1. Who would be the audience for your media product? How did you attract/address your
audience?
(Presented in a Padlet)
For institutions it is important for them to identify who would want to watch their film, so they can
advertise it to the most profitable demographic so it can be a commercially successful film. My film
would be targeted at a 25-39 age demographic, as the film itself is a rather unconventional one that
does not cater to the average moviegoer. This is due to its incredibly specific artistic style with the
film shot in black and white with an unconventional script for the narrative. Perhaps the film could
also be appealing to the over 55 age bracket too. I feel that people who watched and enjoyed some
of the first ever Horror films such as the 1931 versions of Frankenstein and Dracula may find some
enjoyment in my film as it is shot in a similar fashion to these films. This could be a potential
audience for me to target audience as my film takes a lot of inspiration, visually from films within the
Horror Genre from this time.
The film in itself caters itself more to the art-house cinema than Horror cinema. For this reason I
would feel that my audience will also consist of people who are fans of the more arty and surreal
films that are presented within the art-house cinemas today. Personally, I feel that the majority of
the audience will be categorised by their taste in film and television rather than their age. This is a
very stylised film that sets itself apart from other Horror films within the Genre. I would also say that
the film would appeal to those who have an appreciation for art. As I feel that the majority of the
cinematography takes inspiration from the more artistic films in the genre such as the cabinet of Dr.
Caligari, which is known to have a distinct and unique visual style that has never been truly
replicated. I feel that my film follows along the same lines as this film due to it being black and white
and has a distinctive cinematography that sets it apart from the rest of the films within the Horror
Genre. I also feel that fans of the surrealist sub-genre will enjoy my film. The film itself takes a lot of
inspiration from David Lynch’s debut film Eraserhead. Like Eraserhead and other films by David
Lynch, I rely on the soundtrack to make the film feel much more uncomfortable for the viewer to
watch as the soundtrack is so abnormal it enhances the film’s disturbing content.
The age rating for my film is a 15 rated picture. This is due to the violence seen within the film. While
I do not personally expect that those over the age of 15 to 24 would want to see this film; I will give
the younger age demographic an opportunity to see the film itself. If the initial reception for the film
is positive, it could persuade more people to see it and the 15 age rating will give a lot more people
the opportunity to see the film. You could that some people may be persuaded to see it as its age
rating is not an 18; which usually signifies excessive amounts of violence which could put off people
from seeing the film.
I was able to gain the majority of this information from my audience research survey that I put out to
the general public during the research stages of the pre-production. I was able to realise that there is
a market for those who wished to see a film that shares a lot of similarities with the Horror films of
the 1930s within the younger market.
2. As far as attracting my audience goes, I will use some very specific ways of getting them to try and
see the film itself. Firstly, I will produce a specifically themed poster for the film. By this I mean that
the poster will have a similar design to it that is often seen within some of the older Horror films.
The poster in particular will be inspired by is the 195 poster for Creature from the Black Lagoon. This
is going to be done to emphasise the direction the film is going to be presented in to the audience as
it is going to be shot like a traditional Horror film instead of a contemporary one. I will also produce
and advertisement for the film that will be shown on television and in cinemas. These
advertisements would be seen at appropriate hours on television and it will be attached to genre
and age appropriate films within cinema screenings. The advertisement will be presented to the
audience in a similar fashion as to how he old 60s Horror films were produced and shown to the
audience. I will have an omniscient commentator explaining the films premise while selective shots
from the film will be shown like the trailer for (insert film here). Both posters and trailers are some
of the most conventional ways of advertising your film to the general public and I feel like I wouldn’t
be helping my film in any way by not using the most basic ways of promoting a film known. I will
keep enforcing the nostalgic aesthetics of the film within my trailer and poster as that is what most
people found attractive about my film within my audience research survey.
In this day and age, social media is an incredibly important way of getting out a product to your
audience. It is an excellent way of getting the word out about a new media text or breaking news.
For this reason, I will set up a Facebook page and Twitter page for my film and a hash tag so I can
promote the film and spread the word about it. The Hash tag will be incredibly important for
spreading the word about the film, as it will able to show people who are discussing the film on the
social media, which can create momentum for the film when it is released. The Hash tag itself will be
Buddy as it is the name of the film and it is simple and easily identifiable to the audience if they see
it on either Twitter or Facebook. Another way I can promote my film on social media would be to
upload the trailers for my film to YouTube as it is the most popular video streaming website in the
world. To further the percentage of people watching the video, I will also put the trailer as an
advertisement that will show up on certain YouTube videos before they start. While this may seem
like I am forcing people to watch my advert, which may work to my disadvantage if they have to
watch it so many times, I will put in a skip button so they can skip the advert if they wished to.
Another way I could promote my film is through a guerrilla advertisement campaign. I could run
some fake articles and websites on the Internet claiming that an old Horror film that was banned in
the 1930s is getting finally released into cinemas worldwide. This campaign would be aimed at the
younger age bracket, as they may feel inclined through teenage rebellion to watch a formally
‘banned’ film. I could also produce a little flash game that could be played by the younger age
bracket as well as adults on their browser. The game itself would be a Horror themed game involving
the player having to hide from the killer from Buddy. This would promote the film and could possibly
persuade people to go and see it if they enjoyed the game.
