Research into target audience

Researching the target audience

• Researching our target audience didn't seem complicated at first but once we had explored our film deeply, there was a lot that needed to be taken into consideration about the type of audience we wanted to target. 
•  Although we could categorise our target audiences to an extent, using age and gender helped us to narrow our search down. It is essential that we do not have a narrow target audience as this then leads to less profit income, but at the same time, we know that psychological thrillers do not appeal to everyone and we need to make sure we attract our key market to make the film a success. 
• Originally I thought that we would have quite a wide range of viewers, as the target audience could stretch to young adults and further ages. Our film wouldn’t be a suitable for younger than 16 year olds, this is due to our film having a psychological/horror genre behind it. However, I think thrillers are mainly targeted at a younger audience, maybe 16 - 34. Obviously older people still watch these films, but I think the main campaign would be at the younger end of the market as they seem to be the audience who most enjoy being made to jump.
• http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/filmreviews/9220992/The-Cabin-in-the-Woods-Seven-magazine-review.html
• This article is interesting because it shows three things:
• the implied audience of these kinds of films is teenagers
• however, there are older audiences out there who like the anarchy of horror (and our film is on the borders of thriller / horror as the mother murders a lot of children before the end)
• The continual use of 'fanboys' suggests that the writer sees a largely male audience
   
• A common sterotype is the thought that men prefer to watch blood and gore. However, we think that the horror / thriller hybrid widens the appeal as at least two thirds of our film will be setting out the mystery and tension building. Overall men and women both enjoy an outstanding thriller, which fits into the genre of our film.

• Psychological films focus on the unstable emotional states of characters as well as mystery; this is often the elements of psychological films in which people enjoy watching. This film would be aimed at people who enjoy a nail biting thriller, where there is always a mystery conveyed.
• The main aspect that attracts the general audience to psychological films is the suspense that is built up throughout thrillers, this is to draw the audience into the action taking place.
•  An example of a psychological/ horror film which is similar to our film in many ways is ‘Women in Black’ this is where the film is based a lot around thrill and suspense.
•  As seen in most horror/psychological films there is always that panic that the characters have about dying or being killed, these fears are usual confronted later on in the film.  
  
  
  
    
• In the first two minutes of our film, our aim is to catch the audience’s attention and keep them on the edge of their chair throughout the film. Our main purpose would to be to grab the audience attention allowing the audience to continue viewing our film, rather than turning it off within the first two minutes of the film being screened.