Question 1: In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

We have made informed decisions on our use of conventions within genre, narrative structure  form and style, all of which I have explained below. 

Genre

Our film is a teen drama, with sub genres of black comedy and coming of age.

Below is a video on genre conventions. It explains any relevant conventions used in the Opening when we get to them. All three of us worked on all parts of the video. 

Other conventions that we would use throughout the film are:

1. The moral development of the protagonist from a teenager to a young adult (This can be seen in coming of age themes such as Mean Girls - in which Cady grows up and realises that popularity does not really hold much importance)
2. Disruption caused by the protagonist (In Heathers, Veronica decides to make a change and take down Heather, which results in Heather's death)
3. Themes of sexuality, popularity, moral values and self-worth. (Some of these themes can be seen in American Beauty, for instance when it is revealed that Angela lied about having sex, in order to fit in) 

From left to right: Mean Girls, Heathers, American Beauty

For conventions regarding character and representation, please click here. 

With regards to our protagonist, we both developed and conformed to conventions. Like many protagonists in teen dramas, Eve is quite absorbed in herself and in teenage life. The film ends as she matures and makes her way into adulthood. This conforms to conventions. However, Eve's moral journey is not to do with popularity, or other people at all, but about her growing up from her cold and calculating ways. There is also no aspect of her romantic life in the film. We did this because we felt that too often the new equilibrium was reached in relating to the protagonist entering or fixing a relationship with a boyfriend or girlfriend. Although this could alienate viewers who are fans of the romance genre, we wanted to update the teen drama genre in a more realistic way. 

These teen-drama protagonists were key influences for us. Clockwise from top left:

1. Effy - Skins. Effy is cold and cuts herself off people, never allowing herself to make true connections. She does however have a close relationship with brother Tony. This family relationship but cold exterior otherwise inspired us.
2. Kat - 10 Things I Hate About You. Kat is very independent and again very cold. She eventually has to allow herself to let go; these traits are all exhibited in our protagonist.
3. Kim - Chalet Girl. Kim is determined, intelligent and sarcastic; she often uses black humour in her speech. Our character will also be sarcastic but not for the purpose of humour. She will also be very intelligent.
4. Tracy - Thirteen. Tracy gets caught up in teen life and becomes very self-absorbed, similar to Eve. 
5. Annabel - St Trinians. Annabel thinks very highly of herself, and has to let go of this to find true happiness, as does Eve.
6. Cady - Mean Girls. Cady becomes self absorbed and caught up in a madness which she must let go of, as must Eve with her revenge. 
7. Veronica - Heathers. Veronica triggers a very serious fake-suicide pattern, which she must put an end to. Eve must put an end to the revenge trend she started. 
8. Susanna - Girl, Interrupted. Although the storyline has various interpretations, Susanna like Eve realises the trouble she is in and does what she can to amend this. 

Other conventional characters in teen dramas include:

• Jocks or sleazy males 
• Cheerleaders and unintelligent yet attractive females
• Geeks and nerds
• Outcasts or loners
• Parents

From left to right: Mean Girls -  Jocks, A Cinderella Story - Cheerleaders, St Trinians - Geek,
 Mean Girls - Outcasts, American Beauty - Parents

Teen drama characters also often fit Propp's character theory which I have discussed below. 

Narrative Structure

In general, film structure usually complies with Todorov's narrative theory. Teen dramas are no exception (neither are black comedies nor coming of age films). Below I have outlined Todorov's narrative structure and how we have followed it. 

1. Equilibrium - Pupils at are school are introduced at a party. Everyone seems sociable and gets on with each other, and there is use of drugs, alcohol and sex. *
2. Disruption - One girl collapses at the party and seemingly overdoses, there is lots of panic and people react in different ways. (Eve sold dodgy drugs to her "best friend" to exact revenge for sleeping with her brother behind her back)*
3. Recognition - The pupils at the school start to suspect Eve had taken revenge, and start settling their vendettas in cruel, unnecessary ways. One slightly unsociable boy takes this too far and plans a cold murder of an innocent girl who rejected him romantically. 
4. Attempts to repair - Eve prevents the boy from exacting his revenge and the whole school are shocked when his cruel intentions are revealed. 
5. New equilibrium - In a big emotional gathering, the whole school realise their wrong doings and promise to end the madness, and be nicer to each other and resolve their problems in other ways. As school breaks and they all walk out, the police arrive to take them to the station after catching wind of all of the events. 

