Final Story Board For Trailer

Male Audience Response

Method:
We asked a number of target audience members to watch the following thriller trailers and comment on what they found most appealing and what techniques used in the trailer they found most successful.



EDEN LAKE:

Analysis of the results from the focused survey

Gender

We asked an equal number of female and male teenagers to get an unbiased opinion from our target audience, which is not exclusive to gender. This allows for our results to be reflective of the whole audience, and not more suited to a particular gender.

Do you prefer to see male dominant characters or female?

We found that our audience preferred to see male dominant characters than female, which is important for the representation of gender throughout our trailer. With this information we can make sure our trailer appeals to our target audience by making the dominant character(s) in the group, male.

Do you prefer characters to conform or oppose stereotypes?

Our results showed that conforming to stereotypes was most popular, while the other forty per cent of our audience respondents chose either a variety of conforming and opposing, or just opposing stereotypes. Using this information we have decided that for the majority our characters should conform to the stereotypes of gender, social group etc, but that we should include aspects of characters that do not conform to the stereotypes. We feel this will both appeal to the audience preference but make the trailer more intriguing to watch.

Which title do you prefer?

From the two suggested titles our results showed that 'Ready or Not' was most popular with our target audience respondents. We have decided to use this as we believe it will be more effective in appealing to our audience and making our trailer more successful.

Which method of conveying information is most successful?

The results of our survey show that titles are the proffered method. Using this information we can make sure our trailer appeals to our target audience by using titles to convey any extra information as this seems to be more dramatic.

How much withheld information is most appealing?

Our survey showed that ambiguity, not revealing much information, is most popular in a thriller trailer. A revealing trailer was voted to be unpopular so we have decided to only give our audience the necessary information in our own thriller trailer, using the sense of the unknown to convince the audience to want to watch the film.

Which type of camera footage is more appealing?

Our audience respondents said that they preferred hand-held camera footage equally with professional 3^rd person footage so we have decided to continue with using a combination of the two in our thriller trailer, the variety making it more interesting.

Results of the focused audience survey.

Mood Board

We constructed some research into existing thriller film posters, looking closely a variety of thriller film posters and focusing on the font and style and colour of the titles they had use. We soon found that the majority of thriller advertisements were typical for having either red or white text, printed against a black or dark background, we immediately thought this worked really well and was effective, as it allows the text to be easily read, and also, fitted the conventions of the thriller genre. We also looked at the style of the font the thriller advertisements used, finding that they text was either bold, and capitalised, or a more fine and traditional font.

Mood board of some of the titles we thought were successful:

We decided that for our thriller trailer, we would like to use the more traditional style font, against a black background.

Focused target audience survey

Focused Target Audience Survey: Relating to the Thriller Genre.

Gender?

Female   Male

What is more appealing in a group of characters, male dominance or female?

…………………………

In a trailer would you prefer characters that conform to stereotypes, such as the male hero, and the vulnerable female, or characters that oppose the stereotypes?

Conforming to stereotypes        Opposing to stereotypes             Variety of both

Which title do you prefer?

Hide and Seek        Ready or Not          Any other suggestions……………………………

Would you rather a voice over or titles within the trailer?

…………………………….

Which do you prefer in a trailer?

Ambiguity            Revealing             Combination of the two    

Which idea do you think will make the trailer more successful?

A 3^rd person perspective      Handheld Camera video message 

First draft of story board

working with camera- Thriller genre shot

We used shadow and lighting to create a thriller shot as these aspects are strong conventions of the genre. We used these aspects of shadow and lighting, to our advantage within the shot- The villain in the shot/ the armed figure is in the shadow of the shot, meaning it is represented in dark colours, suggesting evil, at contrast to this, the victim is in the light, giving the impression of innocence, both typical conventions of the thriller genre. Also, mystery and suspense is created in the shot, as the shot does not reveal who the figure with the gun is, the identity is unknown, creating an element of danger. The fact that a weapon is included also makes it typical of the thriller genre. The top of the image is swept in dark shadows, which also brings the audience's focus to the two figures in the shot. The camera angle allows the scene to be seen clearly, whilst presenting the figure on the ground, in a vulnerable position. 


We also produced a prop using resources near to us- tracing an image of a gun quickly, to use it in our shot.
This is a picture of the 'gun' we made: 



This shot could be improved it the lines (reflections from the windows) were not present. 

Location our trailer will be set in:

   
    PAXTON LAKES SAILING CLUB.

    PAXTON LAKES SAILING CLUB.

   PAXTON LAKES SAILING CLUB.

   PAXTON LAKES SAILING CLUB.

   PAXTON LAKES SAILING CLUB - LITTLE PAXTON, ST.NEOTS

Audience survery results- analysis

State your gender: 

We asked our respondents to show whether they were male or female so that we knew which gender the majority of the responses came from so that we could link following answers to the gender they came from. We found that more males responded than females. 

