Evaluation Task 4: Thriller Target Audience

Our thriller will have a wide ranging target audience. Our primary audience would be males who are 18-40 years old, whilst our secondary audience would be females from 18-40 years old. The reason for this being that males would be primarily attracted to the genre of the film and the aspects of technology and possible action portrayed in the thriller. Whereas females are more likely to be attracted by the good looking lead actor since the genre would not instantly attract the typical female, therefore, they would be more likely to see the thriller on DVD or the most common reason for going to the cinema to see the thriller would be because of their boyfriend/husband wanting to see the film. The fact that the thriller involves the widely renowned crisis of the 911 in America this would therefore appeal to the older audience as they would remember the shocking worldwide reactions of the event and therefore this may appeal to the older audience. But, the younger audience would also be enticed by the thriller as there is a lot of use of technology and code breaking therefore young boys would be interested in the plot. There may be swearing and bad language therefore the film would be based on an 18+ audience. The older audience would also be interested in current affairs and as the film is based on a true story of Gary McKinnon, the Scottish hacker of NASA computers, this would appeal to their taste.

The older generation of our target audience would enjoy activities such as following current affairs and reading newspapers whilst the younger generation would perhaps spend their time on video games, computers and phones.

Our film is aimed more at males rather than females as it may include violence and is primarily action based once the kid breaks into the FBI mainframe. However, it may appeal to women aswell as the lead role may be quite attractive.

	Votes	Average
Males	25313	5.9
Females	2944	6.1
Aged under 18	96	6.6
Males under 18	81	6.7
Females under 18	15	6.1
Aged 18-29	11819	6.0
Males Aged 18-29	10543	6.0
Females Aged 18-29	1276	6.2
Aged 30-44	13058	5.7
Males Aged 30-44	11890	5.7
Females Aged 30-44	1168	6.0
Aged 45+	3061	6.2
Males Aged 45+	2655	6.2
Females Aged 45+	406	6.1
IMDb staff	5	6.6
Top 1000 voters	588	5.5
US users	7383	5.8
Non-US users	20874	5.9
IMDb users	37587	5.9

Other films that deal with similar types of issues that are incorporated in our thriller 'SOLO' are:

Mercury Rising 

'Mercury Rising' involves Bruce Willis is an outcast FBI agent who is assigned to protect a 9 year old autistic boy who is the target for assassins after cracking a top secret government code.The rating of the film is a 15.

War Games

'War Games' involves a young man finds a back door into a military central computer in which reality is confused with game-playing, possibly starting World War III. The rating of the film is a 16.

 

Meet Ryan Wagner... 

 

 

  

Ryan is a gamer/geek. He is a 22 year old student who is currently completing his degree in ICT at the University of Iowa. He is a member of the audience who would be very interested in seeing 'SOLO', our groups thriller about an internet hacking scandal. His hobbies are playing on his xBox and PSP. His favourite games are Black Ops and World of Warcraft. He is a hardcore fan of Skrillex and has his own gaming playlist to listen to whilst on the xBox: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=3F5EE9BC8C29E7A7

 

He is into fictional films as well as action, thriller and horror films which include violence and destruction for example Transformers as well as Star Wars and The Matrix. But he is also into conspiracy thrillers which make you think about the plot hours after watching the film such as Inception, The Conversation, Night Moves, The Domino Principle, The Package, No Way Out, Absolute and Enemy of the State. He watches The X Files on TV also. When Wayne is not studying he mostly just sits in his room on his Mac computer gaming, social networking or messaging his friends.

The thriller 'SOLO' would definitely attract more of a male audience rather than female as the plot involves an autistic teenaged boy breaking codes and unexpectedly entering the FBI mainframe which he explores and hacks. The film is based on the story of Gary McKinnon hacking into the FBI headquarters and the consequences of possible extradition he had to face. Therefore the movie has a chance of involving action and violence as well as technological sights of computers and gadgets. Therefore, the film may appeal more to males than females. Just as the genre of a thriller would most likely and stereotypically attract more males than females.

 

 

 



Evaluation Task 3: 'Solo' Production and Distribution

Our thriller 'SOLO' would benefit from pitching to UK producers 'Warp Films' because this credited production company creates pioneering British cinema, short films and music videos such as Shane Meadows' 'This Is England' which became a success after recognition of good film reviews. 'SOLO' will go on to be distributed by 'Optimum Releasing' and also by 'Magnolia Pictures' in the USA which will have a limited release in art-houses and small cinemas. 'Warp Films' would be interested in 'SOLO' as they primarily specialise in innovative, low-budget films, which 'SOLO' is.

