Research- Audience

Market research
In the media industry the they appear to be obsessed with putting people into groups. They do this in order to be able to understand and communicate with one specific target audience and do it effectively. For example advertisers in newspapers and magazines still use scales culled from the NRS or National Readership Surveys, these were originally designed to investigate sales distribution. The scale divides audiences according to the 'Chief Income Earner' in the household. This is as follows:





Expectations/engagement


Audience expectations and engagement are a massive part of audience appeal. The more that a film maker is able to involve an audience the better the outcome of the film. Creating a great film trailer and having a massive audience appeal is highly likely to have great expectations, making people want to go and view the film; if the films expectations are as anticipated then the film would be greatly successful. A great example of this would be "jurasic park" this is because of the amount of apeal that it had upon the audience and then also the amount of success created when the film was exactly as anticipated.


Interests

 

Audience interest is one of the main ways to ensure that your target audience have the opportunities to watch the films that would appeal to them. In order to make a film successful audience research and genre researched should be carried out. For example researching one particular audience and looking at their stereotypical interests and using these to persuade the audience to watch this film as the film would definitely appeal to them more than other films would; therefore making your film stand out amongst the crowd.

Uses and pleasures

By watching films we are given different uses and pleasures. This could be the ability to watch something and be deeply taken in and influenced by what we see, in order to picture ourselves in what we are watching. They also have the ability to pull us in and watch it, being totally absorbed into it. Therefore taking away any problems that might be happening in your day to day life, providing you with escapism. We are also provided with knowledge on things that we might not understand, therefore widening our brains with understanding of the unknown. Films are also widening our knowledge of what might or could happen, for example films that are based on disaster or the possibility of life on other planets. This would inform us and create the thought of the unknown. Therefore for different audiences that might have a specific interest in this sort of genre might then go and watch the film to further there knowledge.

Effects Theories

The audience effects theory is the theory of interpretation. It is how the audience are effected by what they see on the screen. For example if someone went out and watched a film filled with violence and crime the effects theory would state that that person might then be influenced to go and do what they have seen as it would have influenced them in a particular way. This was found when early research was made into how media audiences were dominated by the debate on media effects. The particular link being about violence and real-life aggression. These are linked with incorrect claims such as how the film 'Rambo' had influenced Michael Robert Ryan to commit the Hungerford massacre.

Categorisation/ how targeted

In the media industry film trailers have classifications that are intended for various different audiences. This is due to various different genres’ that are available and the intended audiences for these. For example, for a horror film you would expect that a film would have a high classification, therefore the intended audience would be either a 15 classification from the bbfc or an 18; this is dependent on how the film is classed due to sex, violence and language that has been used. Due to these age barriers the intended audience would have to be adults, therefore the main stereotype that would be watching this trailer would be shown in films around this genre and age group; this could be people that are young and have a specific interest in horror, as due to the scare factor, it isn’t for everyone.

There are also films with more crime and violence. These would typically be categorised for people that tend to have this sort of background or feel that they have a specific interest in crime and violence, wither this being a thrill that they can get from the genre or the connection it tends to be males that would go and watch these films.

Films that are of a romantic genre are usually aimed at females, so the producers and distributes would need to ensure that when creating a trailer they must ensure that they are creating it to portray this genre across in order to gather in the intended audience.

Films that are intended for children however are mainly categorised to be animation or fantasy, in production they would also need to ensure that everything in the trailer is specifically made to abide by the bbfc classification to ensure that the film is appropriate.

When taking all of this into account the producers and distributors would be able to ensure that all films are correctly categorised and the audience is specifically targeted to ensure that the film is successful.

When making my trailer i need to ensure that i have taken all of this into consideration. I will need to have researched my chosen genre fully in order to understand the different requirements in a film trailer of this genre to make it successful.