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Transcript:
First of all, what is a target audience and how is it identified? A target audience is a specific group of consumers a film is aimed at. The target audience for films varies from film to film depending on the individual themes and content. However, the genre in which the film is made in will help identify a film's target audience, as certain genres, based on their typical themes and iconography, will appeal to particular audiences. For example, the violent and chaotic content and themes of the action genre will stereotypically appeal to men whereas the emotional and passive content of a romance film will stereotypically appeal to women.
After I had composed my general idea for my feature film opening and had the genres, characters and other similar elements established, I had to identify the target audience for my film. Identifying my target audience this early on, during the early planning and ideas stage, was important in order to integrate features into my film that will further appeal to this target audience and therefore certainly rain in this select group of viewers.
How did I identify my target audience during this stage? In order to identify my target audience, I had to analyse several areas of my film opening plan. Firstly, I had to look at the genre.
Genre plays a huge role in helping to define what the target audience for a film is. This is because, as stated before, the genre of a film often helps to define the key themes and content of a film. For example, if it is a post-apocalyptic film similar to mine, then the audience is guaranteed to see a post-apocalyptic setting as in order for it to be a post-apocalyptic film, it requires a post-apocalyptic setting. In action films, the audience is likely to see violence and chaos and so on. Not all genres are this demanding, however, for example, drama films don't often require a specific iconography but merely rely on the realistic and emotional portrayal of a person - though this is most definitely required for it to be categorised as a drama film.
Identifying my target audience for my film opening sequence was difficult because I chose to follow the conventions of two different genres as opposed to one and, as stated before, the genre can have a huge impact in regards to defining the target audience of a film. The genres my film was created in were drama and post-apocalyptic and the target audiences surrounding these genres contrast subtly. For example, because of the typical violent and dark themes of the post-apocalyptic genre, it would typically appeal to men, whereas within the drama genre, the more emotional themes would appeal to women as they're deemed as more sympathetic (Though this isn't always the case, many drama films are male oriented, likewise with post-apocalyptic and women.) Because of this, I decided that my film was aimed at both genders, as the genres incorporated elements that appealed to both. With regards to the genre and age, however, both of these genres wouldn't be appropriate for younger audiences such as children. This is because in drama films the content is often very realistic and deal with realistic issues that children wouldn't find interesting or relatable. Furthermore, drama films often deal with heavy themes, such as death and grief, these themes would be inappropriate for children. Likewise, with most post-apocalyptic films, they often include violence and dark themes which therefore wouldn't be appropriate for children, either. There are exceptions to this though. Take Wall-e for example, it's a post-apocalyptic film aimed at children.
Now, I've mentioned a lot about how the genre impacts the target audience for a film, but now I need to look more specifically at my film's content. The reason my film is aimed at young adults is because the themes and content are relatively mature. For example, within the first two minutes of the film you already meet a cynical man who wants to kill himself. This aspect of suicide is far too mature for children and therefore restricts the audience to young adults and up. Not only are you introduced to the themes of suicide, but a murder is depicted, too, which is far too shocking and mature for children. Not only is the mature content such as the gun, suicide or murder inappropriate for children, but the way in{} which the characters are portrayed is too. For example, children expect to see heroes that are tough, the protagonist in this film is emotional and defeated and not what would be expected of a generic hero in a film for children. They would not be captivated by him because he simply isn't cool enough - he's far too realistic and humanlike.
The next thing to look at is the cast. The reason it is primarily aimed at young adults is because of the choice to cast young adults in the roles. Why does this make it most appropriate for young adults? Because, simply, they can relate to them. People would much rather watch a film containing their own age demographic. Examples of this include the Bridget Jones franchise, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and every Colin Firth film in existance. Though any age can enjoy these films, they are specifically directed at older audiences because they star older actors. Likewise with my film, although older people could enjoy my film, it is mainly directed at young adults because it stars young adults. This is why my target audience is young adults.
The next thing to look at is the incorporation of the dog. Although it can be argued that almost everybody loves dogs and dog lovers could be classed as an entirely separate audience anyway, the reason this aspect makes my film more appropriate for young adults is because within this age group there has risen a dog-loving fad. This trend is evident everywhere you look on social media, which is predominantly used by young adults. So, the dog opens up the target audience to dog lovers, but because dogs are such a huge part of the young adult image nowadays, it justifies this choice in target audience further.
When looking at which gender this film would be suited to, I believe that it is appealing to both men and women. This is because both the post-apocalyptic genre and the heavy themes and content are appropriate for men because they stereotypically enjoy watching violence. The emotional aspect of the film and the lighthearted ending would stereotypically appeal to women as they are considered more empathetic than men. Furthermore, the incorporation of a conventionally attractive male protagonist would typically appeal to women. Not only this, however, he would also appeal to men because they have a male character they can relate to, as typically men don't enjoy watching a film with a female protagonist unless they're attractive because they can't relate to them.
If I were to describe an exact embodiment of who the film would specifically be aimed at then it would likely be a heterosexual couple. The female partner loves dogs and emotional films, she saw the trailer to the film and liked it because of the dog and the attractive protagonist. She convinced her partner to go see it with her and he liked the look of the film because it is a conventional post-apocalyptic film and he does like dogs, though he is not as enthusiastic about the film as his partner.
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