State your age:

We asked our respondents to show what age range they were in to establish which age group provided the majority of the results. It showed that most respondents were in the 15 to 18 category. This allows us to aim our trailer at a specific age group, and understand the needs of that age group efficiently.

Are you a fan of the thriller genre?

We asked our respondents whether they were fans of the thriller genre to establish whether their responses were of someone who was likely to watch a thriller film. This means that we can focus on the responses of the people who are likely to watch a thriller film, so it appeals to them more.

Which type of the thriller genre do you prefer?

We asked our respondents which type of thriller they preferred so we could create a trailer for the most popular, and would therefore be more successful and appeal to the audience more. We found that Horror-Thriller and Action-Thriller were the two more popular.

How many protagonists do you prefer?

We wanted to know how many protagonists/lead characters the audience preferred so that we could make our trailer appeal to them more. Their responses show that a group of protagonists is most appealing.

What films come to mind when asked your favourite thriller?

We asked our audience which were their favourite thriller films so we could use aspects of them that appeal to the audience. We found that Paranormal Activity and Cabin in the Woods were most popular with our audience.

In order of preference what conventions of the thriller genre do you enjoy most?

We asked our audience which convention of the thriller genre appealed to them most so we could incorporate this into our own trailer and make it more appealing to them. We found that Suspense was the preferred convention.

How do trailers convince you to watch a film?

We wanted to know which aspects of a trailer convinced the audience to watch the film – therefore dictating what makes a successful trailer. We found that the characters and the editing were considered most important so we intend to make sure these aspects in particular appeal to our audience.

Which location appeals to you most?

We wanted to know which location appealed to our audience more, in order to make our own trailer successful.  We found that a lake setting was most popular for a thriller genre.

Which camera footage is most appealing?

We asked our audience which type of camera footage they preferred, in order to understand what type of footage we should use in our own trailer, so that it would appeal to our target audience and be successful.

Should gore be included in the trailer?
We asked our audience what their preference was to gore involved in thriller films. The majority of our results were no, as a result we will take this on board to make our trailer reach satisfactory requirements of our target audience.

Most appealing plot progression?

We asked this question in order to find out which plot progression works best for our audience, so that we can include this in our thriller trailer to make it successful  We found that having a plot progression of a mixture of simple and complex is most liked.

Most appealing character dynamics?

We asked this question to allow understanding of how our audience prefers characters to behave within thriller trailers. Whether that's Villains and protagonists or progression of this. We found that V-P is most successful, and so we will include this to make our trailer successful.

Audience survey results

Method:
We asked a number of target audience members to watch the following thriller trailers and comment on what they found most appealing and what techniques used in the trailer they found most successful.



EDEN LAKE:


Comments from male, 17 year old.

Audience survey

Audience Survey

Circle your gender:

Female            Male

Circle the relevant age range:

Under 10     11-14   15-18     19-25     26-30     30-40    41+

Are you a fan of the thriller genre?

Yes         No         Further comments:

Which type of thriller appeals to you most?

End-of-the-world Thriller                Sci-fi Thriller           Action Thriller            Mystery/investigation

Which gender stereotypes do you prefer to see in the thriller genre?

Men In Power           Women In Power          Both Equal Power           Non-Applicable

Is one main protagonist or a group of protagonists more appealing to you? Please circle your answer.

What films come to mind when asked your favourite thriller?

………………………………………………………………………………………………..

In order of preference what conventions of the thriller genre do you enjoy most?

Mystery               Suspense             Horror             Sci-Fi

How do trailers convince you to watch a film?

Mise-en-scene (what’s in the shot)         Characters              Sound            Editing   

Other (please specify)…………………………..

Character Profiles – Ideal Set Of Characters

This can be altered depending on availability of actors.

Antagonist:

- (Poppy) Presented as being not very talkative, a little shy in comparison to the other group members. Dressed in the darkest clothes throughout trailer so at first glance she comes across as being possibly a little vulnerable, conforming to female stereotype but later in the trailer it is established that this may not be true.

Protagonists:

(Reece) portrayed as being the dominant character of the group, who makes the decisions and generally leads the group. Presents the light-heartedness with his confidence, instigating banter with the other characters. When problems arise he is the one to take control of the situation and the other characters follow.

  (   -(Sean) does not conform to male stereotypes, lacks the masculine attitude and presence. Outwardly shows signs of fear and is the first to express vulnerability. Has the hand-held camera throughout. Camp style of dress.

-       (Bexx) conveyed as a stereotypical girly girl, confident and comfortable within group but in an event of danger lacks bravery and react typically dramatically (squeals/scream) – dressed feminine but practical, not striking clothes.

-       (Marko/-) the character who is experienced/intelligent when it comes to technology; dresses well – of the group he is dressed the smartest – not very talkative. 

First prelim video