Question 4 - Media AS Coursework

1. Who would be the audience for your media product?

2. Audience Profile
Age -
The age range our thriller opening sequence will be constructed for will be between the ages of 15-25.
The usual and most common age for a horror or thriller target audience is between 15-25 years old also,
meaning this type of content wont be to extreme or inappropriate for them to handle but also wont be
too mild, childish or censored to take away enjoyment. Younger audiences are also far more inclined to
watch material that showcases graphic and exciting content, that can range from simply being violent to
just being eye catching, visually pleasing or even perhaps over saturated at times. This is why young adults
are fans of horror, disturbing and thrilling imagery, shown through the great success of films such as
Paranormal Activity (2009), The Exorcist (1973) and TV shows that have distinctive style such as Stranger
Things (2016) and Mr Robot (2015).
A younger audience will be more attracted to the bright, retro VHS style even though they haven't
experienced the 1970s-1980s themselves as intimately as their parents, but their curiosity would be able to
direct them to watch the opening title sequence anyway. Because of this knowledge I will try to make my
opening thriller eye-catching and bold in its style through colours and typography but also disturbing
through its short storyline, the appearance and facial expressions of the main character and the disturbing
sound the audience will hear, but I wont make anything overly gratuitous or extremely violent, to not
completely alienate my audience and give them just enough to keep them on the edge of their seats.

3. Gender –
Thriller and horror films are more commonly aimed at males rather than females, which implies a
stereotypical notion that males are more inclined to enjoy violence, disturbing imagery or thrilling
action sequences that females, who are portrayed to enjoy light-hearted and fun comedy and
romantic films, along with sorrowful dramatic films. It also implies males are more immature to
enjoy the clichés and conventions portrayed in horror and thriller films. This creates a clear
distinction between the most common preferences shown by males and females, males enjoy
thrilling, and stimulating experiences in films shown through violence and troubled characters whilst
females enjoy more though-provoking serious dramatic films that create sincere, delicate emotions.
Our opening thriller sequence wont be targeted to a specific gender but instead for both males and
females, by integrating aspects of the most common thing each gender prefers when it comes to
stylistic choices in film. The thriller opening sequence will have thrilling themes shown through the
main characters struggle and implied danger along with the eerie and mysterious soundtrack, but it
will also adopt lighter colours and tones (soft greens, browns, pinks, blues est.) to imply a less
dangerous atmosphere and not such violent imagery, only the implication of violence will be
present to keep the audience at the edge of their seats.

4. Finance and Occupation –
Our thriller opening sequence wont be created for a target audience with any specific
occupations or a set of financial requirements as we think this is unnecessary for the main theme
of the thriller opening. However the target audience could preferably be young adults with busy
social lives and some sort of part-time work. We want the main character of the thriller opening
sequence to be relatable and somewhat easily understood by the target audience, since they do
not know why the character is in danger. How did she find herself in the middle of nowhere?
This question is one of the primary questions the audience should be asking themselves
throughout the duration of the thriller opening sequence, because most young adults lead busy
and driven lives socially and academically, especially when it comes to part-time work they
sometime aren't aware of the surroundings or people that may cause them harm, so the
characters current situation may frighten them.
Furthermore the thriller sequence won’t contain anything complicated enough that the audience
must have previous learning or training experience to understand, the story is simplistic and so
are the actions of the main character, so the film should appeal to unskilled manual part-time
workers. However the occupation or income of the main character isn't going to be revealed
along with another details that might emphasise or expand her character to add mystery but
more importantly to create a character which any audience member with any occupation or class
can fit themselves into, a Audience Surrogate.

5. It is currently estimated that around 25% of the British population are
Established Middle Class, this is the second wealthiest group in the
British social class system. Like the elite social class they tend to
take part in a lot of social and cultural activities, therefore due to their
size, preferences for the theatre going experience and income to
afford watching cinematic release, they are the most appropriate
social class to make my target audience.

6. Telegraph.co.uk
Furthermore the
Established Middle Class
seem to have a higher
university graduate
percentage, making it more
likely they will understand
and appreciate the retro
VHS aesthetic of my thriller
sequence, since they are
more educated the likelihood
they will be far more familiar
with 1980-1990s media
products is more likely.

7. Ethnicity and Nationality –
The nationality of our target audience isn't that important since it isn't revealed that nationality our
main character is (British, American est.) A mentioned on the previous slide, our character is an
audience surrogate, so key details about the character are purposefully going to be left out so that
the audience, whatever nationality they are can instantly and easily project themselves onto the
emotions and actions of the central character, this way our thriller sequence will appeal to a wider
audience. The ethnicity of the main character is also going to be left purposefully ambiguous, since
any film can be enjoyed by audiences that range in ethnic backgrounds. However audiences with
the same race as the main character may be able to relate more easily with the film and the
characters emotions, struggles and actions through the thriller sequence, this way the thriller
sequence is more likely to attract minorities who feel more under-represented.

8. Film Preference –
Film preference is an important factor to our opening thriller sequence, since our audience must be able
to enjoy watching thriller/horror films and the conventions each have, which include uncomfortable
imagery, disorienting camera shots, movements and angles, eerie sounds and weak central characters who
are in peril. The audience cant have a stronger preferences for light-hearted and soft themes and subject
matters in their films otherwise they will find the horror/thriller genre overly disturbing and chaotic. It
would also be helpful if the audience would enjoy ambiguous villains that don’t necessarily stand out but
have a unknown presence within the film, if the audience feel that a more violent, spontaneous and
directly hurtful villain suits them, then the film wont appeal to them as strongly, however we cannot alter
the storyline of our thriller opening sequence since it wouldn’t appeal to an intelligent target audience
that understand tension can be built surrounding the villain without them being directly seen by the
audience or character, in fact it creates more mystery.
My target audience should have an interest in the paranormal and unexplained and should be familiar
with cliff-hanger endings that I will be integrating within my opening thriller sequence. The VHS found
footage style to my footage will add more mystery and tension surrounding the thriller sequence, this has
been famously done through the release of the Blair Witch Project in 1999, since its style held an
assumption within the audience that the film was real, which made it more frightening and distinctive in
the eyes of the audience. Therefore our thriller sequence will create more appeal amongst the general
audience and apply to their preferences of authenticity.