Audience Profiling

Final Narrative Idea

Genre
Psychological Thriller

Five Stages
Stage 1: Equilibrium
A teenage girl going through her everyday life, hanging out with friends, in her house and shopping with her mum.

Stage 2: Disruption
Noticing little differences; her house is unlocked when she returned, photos being put face down and not be able to find stuff. New key rings being added to her keys and her bag being unzipped. She receives texts from an unknown number, they are quite strange and move towards more specific messages.

Stage 3: Realisation
She's receives a phone call from the stalker, saying that he knows who she is and is watching her.

Stage 4: Repair
Poppy enlists Emma, her best friend, to help her find the stalker and their identity - after finding evidence she makes her way to the police station.

Stage 5: New Equilibrium
There is a time jump to the first day of school next year - a noticeboard with a missing poster. It changes to a remote cottage, there is a shrine to Poppy and an unmarked grave outside the house.

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Key Concepts 4: Audience

Key Concepts 3: Representation

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Key Concepts 2 : Narrative

Key Concepts 1 : Genre

Narrative Outline 1

Genre
Drama Thriller

Propp's Key Characters

• Villain/Antagonist - the new girl who moves to town and after feeling ignored, decides to have revenge

The villain is not known at the start of the narrative, it takes until the recognition stage before the characters are aware, with the way it is staged it is possible that the audience previously realise the villains identity.

• Hero/Protagonist - the group of friends that work together to try and escape the villain

In this narrative there are four protagonists through the group of friends, there isn't one friend that is more involved in the story than another as they have equal amounts of involvement.

• Princess - whilst there is no love interest, all of the friends display the characteristics of being         vulnerable and being in need of being rescued at different points

With the threat and danger of both the notes and unknown causes of the accidents, all of the friends will feel vulnerable due to all of the danger coming from unknown source which means that it is harder to be prepared and protect themselves.

• Dispatcher - the leader of the friends that decides who they will collect their evidence and creates the plan

Whilst, the friends have equal involvement there needs to be one friend that makes a decision, as it would make it too competed and harder to follow for the audience if all of the characters were too involved in this stage.

• Princess' Father - one of the girls father who expresses his concern over their new friend 
• Helper - the older sibling who helps in the confrontation and tries to protect them

Levi-Strauss' Binary Opposites
Good VS Evil
The antagonist represents the evil in the narrative, whereas, any who helps the heroes represent the good. In the narrative there is a clear divide in the good vs evil, as there is a side that wishes to cause harm and the other that tries stop them.

The divide is clear in this narrative as there is only one character that poses harm towards the rest of the characters, whereas, everyone else's purpose it to eradicate that threat

Todorov's Five Stages
Stage 1: Equilibrium
A group of friends meet the new at school who they decide to welcome into their friendship, she fits in well and they group develop a fast friendship.

Stage 2: Disruption
When the friends decide to go out without their new friend, she later finds out. Over the course of a week the group are involved of a series of accidents and receive mysterious threatening notes.

Stage 3: Recognition
After receiving another note, they realise that the new girl seems to be avoiding them and no longer wants to be around them, she is always there when an accident happens and they quickly realise its her.

Stage 4: Repair
They pull together evidence, and move to confront her with the help of one of their older siblings. An argument breaks out and the police soon arrive to the seen and she is arrested.

Stage 5: New Equilibrium
The new girl is moved to another town and given a new name, the girls never hear from her again.

Time
In the narrative, it will mainly be in linear time as it will in majority focused in current time. The only stage where the narrative becomes non-linear is in the recognition stage; where there may be flash backs that illustrate the characters realising what has happened at each incident.

Narrative Outline 2

Genre
Psychological Thriller

Propp's Key Characters

• Villian/Antagonist - person who has created the website and invents the dangerous dares.

The antagonist of the narrative will remain unnamed and will wear clothing that disguises their face, this has been done in order to keep both the audience and the characters in suspense and add extra mystery.

