Audience Engagement Research - Searching (2018)

The target audience would be that of a younger generation. It would be those in there early 20s. This due to the social media and technology aspect. Those of a younger audience could relate to the technology aspect used in this film too because they know or have learned how to operate social media and info readily available to them. This target audience is similar to mine because both audiences can relate to certain aspects such as going to school and the technology aspect with communication.

The film Searching uses posters to convey the simplicity of what the story is as of now. It has darker elements to show that there is something sinister or something dangerous that is lurking in the dark. It also has technological aspects such as showing different phones and a keyboard. There may be emphasis on technology used and that is important to the plot.

The trailer shows a frantic dad trying to find his missing daughter through social media. The director uses short takes of the social media to show how fast and how much media the main character which is the dad goes through. Then there are long takes which shows the dad in frustration and him struggling to find his daughter. These long takes shows more of a deeper emotion and reaction toward the situation that that of a short take. Also, with the combination of both short and long tapes. It creates suspense that time is ticking before his daughter is gone forever.

This is the website for the film. This links to the social media pages that are down below. The website also has the trailer for those that have not seen the trailer yet. There is a montage before this when initial clicked on the website. There was text messages and Facetime missed calls shown on the upper right of the screen with the name Margot which is name of the missing daughter. This creates an effect on the audience first entering the website to more intrigued on what is going on with Margot that they would investigate further to the website. Of course, this was on a phone which will have a smaller format but ideally having the same purpose. 

These are the social media pages for the film Searching. These social media accounts are helpful so that those can get their word out more and is able to have many different forms of media such as short video clips, pictures of posters, and could have other media such as an interview with the director could be put on there to help publicize the film more.

Speaking of interview, this helped give insight to the audience about what the director's thoughts and feelings about the film. An example, what the director thinks the film will portray and what is the overall premise without giving away too much detail. 

The persuasive techniques used would be the color theme throughout all of the various media. All of them have a darker color scheme. Many of the pictures shown above have black which emphasizes something is lurking in the shadows or mystery shrouded by darkness. In many of the pictures, it shows technology which is an imperative part of the film. This helps the audience know some context of what is happening in the film without explicitly saying it outright.

Aspects that I would use to market my film would be having posters, trailers, and social media to get the word out of my film. I would have a certain theme to my posters, trailers, and social media to have the audience know what will be shown in the film. I will also now have a color scheme and what would help indicate what type of film it is based on the my genre.