When coming up with ideas for my product Auto-pilot I was inspired by Alex Garlands 2015's film Ex Machina, I chose to produce this film with another student as a joint project sharing the roles of director and editor. The target audience for Auto-Pilot is the explorer from Young & Rubicam 4C's, aged between eighteen to fifty. This is because the film exemplifies alternative narrative systems which challenges the audiences expectations, this is the main attraction of the film making it appeal to a niche audience. The audience will fit into the Cynic and Utopian  lifestyle category, because the film fulfils both of the desires to find something to complain and be angry about , it also builds connections with reality giving the audience a message that could help them change their lives and other peoples. From the demographic social scale the target audiences will be A,B and C1 grades, this is because the film requires a sophisticated and intellectual audience to be able to take the preferred reading.  

Auto-Pilots genre is psychological thriller, this is illustrated through the narrative structure, themes and main character in the film. The film has a non-linear narrative structure and challenges Todorovs five stages, it also doesn’t conform to props character types, the characters being extremely complex. Auto-Pilot represents two groups, Youth and men. There are only two character in Auto-Pilot which are Marnie and Gavin, this excluding stock characters like Louise.  Both representations are negative, men are depicted as passive, unbalanced in thought and pathetic, and youth are helpless  victims.  

My research informed me that conventional narrative must be chronologically constructed otherwise it could destroy rules of logical causality which defines narrative. I decided to challenge this in my film by using a non-linear narrative which was depicted as a flashback and narrated by the protagonist. I did this to manipulate the audience into trusting Gavin so when it was revealed he was unhinged they would continue to align with the character, this resulting in the audience sympathizing with him even after killing his daughter. I also learned that very often narrated events don’t conform to the linear model and narrative closure and can be problematic and ambiguous, I portrayed this in my film during the final scenes. I edited the film so the audience is aurally manipulated by the voice over which distracts them from  what is being depicted on screen, the ending shows us what the protagonist didn’t see. I did however add subtle hints in the script so when the twist was revealed the audience would then be able to understand exactly what had happened. My research also taught me that in conventional narrative the characters should be psychologically well-round, I challenged this convention in Auto-Pilot by using a character that appears gives the appearance of being level- headed and normal but is eventually revealed to be irrational, his existence depending solely on routine which not only harms himself but others around him. I was informed on how important it is to stay within the boundaries of  film genre so that the audience can build expectations which the film can either fulfill or challenge. This inspired me when coming up with ideas for the film, I decided to make a psychological thriller and uses themes such as death, the mind and reality. Levi Strauss said that narrative can only end on the resolution of conflicts I challenged this by ending the film ambiguously, unlike Todorovs idea that narrative should begin with an equilibrium then comes the disruption and eventually the return or change in equilibrium I decided to begin the film at the equilibrium but end it at the recognition of the conflict to leave the audience to decided what the final outcome of the film was.  

In conclusion my project was heavily influenced by my findings however I chose to challenge some. I think that the target audience would take the preferred reading to