* The first two stages(in blue) are the stages that are in our opening. This demonstrates how our opening has also conformed to narrative convention. 

This is a very conventional narrative structure. We chose to conform to it to make the film easy for the audience to follow. It also is successful with audiences because they feel as if they have been on a journey with the films' characters, and they are happy that the situation has been resolved. 

Narrative techniques or devices are used to keep the audience interested and entertained, but also to move the plot forward. We used the following narrative devices in our opening:

Narrative technique	Example of where we used it	Why we used it
Ellipsis	When Eve is walking up the stairs	Watching Eve climb all of the stairs would be boring, and it would slow the sequence down too much. The audience would not gain anything from it and are able to piece together the events themselves.
Linear sequence	During the overdose scene and Eve’s exit	This juxtaposes the POV shots in the beginning, as well as juxtaposing the effects of drugs against the potential consequences. It makes it clear that the viewer is back in the real world, and enforces the negativity of drug taking.
Real time	From when Hannah overdoses	This contrasts greatly with the POV shots at the beginning, and makes it clear that that episode of the scene has ended along with all its related themes and the mood. It also creates clarity so the audience can understand what has happened.
Cliff hanger	When Eve smiles	The audience do not know what will happen next, and so are more likely to watch the rest of the film to find out.
Enigma code	When Eve smiles	Following the confusion and chaos of the overdose scene, this raises many questions in the audiences’ minds. Why did she smile, why did she leave, is she somehow responsible? The audience want these questions answered and so are likely to watch on.
Cultural code	The beer cans	When seeing these, the audience immediately think of alcohol and being drunk. This makes them think of past experiences/films/awareness, and they therefore can understand the events and relate to the characters more.

We also used character roles (a theory suggested by Vladamir Propp) to help move the narrative along and so that the audience could identify and recognised characters further. However, the lines of good and bad are somewhat blurred in our opening due to the long running theme of revenge. 

Arguably the Heroin, Eve saves the day by preventing the murder of the innocent girl. Like conventional heroins, she is the protagonist. However, she is also arguably the villain, because she sparked of the revenge trend by exacting the first very cruel revenge. 

Hannah fits the character role of the victim, because she is drugged by Eve. However she has villainous aspects to her: Eve did not commit the revenge for no reason. 

Another arguable villain is the nerdy and unsociable boy. He plans a cruel revenge for no reason, and has to be stopped by the protagonist/heroin. 

Form

Most people can immediately recognise a film opening, even if they aren't told what media it is. Below I have identified the typical features of an opening sequence. We intentionally followed all of these to make the form obvious, so that the audience could concentrate on more important things such as the story-line. 

We intentionally followed most of the conventions for opening sequences. Those that we followed we had no reason to break, and they help audiences recognise the form of media this is. However, we did not use any institution idents. If I was to do this project again, I would make one for X productions, because it further helps audiences to identify that this is a film opening. Furthermore, if X Productions were to become a real production company, it would help audience recognise their films and associate them together. 

Style
To clearly demonstrate our points with regards to style, we have made annotations over the top of the film opening. The annotations appear in time with relevant shots/sound/titles to what we have done and the  style of the film opening.

Please watch this video in full screen because otherwise the annotations do not fully display themselves. 

In summary, we used conventions where we thought it was appropriate. We did not use them for the sake of creating a conventional film; we used them when we felt they would increase audience appeal. Where we felt a convention was outdated and unrealistic, we tried to develop it. Overall we have neither completely conformed to stereotypes nor created a ground breaking film opening; instead we have developed conventions according to current times. 

Question 2: How does your media product represent particular social groups?

When beginning to create our characters and consider representation and characterisation, we were very conscious of how we would represent certain social groups. We were aiming to realistically portray society, as well as creating relatable characters. This would add to the realism and involvement for the target audience; they could more easily visualise themselves in the film. For this reason we developed conventional representation in many cases, however our representation of age definitely conforms to conventional stereotypes. 