 

A film that is in a similar vein to 'SOLO' which has been produced by 'Warp Films' is 'Dog Altogether' which consequentially involves a significant amount of violence and depression, therefore being a dark film. Warp work closely with Film 4 co-producing films as well as finding distribution through optimum releasing. A good way for them to offset the costs of production would be to work in partnership with Film 4 on our film, therefore if it proved to be a word of mouth success Film 4 could premier the film on their tv channel and raise costs to offset the production through increased revenue from advertising during the advert breaks. Also as 'Magnolia Pictures' specialises in foreign and independent films this means that they will be attracted to the film 'SOLO' as it will be based and produced in the UK. Magnolia also has a genre films label named 'Magnet Releasing' which mainly distributes foreign action films. Films distributed by Magnolia typically appear on the cable television channel HDNet Movies during their first week of release. 

 

 

'Magnolia Pictures' have distributed many varying genres of films and pride themselves on having the power to attract wide audiences of different age and target groups. However, 'Optimum Releasing' distributed the film 'The Hurt Locker' and the target audience was the hard-to-reach demographic of 25 to 44-year-old males, and the film faced strong competition from arthouse and mainstream films in the first two weeks of release. In addition, the campaign had to balance the film's core strength as an action-packed thriller, while maintaining its art-house credibility. Our thriller 'SOLO' is also aimed at males around the same age group of 15-40 year olds as it is of the thriller genre and may also include shots of action. Therefore the thriller film 'SOLO' is well suited and a perfect pitch for the producers and distributors of 'Warp Films', 'Optimum Releasing' and 'Magnolia Pictures'. 

Evaluation Task 2: Social Group Representation in 'SOLO'

Panopticon Building Theory

In our thriller 'SOLO' we have represented different social groups of disability and gender in a variety of ways as well as surveillance of society.
The majority of the powerful figures of society, owning the most successful businesses, are often men such as the famous figures of Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, Steve Jobs, founder of Apple, Sergey Brin and Larry Page, founders of Google, owning billion dollar companies. They are able to gather information on the popluation, sifting through personal files and documents and ultimately able to invade citizens privacy, unbeknownst to the users of the companies. This recalls the theory of the Panopticon building designed by the philsopher and social theorist, Jeremy Bentham, in the late 18th century in order to allow a watchmen to observe inmates of an institution without them knowing whether they are being watched.


On the other hand, the film industry depicts many vulnerable men in leading roles, contrasting to the powerful masculine roles of society and action films. For example, 'Forrest Gump' portrays Tom Hanks as a character with a learning difficulty, ultimately an idiot savant managing to invent products and companies, breaking records and becoming a war hero and a symbol of the anti-war movement.
Another example of the vulnerability of men in films is Dustin Hoffman in 'Rainman' as he is portrayed to possess a learning difficulty and is therefore an autistic savant.
Other examples of vulnerable masculine roles in renowned films include Sean Penn in 'I Am Sam' and the character of Lenny in 'Of Mice and Men'

As our thriller involves a teenage autistic boy accidentally hacking into the FBI mainframe this therefore represents the male gender in a negative way. As the boy also writes up a statement on the FBI website once he has hacked into it saying, '"US foreign policy is akin to Government-sponsored terrorism these days … It was not a mistake that there was a huge security stand down on September 11 last year … I am SOLO. I will continue to disrupt at the highest levels … " which is a direct quote from Gary McKinnon's hacking of the United States military and NASA computers and therefore reinforces the negative representation of disability and gender as the autistic boy unnecessarily and purposely disrupts the workings of the organisation once he has trespassed confidential territory without permission.
The whole incident happened as a result of the boys autism and his interest and ability to break codes which are displayed to him, just as the code for the FBI mainframe was displayed to him on his own computer. The fact that he is autistic presents the ability to comprehend and manipulate advanced technology. The fact that he is a male does not help to promote a positive representation for the gender as typically males are seen as more adventurous and daring in their choices.

Our thriller links with various other media such as films, news and literature.
Firstly, our thriller is based on the incident of Gary McKinnon hacking into US military and NASA computers under the name of 'Solo' and therefore facing court trials and possible extradition from the country. Our thriller also links to the films 'Mercury Rising' and 'War Games'.
'Mercury Rising' stars Bruce Willis as an outcast FBI agent who is assigned to protect a 9 year old autistic boy who is the target for assassins after cracking a top secret government code. Whilst 'War Games' is about a young man finding a back door into a military central computer in which reality is confused with game-playing, possibly starting World War III. Both films include the use of technology and gaining access to top secret servers. 'Mercury Rising' also includes the detail of an autistic boy cracking codes to reveal top secret information through the use of technology.