• Hero/Protagonist - all of the group members could be argued to be seen as the heroes as they try to win the game.

The protagonists are in each of the groups of friends. In the first group of friends, there is three people; two girls and a boy, they aren't the main group focused on but do appear more than one of the other groups. The group that is least featured, include three boys; two of which are siblings in order to give a variety in age. The final group of friends is the group that the narrative is more centred around as for the majority of the realisation and repair they will be the only ones on screen, communicating to the other groups through the a website. These two stages include some of the most important scenes, and therefore, by having the minimal characters on the scene, it makes it easier for the audience to follow as well as keeping the focus on the events.

• Helper - at one point or another each group member can be seen as a helper, as they all try to help their friends achieve their dares through team work.

Within each group, as one of the characters performs their task, the others act as the role of the helper through helping them to complete this task. The only person who isn't at one point or another a helper  is the antagonist.

Levi - Strauss' Binary Opposites
Man VS Machine
All of the human characters are working against the website and the affect of finding this dangerous website which puts their life at risk.

Good VS Evil
The main characters are the good innocent people who are victims to the people who have created the website, who represent evil.

The binary opposites illustrate the clear divide between the antagonist, who is more of unknown threat until the repair stage where they are in person for the first time, and the innocent protagonists who work together to try and win the game. Until meeting the antagonist, the main evil is the dares they are forced to complete and the threat of them having to make as dangerous dare as possible.


Todorov's 5 stages
Stage 1: Equilibrium
Three groups of friends are seen accessing the same game website, that promises for new and creative dares every hour, they all sign up to be members. As they start to complete each dare, they escalate in how dangerous they are.

Stage 2: Disruption
They are asked to invent their own dare, the most dangerous one wins. Each member, other than the person who wrote it, has to then perform that dare.

Stage 3: Realisation
After a member dies from each group they search for help on the websites message board and realise they are not the only group involved. All the groups agree to meet up.

Stage 4: Repair
When at the meeting point they are congratulated for making it this far by the game and are given one final task before they win the game. Only one group can win, for the others it will be game over. The task involves solving a riddle which will unlock a box which contains their membership from the game which they can destroy. The loosing groups who haven't solved the riddle then belong to the game.

Stage 5: New Equilibrium
It ends with another group of people signing up for the game.

Time
The narrative will be linear, as there will not be any flashbacks or going into the past or future. When changing between the groups, the events will be occurring at the same time.

"How to Pick the Right Tone, Shots and Music for trailers"

At the first stage of editing, it is important to view the clips as an audience. Consider what is going to make people excited, interested and trying to find unique moments of the story.
It can be useful to find film trailers that you enjoy, from your chosen genre, and brainstorm what it is that attracts you to it and attempt to apply it to your clips.

It is important that the trailer has a definite narrative, if the audience can't understand what is happening they won't want to watch it, it will seem confused and unconnected. Similarly, if the trailer shows the climax of the film it will eliminate the audiences need to see the film.
More modern trailers have a conventional five part structure that they follow:

1. Start with a scene from the start of the film
2. Define the setting
3. Character Introduction
4. Plot Introduced
5. Hook

Start with a scene from the start of the film
It establishes the tone for the film and is used to grab the audiences attention and keep them watching.

Define the setting
There are two ways of defining the setting; one with the use of post-editing titles and another with the characters defining who they are.

Character Introduction
This is the stage where the audience meet the character before they have undergone their transformation. They are often introduced in a series of sound bites.

Plot introduced 
It explains the plot of the film, without revealing the plot twists and the climax of the film. It builds their excitement and feeling of tension.

Hook
The goal of the trailer to make the audience want more, it can be done in many through one-liners and dramatic montages. It depends on what the producers want their audience to remember.