Our film is about teenage life, and explores the peer pressure that young people often experience. It goes past the stereotype that teenage life is very simple and superficial, and delves into the complex relationships and lives behind this. Whilst the revenge trend is fairly unrealistic, it is the nightmare worst possible scenario of what can happen as a result of peer pressure and social media, which are very current issues. It taps into fears of reputation ruin and the desperation this can cause and how out of control this can get. This sends a message about the importance of being independent for teenagers as well as the need for support for teenagers under pressure. It is important to bare this context in mind when regarding individual social group representation. 

Age
In teen dramas, teenagers are often portrayed in an "in-between" stage, experimenting with things such as drugs and sex. They are also represented as irresponsible and are often portrayed as inconsiderate of those around them: parents in particular, and put social callings before educational ones. 

In many ways we have stuck to convention with our representation of teenagers. Firstly the use of drugs is clearly represented. The echo effect gives a psychedelic feel commonly associated with drug taking. The characters also are acting slightly unnaturally and in an exaggerated manner; this also connotes drug taking. 

In this still the echo effect is very clear, demonstrating that the
person whose point of view this is is under the influence of drugs.

This is a negative and conventional representation of teenagers both in the teen drama genre but also in general. An example of this is in Skins. However, whereas drug taking is portrayed considerably more positively in Skins (which was a factor in being awarded an 18 rating), we have represented it negatively, as it causes an apparent overdose. This is a factor in why we 
think that a 15 rating would be awarded if our film was made.

Please disregard the music, I have included this video for its visual effects only.

Whilst this representation of teenagers is evidently negative, I believe that there are lighter and more positive aspects to it. Firstly, the teenagers are represented to be very accepting of each other, be it in terms of sexuality, class, or ethnicity; they are interact equally together. I also find the representation to be fairly realistic, whilst the events portrayed cannot be related to by all teenagers, the majority will recognise this type of scene from their own lives. 

Ethnicity
From our research of teen dramas, we discovered that ethnicity has not conventionally been portrayed realistically and fairly. We found examples of this in various teen dramas: 

• Heather's: the main cast are all white 
• Skins*: the Bristol teens are mainly white British, with exceptions Jal and Anwar. However Anwar's characterisation is strongly based on his ethnicity and he is a very two-dimensional character in comparison to many of the others; his self entitled episode is shared with Maxxie. 
• Mean Girls: The protagonist and 2 of the three other main characters are white (minimal range of ethnicities portrayed).

*Whilst we understand that Skins is not a film teen drama, it is a television teen drama which we find relevant due to the similar themes, characters, and events. 

Anwar in Skins

As a group we felt that we would want to develop our representation of ethnicity in teen dramas further that it has been previously. Within the cast of our film opening there are a wide range of ethnicities, which we feel correctly reflects modern urban society. Furthermore, ethnicity has no effect on character traits; a range of actors of different ethnicities portray a range of roles, behaviours and characteristics. 

                          Ciara                                                          Meera                                                        Sophie

In our film 0:20 - 0:45 is evidence for what I have said about our representation of ethnicity. For example, the two couples are made up of mixes of ethnicities. They are both behaving similarly and are doing similar things; neither couple is doing something more outrageous or degrading than the other. The dancers are also evidence of our developed representation of ethnicity. Meera and Ciara, pictured above both dance in similar ways and have equal screen time. Meera and Sophie also are dressed alike, portraying their characters and ethnicity impartially. 

Meera is on the left and Ciara the right of this still

In summary, our group feels that many previous representations of ethnicity in teen dramas are outdated, and that our representation is fair of modern urban society, and therefore has developed conventions by our representation. This representation is not ground breaking, but realistic. We hope that this is a development in representation that will be seen in future teen dramas. 

Sexuality

Homosexuality is heavily stereotyped in teen dramas. It is considered embarrassing and to be a secret. Homosexual males are often portrayed as effeminate, and less "manly". In general, the portrayal of sexualities in teen dramas so far has not been very wide or particularly positive. Homosexual females are often portrayed as just drunk or having a laugh, and it is sexualised and represented as a fun for men to watch. 

