Throughout our thriller opening sequence we did many things to help attract and address the audience. This would help to make ‘Alter-Ego’ appeal to the audience and make the opening interesting for them.
I think that the posters on the wall in the girls bedroom and the magazines at the start will help to make the opening appeal to the audience. The opening is targeted at teenage girls ages 15-18 and these props are typical items which you may see in a girls bedroom. These props would help to attract the audience as it would mean that it would help them to relate to the storyline. This is something which we wanted to achieve with our thriller because from our research people find this helps them to make the thriller more interesting and thriller if they can see themselves in the situation.
In our opening thriller cutaway shots are used frequently throughout. I think this would help to get and keep the audiences attention. This is because cutaway shots tend to break up a longer shot where the audiences attention may be lost as the shot is focusing on the same thing. Therefore cutaway shots help to interest the audience by breaking up the longer shots where the same thing is happening throughout. The blood on the magazine will help to intrigue the audience as it is at the start of our opening and will make them want to continue watching as it will make them wonder as to why the blood has come from, why it is there and what has happened.
I think that the sound in our thriller production helps to attract/address the audience. There are two types of sound which are featured in our thriller - diegetic sound and non-diegetic sound. Diegetic sound is the noise which comes from the scene and is not added or edited in after such as actors voices. Non-diegetic is sound which has been added after in the editing process. For example music may be added into a thriller to help create suspense. In this shot of our opening there is a loud bang, which is the start of the build up of the revelation of the ‘Alter-Ego’ character. This loud noise gives a sense of mystery and anticipation as the audience is wondering what has caused the noise. At this point the music which is playing in the background begins to crescendo. This is intended to get the audiences hearts racing as the music gets louder and become more dramatic and tense.
Before we filmed our opening thriller we asked the audience what shot types they think are commonly used in thrillers and what they think one of the most effective shot types is. The feedback we got from this was close-ups. We took the feedback and put it to use in our opening. I think that these shots are effective for the audience as it is creating anticipation right before the revelation of the ‘Alter-Ego.’ By keeping the ‘Alter-Ego’ hidden from the audience and making the shots of the ‘normal girl’ opening the door longer we create that suspense and anticipation which according to our research from our Vox Pop is one of the most important factors in the audience.
One way which I feel we fulfilled our audiences expectations is by creating a psychological thriller. We asked the audience what their favourite thriller sub-genre is and which they find the most interesting. The most common response we got was psychological. They said this is because they are the most “intriguing” thrillers and also the most “thrilling” thrillers. They also said it is “like a mind game for the audience.” From this feedback we made our thriller opening a psychological thriller. We also asked “what makes a thriller thrilling” and the response was “good use of music” and “twist and turns and being unique” in the storyline. As we got the response of good music we spent time searching for the right music to fit into our opening but as a group we could not find it therefore we created our own. We used Garage Band on a MacBook to create the music. This way we could make sure it crescendoed and got more dramatic and the correct parts. The response of “twists and turns” in the storyline meant the we spent a long time thinking of a narrative. We first thought of an idea but found it was too cliche and had been done many times. Then we though of the unique narrative of “Alter-Ego” which has the main “twist” in as the antagonist and protagonist are the same person. The storyline is “unique” as something like this has never been done before. Overall I feel that from the feedback from the audience and producing and watching ‘Alter-Ego” we have fulfilled their expectations and what they wanted from a thriller.
Overall our audiences responded well to our opening and better than expected. We got a lot over positive points saying that our opening “is unique and not similar to anything I’ve seen before.” This is good it shows we have taken on board the feedback from the research and put it into our thriller opening. Another piece of positive feedback we got was “it was really really relatable.” This was a good piece of feedback to receive as a main point we set out to achieve was to make it relatable for the audience as they may have experience pressure from the media as they portray the idea of “perfection.” Despite the positive feedback we did receive some improvements from our target audience which was that “some bits are too dark, add more light.” The group completely agree with this feedback as at some points in the opening there is not enough lighting and it is too dark. This makes the shots look grainy and unprofessional. 
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