WHO WOULD BE THE AUDIENCE FOR YOUR MEDIA PRODUCT?

The target audience plays a big role in the creation of a film: it is who the film will ultimately be aimed at, and this audience must be defined and catered for if the movie is to be a success.

Example:Paranormal activity:

- Average age: 18-29

- Average rating (corresponding to stated average age): 6.6/10

- Main target: The vast majority of the audience is male and aged 18-29 (which covers the vast majority of the mainstream audience).

Which concepts did you consider in order to appeal to the audience?

There are a number of concepts that must be covered in order to fulfil the audience criteria: Genre, Concept, Tone, Attractiveness of the protagonist to the audience, Subject matter, Additional elements, Special interests, and Source material.

In addition to this, other factors may be considered, such as audience age, class, social status, etc.

Our movie relates to the concepts and a variety of factors in the following ways:

Genre:

Horror; further defined as ‘psychological’. Horror was the mandatory genre that we had to use, however, we chose psychological because it was realistic and therefore audiences can relate to it (see graph below).

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Concept:

The concept we chose related to school and students within a school. The idea was that school is a safe place to be, therefore unsettles audiences at the point with which it removes this safety aspect. In addition to this, the Antagonist is mentioned to have been bullied, and is now ‘wreaking havoc’. Also, the actor’s accent was Australian. This brings about the sense of somebody perhaps being in a place that they would not normally be found in (for example, an Australian actor in a British film).

Tone:

The tone we aimed to create was not intense or to induce shock (shock factor), but was to generate the sense of suspense: the tone becomes much less light-hearted, despite starting as a light-hearted piece (with the actor being portrayed as a student that shows confidence.

Attractiveness of the protagonist to the audience:

The protagonist in our piece was the student ‘Bruce’. He is a student that currently studies at a school (known as ‘Delwood high’). He is an attractive protagonist because he is very down to earth and therefore very easy to relate to. He also exploits fear, which is an emotion easily to relate to, which is a portrayal of a typically ‘human’ characteristic.

Subject matter:

The subject matter in our piece was a student that investigates a school that is supposedly ‘haunted’. We chose this concept for a number of reasons: the first reason was that schools are generally associated with safety; a second reason was that ‘ghosts’ and ‘psychological’ horror both link within the movie opening.

Additional elements:

- A bullied child attacks a harmless, curious student: this is an exploitation of revenge, which addresses bullying in a way that audiences may be able to associate with (in regards to the revenge aspect).

- The cultural reference of a typical Australian-named character: Australians are stereotypically confident, and this show of confidence may portray a ‘lack of knowledge’ to being set in a ‘foreign’ British culture, which is a show of weakness (with which the audience can relate to

- With the piece being in a school, it is possible to assume that older audiences may use the model of Bruce to exploit their feelings for their son/daughter that may also be in school: this generates a fear for them, as they have the potential to associate what happens to Bruce with what could potentially happen to their child.

Special interests:

Journalism is a popular past time, and is the apparent ‘special interest’ within the film. This special interest may entice audiences such as young students that show an interest in journalism. There is also a large element of investigation (moreover, ghost-hunting) within the film. This can appeal to older audiences that may have an interest for ‘adventure’, but more likely to be appealing to an older audience; those that reminisce about their childhood (and therefore being stereotypically reckless).

Source Material:

Our film was based on the film ‘Paranormal Activity’, which demonstrated the horrors of ‘demons’ and, like our film, uses hand-camera work to portray a more ‘humanly’ approach (much like the audience are experiencing it first-hand). Despite not being rated extremely high, the film itself was a huge success (It cost just $15,000 to make, but grossed $67million within the first weekend). Our film relates to this, as this project is made by students, and therefore does not carry out a large budget. In addition to this, audiences are likely to watch TV programs such as ‘Most Haunted’, which is a popular TV show with which real-life people visit real-life areas to discover what they class as “paranormal activity”.