RB: Analysis of Final Destination 3

Final Destination 3 (Wong, 2006)

Genre

• Final Destination 3 is a supernatural horror film.
• The opening of the film is not conventionally horror, but it does have elements of horror films. For example, the sound of the slow, threatening music and screaming, that is fitting with both the fairground theme and the horror film.  Also the props and set design such as the death card and the word ‘die’ appearing on the camera screen gives the audience hints and clues as to what typically horror event might happen. The opening is in a stage of disequilibrium as the audience can feel that something will go wrong but the characters in the film are unaware. This fulfils the audience’s generic expectations to the extent that they can tell that something will happen, even if it is not obvious to the characters.

• The opening of Final Destination seems casual and playful as the target audience are at an appropriate age to relate to the characters that are having fun. This initially does not conform to the characteristics of the genre as it does not seem to lead to any generic conventions, but the use of music and the connotations of death through the props and visual techniques creates a dramatic irony as the audience can tell something will go wrong, but none of the characters (except the main woman) notice these signs. As the state of disequilibrium tells the audience that something will happen, overall the opening conforms to the characteristics of the genre, even if it initially treats it playfully and ironically.

Media Audiences

• Final Destination 3 targets the ‘horror audience’ of people (mainly male) between 15-24 years old. As well as this audience being attracted because of the genre of the film, the main characters are of a similar age to the audience which could make it seem more appealing to them.
• As the film is aimed at teenagers and young adults, the audience can relate to the characters and could see their personalities as realistic. This means that the audience are likely to empathise with the characters as they may be similar themselves (same age, similar group of friends,). Also, as Final Destination 3 is part of a series of films, each with similar storyline, the audience will know what sort of thing will happen in this film and this can affect how they feel about the set up for this film.
• Personally, I feel that as the setting in the opening of the film (friends of a similar out at a fairground) is not unrealistic as some horror films are, it makes the idea of the film seem more frightening. However, the film’s storyline is supernatural which makes the events seem unrealistic, but the down-to-earth starting event makes it seem more realistic to the audience at this point. I think that age, gender and background can influence the audience reading to the extent that audience members can see similarities between themselves and the characters, but the supernatural plotline means that it seems unrealistic and the audience members are unable to relate to the film from that point.