The jocks in Heathers

1. In Heather's, homosexuality is considered an insult, as demonstrated about 13 minutes into the film, when the Jocks are speaking to Jason. The scene involving the jocks prior to the shooting in the woods also treats homosexuality as a negative thing, and relies largely on stereotypes with the use of candy boxes and mineral water. 
2. In the party scene in Project X, there are lots of shots of girls dancing together in a sexual manner and kissing, and the connotation is that this is only happening because they are drunk. This is a negative representation of homosexuality. 
3. In Skins series 1 and 2 Maxxie is the only homosexual character and being gay is a large personality trait for him, and it is focused on greatly. He is a dancer and quite feminine; this conforms to the gay negative stereotype. Furthermore, his character does not have much depth in comparison to the others, and his self entitles episode is shared with Anwar.

Maxxie in Skins

When planning the characters in our opening, representation of sexuality was something that we kept in mind. As a group we were adamant that we wanted to develop on the conventional homosexual representation in teen dramas. Like ethnicity, homosexuality is something that we feel is currently unrealistically represented, and in modern society, homosexuality is mostly and should be treated the same as heterosexuality  We wanted to represent heterosexuality as commonplace and not give much attention to it, just as it would be in real life. This can be seen from 0:34 - 0:49 in the opening. 

Joe (left) Patrick (right)

No focus is awarded to homosexuality. Both Joe and Patrick are not dressed in any way that gives suggestion to their sexuality (in the way that it is conventionally represented). The shot does not linger on them for longer than it would if the couple was heterosexual, making the fact that it is a gay couple seem unimportant. Both characters in the couple have as many definitive personality traits as the other characters: Joe is quite kooky and a hipster, and he expresses a lot of concern for Hannah when she collapses. Patrick on the other hand dresses very casually and is less interested in Hannah's collapse; he has to be called over angrily by Joe. Patrick is also observant; he is the only one that notices Eve's departure.

As a group we think that this is a very realistic version of modern urban society, and for this reason we have developed on the conventions from previous teen dramas. However we have not represented trans-gender people or bisexuality, and this is a development that we hope will be seen soon in the development of the genre. 

To summarise we have researched and are aware of the conventional and stereotypical representations in teen dramas. Where we have decided to or not to conform to a convention  it has been done with the audience in mind and to make the opening sequence more relatable and realistic. 

For more information on these representations and detail on other representations please refer to our representation post. 

Question 3: What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

Like most British films, our film would be a co-production, because our company does not have the means to produce, distribute and market. Our film would be produced by X Productions, distributed and marketed by Momentum Pictures, and financed by the BFI film fund. 

Distribution

When deciding on potential distributors, we decided to research which companies had distributed films of similar genres and themes. We also looked at major distributors, and distributors specifically within Britain to see if they had distributed any relevant films. We did this because our target audiences are likely to want to go see our film if they see that our distributor have distributed similar films that they have enjoyed. 

Heathers was a very key influence for us, and whilst a completely Americanised film, the connotations of having New World Pictures distributing our film would have been fantastic. New World Pictures however, has been effectively defunct since 1997. 

Newmarket Films, Paramount Pictures, Fox Searchlight Pictures and Columbia Pictures are all American distributors and so we could not use them because our film is British and so we would like our distributor to reflect this. 

We chose E One Momentum (originally Momentum Pictures) to distribute our film. Firstly they are one of the UK's leading independent distributors. Secondly they have distributed multiple films will strong, quirky female protagonists such as Amelie, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and Chalet Girl. They have also distributed black comedies, such as Seven Psychopaths, and films appealing to older audiences including parents, such as The King's Speech. In summary, E One Momentum are able to reach both our audience of 16-24 year olds and the older audience of parents because they have successfully done this before. 

Production

Our Production Company is called X Productions. The title of the company in itself connotes enigma and secrecy; it does not give much away. We decided that this was a good name for our production company because it was memorable but not over the top; the film would by far by the main focus. 

Our Production Company would produce films predominantly targeting a broad audience of 16-24 year olds, the largest group of cinema-goers. The films would be made with an aim of quality over global appeal, and would target young adults looking for less cheesy films with a bit more substance. The types of genres that our company would be likely to produce are dramas, thrillers and comedies, as well as maybe fantasies and horror. X Productions would rarely produce romantic comedies and action/adventure films, of which there are a lot of targeted at young adults. 

X Productions would produce similar films to Heathers, Submarine, The Girl with a dragon tattoo and Chalet Girl. It is similar to Production Houses such as British Production Houses Between the Eyes [Shifty (2008)] and DNA [28 Days Later (2002), The Last King of Scotland (2006) Sunshine (2007), Never Let Me Go (2010)]. It would also be similar to ex-American Production House New World Titles. 

