PLANNING: AUDIENCE THEORY

 

PLANNING: MY TARGET AUDIENCE

I needed to acknowledge who my target audience was going to be for my film and how to appeal to this group of people. I had to research age, gender, ethnicity and social class as well as popular genres and themes that featured in films that my target audience would watch.  

1. Who is my primary target audience?

Young British males and females aged 15-25 who enjoy watching movies with thrill and suspense. We set this age range as teenagers and young adults are most likely to watch horror films and enjoy them rather than older generations. We may attract a wider female audience due to our female dominated cast. 

2. What kind of films and television are they likely to prefer?

They are likely to enjoy thrilling television series and horror films that have gripping and realistic narratives as our film opening focuses more on real-life events with psychopaths and stalkers rather than a supernatural element. After doing some research, I discovered that the series 'You' is the kind of show that suits my target audience. It follows the narrative of Joe Goldberg, a bookstore manager in New York, who upon meeting Guinevere Beck, an aspiring writer, becomes infatuated with her. He feeds his toxic obsession using social media and other technology to track her presence and remove obstacles to their romance. As well as this, films such as 'Greta' and 'Secret Obsession' would have similar  I think the audience of this series will enjoy our film too because we also aim to include the themes of obsession and realism in our film opening. 

3. What platforms do they choose to watch films and where are they likely to see information about films?

Due to our younger target audience, they are likely to watch films on streaming platforms they can access from their phones such as Netflix and Amazon Prime. They would most likely find information about film through various social media sites, for example, Instagram and YouTube. Therefore, we will put lots of emphasis on social media when we are marketing our film as this will be the most effective way of engaging our audience.

4. What brands do they prefer?

Brands that target a younger age demographic such as social media brands like Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok as well as fast food brands like Nandos, McDonalds and KFC. They are likely to prefer clothing brands such as Topshop, Urban Outfitters and (due to the sport element featured in our film) Nike, Adidas and Puma. 

 

Audience Profile

5. What makes my film stand out from the competition?

Out film includes very realistic concepts that are effective in heightening the emotion for the audience as they can immerse themselves into the storyline and picture themselves in the same situation as the protagonist. We have also decided to challenge the stereotype of having a male predator to make our film stand out from the competition and not seem so cliché. Instead, we have chosen a female stalker which means our camera will not have the 'male gaze' that many films in Hollywood have, according to Laura Mulvey in 'Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema'. 

6. Why should my audience watch my film? 

It includes many popular features of a horror/thriller film as well as elements of psychological thrillers and contains a strong sense of realism which helps to intensify the action happening on screen and make the audience emulate the feelings of the actresses.  It also includes a female lead and female dominated cast which promotes female power and feminism in the film industry.  

PLANNING: AUDIENCE PROFILE

RESEARCH: AUDIENCE QUESTIONNAIRE

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe5gw3XixXF8-2-Z-ehrFVnztca7H8vaLLH_EZ4zSk7wovibg/viewform

I designed and distributed via Google Forms, an individual audience questionnaire to investigate our target audience's preferences. It is useful as it allows me to collect a variety of data from different genders and ages, telling me about their preferences when it comes to films. I intend to publish it on social media in order to reach a wider audience and gather a wider range of results. 

Some of the questions I asked were their age, gender and where they would prefer to view a trailer. I wanted to research the preferences of my target audience so I could work out what would please them most and make them want to watch my film. 

The questions I intend to ask are as follows:

What age are you?

- 20 and under

- 21 and over

What gender are you?

- Male

- Female

- Prefer not to say

- Other

What genre of film do you prefer? 

- Action

- Thriller

- Horror

- Romcom

- Comedy

- Drama

- Literacy adaptation

- Historical

- Sci-Fi

- Documentary

- Mystery

Do you tend to watch the trailer before deciding whether to watch a film?

- Yes

- No

- Sometimes

What platforms do you use to find out about films? 

- Cinema

- Social Media

- Website

- Television

Are you influenced by any of the following?

- Reviews

- Recommendations

- Social Media

- Interviews

- Trailers

Do you like any of these trailers?

- If yes, why?

Do you like any of these posters?

- If yes, why?

PLANNING: CHARACTERS AND SOCIAL GROUPS

I used Mark Dixon's Media Theory for A Level to research stereotypes and discovered that they are universally deployed by the media. Stuart Hall states the 4 reasons why stereotypes are used by the media are as follows:

• To help audiences understand characters. Stereotypes act as a visual shortcut for the audience as they can instantly decode a character through the use of their body language, costume etc. 
• To help audiences build character relatability. Audience empathy, sympathy and antipathy are achieved quicker when stereotypes are used so it emotionally connects the audience faster. 
• To signpost audiences. Stereotypes help audiences gain a sense of the potential direction of the story. For example, the princess will find love, the hero will defeat evil etc.
• To reinforce genre expectation. All genres contain stock characters and audience's may be attracted to a movie due to these characters.

On the other hand, stereotyping can also be deemed as negative and dangerous. This is because it can create 'groups' who are identified through negative features and their 'otherness', together with the implication that the negative traits are 'natural' qualities. Examples of this are the stereotype that black men are naturally lawless or that blondes are dumb. This leads to what Stuart Hall calls 'power circularity', that is, the groups with power get to create the stereotypes and exclude other groups from the elite list. 

'When They See Us' and 'Legally Blonde' 
Examples of when these negative traits have been used in film

We analysed the different social groups and stereotypes that we wanted to include in our product so that they were recognisable to audiences. I used Pinterest to find various pictures that represented these social groups and created various boards so we could clearly see the contrasting styles and emulate them in our film opening. The social groups we researched consisted of  stalkers and sporty school girls. 

By researching these stereotypes, we were able to conclude that things associated with stalkers were cameras and photos as well as dark lighting and so when capturing the stalker in our film, we will make sure to use low-lit lighting and create lots of shadows to emphasise the eerie feeling and mystery. 

Our protagonist's main characteristic that we wanted to focus on was sports. We found the best ways to reinforce this would be through her clothing. Therefore, we will make sure that we choose our costumes wisely to fit the stereotype and will dress our actress in sportswear including clothing by well-known sports brands such as Nike.