Target audience

Our film is aimed at mainly teenagers 15+, the film is more likely to
have an audience with more males than females because from the
questionnaire males are more interested in horror films than
females. Also the age group from 60 onwards would not be
interested in modern day horror films so they are less likely to be
included in our audience.

As a group, we all individually completed our research to help us

with our target audience. We looked at the film classifications and
what elements of each can relate to our film to help us grade it. Also
research into stalking films and the ratings. Lastly, we devised and
filled out a questionnaire asking more into who would watch a horror
and what types.

Sophie looked at the film classifications of films in general and then

looked at the horror violence, language and the theme of each.
Starting from a 12 rating, horror and violence are moderate with
some infrequent obscene language with the theme being suitable
for just teenagers of the age of 12 and below and not above.
15 rating states that horror and violence may be strong but
“strong sadistic or sexualised violence is also unlikely to
be acceptable”. The language permits strong language, but it
being repeated often is not allowed and the no theme is prohibited
but only under the circumstance it is suitable for 15’s.
18 rating states that 18’s and over should be free to choose their
own entertainment so they’re aren’t many restrictions.

Hazel looked into the subgenre of ‘stalking’ to help us decide on our

target audience. Films based on stalking are usually following a
male antagonist (the stalker) and because of this, this particular
horror could be mainly targeted at a male audience. This could be
because the male antagonist gives off a sense of power and menace
throughout the film. For example in ‘Taxi Driver’ (1976) the
antagonist is an unstable male taxi driver who becomes obsessed
with one of his many passengers. This complies with Laura Mulvey’s
Male Gaze theory as the shots used would show the desire the
antagonist has for the protagonist which is genuinely female. When
the film is based around the male antagonist there are specific shots
that would attract male audiences as shots would be used to show
females as sexual objects. Examples of this shot are the high angle
shot where they make the female look small and vulnerable.
 Taxi Driver (1976)

This is an example of a
Male Gaze theory camera angle as the female character denotes
smaller than the male which draws connotations of vulnerability and
innocence which would attract a male audience. Also the shot is an
over the shoulder shot, looking over the male antagonists shoulder
making him look powerful and in control of the female. This type of
shot is used through film a lot and specifically in horror films this is
due to horror films sticking to the conventions of the female as the
protagonist which attracts male audiences as it makes them feel
empowered.

This may shock and worry a female audience as the victim in the
film is a female. Whereas in some cases, the antagonist is a woman,
like in ‘Fatal Attraction’ (1987). Here a woman’s obsession escalates
from stalking to kidnapping and attempted murder, with this type of
film both genders may be interested as women may not feel as
victimized. Fatal Attraction went against the horror conventions of
the helpless female which is what we intend to do in our horror film.
We believe having a female antagonist would encourage both male
and females to watch the film. Females would be attracted to our
film as they would want to see the opposing view of characters in a
horror movie and they would not feel victimized as the female is the
antagonist in the film. Males would watch the film as the film is
based around a female and therefore they may go to watch just for
the Entertainment need defined by Denis McQuail, to watch for the
pleasure and enjoyment rather than for identification.

Jo researched into what type of audience would be interested in our

film by creating a questionnaire. I asked a mix of people, the
majority of the people I asked were 16 to 17 both females and
males. I asked 2 older females one being 41 and the other 66, and a
male who was 34. I have realised that some females don't like
horror films, the females that don't like horror films were over 40 so
this shows that the audience is more likely to be aimed at the
younger generation. From the questionnaire I also found that both
male and females are more interested in watching a film with a
complicated but clever storyline rather than just for gore and enjoy
the thrill of a scare. However, there were more males interested in
this particular factor of the horror film, which would constantly make
them jump more so than women. I found that the majority of males
and females would usually watch a horror film with a group of mixed
friends, most of the people who said they would watch a horror with
a group of mixed friends were around the ages 16 and 17 so this
shows that younger people are likely to watch horrors. However a
few males said they would watch horrors on their own this could
mean that girls are less likely to want to watch horrors with them. I
also asked what peoples preferred genre is and the most popular
genre was comedy however women 40+ chose romantics which
makes it even clearer that they are less likely to want to watch
horrors.
Finally I asked what would be an ideal horror for them the answers
were very similar mainly they wanted it to be: scary, jumpy and
interesting. I also found that 15 year olds like horror films so having
a film with a certificate 15 will give a wider audience.

From watching horror films we have discovered that horror films

have quite simple narratives and rely on elements such as short
loud outbursts of music to create fear and panic as they shock
people unexpectedly. These types of conventions would attract a
passive audience as the audience would not have to think about the
plot they would just watch the film for a good scare. Therefore our
film complies with the Hypodermic Needle theory by Adorno and
Horkheimer. This is because our narrative is very simple and the
trailer is easy to follow due to the editing as it is a linear narrative,
where is just feeds the viewer information about what has
happened. The only thinking the audience will have to do is at the
end of the trailer as they will have to think what is going to happen
next, however, it is still quite clear that Katie has found pleasure in
murder and wants to do it again.

For our costume we will be using clothing that is modern and

common in today’s fashion. Having the costume relevant to modern
society gives the idea of verisimilitude which gives the audience the
ability to relate to what is seen in the horror film, this relations
would make them tense as by relating to the film they would feel on
edge as they would feel as if anything can happen to them if the
characters look like people they interact with everyday.

The film will be spoken in English by British actors and it will be set
in Essex so the film will attract an audience that is English speaking
and is more likely to gain an audience from England from the
southeast.

The demographic groupings that we are aiming at are from the

groups C1 to E as the narrative is easy to understand and we have
not covered any major social issues in the film, so it will not be very
intellectual and more for the enjoyment value rather than a complex
mystery. The people in these groupings will have more time to
spare due to unemployment so that is one large reason as to why
they would watch films in their spare time also they are lower paid
jobs where the person may feel depressed and stressed therefore
watching a film about people getting murdered would make them
feel better about their lives.

In conclusion, we have decided to target an audience from

demographic groupings C1 to E who are passive and interested in
the simple conventions of horror films. The certificate of our film will
be a 12A as there will be no sexual scenes or scenes with explicit
words, however, there will be scenes of a disturbing nature with
themes such as murder and torture. Therefore, 12 year olds are old
enough to understand the conventions of horror films and are aware
of what they might see, also the younger audience is a large group
who are interested in horror films so it is important a wide range of
ages can watch our film.