Audience and Genre

Blumler and Katz's Uses and Gratification model looks at how the media appeals to its audience's need's. Some of these needs are to inform and educate, to identify with characters, to escape from reality, for entertainment or for social interaction. As our trailer is an thriller horror genre, it is important for our audience to connect with the characters in order to empathize when they get into trouble. We made our victim, a young female in order to appeal to the target audience. This gives the audience an escape from reality as they are absorbed in the story. Additionally, we have created a great deal of suspense and fear, this creates an entertainment for the audience while also allowing them to escape from the boring everyday life. We created suspend by adding tense music and cutting the shots with the music. We also added dip to black to create an eerie atmosphere and creating a climax for the final scene when the victim gets taken. When audiences watch films such as horrors, often they want to go back to friends and the them about it and fit in tot he norms of youth culture. therefore if our film connects the audience members, they are more likely to interact with others,, sharing their opinions on the film

In our trailer we did not use Male Gaze as a key feature; this is based upon our story line being a horror of us using a vulnerable young girl. Opposed to her appealing to the male eye due to her young age and innocence, the audience instead feel the need to protect her. We felt it wasn't necessary and wouldn't affect our audience because the percentage of boys are only risen because it is a stereotypical date, where the girl and boy attend to watch a horror so the girl can cuddle up to him for protection. Therefore, even though our film may not directly appeal to males because they are more interested in action for example, we still have a general audience of viewers.This is shown by in the movie 'The Conjuring' 54% of viewers were female, followed closely by 46% of males.

What genre is the trailer and how have you conveyed this this to your audience?
Our trailer fits into the genre of horror as it conforms to the main conventions within this genre. We have conveyed this to the audience through the use of sound, building tension and setting a much more dramatic atmosphere. We have done this and so the audience can get a feel of the emotion of the characters but also and so they are aware that something is going to happen. We have also made it clear of the genre through the characters such as the antagonist who is dressed in dark clothing with a hood and has his face covered and so remains a mystery to the audience who this is and what he is doing there. This also makes it exciting for the audience as they are unaware of what is going to happen but also fits into the conventions of a horror as we are aware that the antagonist is someone that we do not wish to come across but its someone that is predominant in the horror genre. Some of the camera shots that we had used hints to the audience that the genre may fit into the horror theme such as when we have the victim walking up the stairs and the camera is panning up but focusing on her feet. Although this is effective on its own, as we have paired it with the dramatic music which creates a more tense atmosphere, it makes the audience want to carry on watching the production. 

4) How does the mise-en-scene support the genre? What is the role of the specific elements of the mise-en-scene? refer to props, costume, makeup, location, theme?
The mise-en-scene is not particularly set in the stereotypical dark forest or the haunted house as we wanted to make our idea original but still fit into the horror genre. We ended up filming in three different locations for our trailer as we felt that it was important for the audience to see the different stages of the characters and the film trailer. The first setting that we used was a family home as we wanted to express the family as a traditional happy family home. We wanted to show the family at the beginning and so the audience would understand how the characters got to where they are. this fits into the horror genre as it is effective for films and trailers to start off normally before everything starts to go wrong. The second location that we used was only a section of the stairs and the bathroom as it was something that we wanted to include but did not look as good when filmed at the 'family home'. The final location that we used in our trailer was a small studio flat that is all on one level. We used this to show the audience how the child character had grown up and the audience were able to witness this and are able to follow the characters on a journey. This fits into the genre as it makes it much more interesting for the audience to know what is going on and how the characters go from a 'good' life to one that is 'disrupted' and 'ruined'. To fit into our genre, we had the antagonist dressed in black which is typical in this genre as we don't really find our who this is until the very end.
For the costume in our trailer, at the beginning, we had the parents dressed in their everyday clothes and the child is in her school uniform and so the audience are able to see them as what they would be in their normal everyday lives. This fits into the genre as we do not want the audience to see everything go wrong from the beginning as it would take away the excitement, which also allows the audience to see the personality of the characters. Further on in the trailer when we see the youngest character grown up, she is dressed in clothes that are popular to the target audience and so a pair of jean and a coat and so they are able to relate to the characters as much as they can. This fits into the genre of horror as although it is part of their everyday lives, it tells the audience that the characters are not ready for what is going to happen as they are not expecting it. This makes it more effective for the audience to watch.

Generic expectations have been adhered to in our A2 production trailer. This is evident through our typical story line that includes the codes and conventions of young girl. By using a young girl is effective as the audience which is mainly females, are able to put themselves in the young females shoes adding to the suspense that it creates. This is effective as when we introduce the antagonist, which again is another expectation to see in a horror. the audience are immediately aware that something bad is about to happen. With the young female we enhanced her innocence by her wearing a school uniform making her look sweet; with the antagonist he was wearing all black, creating the atmosphere of danger which the colour black connotes due to it being dark, mysterious and eerie. twas effective to use a male as our antagonist because they are known to have more power and strength, insisting that the getaway for the young girl is pretty much impossible adding to the frightening atmosphere.
We also followed the generic expectations by the location. For example, we used a deserted house in a run down area. This is effective as it does create fear and anxiety among the audience. The soundtrack links in with this as we cut from normality in one scene to the young girl grown up and alone. With this the non diegetic sound comes more upbeat, ominous in order to create a build up of tension, reaching the climax of when she is officially taken.
We have also adhered to the generic expectations with the editing of our trailer. This was achieved by researching other horrors similar to us such as Taken. This enabled us to include many fades to black and fonts which can add to the eerie atmosphere. This was effective as it allowed our trailer to look more advanced which can result in an increase number of watchers.

Our production is different from others in the same genre, as we have shown the development of the young girl from a child in to a young adult. this helped the audience understand her better as they know what obstacles she has faced during her life. It also develops a better connection for the audience. Another way in which our film is different to others, is it is set in a very ordinary middle class town. this isn't necessarily conventional for an thriller horror film as usually they are set in dark gloomy villages. This makes the film seem more naturalistic and creates more fear for the audience as they can relate to the locational settings. We decided to cast a young black male actor to be our antagonist as we believe the audience would feel the story more as it relates further to their life. Also there is a large moral panic across the UK of 'Hoodies' and therefore using the stereotypical character allows the film to have a greater effect. In Travis Dixon's archetypal stereotypes, he devised the buck character that is a young black aggressive character. this stereotype is often represented in films as the antagonist. This makes our film conform the the conventions of the genre, however giving it an edge as the antagonist is very young and is often in the youth culture today.