(Information gathered from https://www.premiumbeat.com/blog/how-to-pick-the-right-tone-shots-and-music-for-trailers/)

"Understanding Audience"

Understanding Audience 

• Social and cultural experiences may affect how audience respond to a media text 
• The relationship between media technologies and how audiences consume media products
• How audiences outside of the target aren't alienated 
• Audience interaction

Audience Categories

Audiences can be defined through their demographic profile or psychological profile.

Demographic Profiling

• Groups an audience from A to E due to their class, occupation and income. A and B being the most wealthy and influential members of society, it is assumed that they have the most disposable income.
• It helps to assume where advertisements should be placed as well as find the target audience.

Psychological Profiling

• Defines an audience by their values, attitudes and lifestyle .
• Young and Rubicam's Four Consumers, is an advertising agency which considers how cross-cultural consumer characteristic can group people into stereotypes. Such as Mainstreamers, Aspirer's, Explorers, Succeeder's and Reformers.
• Mainstreamers - make up around 40% of the population, they like security, tired and trusted branding. They are persuaded by value for money and are less likely to take risks.
• Aspirer's - want status and prefer brands that show their place in society. They are stylish, dynamic and may be persuaded by celebrity endorsement
• Explorers - like to discover new things, attracted to brands that offer new experiences and instant results.
• Suceeder's - already have status and control, prefer brands that are serious, reliable and believe they deserve best.
• Reformer's - defined by their self-esteem and fulfilment, may be more inclined to buy brands that are environmentally friendly or considered healthy.

Attracting and addressing audiences?

• Technical and audio codes - the product may employ these to target an audience
• The language and mode of address - may target a specific audience and alienate another
• The construction - construction of a product and the audience within the product
• An audience may also be targeted through the ways in which the products are marketed and distributed
• The positioning of the audience - through camera shots, angles, music, and other audio codes, the language mode of address or through empathy with the characters

Audience Positioning

• Concerns the relationship between the product and the responses an audience may have
• Different audiences will decode the same product in different ways with different responses

How are they positioned?

• Technical codes employed by the product - camera shots and angles used to place the audience in a particular position
• Language and mode of address - an example is using conversational and colloquial language in vlogs to position the intended audience as part of the vloggers world
• Construction of the product - media products construct and idea of their audience or user

(Information gathered from AS/A2 OCR Media textbook)

"The Ultimate How-To Guide To Making Trailers"

The Purpose of a trailer
John Ellis suggests that a trailer gives the narrative image of the film, an idea of what it is like, not everything that happens in it.
The trailer and any other marketing, gives a promise to the audience, it shows the best parts of the film and what it is about.

A trailer, must be aware of the genre of the film, it uses the correct kind of music, brightness and stars that reflect to conventions of the genre.
For example, the film Harry Potter is in the fantasy genre, its music, props and actors used all reflect the idea of fantasy. The trailer uses it's music of violins of pianos which is quite often used for films in the fantasy genre, however, over the release of the seven films it has become recognised and associated with the Harry potter franchise. This illustrates the impact of the soundtrack and how the trailer can help to identify a whole franchise and the genre that it is in.



It uses the knowledge of genre, actors and composition to give the audience an idea of something new and more exciting.
This happens the most in franchises, as the trailers need to show that the next film isn't the same and will offer something more.
The Hangover Part 2 is a film that has been largely criticised for being the same as the original just in a different location. The trailer was thought to be misleading and giving the representation that the film was more different to the original than it actually was.



A trailer's main purpose is to create questions within an audience that can only be answered through watching the film.

The Unique Selling Point
Film distributors as well as the trailer editors need to decide what sets the film apart. It is then decided which elements are stressed or in the marketing campaign.
For example, in the marketing for Deadpool some of the most stressed elements was the use of crude humour and breaking the 4th wall. It set the film apart fro not only other Marvel and 20th Century Fox films but the superhero genre as well.


 The visual campaign stress the USP and give the audience the narrative image.

