Audience Profiling

By Hayley Boyle, Laxmi Shiyani and Aaron Pye.

Audience Profile For Genre Romance

Demographics

Gender: Female Age 13-18ABC: E (The unemployed, students, pensioners, casual workers) Religion: Christian/protestant Occupation: students Marital Status: single Income: Minimum wage/ student loan Nationality: BritishSexuality: Heterosexual

Psychographics

Would have a lot of free time preferably students and young teenagers. Audience should have interest in the genre of romance or could relate to the genre and perhaps the storylines. I expect the most likely group of people that will go see this film is in the category is the aspirers and explorers, which relate to groups of commonly young people who are interested in materialistic items and also the latest trends, therefore they are always looking to see the next ‘new’ thing, therefore I think they would most likely go and see the film.

Crazy Stupid LoveFrom the analysis of the trailer for the film ‘Crazy Stupid Love’ the audience learn that it conforms to the romance genre, although already before watching the trailer the audience are given and indication of this from the title of the film. The trailer presents a married couple both around the age range of about late 30’s early 40’s, stereo-typically they are arguing. From early on in the title sequence the audience are also subject to the fact that the film may fit into a sub genre of comedy, this s is due to the main character being a famous actor ‘Steve Carrel’ who is commonly associated with the comedy genre, moreover some of the actions that take place in the first scene, when his character rolls out of the moving car. Secondly when he is bantered by his boss over his divorce. Further more the trailer hints that the film is part of the romantic genre due to another actor present which is Ryan Gosling as he is most famously known for his starring role in the Romance film ‘The Notebook’. I would say the demographics for this film would be of an age range of around 30-40’s similar to the age of the two main characters and probably a marital status of married. As by targeting the audience for this film at this group of people, they are relating it to and audience that would be able to relate the characters and further more the social issues in the film to their everyday lives or even perhaps previous experience.The lighting in the film also creates a romantic tone as it is dark, therefore conforming with the stereo-type of a romantic setting.Along with there being a sense of comedy there is also a sense of sadness, this also conforms with the romantic genre.

Box Office

Domestic total gross $84.351.197 Release date: July 29, 2011 (Friday) Production Budget $50 million Rating PG 13Distributor Warner Bros.

The NotebookFrom the analysis of the trailer of ‘The Notebook’ we can learn that the film is in the romance genre, this is due to the music at the beginning of the trailer which sets a light hearted tone. Furthermore there is a narrator, which I think sets the idea that the film is going to be like a fairy tale, and stereotypically fairy tales are about the boy falling in love with the girl and then them living happily ever after. In the trailer the female character is dressed in red this not only promotes her femininity but also connotes love and romance, therefore conforming with the genre.From the trailer the audience also learn that there is a sense of unrequited love, this may be caused by the issue of their classes as the female character seems to come from a more educated classier more middle class upbringing in contrast with the male character who seems to come from a poor labouring background, This is made poignant not only by the characters dialogue but furthermore their clothing and the quality of it. Further more the sense of unrequited love is made evident by the war scenes, as it indicates that there will be a disruption or complication that prevents them from being together. Later on in the trailer the main female character is dressed in white and a connotation of white is youth, innocence and purity and can also be portrayed I think of being perhaps a bit plain and boring giving a sense of nothingness, interestingly her character seems to have adapted from her colour of red clothing which I feel presents lust and passion, which she wears when being in the company of the leading male character to the white clothing when being with her second love interest, therefore I feel this presents to the audience that her engagement to this man is force as she has no feelings or love for him as she does when she is with the main male character Noah. Due to the upbeat music at the end it suggests to the audience that there is a resolution to their disequilibrium. Interestingly in the background of the trailer there is a fire present, this also could be foreshadowing occurring events or could even be a symbol for their burning desire and love for each other. Another interesting thing that I have noticed is the time period the film appears to be set in which is in the late 90’s where there was a different view on marriage and relationship than there is perhaps in the modern day today. Normally in these days men and woman would date for a while then get engaged married and start a family normally with their first love, however in this film it appears that the female character Allie, peruses more than one love interest due to complications and her families disapproval. From the trailer I think the audience gain an insight that the film is going to be a tale of unrequited love, however perhaps having a happy ending by following the romantic stereo-type. However this film appears to follow a non-linear narrative switching from the past to the present.

