5: How did you attract/address your audience?

We wanted to input elements into our film that would help the target audience of 15 to 25 year olds identify with it.


The School Setting
Most people of this age will have recently attended a conventional secondary / high school, so we used a school lecture hall so that the audience could identify the type of society that the characters were part of.





Characters
Because of the traditional school setting, we felt that using some school stereotypes would encourage the audience to quickly recognise the roles of  the key characters. The 'underdog' is universally a popular figure, so we applied some of the main aspects of this identity to Angus. For example, he wears dark clothes and sits alone, both typical features of the 'outsider'. Jessica is the love interest, so we made sure that her characteristics reflected this within a teenage setting, as this differs slightly from an adult perspective. Camera techniques such as the slow zoom, and editing effects like the Lichtenstein freeze frame are intended to help emphasise her role as a romantic interest. The characters that most conform to their stereotype are the jocks, as they are only supporting roles and therefore the audience doesn't need to know much back story; it is more important to make it instantly clear that they are antagonistic characters.


Comedy
Through our research it quickly became evident that a large majority of our target audience enjoy the comedy genre, and also enjoy it when it is present within other genres. Our film is not a pure comedy, but we wanted to make it funny, which can be done, as seen in the Harry Potter series, where an adventure/fantasy hybrid is able to incorporate lots of humour. A type of humour that resonates particularly well with British audiences is the use of awkwardness, which can be seen in the clip below.





Comic Book Style


We didn't want to neglect our secondary audiences of comic book and cult fans, so one of the main ways in which we wanted to target them was through the use of comic book graphics. We used a freeze frame Lichtenstein effect to create the common comic book layout over key shots, which helps to express information efficiently whilst recognising the traditional comic background that the film is based on.





Suspense and Enigma Code


We felt it important that something occurred in the opening sequence which would entice the audience into watching the film to find an explanation. In the case of 'EXCEPTIONAL', our enigma code is when Angus levitates the pencil, as there is, as of yet, no reason for his power.