How Did We Attract/Address Our Audience? Evaluation Question 5 By Esme

In order to know if our planned audience liked our idea and if we chose the right target audience we conducted a questionnaire based on our initial idea.

• It really helped us get an idea of what the audience would think about our idea and if we had produced an idea that would attract the audience we intended on attracting. We asked them questions to do with themselves and what they thought of our initial idea for 'Concealed'. 

• When looking at the results we noticed that all the people we asked like our idea for the film opening. They liked the idea of Damien being obsessed with Anastasia and that he wants her all to himself, so goes to drastic measure in order to have her.

• They liked the fact that antagonist's identity is kept hidden for a little while, they felt it would be more engaging and it would encourage them to figure it out for themselves. Also they would feel like they want to keep watching to find the answers to all their questions.

• They really praised the flash forward idea. They felt it would instantly grad their attention if the film went straight into action.

• The younger audience that we asked said that they like the fact that the film is based entirely on teenagers. They thought it would make it more exciting and that they would be able to connect with the characters a whole lot more.

Our opening sequence slightly goes against Todorov's narrative theory because it starts with the flash forward into the 'Disruption' stage of the plot, our plot is non-linear. It will engage the audience immediately because it is not what they are used to. They are used to starting a film with an introduction to the characters and their lives etc. However 'Concealed' s unconventional beginning will intrigue our target audience because it is unusually and not often seen in films. It also instantly throws them into the deep end. They are introduced to drama straight away, but have no clue as to what is going on, so their mind will be engaged as they try to figure out what is going on and make sense of the plot.

The hidden identity of the antagonist will also highly engage the audience. It is very clear from the costume and the angles that the antagonist is shown in that he is a bad character rather than a good character. However they do not see his face or have any hints as to who he is. It will encourage them to keep watching because they would've seen Anastasia and what is happening to her, however they will not know who is doing it or why they're doing it. So they will keep watching so that they can get the answers to their questions, it will also give them a sense of pleasure because as the film progresses they would get more action codes to give them an idea of the antagonist's identity, so they will start making their own predictions. If they predict the right identity then they we'll start to feel clever and will provide them with that sense of achievement, which according to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs will give them a boost in 'Self-Esteem'.

The main character: Anastasia was purposely constructed to fit in with our target audience, we really wanted to create a likable and relatible character that the audience can connect with and build a relationship with. We used close-ups and extreme close-ups to really emphasise how she is feeling to position the audience to connect with her emotions and feel a large amount of sympathy for her. As the audience are  given the chance to connect with Anastasia within the first minute of the film they will instantly start to build a relationship with her character, causing them to want to watch more because they can see in the beginning that she is in trouble and they will want to know that she ends up happy in order to gain a sense of catharsis.

When looking at Blumler and Katz uses and gratifications theory, 'Concealed' will provide entertainment to the audience. The audience will be entertained by all the events that take place in the film and also by the tense wait of finding out if Anastasia will escape. During the equilibrium the audience may be provided with 'escape' because of the romance between Anastasia and Dylan. They may not have any romance in their life so the relationship between the two characters will provide this sense escape for the audience because they will feel romantic.

When showed our end product our audience said that:

• They really liked the used of extreme close-ups and close-ups of Anastasia 
• Generally their favourite shot was the point of view shot of Damien walking towards them - they felt it provided them with a sense of realism and they felt like they were in Anastasia's shoes.
• The end shot on the street was highly praised - they felt it really created tension because even more of the antagonist was revealed to them but they still had no idea what their identity was.
• The voice mails impressed them, they thought it sounded really realistic and the fact that at first it was a blank screen whilst they were playing really built up tension.