Financing
Like most British Productions, our film would probably be a Co-Production. We imagine that it would receive financing from the BFI Film Fund, who "use Lottery funds to nurture and invest in a diverse mix of first-class filmmakers UK wide". It would qualify for this funding because it is a British Production made by a small independent Production House. Other investors may be interested because it is unique yet has quite broad audience appeal. 

Exhibition Platforms
If our film was distributed by EOne Momentum, it would hopefully be released in mainstream cinemas (Odeon, Vue, Cineworld) in 2D in most cinemas around the UK. Given high success and appeal which is possible due to global themes and potential, we would aim for a saturation release within the UK. Depending on the funding, and cinematic response that our film received, we would also offer screenings in 3D. This would be possible given the new technology enabling films that have been shot in 2D to be exhibited in 3D. We feel that this would be a particularly immersive experience for our audience given the "trippy" point-of-view nature of our opening. 

We are however conscious that exhibition is considerably more than cinema viewings. The chart on the left demonstrates how the majority of viewings of films (approximately 97%) are in cinemas. This is one of the reasons we have been careful to consider exhibition platforms other than cinema. 

This chart (taken from the BFI statistical yearbook for 2012) denotes that the two genres that are sold the most on DVD are comedies and dramas. This demonstrates that there is a large target market for our film's genre on DVD. For this reason, after the life of the film in cinema ends, we would also release the film on DVD, including HD and Blu-Ray in order to maximise profits and audience reach. 
The VoD market is expanding rapidly, especially with the introduction of online VoD in 2008. By expanding exhibition platforms to include VoD we would make the film more accessible to our primary and secondary audiences, who are the major consumers of VoD. We would hope to make a deal with Netflix, who have an ever expanding 23 million members. They have a range of genres available and have effectively targeted a range of audiences. 

(Please click on these to enlarge them)

We would imagine that the rights to broadcast the film on television would go to Channel 4 or more specifically E4. They have been known to exhibit quirkier media, and given he success of Skins, a film with similar themes and concepts should be well received by a pre-existing audience. 

Marketing
Another reason for selecting EOne Momentum as our distributor was their history and expertise of marketing campaigns. For example, for Chalet Girl which has a similar core audience to Vendetta, exhibition platforms were exploited where appropriate to the target audience. More traditional forms of marketing included posters, trailers, and TV adverts, alongside a large premiere and a website.  Chalet girl also had effective interactive video viral marketing, linking in to social media. Their marketing was very successful as they did not just raise awareness of the film but they attracted the core audience successfully as well and therefore attracted viewers to the cinema.

Proposed Marketing for Vendetta
Firstly, our marketing would include conventional forms such as trailers and posters as well as a website from which we would base a viral campaign, taking influence from that of Chalet Girl. However, given that our core audience is 16-24 year olds, who are also the largest consumers of social media, it is crucial that our marketing reflects this. With accounts and pages on social media such as Twitter, Facebook and Linkden it is likely that we would successfully reach our core and secondary target audience. To keep followers and fans interested and engaged, we would post teaser clips, posters, and have competitions via these social networking sites. It would be very likely that would make an interactive video linking to social media, similar to the one made for Chalet Girl. The aims of our marketing campaign would be to raise awareness of our film and to interest our target audience enough to buy a ticket at the cinema. The marketing would focus on the core and secondary audience but definitely have appeal for our tertiary and any wider audience. 

Overall, I believe that the choices we have made in terms of distributing our film are realistic and appropriate. I feel that EOne Momentum would be the institution that would most effectively and successfully distribute and market Vendetta. 

Question 4: Who would be the audience for your media product?

Core Audience

The diagram below explains in detail key information to do with our core audience. It has both general information about the core audience such as age range and ethnicity, but also more specific information that may not be true of every member in our core audience, but is typical of this audience.

**Please note the distinction between nationality as the country one lives in and ethnicity as what a person considers to be their ethnic background**

Secondary Audience

Our secondary audience is 15-24 year old males. They make up approximately half of the largest age group of cinema goers (see table below).  Many of their characteristics are similar to those of our primary audience, however their are our secondary audience because the protagonist is less relatable for them. 