Wall-E The end title sequence from Wall-E starts with some ancient drawings which look Egyptian and some mysterious type music, It then shows us some images of kids and humans with a baby with two robots. Then in the next animation we are shown Wall-E properly with the other robot helping a man dig for water. We then see some bright colours and some animated fish swimming across the screen, the music changes to some light music playing which is also soft and soothing so it fits the genre of romance, it then changes to like a pencil drawn background with a person in the background fishing while a robot helps. The sequence then goes through to lots of different ways and places where the robots are helping to rebuild the earth. Then finally when nature starts to take back over the robots disappear and leave the humans to live there new lives but then we see Wall-E again under a tree and the blue sky holding hands with the other robot which gives the audience the first and only indication of romance in the sequence which is meant to be cute as it is also a Disney Pixar film as well as a romance. From this title sequence we can see the designer has a key sense in animation and enjoys using his or hers art within the sequence.

Love Actually The title sequence in ‘Love Actually’ starts off conventionally by firstly showing distributors and production company

logo’s. A sound bridge is created when the last production company logo fades out. The non-diegetic sound is orchestrated and slow, making the audience feel emotional and give a caring feel as well as calm. The camera focuses on a person with a backpack walking through the crowds. Here a mid-shot cinematography is used to give the audience a glimpse of the setting but not fully giving it away. The style of the cinematography looks like a home-video. As the music continues credits appear over the scenes at the bottom of the sequence with the editing process of dissolving in and out. There is a montage sequence of people meeting and greeting each other. Here the cinematography is shown through different angles so the audience can see the setting; airport. At this point the audiences are felt as if they are in the scene due to the environment in which the scene is in. A voice over then begins when a women is picking a child up. The voice over gives a hint of who the main character could be if the voice is recognizable to people.

A focus pull is then created through the camera to draw the audiences attention and eyes on the people that are greeting each other. This gives the connotation to the audience of the film being about love as the people are affectionate to each other. The voice over and camera angles reveal that the setting is at an airport and that this film is based on a romantic genre due to the main character talking about relationships and love. The title then appears gracefully.

• This, i think, is a nice simple sweet title sequence for a romantic comedy film. I think that the voice over worked beautifully as it gave a greater impact towards the audience of them being intrigued to know who the main character or the voice for the voice over could be. This opening is unique from other title sequences with the same genre as it introduces the start of the film without fully exposing the characters. I also feel that the parallel sound that was played throughout the sequence went really well and set the mood up for the audience of what journey they are going on; romantic journey.

•This title sequence is fairly meaningful in the fact that it consists of Roland Barthes narrative codes to convey specific meanings. The enigma code has been used in a way to leave the audience questioned on the link to the people greeting each other and the voiceover this leads to the clip using semantic code as the voice over can lead to meanings of a number of things. Usually, romantic comedies are targeted to women due to romance and desire. However i think that this title sequence does not only target women but targets men and families in general as it shows love between family and friends and not just couples. Throughout this sequence narrative codes and features have been used and shown to convey to the audience that this film is based on a romantic genre.

Conventions for a Romantic drama

From looking at all the other title sequences of romantic films the message we got was that they all start the film storyline off within their title sequence. There are certain codes and conventions used for different genres of films. Here are some for romantic drama.

The settings usually associated with this genre:- Cities-On there way to work or at work- restraunts-Places in which the main characters are on their own. -Town centre

The props usually used in Romantic dramas :-Flowers/chocolates-smart clothes-Car-Mobile phone-Photography

The typical Action/storyline :-the main characters get to know each other and then fall in love.- a tragedy happens where the main characters are pulled apart.-A time at which one of the characters or both have lost someone close to them.-the characters are reunited.

the typical sound/Music usually heard in a Romantic Drama :-Piano solos -Brief dialogue in parts-voiceovers-Songs that are related to love or break ups.

The cinematography/editing usually seen in a Romantic Drama :-Flash backs -editing techniques -jump-cuts-cross cutting

The typical character types usually seen in a Romantic Drama :-male lead character-female lead character-friends of both of the main characters-family members of the main characters-competitor for one of the main characters affections (usually male)

Production Logo’s

• Before creating our title sequence we have to create a production company. We came up with many suggestions such as xoxo productions runaway love films etc. In the end we decided the best name for the production company was Romway films as it includes the idea that the films produced by our production company are Romcoms, therefore establishes the genre of our film and title sequence to the audience.

Here are some logo templates we looked at to inspire us for our production company logo.

Here we was experimenting with text and seeing which works well with the heart logo.

Here is a logo that we created on Photoshop from scratch and then developed it by changing the background. We started drawing the heart and experimented with different ways of drawing it. This was the best style of heart drawn so we kept it and added text on the side.