Written by Dana McLean
Target audience definition: a particular group at which a product is aimed
-
- Target audience brainstorm
A target audience is based primarily around age and gender, however when creating and targeting an audience there are other factors which can be considered:
- Socioeconomic status
- Rural or urban environment
- Race
- Family status
- Whether they go to the cinema or not
- Special Interests (can include anything from political standings to religion to the particular subject matter of the film, e.g. Football (Roy Hodgson – England Manager); visual art (Jackson Pollock); human rights (Hotel Rwanda).
Target audiences are often split into primary and secondary audiences, as it allows for them to be targeted more specifically than if trying to consider a large group of people all under the list of potential factors which could cause them to enjoy the film.
Our Film
Our trailer contains both male and female lead characters so therefore should attract both genders, however as our male lead is supposedly absent/kidnapped for majority of the film, it becomes clear that the narration is more from the female perspective than the male’s. This then would split our target audience into two already; with the females becoming our primary audience and male’s our secondary audience. By doing so, it allows us to tie this in with our Romantic genre and the fact our film is being based around a relationship and create the ‘date film’ in which our potential target audience could come to view our film as a date.
The age of our actors contradict what our survey results suggested, with romance and drama being genres popular among the 25+ age range, (our actors are both 18). This therefore may make it difficult for audience members who identify with the film for other factors relate with the characters less, or could break the stereotype and draw in a larger audience.
As majority of our filming will be done within Bishops Stortford (a middle class town), it is most likely that the primary audience will assume our characters are of this social class status too. This therefore ties into rural or urban as living in a town is neither and both; to show a variety of date locations within our film and really portray the relationship convincingly we will need to shoot in both rural areas as this is a convention of the romantic drama to include scenery/nature and urban to appeal to the younger age range we are trying to target with the use of our actors. Urban areas are becoming larger and more frequently visited as well as having a higher population of young people. The following graph helps to illustrate that urban areas are more likely to be favoured by the younger audience.
Uses and Gratifications Theory
By having our prospective audience complete a survey before determining who we were aiming our film at we allowed the audience to have a director’s role (to an extent) within our film. By asking specific questions such as: “What film genre’s are you most likely to watch?” we first narrowed down what genres were the most popular and would therefore make the most money in the cinema and from after sales. Other questions – “Would you prefer a voice over or a dialogue?” helped us determine creative decisions within our actual film trailer. This was all summarised in our survey analysis.
From our survey analysis and general knowledge we have produced this mind map which ties together all aspects of our film and establishes our primary and secondary audiences likes/dislikes.
Written by Amy Liddell
Characteristics include:
- age (main factor)
- gender (main factor)
- socio-economic
- urban or rural
- family status
- race
- cinema attenders
- special interest (e.g. politics, football)
Primary target audience:
This group should be the most coherent to the advertisement of the film. This primary group is identifiable by the demographic variable (bullet point list above). The ideal age bracket between adults is 15 years and about 4-6 for children. Women are often easier to target as they are cheaper to reach, this is only a recommendation though no clear facts states this.
This isn’t to be confused that it’s the only group who should be attracted to the advertisement campaign it’s simply the main group, the opinion leaders (hypodermic syringe theory). A typical primary audience would be (Women 60%/Men 40%, 30-45); they would be the group mainly attracted to the promotional assets.
Secondary targets audience:
This can either be a larger group then the primary audience or a niche target, a group who have specific interest in certain areas of the film. These groups aren’t necessarily determined by demographic factors, they can be individuals who:
- enjoy the directors work
- like the actors involved
- students
- homosexuals
- specific hybrid genre fans
- individuals living in certain areas
- enjoyed the book a film may be based on
Research:
To gain a better understanding of what our genre of film attracted in terms of audience I used the Pearl and Dean website. On their advanced search it allows you to research multiple films that have been released in terms of box office stats etc. I carried out this research to work out what age group, gender and class went to see which Romantic Dramas. The films included in my research were ‘The Fault in our stars’, ‘We bought a zoo’, ‘Dear John’ and ‘The Perks of being a Wallflower’.
The results followed a certain correlation following the stereotype that women enjoy romance films over men; however the difference between men and women wasn’t massively different e.g. 90% to 10%, ‘We bought a zoo’ almost hit 50/50! Therefore by adding in the slight action/war aspect we hoped to attract a male audience. In all of the films the largest target audience remains the 15-24 year olds. Why is this? Simply put it this group enjoy going out spending money on things to do with friends. Under 18s can’t go out to pubs/bars so it’s a fun activity and then adults over 18 may go for a girls night/work night/with their partner. The other age groups will go for other reasons e.g. with family, having read the novel or maybe a re-creation/re-screening of a childhood favourite.
-
- Comparable profile – target audience
-
- Pearl and Dean logo
Amy Liddell - Media A2 Coursework 