This graph has been taken from the BFIs Statistical Yearbook for 2012.

Tertiary Audience

Our Tertiary target audience is the over 45s of both genders. As shown by the graph above, they are making up a increasing proportion of cinema goers. Our film is therefore targeted at approximately 60% of the cinema-going population in the UK and Ireland. Specifically within this age group are parents with teenage children. 

In summary, our film has a broad appeal to a range of audiences on a national level. However due to the global themes, it is possible that Vendetta could be seen by international audiences and exhibited in cinemas around the world, as well as available internationally online via websites such as Netflix. In the next question I will explain how we would target these audiences. 

Question 5: How did you attract/address your audience?

The attraction of a film to an audience obviously depends on who makes up this audience. Our three focus audiences were a core audience of 15-24 year old females, secondary audience of 15-24 year old males, and a tertiary audience of 45 years+ adults and parents. It was vital that by attracting one target audience, we did not alienate another. This could result in a smaller audience and therefore lower box office takings. However whilst doing this, it was key that we focused most of our efforts onto attracting the core audience, because this is who the film is predominantly made for and appeals to. 

We were very keen to get feedback from typical audience members through out the editing process, as well as informal feedback on the proposal. The feedback on the rough edits of the core audience can be found here and the secondary audience here. At the bottom of the page there is a question and answer recording on the final version.

Choice of Distributor
When marketed as a EOne Momentum film, fans of films that they have already distributed may be attracted to watch Vendetta, because this connotes a similar quality to their previous films. 

Choice of Genre

Whereas the first graph is in relation to box office, the second graph refers to sale of physical video. 

These two graphs, taken from the BFIs Statistical Yearbook for 2012 demonstrate the popularity of the comedy and the drama genres (both of which are relevant to our film). Comedy and Drama made up approximately 28% of total box office takings in 2011, and 40.4% of the sale of physical video. Given that physical video sales generate approximately 10 times more revenue (BFI statistics), this indicates the the high demand for comedies and dramas are in the UK and Ireland. Therefore the genre hybrid we have chosen for our film is the first way in which we attract our audience. 

We related Katz and Blumler's Uses and Gratifications Theory to our film/film opening to identify how to give audiences high satisfaction through watching our film. 

Information and education - The high proportion of parents within our tertiary audience are likely use our film to  become aware of what their children might get up to outside of family like, and the social situations that they may be involved in. This targets fears of children lying to them, and being placed in dangerous situations. There is also appeal for all adults over 45. They are more likely (than 25-45s) to have left their partying and more social life behind them, and watching our feature film may bring about pleasures of nostalgia, and reminiscence and old memories given the realism many of the situations. On the other hand, any audiences that have different lives to those portrayed may just be interested in how other people live.

Entertainment - The black comedy sub-genre is likely to appeal to all of our audiences. As the graph demonstrates, comedy is the genre that attracts the largest audiences to both cinemas and to buy physical videos. The black comedy is most likely to appeal to our audiences for several reasons. Firstly black comedy is more mature than other types such as slapstick. This appeals to our 45+ because they are likely to appreciate this mature type of humour. The 15-24 year olds may also prefer humour that they find mature because it separates them from being young kids. The effects during the overdose scene are also entertaining. They are unusual and psychedelic and the viewer can immerse themselves with the scene. This links into escapism. 

Social Interaction - Our film is appealing to a mass audience due to the highly relatable themes running throughout. This means that audiences who would otherwise not watch it, may chose to in order to have common interests with friends, and are able to join in discussions. They will have fulfilment through inclusion.

Escapism - By watching our feature film, the audience are able to immerse themselves in someone else, different and unusual life. This allows them to escape daily stresses and relax, forgetting temporarily about their lives. For example, the first POV shot in our opening literally allows them to see things as someone else does, and makes them more likely to be able to forget about their own life and empathise with characters, and feel like someone else.

Identification - Especially during the initial equilibrium, the teenagers lives are very realistic, and therefore our core and secondary audiences may know or be similar to some of the characters that they are introduced to. The event of a party scene is iconic and immediately recognisable, as are the themes of collective drinking, and drug taking. The older tertiary audience may relate the characters they see to themselves when they were younger. The core audience are also to identify with and aspire to aspirational traits of our main character, despite the fact that she is not an actual aspirational character. This is similar to Effy in Skins. Whilst she is cold and cut off, she is stylish, attractive and very cool. One comment on her character profile on the channel 4 website says: "Effy's the coolest person I've ever seen. Dude, she's awesome! :)"

Whilst above I have mainly referred to general appeal throughout the film, I will now point out specific appeal to audiences within our opening. 

