Audience segmentation is a process of dividing people into specific groups based upon defined criterion such as product usage, demographics, psychographics, communication behaviours and media use in order for marketing purposed and to satisfy their needs/wants.
Audiences can be segmented into these groups:
- Gender
- Age
- Race/Ethnicity
- Experience - Fears? (personality)
- Occupation
- Interests
- Wealth
- Class
After that, we got into partners and categorised people into different occupation and income.
Genre: Crime Drama Thriller, Non-fiction, Mystery - SERIAL KILLER
Main Actors: - Robert Downey Jnr. - Mark Ruffalo
- Jake Gyllenhall
1) Murder
2) Investigation begins
3) Another murder - recognised pattern
4) Slowly track down killer
5) We're not certain who the zodiac is
Director : David Fincher
(Se7en, Fight Club, Gone girl, The Girl with the dragon tattoo, The Game, Panic Room - All thrillers)
Zodiac plays around with the conventions of thriller: Unrestricted Audience knows more than the characters --> Zodiac never caught, we know about killings (Big picture - Long shots, wide angle, high angle)' Its a big city - thats why cannot find killer. Audience no longer inside the car with victims - helpless Audience purely observing what is about to happen in a distant. Restricted The audience learns information/plot the same time as the characters --> Details of case and the number of suspects (Detail - close ups) Characters bombarded with details and the audience learns the evidence the same time as the characters. Graysmith
Detatched from other people
Motivated
Curious
Brave
He is outside alone and looking inside into where everyone else is - shows isolation/separated from other characters/different.
Toschi
Idealistic
Hardworking
Devoted
Stylish
Contrast - Graysmith disorganised whereas Toschi is neat (background and setting) , Plays with the idea of their personality and ideaology (Toschi strongly believes in the law, follow orders)
Today, I practiced analysing a clip of a conversation from the movie called "Training Day" by answering the question:
Analysis of Conversation in Thriller
As we’re watching this clip, the character’s contrasting personality is gradually shown to the viewers by the use of the four microelements: Camerawork, sound, mise-en scene, and editing. The cop (Alonzo) appears to be different and not like other typical policemen as he doesn’t fit the conventions. In this clip, he is wearing black casual clothing without any badges to show that he is a cop. The colour black suggests the idea of him being mysterious and unseen, which could refer to him trying to blend in with other people in order to obtain information. In the shot where he takes out his guns, he is seen as a violent and dangerous man unlike Jake who is harmless. Alonzo also speaks in an unprofessional way as he is occasionally using swear words unlike Jake, who seems to be more polite since he calls Alonzo “Sir”, and says “No thank you” to the waitress.
Alonzo is perceived as more aggressive and dominant than Jake. This is shown in the close up shot of him resting his arms on the top of the sofa in the restaurant where he is listening to Jake telling his story. His posture is wide unlike Jake who seems to have his hands underneath the table most of the time, suggesting vulnerability. Here, Alonzo never breaks his eye contact, reinforcing the connotation of power and dominance over Jake who is constantly breaking eye contact, fidgeting and turning around to look in other directions. Another evidence to support this is the long shot where the two cops are walking across the street to their car. Alonzo is walking quickly in a tall stance ahead of Jake, again highlighting that Jake is his follower, and has less power. Throughout their conversation, Alonzo is speaking more than Jake (more dialogue) therefore shows that he is possibly in a higher position than Jake who gets interrupted several times.
As we approach the end of the clip, Jake starts to become more comfortable with Alonzo. There are fewer close up reaction shots and is replaced with a two shot during the conversation instead. They are both in the frame laughing and telling stories, suggesting a development of their relationship. One of Jake’s hands is above the table, making gestures and starting to become more engaged as he’s telling his “DUI” story.
