is very popular. This will attract the target audience to watch the film because they will be able to relate to this. Correspondingly, this is very similar to ‘Kidulthood’ and ‘Adulthood’.
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