The document discusses the target audiences of three horror movie trailers: Saw 2, Night of the Living Dead, and The Dead. It analyzes the ratings, intended gender/ethnicity appeal, and social groups for each trailer. It also considers how elements of each trailer could influence the target audience and design of the student's own horror trailer project, which aims for a 15+ rating and appeal to both genders between ages 15-35.

1. TARGET AUDIENCE
QUESTION 7

2. SAW 2-TARGET AUDIENCE
 RATING= The BBFC has a rating specifically for viewers of age 18 years or
over. Saw 2 would be considered as an 18+ rating as it contains ‘strong
violence’, ‘frequent strong language’, sexual instances’ and ultimately
‘strong horror. These classifications are put into place in order to offer
guidance and provide censorship for younger viewers, so they won’t
accidently witness unsuitable content.
 GENDER AND ETHNCITY= This trailer could appeal to both genders as it’s
main group of characters consists of both males and females, who perhaps
the audience could relate to and empathise with. These characters can be
seen in the panel of pictures to the right. The trailer practices Goffmans
character types including the protagonist (lead character who leads the
group away or to something), the fool and the damsel in distress type
character. This trailer also features characters of different ethnicities to
engage a wider audience and to encourage empathy etc.
 SOCIAL GROUP= Saw 2 trailer is available freely online, and the film is
popular all across the world , and was screened in various cinemas all across
the country at an affordable price. Therefore, you could say any social
group would be inclined to watch the trailer and the film, however I’d
suggest it was targeted more at group C2 and below, as these types of
people would probably enjoy a thrill and could perhaps relate to the
characters and the genre a lot more than the higher social groups.

3. HOW DOES THE SAW 2 TRAILER APPEAL TO
ITS TARGET AUDIENCE?
The Saw 2 trailer appeals initially to it’s target audience by showing a variety of different characters
of all different ages (over the ages of 18 due to the rating), ethnicities, sexualities, genders, social
statuses and personalities(Goffman’s character types), as the on the previous slide, that the audience
can relate to and empathise with.
As the film is a psychological thriller in the horror genre, the target audience will also be ideally
interested in horror and be ‘thrill seekers’, which is common in younger people. Therefore by showing
extreme violence, gore and props such as weapons in the trailer, will appeal to the target audience.
This can be seen in the two images below.
I personally think this trailer would appeal more
to males especially ones that play graphic video
games such as Call of Duty or GTA as some of the
themes displayed in them, are in this trailer
including strong violence and frequent strong
language. Also this feature portrays the males as
being dominant and the alpha male character
saving the women, therefore younger men may
relate to it whilst watching it.

4. HOW WILL THIS TRAILER AFFECT MY
TRAILER AND ITS TARGET AUDIENCE?
I feel that this trailer wont be the main inspiration for my
trailer as it’s contains too much graphic violence and gore, that
it is sometimes disturbing and I feel off-putting (being a
female- not generally), and we want our trailer to appeal to
both genders.
My target audience is going to be 15-35 (and above). I have
chosen to rate it as 15 as it wont contain frequent strong
language or sexual instances and will not be as graphic and
violent. Therefore I feel a 15 rating is much more suitable. This
also allows me to appeal to a wider audience.
The characters in my film are going to be teenagers, therefore
a 15 rating is better suited, as they can relate to them too.

5. NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD-TARGET
AUDIENCE
RATING= This trailer and film is rated 18+ by BBFC, however
doesn’t contain ‘sexual instances’ or ‘frequent strong language’,
but does contain a lot of strong horror and gore and an element
of violence i.e. the extreme weapons used (guns etc). However,
this film was made and released over 25 years ago, and BBFC
weren’t as strict with their guidelines and ratings then, so
perhaps if this film was rereleased in the 21st century it would be
classified as a 15+.
GENDER AND ETHNICITY= Likewise the Saw 2 trailer, this
trailer contains both genders equally and a variety of ethnicities.
Again this helps the viewers to relate and ascribe themselves a
character they’d be like perhaps. It also helps to appeal to a wider
audience. I think it would be aimed at both genders as the main
female character is seen as strong and heroic (image to the
right), which most women would like to see from a female lead
character as its unconventional. Also, as it’s a classic it’s less
gender biased.
SOCIAL GROUP= When this film was released it was probably
aimed at B2 and below. I think it’s higher than Saw because it is a
remake of an old classic, therefore an older more established
audience perhaps interested in higher culture, would appreciate
this film and want to see it.

6. HOW WILL THIS TRAILER AFFECT MY
TRAILER AND ITS TARGET AUDIENCE?
This trailer is particularly useful if we choose
to do a zombie horror trailer, as inspiration.
This is because it’s not overly gory and graphic,
which our trailer won’t be as it’s targeted at a
younger audience (15+ rather than 18+).
We will also include different ethnicities and
an equal spread of gender in our trailer, but
perhaps not age, as I’m planning on focussing
on a group of teenagers. I feel this trailer
represented different types of people and
personality well according to Propp’s character
theory, and we will try to achieve this too.

7. THE DEAD-TARGET AUDIENCE
RATING= This trailer and film is rated by BBFC and 18+, as it contains all of the elements previously
mentioned that qualify for an age classification of 18+. This trailer in particular, compared the other
two trailers, has a more realistic narrative and the graphics, violence and gore appears more realistic,
therefore and 18+ rating seems appropriate.
GENDER AND ETHNICITY= This trailer seems to show primarily male characters, mostly being
brave and courageous and heroic figures. Therefore, this film would be targeted at predominately
males. It also features elements of military action and other elements from sub-genres of warfare,
gangs and crime films. Likewise, the other two trailers this film features a variety of ethnicities from
Arabian, Indian to African American. Therefore the viewers can relate to the characters and a wider
audience will be interested.
SOCIAL GROUP= I feel this trailer would be aimed at more mature teenagers maybe who play video
games such as Call of duty and GTA as it features common themes including strong violence,
language and gore. However, I also feel it is targeted at older males who are perhaps in the social
class group of B2 to C2 (not D or E), because the narrative in the trailer is constructed through micro
narratives and seems hard to understand, and could be easily misunderstood and therefore not
enjoyed as much, by someone below C2. It could also require knowledge of war films and gang
culture perhaps to understand the narrative fully.

8. HOW WILL THIS TRAILER AFFECT MY
TRAILER AND ITS TARGET AUDIENCE?
As this film and trailer are from an independent film company, the
story has more meaning and depth to it and this is clearly portrayed in
the trailer through micro narratives and the voice over. Therefore,
their target audience will be from a higher social group perhaps who
are perhaps interested in independent films and filmmakers, or just
people who are interested in these things.
This trailer is different to our trailer in terms of target audience
because we will be aiming ours at 15+ and mainly from the ages of 15-
35+, and this film could easily stretch far beyond people the age of 35
watching it. This film is also more gender biased I feel, therefore we
will make our trailer aimed at both genders equally by featuring
characters of both genders having lead roles that the viewers could
perhaps relate to.