Target Audience

For our film opening, we have had to consider our target audience in every stage of research and planning. Using information from things such as our audience expectations questionnaires, knowledge of the comedy genre and other factors we have to come to a final conclusion on who our target audience should be.

Certification

Our main target audience for our film opening has been decided as being teenage boys aged around 13 to 18, but this doesn't mean that the film would have a 12A certificate- this is just a preferred audience. This is generally due to things such as male teenagers being the main group of people within fandoms for comic books and superheroes- linking straightly to the main content of our film. With this in mind, using conventions of the comedy genre and we would like to use our film opening to appeal to this audience. We will also leave room for other audiences to enjoy the film opening as our target audience and certification is not just limited to this range.

Demographic Group and Cross Cultural Consumer Characteristics

The demographic group we will be targetting is demographic group E and D, mainly focusing on students. This is because people around the age of 13 to 18 are students, although may be in part time employment which covers demographic group D.

With regards to 'The four C's, (Cross Cultural Consumer Characteristics, devised by Young and Ribicam) which is an alternative to demographic groups, we believe that our target audience can be categorised under the mainstreamers category. This is because mainstreamers cover 40% of the population and do not have status and control (like succeeders or aspirers) but they may also be reformers that seek self-esteem and self-fulfillment.

However, this does not mean that our film opening's audience is fixed to these categories- it may appeal to other demographic groups or types of consumers.

Audience Theories

The audience theory that will be most likely to suit our film opening is the hypodermic needle theory- meaning that our audience will passively accept what's going on- and the uses and gratifications theory- having an active audience that want certain gratifications of the film.

The reason the hypodermic needle theory will apply to our film opening is because the film is a comedy- this doesn't necessarily require much active thought in order to understand what is going on, and can be passively taken in. However, the hypodermic needle theory applies more to mainstream, mass media films and our film is to be independent- so this theory doesn't totally apply.

The uses and gratifications theory will apply to our film opening as our film opening will be of a niche subgenre- rural comedy. It will also be an independent film, which arguably requires more active thought when watching than a mainstream film that uses the hypodermic needle theory by appealing to mass audiences. Our film opening may apply to the needs of an active audience, such as personal identity (comparing their lives with that of characters, which could be linked to the stereotypes of our characters), entertainment (to escape real life) and personal relationships/social interaction (insight into other's lives, indentification with characters). This theory isn't necessarily as applicable as the hypodermic needle theory because of the storyline and characters that will be in our film- it won't be an entirely serious, realistic depiction of everyday life and so won't be taken too seriously by the audience, but will still require some active thought.


As our film is planned to be a British independent film, by attracting such an audience to the film opening it perhaps creates more market for the independent film industry as well as breaking certain conventions of what comedy is, as rural comedies are not usually found.
-Sian Hayler-Magenis, Amy Bowman