Our thriller also relates to the book 'The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time'. The novel is narrated in the first-person perspective by Christopher John Francis Boone, a mathematically gifted boy of fifteen with Asperger's syndrome. Therefore involving the aspect of disability at a young boy's age and seen in a negative way by all other characters in the book for a period of time.

Evaluation Task 1 continued

 

    

Left: 'Solo'
Right: 'Pi'
These screen grabs show the similarities between my groups thriller 'SOLO' and the already existing thriller 'Pi' which therefore demonstrates how our thriller uses, develops and challenges the typical conventions of thrillers.

Evaluation Task 1: How our thriller uses, develops and challenges forms and conventions of thrillers

 

 

Our thriller starts with the close up shot of the computer screen, instantly signifying the use of technology in the thriller whilst also being typical of conventions in techno thrillers, and progresses by slowly tracking out to an establishing shot of the setting, revealing the entire mise-en-scene of the boy's bedroom. This is a typical convention of a thriller as suspense is usually built from the very beginning by gradually introducing the audience to the action. The colour scheme of purple, green and blue creates a gloomy, cold and mysterious atmosphere with restricted visibility and the only source of light being technology, emphasising the main theme of the thriller. This choice in colour scheme also conforms to the futuristic techno thriller genre. The colour of blue also links the male gender as a result of our main character being a boy and the theme of technology.

The camera work in the remaining part of the tracking shot shows the camera to gradually move to spy on the boy's action over his shoulder as if the camera is an intruder on the action happening in the thriller. This is typical of other thrillers in that the camera work of other films usually represents an antagonist of some sort as a result of spying on the main characters actions.

 

The close up shots of the boy typing on his computer is typical of certain thrillers such as Pi which incorporates close up shots of a man writing down and working out formulae. Therefore these close up shots of his fingers typing as well as the boys eyes conjure up an intensity which builds a climatic tension for the thriller but also by incorporating a mid shot of the boy this communicates his actions to the audience in one shot. The view of Nick's profile also adds a sense of mystery to the thriller, being a typical convention, and also creates a restricted narrative of the boy as a result of the limited view of his facial features and insinuates the mischevious nature of his character, possibly being an enemy of the FBI. This leads the audience on to watch more as they want to see the matter resolved and discover the character's intentions. The close up of his hands typing insinuates the action of hacking and therefore his workings against the FBI.   

These next shots effectively communicate the technology theme of our thriller showing what is supposedly displayed on the boy's computer screen whilst he is cracking codes and discovering links to the FBI mainframe. This is typical of many techno thrillers as the film Pi shows many shots of charts and numbers and formulae, flickering in and out of the main action in the title sequence giving an insight to viewers of the technicality of the thriller. The top image displays a world map which feeds into the idea of surveillance of the population's actions, being a typical convention of a thriller, with characters being consistently watched and spied on. The ID image of the man's profile below creates an enigma for the audience, being typical of a thriller, creating a sense of mystery and consequent suspense. This also creates a restricted narration of the man shown briefly in the title card which entices the audience to want to watch more of the film to discover the identity of the man and what significance he has to the storyline. The last image above displays the inner workings of a computer conjuring up a sense of criminality as a result of hacking into private and confidential territory.

 

The low viewpoint mid shot of the main character displays his attention and concentration directed at cracking the code as well as threatening the audience as a result of the intimidating shot. This is similar to the film Pi as the main character creating a formula is shown to have frequent close up with in the film to allow the audience to relate to the character as well as maintaining a close narrative with the main character the audience should supposedly sympathise with.

 

The action is then taken back to the technology side of the film. This is typical of other techno thrillers as the films usually draw the audience into a frenzy of numbers, codes, links and technological knowledge and puzzles and then instantly bring the audience back to reality, which is displayed above, the audience have been reminded of the situation in hand and receive the boy's reaction to the results of his hacking and then are instantly transported back to his continuous hacking process displayed on his screen.

 

This tracking shot introduces the audience to more of the thriller's mise-en-scene which is ultimately reinforcing the themes and messages of the thriller as the posters and pictures of aeroplanes relate to the boy's obsession with the aircraft. Additionally the tracking shot above shows the endless amount of gadgets and technology being used by the boy. This is typical of techno thrillers, in particular the thriller Pi as a result of scenes showing the main character situated amongst technology and computers.  

 

The close narrative now shown of the boy's hands scrunching up display the boy's body language of hesitance towards the action is about to commit and therefore create a climax of suspense. This is very typical of most other thrillers as a usual convention of thrillers is to create an aspect of suspense.

These final shots indicate the boy's success in cracking the FBI mainframe code and therefore display technological knowledge of the boy as a result of his autism. This is a skill he has acquired from the syndrome, being similar to the workings of the main character in the thriller Pi as he endeavours to work out the formula of Pi.