5. How did you attract/address your audience?

The opening sequence attracts/addresses the audience in several ways, aiming to entertain them by building suspense and making them sympathize with the character Violet.

• To attract our primary audience (ages 16-24) we tried to create a lot of suspense in our opening sequence. In order to achieve this, we focused on music and sound effects rather than visual/special effects to suit the style of our film. The music in the clip slowly builds up to a climax and the use of sound effects creates an eerie and creepy atmosphere. For example, when Violet looks through the spyhole of her front door, there is a high pitched note being played and static noise which gradually increases in pitch. After a moment of silence there is the climactic knocking sound which at this point the audience has become familiar with - the demon is after Violet. 

• Another thing that builds suspense is the use of low key, enigmatic lighting which leaves questions unanswered for the audience. The darkness in some shots makes them wonder if there's anything hiding around the corner that will pop out and shock them. We also added a vignette that slowly fades in around the edges of the screen to represent Violet's fear and loss of sanity. This also adds to the low key look of the opening sequence.

A low-key shot from our opening sequence.

• Our opening sequence attracts our secondary target audience (horror enthusiasts) by following horror conventions - this way the audience knows what to expect from our film and can often guess what will happen next, but also won't be bored due to our unique setting, characters and narrative. Some examples of the conventions we followed are the build up to a climax, low key lighting and a female protagonist/victim. 

Target Audience Feedback

I conducted a short questionnaire to investigate what the audience liked, what themes they associated the film with and what we could improve about the opening sequence. Here is an example of the responses I received:

What genre is the film? What gave you this impression?

Horror- the sense of the unknown, the music, the tone of the film and the general action on screen.

Do you think it’s a mainstream or independent type of film?

Independent

Who do you think the film is targeted at? (age, gender, interests)

Fans of the horror genre. The 16-24 year olds.

What do you think the film is about?

A girl getting attacked in her home when she’s on her own.

What works about the opening sequence? 

The editing, the use of sound to create fear and type of shots.

How could it be improved?

Have more scary things.

Would you want to watch the rest of the film? 

Yes

Can you rate the opening sequence out of 10?

8.5

The responses from the questionnaire showed that the audience generally liked the opening sequence, and that the genre and narrative were quite clear. It also gave the impression that it was going to be an independent film. However we could have included a few more elements to shock the audience.