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

Narrative

The Narrative of our film opening was quite simple but expressed in a unique way in that most crime/mystery film openings would not start with a voiceover. This unique way of telling the story captivated the audience and made them want to find out what happened next. The audience’s expectations after hearing it was a crime/mystery was that the film would involve a detective and that there would be a dead body and both of these expectations were met. The story is not made clear in the opening and we did this to make the audience want to watch more and to create a sense of enigma for the audience.

Camera

The establishing shot at the beginning of the opening sets the scene in order to show to the audience the sort of area in which the murder occurred. The audience is likely to live in this kind of area and so this is why we chose this sort of location as it makes the film seem a lot more realistic and will give a sense of verisimilitude. The use of the close up shots with the clicking of the pen gave the impression that the pen had some significance to either the case or the murder, making the audience try and figure out the case even further. The title Red Herring adds to this effect. The camera techniques varied with each item around the room which made gave the audience the idea that each thing was used in different ways, and so this made them try and link them all together.

Sound

The use of sound in the film opening was essential to captivating and attracting the audience. The use of the pen clicking in co-ordination with each shot was particularly effective on the audience. The use of this diegetic sound added to the overall sense of enigma. Because the pen clicking is used to separate each shot, the fact that it is clicking with every shot gives the impression that the pen has great significance, making them want to find out what its significance is. The voiceover aids this as the detective is talking about the case and the fact the death is strange. It is also very unique and most of the audience had never

seen a voiceover used in a crime/mystery film as it is stereotypically something you would more likely hear in a superhero movie at the end of the movie.