Audience Response

Now that I have a profile of my target audience, I have decided to get the opinions of the marketability for my film to make any appropriate changes and to ensure the film is well suited for them to be interested in.

 

James Holt (above).  From this interview, I was able to find out that he would expect to see action and mystery in an opening sequence.  When it comes to the storyboarding, script and eventually the shoot, I will make sure that I can try and incorporate the mystery part and perhaps the action also.  He liked the idea of the horror/comedy/crime/thriller so I will try to add some humour to the film as this could be a niche market.  He said he goes to the cinema so if my film did come out in a cinema, we could make money at the box office.  He mentioned that the film sounded like a good idea which is promising as he would fall into the marketability for the film so the fact that he shows interest could be representative that most people this age will like the film.  Also, he mentioned that he would watch crime/thrillers with his family so families might also be interested in this film.  The film he picked out as liking was Layer Cake because he liked the people in it, the plot was good and so was the action.  Therefore, we will try and portray a good plot in our opening to intrigue the audience.

Declan Keohane (above).  From this interview, I found out that he expects an opening sequence to have something that interests the audience.  Therefore, when it comes to planning, I will keep this in mind by perhaps adding a twist at the end or something that will really grip the audience's attention.   He said that given the choice, he prefers crime/thriller so perhaps I might try to focus more on the crime aspect as this has a broader spectrum of possibles as opposed to the limited possibilities of a horror comedy that might not work.  This was also brought up when we asked him about the film as he said that it sounded good and that there were lots of options we could explore.  He also said he would go to the cinema to watch a film so this shows that if the film we were making was a full, real film, we could have a box office hit.  As regards the marketing of a film, he said that he finds out about films on the adverts and TV but also on the Internet.  When it comes to the marketing strategy for my film, I will try to keep in mind that the Internet is a great way to attract our marketability.  A film that he mentioned was Reservoir Dogs because he said it was amusing and violent so perhaps we will add some of these features into our film.

Crystal Hale (above).  When we interviewed Crystal, she said that you might see some action in a film opening so we will try and perhaps add some action as this will interest people of a similar age to her.  An important point that was yet again mentioned is that as regards marketability, she said that she would likely find out about a film on an advert on the TV which is also something I can consider in my marketing strategy.  Although adverts are expensive, especially on prime time TV, they are one of the most influential ways to market a film as it means that a lot of people will find out about a film and they will be able to spread good word of mouth about the film too.  When we asked her about what she thought of our film, she said that it sounded like a thrilling film and that she would watch it.  The fact that she thought it was a thrilling film, we will try to get the thriller side across because it is something that has been mentioned a few times and is therefore something that would interest this sort of age group.  The fact she said that she watches crime/thrillers with her friends means that good word of mouth might be spread from one person to all their friends and their friends and so on which would make the film viral.


Farath Saddiqi (above).  One of the functions of an opening sequence that she brought out was that of the sequence being enticing, dramatic and something that makes you think about what will happen in the film.  Therefore, I will need to think about something in the film that will really hook the audience in like a twist or a climax of tension at the end of the opening sequence.  She said that she would like horror/comedy but mostly comedy so perhaps I will try and find a way to incorporate humour in the opening.  When I asked her about how she would find out about a film, she mentioned that she would find out from film websites and trailers.  Yet again, the use of the Internet and film trailers in adverts have been mentioned again, suggesting they are clearly effective in attracting the attention of this age group.  When I told her about my film ideas, she said that she would watch it and that she normally watches films with friends so if one person gets to find out about the film on the Internet, they might tell their friends and watch it together.  Although she said she doesn't really watch crime/thrillers, she said that if she saw a good trailer, she might be enticed to watch the film.  I might consider a trailer as a marketing tool as it would attract a lot of people.  One film, or collection of films, was James Bond because she said she liked the use of action.  I will therefore try to incorporate action into my film to attract a mass audience.