PLANNING: TREATMENT

Film Title: The Unhinging 

It's 2015. A teenage girl, aged 16, has been kidnapped. The character INDIA has been taken and held within the basement of a very old and remote house. The kidnapper, JACK, is a 25 year old male who lives in a secluded remote area of rural Britain. The house is situated in the centre of a woodland area away from amenities to demonstrate the way this male is set apart from society. India is an ordinary every day teenager who does not come from a particularly wealthy background. The kidnapper has taken India because he is mentally ill and has become obsessed with her. The kidnapper is a killer with previous victims all of a similar age to India. He lives in a house without a partner away from civilisation and he wishes to have company. India is tied in the basement however she is fed and given water; she is looked after and is wanted alive. 

India awakes and experiences a flashback where she remembers being kidnapped whilst outside a fitness centre/gym. Jack comes into the basement and also experiences a flashback where upon he smashes a mirror. He cuts India with a shard of glass from the mirror and he leaves. India uses this to cut the rope restricting her hands. She is seen creeping through the hallway whilst the kidnapper is out of earshot.  She grabs a phone left on a table and then sprints out the front door promptly leaving it open behind her. The kidnapper appears and so the audience can see that a chase is about to begin. India escapes on 10th day of being held by this man.

India is seen running through woodland and she appears to have been able to out run the kidnapper. Whilst running through the forrest the audience can see fastbacks showing how India was held in the basement. She calls 999 and the voice of an operator is heard. India hears a noise and the audience can see a hand with a gun after India turns around. The main title of the film appears whilst a beeping sound from the phone is heard. The operator tries to talk to India; the phone has disconnected and the operators reaction is shown.

MODELS OF AUDIENCE BEHAVIOUR

I have looked at various models of Audience behaviour as it will help me understand my target audience. Audience is an important aspect of creating my film opening as it allows me to know what methods to use when making my film so that it appeals to people.  

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs 

Maslow stated that people are motivated to achieve certain needs and that once fulfilling a need will strive to fulfil the next need. The model below shows five stages of motivational needs that can be divided into basic needs (physiological, safety, love and esteem) and and growth needs (self actualisation)

People have to satisfy lower level basic needs so that they can progress to higher levels. People may reach the highest level known as self actualisation once this has been done. Progress is often disrupted by failure to meet lower level needs. For instance negative life experiences such as a divorce may cause disruption. 

Another model of audience behaviour
The media effects model:

• sees audiences as passively led
• the audience is seen as influenced and manipulated by what they consume as gullible and impressionable 

The model presents audience behaviour as choices that are pursued to meet a variety of needs. Blumer and Katz stated that these needs are for:

• entertainment
• escapism
• distraction
• seeking information
• personal identity
• social relationships (e.g on-screen relationships) 

Issues with the model:

• it treats children as inadequate - children are however often able to analyse and talk critically about mass media 
• the effects model is often based on artificial studies
• the model deals with social problems "backwards". When explain the problem of violence in society, researchers should explain for instance social violence explaining it with reference to those engaging with it. They should include their identity, background, character etc however the 'media effects' approach comes at the problem backwards. It starts with the media and then makes a connection with social beings.

Two step flow model of audience behaviour

• Paul Lazarsfeld, Bernard Berelson and hazel Gaudet 
• they analyse decision making processes of voters during a 1940 presidential election campaign; they published results in a paper called the people's choice 
• they found that information doesn't low directly from text into mind of the aufience unmediated. 
• instead they found that mass media content first reaches “opinion leaders"
• these are people who are active media users; they collect interpret, and diffuse the meaning of media messages to less-active media consumers 
• opinion leaders pick up information from the media where they pass on the information to less active members of the public implying that most people receive information from opinion leaders through interpersonal communication rather than directly from mass media

LOCATION RECCE FOR OUR FILM OPENING

Today we spent time considering locations for our film opening and we each took photos of places or areas that could produce effective shots and help to set the mis-en-scene of our opening. I took photos of specific items that I found that i thought we could use to create effect shots. In some shots I asked Demi to model as if she was the missing girl that is the main character in the film to see how well it would work.

In this shot Demi is shown behind the gate that suggests she is trapped. This trapped sensation is also a representation of how the character would feel mentally if they were to be in a large woodland area that appeared never-ending.

In an effort to further depict this woodland as "never-ending" I have considered that we could use a 360 degree shot of the woods that could look similar to the image above. This would also help to convey the panic of the girl as she must work out where she is and where to run to.

The image shown here would also help to convey this panic and would be a way to establish the location of the girl as we plan to have very fast paced editing for our opening. The lighting through the trees is eery and also very eye-catching. We would have to consider how our lighting would work for our film as the woodland area will be very shaded.