Aristotle's Theory (384 - 322 BC) - "Catharsis" We purge/cleanse our own negative/violent feeling, by watching/consuming/experiencing violent, negative imagery Dolf Zillman's - "Excitation transfer Theory" The negative emotions gained from violent/scary/negative imagery - intensify the positive Glenn D Walters - Elements to making a movie scary 1) Tension - create use of micro-elements, and manipulation information & narrative 2) Relevance - the fear generated has to be relevant to the audience - and believed 3) Unrealism - the audience have to be aware it isn't real
We started our class by sharing ideas of the connotations of these shapes:
The overall impression of the triangle was negative in contrast to the circle which was interpreted as being more approachable and positive. The rectangle however, wasn't neither to one side but appeared as a bold and straightforward to everyone. After the discussion, we tried to apply this theory into our analysis of the opening of a TV show called "Dexter".
From this opening we are able to determine the general theme and genre of the TV series which is crime film and mystery. The sequence is composed of a series of clips showing a man doing his morning daily routine before heading off to work. Although this sounds very ordinary, the director smartly uses extreme close up shots of certain objects and actions to create a disturbing image for their viewers. A lot of these shapes are used in a way to suggest the audience the idea of violence:
The sequence starts with Dexter innocently killing a mosquito and smiling at the bloody bite mark. This is followed by drops of blood on the main character's name "Dexter" suggests injury and death that he will be involved in (he is a Forensics Expert and a serial killer). This also makes the audience want to carry on watching as they want to find out where the blood is from.
Here, we can see a triangular knife slowly slicing through the red meat. The colour of the meat is light pink, making the audience feel slight sick as the close-up makes it seem like it is human flesh being cut since the previous shots show human skin and blood dripping. The shape of the cut is a triangle as well, which reinforces the connotations we had about the shape, being violent and harmful.
The objects that were being cut are circle in shape therefore implies the sense of disruption and violence. We are able to see the small droplets of the orange juices spraying out while being cut, suggesting blood since the background is also a deep red colour.
This shot shows Dexter carefully putting on his T-shirt and holding it tight to his face where we are able to slightly see his nose and mouth. By Dexter holding extending and emphasising this movement expresses the idea of suffocation which is a method of murder.
Dexter's opening sequence succeeds in creating a very smooth transition which gradually exposes the violence and Dexter’s true nature. Initially, Dexter's face is obscured and not shown as we can only see some extreme close up parts of him (the stubble on Dexter's neck, his fingernails) as we approach the ending of the title sequence, Dexter's face becomes clearer to the audience.
We discussed about the codes and conventions of film openings and came up with lots of ideas so i decided to represent them in a mind map:
The main purpose of a film opening is to entice the audience into carrying on watching a film. After doing research I found out that the director can achieve this in many ways:
1) Flashback - a disturbing sudden vivid memory of an event in the past
2) Planning of landscape/Establishing shot - set the scene and inform the audience where it it taking place
3) Narrations - give information about what is happening or who the characters are to give the audience an insight to the rest of the film
4) Action scene - fast paced scene (tells genre)
5) Chase scene
6) Production's Logo
7) Title sequence - show cast and production team, could build tension
8) Animation- portray the beginning in a creative way
9) Compilation of photographs
10)Narrative content- includes the context
11) Soundtrack
Later on we analysed the opening scene of the film "Children of men"
We were able to obtain lots of information just from watching this short clip. We're told that the film is located in London in the 16th November year 2027 therefore it is set in the future, which implies that the genre is science fiction. This panning shot of the busy streets in London is showing how London has become more culturally diverse as transport is different and similar to Thailand's Tuk tuk. The location is unhygienic and messy with care fumes and old buildings along with rubbish is scattered everywhere. People wearing dark/black clothing are walking mindlessly, suggesting the lack of organisation and care, giving sense of oppression and depression in the city.
The dystopian world in the future is dangerous and grim. The news reporter mentioning closure of the British border, the army occupation of mosque and siege of Seattle suggests war and segregation. We also hear the devastating news on television announcing the death of the World's Youngest person is 18 years old, Baby Diego who was "stabbed". Again, reinforcing the idea of danger and conflict in London in 2027.
It is obvious that the main character is the man entering the coffee shop while everyone else is watching the news. He is scruffy and unbothered by the situation as he appears to be the only person unfocused on the news about the death of Baby Diego while everyone else is engaged and static. The contrast of his action makes him more unique, drawing the audience to this specific character. The camera follows him outside where he adds alcohol into his coffee, suggesting that he could be an alcoholic.
