Q4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

By Evie Littlewood

Having a target audience for any media product is an essential in order for the product to become a success. If no target audience is set beforehand the product is a huge risk take as a media product is normally based around their predicted target audience. My target audience was set out to be mostly younger people (16-25), however, watching my film opening back I believe that my product will attract a wider range of people. I suspect that now the age range for my film opening will be ages 17-45. I have predicted this due to the narrative that the film is based upon. A child’s abduction is, quite clearly, a very serious issue, therefore more than likely won’t attract an audience under the ages of 16/17 as this isn’t a suitable narrative for anyone under this age to either engage with or understand. The rest of the film, If I was to continue creating it, would be a very gripping, intense film, therefore I would suspect that anyone under the age of 16 to lose concentration, making the film a disaster to that specific age range. People 16 and over will allow themselves to engage into the film and not lose concentration as they will be interested in the narrative rather than explosions etc, (children under the age of 16 would rather watch something that makes them gain their attention). Therefore, I believe the rating of my film would be a 15, although people aged 15 won’t be included in my target audience, 16 year olds will be, meaning I would need to allow them to actually view the film and the only way that this is able to happen is by rating my film at a 15.

Additionally, I believe that mostly women will be my target audience, especially those of the younger band of my target audience. This is due to women mostly having the patience to watch an intense film fully in order to eventually understand the whole narrative. Younger males wouldn’t be interested as much as they would still be massively attracted to action and sci-fi films, therefore they wouldn’t take a risk usually and watch a crime/drama/mystery film. Whereas younger women, on the other hand, would. Me, being on the younger side of the age barrier would be interested massively in this film, whereas I do not believe boys the same age as me would be. Whereas if I took my mum and dad, for example, being on the other side of the age range, both of them would be massively interested in this film due to the narrative and the way it attracts the audience. Therefore, my secondary audience would probably be boys aged 17-30, as it isn’t something they’d watch optionally however it may be something that their girlfriends/ family watch while they are there.

Setting a target audience for a media product is also essential in order to fit in with the audience reception theory. This theory suggests that we, the audience, view a product in a different ways depending on different elements to our life, for example religion and age. Therefore I believe by predicting ages 16-45 as the target audience they would view the film in a slightly similar way.As well as this, I believe that people that are categorised under the C1, B and A categorise would be the target audience for my product. These bands are ways in which audiences are able to be categorised due to their income status and their jobs in society, for example lawyer and doctors are under band A, teachers and managers would fall under B and social worker etc would fall understand band C1. Maybe some people from C2 would be attracted to my film (nurses, joiners) however I do not believe all of them would be. These bands of people would be the target audience for my film due to the intensity of the narrative. If the film was the continue then a lot of concentration would be necessary and I do not believe people under band C2 would engage and concentrate that much into a film to therefore understand the narrative. I do not believe the gere of the film would attract lower class people enough to encourage them to go to the cinema to watch the film, In my opinion they would much prefer to watch either a comedy or an action movie. Adding to the categorisation of audiences, I believe that people who belong in bands A, B, C1 AND C2 are more than likely to be succeeders or aspires, this would be something that they would gain with their job title however. These are the types of people who either already have status or control (succeeders) or who strive for status (aspires). These people yet again would be attracted to my film due to the same ideas as their income status, people who fit under these bands are more than likely to be attracted to a rather gripping, intense movie than any other types of people

Q5. How did you attract/address your audience?

Attracting my target audience was something I needed to massively focus on during my film opening. The opening of the film is almost like the blurb of a book, it needs to give you a sufficient amount of information about the film in order to attract the audience, however not enough to give the whole film away. I believe this is something I did rather well. I firstly addressed my audience by the name of my film opening, "The Absence" obviously, the noun absence has rather mysterious, negative connotations therefore attracting an audience who enjoy films with a similar genre. The name of the film, for me, was rather a big issue as I wanted to suggest the genre however not give the whole narrative away. I additionally didn't want the name to be too long; short and simple was my aim throughout, and this is something I believe I have achieved. However, the font on the other hand is something I would change if I had the opportunity to do so. This is because I believe the font gives out a thriller/ horror sort of genre rather than the genre that my film abides to. This may therefore possibly attract the wrong audience, however my film genre isn’t actually that far from thriller therefore this audience may enjoy the film, however not to the extent that the audience of the correct genre would.

Another way I have attracted my audience in my film opening is by the use of mise-en-scene, for example setting, props, lighting, colour scheme ect. The props I believe would massively help to attract the target audience, the use of the anonymous mask creates very negative connotations and with knowledge in current society helps to attract the younger audience just like I am wanting to do. The use of the mask does suggest the crime drama in which I am wanting to suggest, although the mask is rather unconventional to this genre, I still believe it attracts the correct audience. The use of the mask and the name of the film combined alone, I believe gives enough information about the film to help the audience understand the genre. This would be something I would look at featuring in my film trailer if the film was the ever make it to cinema/ release. A well as this, the use of the setting and location is a very conventional feature used in films with the same narrative/ genre. Cellars, obviously have rather negative, spooky connotations which would yet again attract my hopeful target audience.

As well as this, the use of enigma codes I have used within my film opening defiantly makes help addressing the correct audience a lot simpler. This is because, enigma codes are very conventional to this particular genre, therefore audiences that have previously watched films or TV dramas that are similar to the genre of mine then they will be attracted to fining out more about the narrative and watching the storyline reveal itself gradually. Getting enigma codes right was a big issue I faced while creating m film opening as it was very hard to display unanswered messages, I didn’t want the audience to know too much about the narrative however I also didn’t want them to not know enough leaving them far to confused or attracted. I believe the way in which I have left the narrative open within my opening gives a subtle amount of information for the audience to understand. It leaves them wanting more about the situation and gain answers to the questions that they have developed.

This, as stated in question 1, rebels against Todorvs narrative theory, in which suggests that all films follow the same flow of the same pattern•Equilibrium •Disruption •Recognition •Resolution •New equilibriumMy film opening however, completely cuts of the first equilibrium and begins with the disruption, however this was done I order to attract the correct audience.