In this image I have demonstrated how we could position the camera to show our female character to be hiding within the woods. This would also highlight the sense of claustrophobia from the abundance of trees that surround her and make an interesting shot. This close up enables the audience to really get a sense of the main characters emotions. It is important that if we were to do this we think about positioning carefully so that we are still able to see enough of the character's face.

We have experimented with various camera movements and this footage shows how I have considerd a panning shot. Though something like this may be effective, we are looking at having very fast paced editing and this may not fit with what we want to achieve. 

RESEARCH: AUDIENCE/VIEWER PROFILE

Today I've begun to investigate how brands target their audiences so that I am able to identify and create an audience profile for my AS production. When i distribute my film opening I will need to use marketing strategies choosing something that will appeal to my target my audience andcreate a relationship with them. I will be devising marketing strategies through use of a film website, a facebook page, twitter page and a film poster. It's important that I profile my audience and make sure I know what they want to see, why they want to watch my film and how it will appeal to this audience. 

In order to find out who my audience is and how best to target my audience and make an appealing opening for this audience, I need to consider the following questions: 

1. Who is my primary target audience

• Age group: 18-25 primarily young adults

• Gender: both men and women 

• They are likely to watch TV programmes that are crime/trhiller drama themed such a Sherlock, Castle, elementary, breaking bad etc  
• likely to watch horror thriller adventure themes 

• Example films they may watch:  Taken, Gone, Hanna, Abduction, Hide and Seek, the call, captain phillips 

• In their leisure time, they will visit YouTube, play video games, download movies, drink Costa coffee / Starbucks; eat at Pizza Express, KFC, Macdonalds Subway cafe neuro or nandos pizza hut

• Clothes/shoes: H & M, River Island, Top Shop, Top Man, Jack Wills, Zara, Superdry, office 

• Media: iPhone provides internet on the move; Mac Book/iPad as enables people to watch movies, play games, browse and shop on a larger screen. People may be more likely to even work on there. The kindle can be used for apps like games, internet, movies, books and even writing and doing work and emails as well 

2) What makes my film stand out from the competition? 

My film uses a wide variety of locations and camera angles and the editing is what makes the film strong. We will be using lots of cuts to portray the tension and pace of the film.

3) Why should my audience watch my film?

My film opening is for a thriller film and it is gripping and exciting. It holds suspense and truths are hidden and will therefore be very entertaining. My film will be relatable to a young audience as it involves use of young characters and themes that would be interesting to teenagers as it is a constant fear for teens and children that they could be abducted. It is something that will speak to young teen girls as stereotypically girls are considered weak and easier to kidnap. 

Considering in detial more about my audience and using questons such as these will assit me in creating my profile for my ideal audience. aspects of what my audience. I can use this information to help me when i choose and create merchenside/market my film.  

Here is a collage I have made to express all the things my audience would be interested in:

RESEARCH: HOW BRANDS TARGET AUDIENCES

PLANNING: FILM OPENING BRAINSTORM

Today we discussed as a group our ideas for our film opening and were able to discuss certain aspects of our opening. Members of my group include Sophie Bennet, Demi Collins and Kate Bradford.

We have brainstormed ideas for the genre of our opening and settled on a thriller/horror genre. We were particularly influenced by the Amber Alert Warning used in the USA. This consists of alert messages relating to child abductions being sent to all mobile phones in a state. It was initially created when a Amber Rene Hagerman went missing in 1996.

Our storyline

• a missing girl is held captive and escapes from a basement
• she runs and finds herself in the middle of a forest 
• her family is concerned and have contacted the police
• the search begins - we will show scenes of the first stages of the investigation into her disappearance 

Locations

• we have considered using my house to shoot scenes in the basement as it particularly old and dusty and unused 
• the door and steps are very battered and will help to establish the mis-en-scene effectively 
• I have also looked at places we could film around our school as the woodland area could work particularly well for us 
• we established other locations we would require such as a living room whilst the members of the family speak to police and we would also wish to show a fake news clip on the television

Shots/effects considered

• shooting close ups of aspects of face which are bruised or cut however avoiding showing full face of the missing female to create suspense
• darker lighting to be used to establish mis-en-scene
• fast pace with lots of cuts
• tracking shots to show running 
• wide angled shot of basement door being hit as its locked 
• I have considered that we could use a crane/high angle 180 degree shot to show the vastness of the woodland the girl finds herself in. This would create suspense and build tension 
• I have felt it is important to use sound effects of heavy breathing to establish emotions of the main character and we discussed using sounds of slamming or creaking doors 
• Another key sound effect would include the sound of the emergency operator's voice. I  felt we could replace the sound of a gun going off to escalate tension and keep the audience interested as it is not what they expect to happen
• makeup to create fake blood/cuts/bruises 

Characters

• missing female
• suspect killer
• news presenter
• emergency operator (audio)
• police officer(s)