To be able to pick a target audience, we need to know the different aspects of our film. We would have to consider things like if our film had swearing, violence, and the genre of our film to help us determine a target audience.
The tags of a youtube video show the different aspects of the video, if our film was a Youtube video, it's tags would probably be thriller, suspense, dark, murder and nightmare.
We also must consider what the appropriate classification for our film would be. Below is the British Board of Classifications List, and a link to their website. They have the guidelines for what classification a film should be given depending on what is in that film.
http://www.bbfc.co.uk/
Following the BBFC's guidelines, we have decided to rate our film 15. This is because if it was a full film, violence will be included, as well as frequent strong language and threat. In the opening 2 minutes, blood can also be seen from a stab wound, and strong language is also used once.
In general terms, our target audience would be aged between 25-34 years old males, who enjoy thrillers and maybe horror films. We think that because they would be at an appropriate age where they can appreciate psychological thrillers, and would want to see maybe a bit of action. We also think that they would be of B or C1 class (see below). We think this because in B and C range they would have the money to see films often at the cinema and would also have the money to buy films to stream off Netflix or to buy off itunes. They would also probably be able to afford hi tech tvs' to watch the films more enjoyably. People in class A probably wouldn't have enough time to take a high interest in films. They are likely to find out about this film on Facebook, and through reviews elsewhere (like on the radio or in a film magazine).
Pearl and Dean
Pearl and Dean is a film website that shows the viewing statistics of films. Here is two examples of similar films to ours and their comparable profiles of viewing statistics.
Zero Dark Thirty
Killing Them Softly
Target Audience Profile
In order to get a more specific idea of exactly the type of audience we would have to watch our film, we must have a Target Audience Profile of one of our audience. We have chosen Jack, a 28 year old graphic designer:
- He enjoys thriller, horror, action, and comedy films. His favourite films are Inglorious Basterds, The Silence of The Lambs, The Strangers, and Die Hard.
- He lives in a 2 bedroom house in North London with his girlfriend.
- He went to a state high school and did well in his A levels, so was able to go on to University and study graphic design.
- He is a graphic designer and works at Hurricane Media.
- He usually watches films at home on his own or with his girlfriend, or at the cinemas with his girlfriend.
- His favourite music is 'indie' music, and some of his favourite bands are Grizzly Bear, Arcade Fire, and The Strokes.
- He takes an interest in film and music, and reads magazines like Q and Empire. He uses his Apple mac and iPhone often.
Now that we have determined our target audience, we must ask members of the target audience to give use feedback on our film treatment.