The document analyzes the target demographics of 4 horror films: The Cabin in the Woods, Friday the 13th, Scream 3, and Wes Craven's New Nightmare. It finds that most successfully targeted younger audiences aged 15-24. Regarding gender, audiences were often slightly male-dominated. Social class targeting found middle class audiences were most common. Drawing on these findings, the proposed demographics for their own film aim to target a young male audience aged 15-24 from middle-lower social classes.

1. Target Audience Research

2. The content of this presentation
• The main idea of this presentation is to explore different
films’ target audiences and then design our own for our
film. This is so we can take several ideas from the ways
these films targeted their and pinpoint them to suit our
film. I will be analysing 4 films, all from the genre of
horror. A target audience is defined by a group of people
who are defined by a certain category – for example,
age, gender, martial status etc. If a film distributor targets
an audience successfully, it will be able to satisfy them
through the fact that the audience will be able to relate to
the movie. For example, Kidulthood was targeted to the
Urban Youth due to the fact that it is a storyline similar to
many young people’s – therefore it was easier for the
target audience to relate to.

3. The Cabin in The Woods
• The age range was most dominant in 15-24 with
65%. The reason being is due to the organic buzz it
created through websites due to the acclaimed
storyline and popular cast.
• The gender split is orientated towards males, who
hold the majority at 61%. This is possibly due to the
fact that Horror films are usually more violent in
nature and statistically men tend to watch more
violent media.
• When it comes to analysing the class split, it is to a
certain extent even however C1 holds a majority. The Cabin in The Woods is a
This is probably due to the relations that they have film that exploits the genre of
with the main characters – who all come from a horror. It is an example of post-
middle class suburban neighbourhood. They could modern horror which is very
relate through the clothes the characters wear popular these days. This could
which is casual, as well as the lifestyle they also explain why more younger
accommodate (high school seniors). populations dominated the
audience.

4. Friday the 13th is a remake film
Friday the 13th
released in late 2009 which
takes all the popular
conventions from its fran-
chise.
• Friday the 13th had a much more narrower
age range. It concentrates on the 15-24 age
range. This is shown through the fact that it is
a remake, which would appeal to younger people
looking for the same thrill that the older generation
had when the film was first introduced. The main
characters are also young, so they can relate to them
through age. We can see that older individuals who
watched previous films from the series would have
wanted to see what the new one is like.
•When analysing the male/female audience split, there
is a difference of 10%. This can be explained through the fact that
statistically males like to indulge in more violent media than females.
However, the fact that the percentages are nearly similar is possibly
due to the fact that the lead characters are both males and females,
attracting both audiences because they can relate in terms of gender.
•In terms of class we can say that the reason the film does not appeal to
AB as much as it does to C,D&E is due to the lack of relation. The characters
are middle/lower class from the film, therefore little relation is made in terms of
class for A&B. Younger people are usually in C,D&E which explains why these categories are more
popular – the main characters are of a young age.

5. Scream 3 is part of the
popular “Scream” franchise,
which like The Cabin in The Woods
is a prime example of post-modern
horror. Scream 3
• As the previous films are
in this presentation,
Scream 3 has a higher emphasis on the
15-24 age range. This was done
most likely due to the production company
wanting a newer audience as they were
afraid the film would not fare well at the box •The DE band is usually full of younger
office. As we can see, older audiences were people, this relates to the age due to
less interested in it beyond the age of 34. the fact that many 15-24 year olds reside
• If we note the audience gender, we could
in this class category.
comment on the statistical information that
cites males usually enjoying horror films more than
females. This applies here too, but only by a small
percentage so it is not anything significant.
• In the class barriers, Scream 3 provides us with a
different result when it comes to audiences.
Commenting on AB, we can say that the previous series has
established a degree of higher thinking for the Scream series, This is most likely the same for
and it goes well beyond the overlaying script of the film since C1 as well.
it digs into horror’s conventions and stereotypes. This ‘higher’
thinking is most likely what caused a higher percentage in the AB category for class.

6. Wes Craven’s New Nightmare
New Nightmare was a clever plot used
by Wes Craven to finish his famous “Nightmare
on Elm Street” series off smoothly.
•The target age group is blatantly obvious.
The production company had to target a specific
age group – the younger generation, due to the fact The class barriers are
that the previous sequels in the series fared very poorly generally spread.
critically and at the box office. However more emphasis
Younger generations won’t have spent much time around is placed on “C2” and
the older failures of the series so they would have to go to the “DE”. The reason being
watch the film to find out what this ‘revamp’ is like. Is due to the fact that
90% is aimed at 15-24 year olds, usually the age group who many young people from
spend the most time out, and 10% at 25-35 year olds. the age target audience
will be residing in these
•Regarding the gender split, this film has more in the female category-
two categories mainly.
54%. The reason being is that the protagonist is actually a female with a The heroine is not that of
child.Many females would be able to identify with this more than males a higher class either, she
would, therefore the audience is concentrated more on females. is just a B movie actor
who is trying to live a
Many ABs can’t identify or relate with this, hence why there is less normal life.
emphasis on their class category.

7. Our Demographics
When concerning the target
range for age, we must note that
Age Gender (%) Class
the majority of the targeted population Range (%) (%)
for the horror films researched are
in the 15-25 category.
We will take what
4-6 0 Male 55 AB 10
we have learnt from
this and apply it to 7-11 0 Female 45 C1 25
our own demogra
-phics. We can appeal to more people
our age who can identify with us this 12-14 0 We’ll only make it
slightly higher, as
C2 30
way, therefore a larger audience is the demographics
attracted.
15-24 70 tell us that there is
usually not a
DE 35
preference towards
Concerning the audience gender,
we have decided to make it more
25-34 15 a gender when it
comes to horror.
inclined towards males. The reason
being is due to the fact that males, 35-44 10 If we want to appeal to the widest audience
statistically are prone to watch more possible we target our film for the class
violent films and the entire cast in our boundaries containing the majorities of
film is male, so our audience on the male 45+ 5 people our age. This is usually C2, and DE
side can relate to the characters more in hence why the majority of % in class
terms of age and gender. boundaries are targeted there.