• Firstly we conform various to genre connotations and use cultural codes such as beer cans, music and party costume. The audience know what to expect and so can relax and enjoy the narrative. However we do break some conventions to avoid a boring film and to make it more realistic and relatable for the audience, especially the core and secondary can project themselves into the scene. It also may create nostalgia for the tertiary audience. 
• There is a shock in the narrative when Hannah "overdoses", the pace of editing quickens and the atmosphere changes, offsetting the audience and keeping them intrigued. 
• The point of view shot directly enables the audience to see as an insider what things are like in their world. This particularly creates appeal for the tertiary audience who may be intrigued as to how things have changed since they were involved in this kind of scene, or for parents who want to get an idea as to what their children are up to. 
• The montage techniques during the overdose scene appeal to the audiences' fears. They are provided with a range of reactions and so they can decide who they empathise with (most).
• The continuity techniques such as the 180 degree rule and match on actions and the 30 degree rule (such as when Eve is making her exit) make it easy for the audience to follow from shot to shot and enables them to focus on the narrative, and get absorbed in the film.
• Use of enigma code. There is a build up of enigma when Eve smiles. Why did she smile? Why did she walk out? Is she involved what just happened? If so how and why? Is Hannah going to be okay? 

Here is a primary and secondary audience sample, watching our film opening. 

Below is some audience feedback demonstrating this core and secondary sample found successful and unsuccessful. 

We know that our titles have been reasonably successful because Alice and Patrick easily identified the film name without any confusion. This is very important, because the word "Vendetta" can triggers thoughts about why it may be called this, and brings many possible connotations to mind. 
For genres, the audience said that it could be "crime", "mystery" or "dramatic". They also said it was not comedic. This is good feedback because they understood the core drama genre, however a lot of our feedback has reported suggested that the crime genre is prominent. They thought this due to the dark mise-en-scene and the style, as well as the serious overdose event. This is not too serious because the genre of crime does not detract from the drama, and their are definitely themes of crime within our opening, as well as for the rest of the film! However, the seriousness of the film was not as intended as it come across. This links into the comedic aspect being less prominent than we would have hoped it to be. This may be because many people are unaware of the black comedy genre, and because the comedy is quite subtle. If we were to do this again we would have to concentrate on consolidating this genre further. On the other hand, people laughed when the couple continue kissing even after seeing what has happened to Hannah, which is positive feedback. 
They said that our film is likely to be shown in independent cinemas, which may well be the case unless of film attracted wide appeal through word of mouth. The budget is very small so it would be unlikely to be shown in being multiplexes such as Odeon unless the making of the rest of film was well financially backed. 
The correctly identified the target audience, which hopefully means it appealed enough to them as teenagers!
They linked Eve's character to Vendetta, and identified her as the protagonist which is very positive feedback because it immediately gives her connoted character traits through only 20 seconds of seeing her. They identified the character of Hannah as being quite key, which means that we have introduced her well. They also noticed the mix of personalities, and range of characters and behaviors at the party. 
They were able to put the events in order, and followed the storyline well. They caught on to the enigma and started to make predictions as to why Eve smiled, but said they would like to watch on to see if their predictions were correct, and to get their questions answered. They also identified the appropriate theme of revenge.
As a whole they said that the opening sequence was successful and interesting to watch, which we are very happy about! They reported that they enjoyed the enigma of both the opening and Eve's exit, which is great because enigma was key for our audience appeal. 
Improvement suggestions were to denote character reactions for longer so that the audience could relate to them more. This is something we would definitely take into account if we were to repeat this project, because relatability and empathy are key methods by which we have targeted our audience. 
7.5/10 and 8.5/10 are ratings we are very happy with! 

Overall we have appealed to our audience in various ways, and without alienating one audience, we have attracted a range of ages and genders successfully. Whilst their are things that we would change if re-doing the project to increase audience appeal, I would say that our appeal has been successful on the whole.