How did you attract/address your audience?

Looking over my audience research that I conducted earlier on, I took note of what people said about what they look for in an opening, particularly if they said they liked comedies the best.

One person answered the question ‘What sort of films do you like?’ with; “Comedy, as stupid as possible would be great.” I definitely feel that I took this on board and it showed in my film opening as the situation the robbers are in is pretty stupid.

The next question I asked was ‘What do you look for in a film opening?’ The main answers we seemed to get was that it had to be ‘gripping’ and that many of the people we asked liked to be introduced to the characters. I feel that I achieved this, especially with the character Kat. I think that I managed to put over to the audience that she was a very dominating character between the pair, and was the one who was obviously in charge out of the two.

We then asked ‘Do you like to be left guessing?’ the vast majority of the people we asked answered Yes, but not for too long. A couple of people mentioned that they like a twist and I think I achieved a small twist within my film opening where the seemingly ordinary breaking and entering is turned upside down when there’s a surprise party in the living room.

The next question was ‘Do you like to be introduced to the character?’ the majority of people said that they do, and that they like to know a bit of background story behind them so that they know the reasons behind their actions. I don’t feel that I captured this in my film opening, but it would definitely be done within the next 5 – 10 minutes of the film if it was to be made into a feature length film.

I feel that in film opening, I built up enough suspense to get the audience intrigued as to what was going to happen. They don’t find out who anyone is, with the exception of one name being dropped, but that doesn’t make too much difference. There wasn’t much that audience members could easily relate to as the situation is overall a bit extreme, but I reckon the vast majority of people would easily recognise a burglar when they saw one. I really hope that my opening got the audience thinking and asking questions like “Who are that?”, “Why are they breaking into this house?”, “Who’s this walking down the street?”, “What’s her significance?” and I hope that the fast pace of these moments build up the suspense.