This document discusses the target audience for a horror/thriller opening media sequence. It aims to attract a young adult/late teen audience aged 18 years and older through including gory props and portraying emotions like fear and tension. It does not target the elderly or younger audiences. While it may appeal more to males due to stereotypes, it targets both genders. It specifically targets the working class through including violent actions. It also aims to attract all races through using a multicultural cast to portray equality. Finally, while a heterosexual relationship is shown, it targets all sexualities through an open narrative.

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

2. Age
We have decided to aim our opening sequence at young adults/ late teens with an age rating of 18.
Our opening sequence would appeal to our chosen age group as according to the Uses and
Gratification Model Theory, the majority of movies from the horror/ thriller release certain emotions
such as fear and tension. It is thought that people of this age can use these emotions as a form of
escapism from daily life stressors. My horror sequence would appeal to my target audience because
the horror genre is quite popular amongst this audience as they can use my product as a way of
coping with common stressors that young adults/ older teens face at this age.
We decided that our opening sequence would not be appropriate for the elderly as they come under
the ABC1 demographic, meaning they would have no interest in this type of production. We also found
that our opening sequence would not be appropriate for a younger target audience as a violent nature
and it contains a lot of blood and gore. This may have long term negative consequences for a younger
audience and could make them experience fear and tension in a more negative way.

3. Gender
Our opening sequence is aimed at both gender but may
predominantly be more popular amongst the male gender.
This is due to the fact that stereotypically females may be a
bit squeamish and may view the content in a negative way.
Viewer of the male gender however, would stereotypically
be more attracted to this as it would provide them with an
adrenaline rush keeping them engaged and entertained
throughout.

4. Social Class
We decided that our opening sequence would be aimed at
the working class. This is because after through research
we found that movies from the horror genre is most popular
amongst them compared to the middle/ upper class. We
believe that this is due to the fact that the working class
come under the C2DE demographic and the middle/upper
class come under the ABC1 demographic. This suggest
that the middle/upper class would be more interested in
documentaries or media texts that are non-fiction, whereas,
the working class prefer fictional action and horror.

5. Race
My opening sequence is aimed at all races due
to it’s multicultural cast. However, the horror/
thriller genre is predominantly popular amongst
white British and white America. This is due to
the violent nature and the blood and gore
portrayed in my opening sequence engages
this audience as it provides a feeling of
excitement and fear.

6. Sexuality
Although there is a hetrosexual relationship
portrayed in my opening sequence, I’ve
attempted to aim my opening sequence at all
sexualities due to the open nature of my
production.

7. How did you attract/address your
audience?

8. Age
In order to attract an audience that consisted of young
adults/older teens we included specific mise-en-scene. This
included gory props such as blooded bandages and rags
and fake wounds. This would attract my chosen target
audience as these props help to portray the emotions as
previously stated in the Uses and Gratification Model. This
allows my chosen age group to use my opening sequence
as a distraction or a form of escapism from day to day
stressors.

9. Gender
In order to attract a predominantly male gender
we tried to adapt our soundtrack to suit them.
As previously mentioned persons of the male
gender would prefer my opening sequence as it
presents them with adrenaline and excitement.
Our chose soundtrack allows this as it helps to
portray fear and excitement.

10. Social Class
In order to attract our working class audience we had
to adapt our storyline to suit the C2DE demographic.
This is because members of the working class tend
to prefer fictional, action based movies. To attract
this audience, we decided to foreshadow acts of
predominantly violent actions in our opening
sequence. This would engage our audience and
keep them interested in watching the rest of the film.

11. Race
In order to attract a multicultural target
audience we decided that we were going to
include a multicultural cast. We believe that
including a range of races in our sequence
would help to portray a sense of equality and
engages the majority of all races.

12. Sexaulity
As we haven’t aimed our opening sequence at
a specific sexuality the we felt that we wouldn’t
need to adapt anything to suit a particular
group. However, although we have included a
hetrosexual couple in our opening sequence,
we still hope to gain a range of sexualities in
our target audience.