2. • In order for us to find out whether our
estimated target audience was correct or
not, and as a result find the more accurate
target, we posted our opening scene
accompanied by 6 questions onto a free
online survey website.
5. QUESTION 1
The results so far…
So far, the majority have voted yes for this question which tells us that we were
successful in what we set out to do by focusing on enticing the audience and
gripping them by the suspense and tension we tried to create.
6. QUESTION 2
As is turns out, our opening scene targets more females than we were
expecting. When estimating our target audience we focused on targeting
males as assumed this gender would be more interested in the horror genre.
Looking back, the family scene which we tried so hard to create may be what
aspect of our scene targets the females so therefore should have looked at
targeting both sexes rather than just the males. Equally we didn’t take into
consideration the fact that maybe more girls than we were aware of favored
horror films therefore more research into viewing figures for horror films
was needed.
7. QUESTION 3
The target age which we had estimated was where the majority lies plus 10
years also. So we went for a much more broad audience whereas the results
show that a 16-25 target audience would be most appropriate. We originally
set out to target the older more successful audience too as we wanted to
create a more challenging horror however we have realised now that this
was not achieved and our target should be 16-25 year olds only.
8. QUESTION 4
Similarly to the other results received, our target income bracket was a lot
lower than hoped for. Our more accurate target audience being the lower
income bracket audience of C2-E therefore stereotypically expectant of the
lower age bracket too.
9. QUESTION 5
Here we originally wanted to target those seeking to satisfy the needs of selfactualisation, this type of audience being older males perhaps of the age of
30 who prefer to problem solve and watch films to challenge their
mind, hence the sub-genre of psychological. After the results of this
questionnaire we are told that our media product targets the younger
males, the type seeking to satisfy their needs of esteem according to
Maslow’s Hierarchy.
10. QUESTION 6
The most popular reading from this question is that the majority of our
target audience fall under the VAL type of the makers. Someone who values
self-efficiency, spends time doing practical work and has traditional ideas of
family context. Overall from this questionnaire we can tell that we
overestimated our target audience and now it has been made aware to us
that our opening scene is successful at enticing the audience, however a
different audience to what was expected, males primarily ages 16-25, with a
lower income bracket seeking to satisfy their needs of esteem with the VAL
type of a maker.
12. • In order to have originally estimated the most
accurate target audience we could have done
further research.
• We needed to have an end product to aim for
which in our minds was a more challenging
horror opening scene to attract those older
and of a higher income bracket however in
this case this wasn’t what we achieved so
accept the new more accurate target
audience.
13. • We originally set out to make a clever and
sophisticated horror but in actually fact our
horror scene is rather generic.
• This is because the enigma we have planned
for and the challenges to the Classical
Hollywood Narrative theory, for example no
survivors, aren’t conveyed in the opening
scene.
14. Mosaic Scale
• The Mosaic scale was something we came
across after filming our production. It helps
give us an accurate understanding as to what
sort of people lie in the categories which we
represented in our media text.
• One of the issues we had with challenging
stereotypes was the fact that we presented
our average family as a little too high class, by
looking at the Mosaic scale we get a more
clearer understanding.
15. From this we can see that our ‘average family’ lies under ‘Happy Families’ but could also
be classed as the one below ‘Suburban Comfort’ the percentages of UK household for each
are fairly high proving this is where the majority lies and therefore our ‘average family’
should also.
16. We also get a taste of the type of people we are targetting. As our audience is young
with a low income bracket, we can see that these people would lie under the
categories of, ‘suburban Comfort’ and ‘Ties of Community’
17. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
• As we can see from
this table, the higher
income bracket
audience seek to
satisfy the needs
higher up the
pyramid and those
from a lower income
bracket seek to
satisfy those lower
down.
18. • According to our questionnaire results our
target audience seek to satisfy their needs of
esteem therefore complying with what is
expected from the higher end of the lower
income bracket audience we are
targeting, however the love/belonging
category was also popular with our chosen
audience which is more fitting with the suited
income bracket.
19. Further Research into Viewing Figures
This type of research is what we
should have completed before
choosing our target audience
primarily. We can see from this that
the most popular age bracket to
watch horror films is those 18-24
therefore we were correct in
choosing this audience. To our
surprise, the most popular gender for
watching horror films was
female, which supports our
questionnaire results as what we
thought would’ve been a much
higher number of males to females
was actually a much smaller
20. To Conclude…
• After this further research, our choice in
creating a questionnaire was most successful
as due to the results we are now aware of
how the target audience we wished to attract
by creating a more mind challenging opening
scene, was actually not the correct audience
our product was aimed at. We now have a
more accurate reading of our target audience
being, predominately male, aged 1625, income bracket C2-E, seeking to satisfy
esteem, VAL type of a maker.
21. The British Board of Film Classification
• Although we don’t see many horror aspects
within our opening scene such as, strong
threat, language or dangerous behaviour, this
is not to say the completed film would be
child friendly. The certification rating we gave
our film idea was an 18, after further research
into the topic, it would more likely be classed
as a 15.
22. Looking at what is permitted within a 15
rated film this would cover what we
wish to include. The Horror elements
we planned for are not sexualised. The
use of frequent strong language is
permitted. No sexual activity was
planned for. Finally, in order for a film to
be classed as 15, gory images should
not be accepted therefore our film
would fit under this category as our
main focus is to create suspense due to
being psychological and not a slasher
film so blood and gore would not take
place.
