Primary Audience Research - Reflection

How will I alter my designs and ideas for my promotional product in order to attract the right audience? 

Usually, the target audience of psychological thrillers are for audience that are 18 and onward. Therefore, I will be mostly focusing on audience over 18, female and male equally even though it has been shown that females tend to like psychological thrillers specifically as they enjoy mystery and the intellectual side of mental illnesses and strange psychological behaviors that take place in psychological thrillers. However, the reason why I am keeping the gender of my target audience equal is because psychological thrillers could be also somewhat terrifying and act similar to the horror genre. Moreover, psychological thrillers are for audience 18 and over is because it requires intellectual understanding of the progressing plot which includes violence, blood, disturbing content and depressing morals.

In order to make my trailer unique, I will be creating suspense through different kinds of cinematography, shot lengths, sound and even colour. I will be using a relatable looking  protagonist that looks like an average goodhearted and innocent girl so the audience will relate to her at first but will understand that the physical appearance doesn't always match the 'personality'. I will be using original, handmade soundtrack and avoid overused "BRAAAM" sounds to create unwanted action drama.

I've mentioned that my target audience could be attracted to some films such as "Black Swan" as stated in the previous blog post. I will be using dark colours and soft and weak lights to symbolize the depressing mood of the protagonist (similar to "Black Swan"). I will also try to focus on using the right colours and saturation for different scenes to portray different moods, for example, I will use yellow and green for a happy and energetic scene (the beginning of the trailer) making the trailer stand out. I also have an idea to use contrasting colours especially in the beginning of the trailer. My idea is to use green (grass or field) with a red dress or red flowers. However, the costume of the protagonist would be important, I would like her to wear a white dress because the colour white resembles purity and innocence - a complete opposite of her true nature.

Regarding the dialogue, since my audience will be mature, it would be appropriate to use degrading and controversial topics and subjects inducing few swear words where appropriate. Using harsher language would clearly show that the film is targeted towards more mature audience. Another thing to keep in mind is to when I should use internal thinking and an external dialogue (such as consulting with therapist). However, I wouldn't rely on the dialogue too much in order to keep the mystery and not spoil the plot.

I will be using different locations to convey different types of moods. For example I could use a field to create a sense of freedom and happiness and an abandoned building to portray the hallucinations or despair of the protagonist (to show that her whole world is falling apart). I could also use a room that is similar to a consultation room and a room with a piano to progress the plot and give a clear idea of the characters.

Costumes of other characters include a horror latex mask (the illusion of the protagonists mind) with a simple t-shirt and I will also likely feature two more characters, a therapist and a friend. The Psychotherapist could wear 'smart' clothing and the 'friend' could wear average clothing.