Who would be the audience for your media product?

By Chloe-Ann Dorward

Evaluation Question 4

My Intro

The media product I completed was categorised into the genre of social realism.

Social realism is seen to be more niche then other genres, such as romance and comedy, which are mainstream as they assemble a superior audience then social realism.

From my quantitative research, I found that only a minor amount of people had an awareness of the social realism genre.

Key Questions

There are two key questions that I have to take into consideration when looking into who would be my audience;

What genre does your film belong to? Who consumes films from this genre?

Theatrical

There is not a great amount of cinemas that screen social realism films. Multiplex cinemas, such as Odeon and Empire, only show mainstream Hollywood films, such as thriller and comedy.

The target demographic for multiplex cinemas are younger people (e.g. teenagers) who prefer mainstream genres as this is what is made known to them in everyday media.

As people are consumed by mainstream films, there is a lesser request for social realism films. Since this is the case, specialised cinemas regularly show independent social realism films. These tend to be aimed towards an audience that is more educated.

Examples

Some examples of specialised cinemas like this include the Cornerhouse located in Manchester, The National Film Theatre which is based in London and the Arnolfini in Bristol. We can see that these cinemas aim towards a target demographic that are educated by looking at the advertisement that is undertaken by them which is completed in a serious manner.

Online

As technology is advancing and evolving, streaming films becomes easier every day. There are many companies that allow members of the public to excess films through paying a subscription. Examples of these companies are Netflix, LoveFilm and MUBI.

Mubi

Mubi are aimed towards a more intellectual audience, Mubi offers a variety of independent films.

The layout of their site conveys that their target demographic is a more serious audience. There is a lack of bright colours, which contrasts other sites such as Netflix. Netflix uses red colour to stand out and attract their audience.

Members of Mubi are able to use Mubi social to discuss the in depth field of film and reviews. These members have a passion to research movies further.

Television

BBC Four are permitted to show a variety of content when it is on the air, this contains drama and current affairs. It also must premiere 20 new international films, publish 100 hours of new art and music programmes and 110 hours of factual programmes.

The demographic that BBC Four is aiming at is more intellectual and serious. This is also similar to social realism when considering their demographic.

Another example of televisionFilm 4: Film 4 currently broadcasts a variety of

genres. Some may be more mainstream genres as they do show a great amount of Hollywood films. However, they do also have special themed nights in which they will focus on a theme, actor, director, genre etc.

They also have a production company called Film4 Productions. The way that they gain recognition and publicity is through showing these films made by this production company on this channel.

Therefore there is a mix of regular users and non users of social realism in the demographic.

Radio

Radio stations, such as BBC Radio 3, regularly exhibit shows that are to do with social realism.

Examples of things that are aired on radio 3 is the Arts culture and media.

The target demographic of this station is more intellectual and creatively minded people, which is similar to that of BBC 4.

Many people feel that radio 3 is not of great importance, however the listeners to think that it is very important. These viewers tend to be of the older generation and of the male gender.

Another example of radio

Radio 4: Radio 4 doesn’t air any music, instead it

is based on intellectual discussions and reviews.

The station also holds a variety of interviews with actors and directors to do with the social realism genre. An example of one of these interviews was with Olivia Colman, the actress starring in the social realism film Tyrannosaur.

The audience once again is aimed at the elder generation.

Print An example of a serious film

magazine aimed at more intellectual readers is Sight and Sound. The layout of the magazine is that the films get a small paragraph describing them, the actors/director/producers get credited and a few screen shots.

We can create the assumption that Sight and Sound are trying to appeal to the more thoughtful, intellectual people that care about what is in the films content, rather then just watching the film for enjoyment.

My Research

My research, showed me that younger people do not tend to consume as much social realism films as older and more intelligent people do. This tells me that the people I should be aiming my film at is older people who are or who have been in high education such as university students that are studying media.

I also found that not many people know of independent film cinemas which will not be beneficial to me as it would mean that my film would not be viewed by many people.