The Target Audience
A particular group at which a product such as a film or advertisement is aimed at. It shows where to advertise the film and how to reach that defined target audience.

A film's target audience can 'cross-over' as it appeals to a demographic larger than its target audience.
For example. This is England attracts a large audience than the idea of reminiscing and it shows today's youth culture of what life was like.



The Trailer
It gives audiences a sense of genre, what the story is about, who is in the film and when it opens. Shown in a cinema, before a film with a similar target audience, helps attract audiences.
The film has to be positioned by considering the USP against an understanding of gender, lifestyles and activities of the audiences available - helps to inform decisions on promotion.
For example, in the adverts for Finding Dory, Beauty & the Beast was being advertised.

Common Trailer Mistakes

1. Lack of pace in editing
2. Too long
3. Shots are too long
4. No music
5. No clear idea of a story
6. No use of voice over or intertitles
7. Poor quality of dialogue 
8. No variety of shots

Tips to making a trailer

• Starting point should be knowing the complete story
• Consider the narrative image to convey to audience
• Ensure film genre is recognisable 
• Show key moments but not ending
• Variety of shots - makes more exciting and editing easier
• Music level dip for dialogue and voice-overs
• Lots of short shots are more impacting than very few long ones
• Lay down music before starting editing the images

(Information sourced from MEDIA magazine, Ian Wall, April 2014)

"The Art Of The Modern Movie Trailer"

One of the most important features of a trailer is the soundtrack, it affects the pace of the trailer and when done correctly it can have a very emotional impact on the audience. Sometimes if a piece of soundtrack is found to have a very profound effect in a trailer, it ends up being re-used.                      
An example, of this is the piece by David Gale which is used in many modern trailers, such as The Artist, Munich and The Iron Lady.



In more modern trailers, "studies [have shown] that the average of a shot in a film ova been shrinkng every single year". This change can be seen in the trailer, where the number of jump cuts have dramatically increased.

An example, of this is can be seen in the trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy 2, which uses a large volume of jump cuts to show the processing action in the film. In most trailers, especially from the action genre, large volumes of jump cuts are used to portray how fast paced it is.

 

Terminology

The Turn Line - when the music stops or becomes quieter, so that he dialogue - which is usually one or two lines between characters - can be heard. This is the point of the trailer where it turns towards more action or shows the comedic side.

An example, of a turn line can be seen in the trailer for Being Charlie, the most noticeable turn line is at 0:56. In this trailer, the change in the tempo of the music gives it a more melancholy atmosphere and changes the speed of the trailer. Similar to most trailers, Being Charlie uses a turning point to illustrate an event in the film that changes the course of events for the characters.



The Rise - the final of the trailer, which the trailer usually builds for, this normally happens after the turn line.

An example, of the rise is seen in Kong Skull Island, throughout the trailer there is high speed action which lots of explosions and CGI. The rise of the trailer begins with moment of silence, it helps to build the tension, the trailer ends with a short glimpse of the threat in the film. Similarly, to most trailers the crescendo of the trailer is one of the quiet points in the action trailer, it however, has the most effect on the audience.



The Hits - the dramatic booms, which is found in most trailers.

An example, of this can be seen in the trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy, whilst hits are used throughout towards the end of the trailer, from around 1:46 onwards, louder music begins which are accompanied with larger hits. Similarly, with most other trailers hits aren't used throughout or overused, but they are used more often than other trailers that aren't from the action genre.


The Button - the scare or joke at the end of the trailer, usually after the main title, it ends the trailer with a bang or laugh.

An example, of this is in the trailer for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, which ends with a laugh rather than a bang. It uses humour to end the trailer with something that the audience and remember, it brings a lighter and more uplifting end. With most trailers, that aren't part of the horror genre, it will end with a laugh.



(All information used can be found on http://www.npr.org/sections/monkeysee/2012/01/15/145227280/the-art-of-the-modern-movie-trailer)