Evaluation 4 2018

Who would be the target audience for your media product? 

the target audience for my film is males over 15-25 , this is because my film is rated 15, due to common moments of horror, as well as fairly common moments of mild violence, and uses of mild bad language. there is also drug use later on when I am trying to control the dreams, which wasn’t being frowned upon in the film, but the use of context in this case meant it wasn’t enforcing a message that the audience should use drugs, which would spread a very bad message. To venture more into this, I researched the BBFC and what they do, in order to better understand what rating my film should be. 
I had a look at similar psychological thriller/horror film's age rating, to get a feel for what my conpetitors felt their films were rated in the UK
Donnie Darko- 15
se7en- 18
Black swan- 15
Shutter island- 15

It is important for me have a complete profile of my target audience, in order to know all about them, and so tailor my film, as well as my distribution practices, directly to them.


This is me, 17 at the time, and the target audience of Endless (my psychological thriller) 
Where they might shp would likely be online, as the internet provides convenience to me. This would translate with how I would purchase the film to watch. The act of going to the cinema with friends is very common, as it promotes socializing about the film, and is also convenient, as opposed to going to a physical shop to buy things. 

Secondary audience example- A secondary audience can be described as the second most important audience that I have to appeal to, obviously not as important as the first. This audience may consume the media in the background, while doing something else, and in this case, it may be a parent, of the 15 to 25 year old (who is the target audience) This is a part of audience engagement theory, which was coined by Jeremy Tunstall, who said of audiences that they either passively, or actively, consume media, based on who and where they are, or what they're doing. 

A funny example of the primary audience in real media texts, is the adult jokes that are made in children's cartoon shows, for the secondary audience of the cartoons, the adults. Most of these are innuendos, which the primary audience (the kids) woldn't understand.

However, ideally I wouldnt want to have a primary audience in my psychological thriller, because it would be very hard to understand by as passive viewer, if they are also doing things like cooking and cleaning while it is on in the background. they wouldn't be able to fully appreciate the narrative that the thriller has, especially the psychological aspect, which would be very hard to keep up with unless you saw all the twists and unexpected outcomes in the story.

There is also a type of audience called a tertiary audience, which differs from the others, as they're unaware that they're even consuming the media. Instead, they will see it through advertising, usually on a mass scale. This includes the sides of buses, billboards, TV and newspaper adverts etc. This would suggest towards the hypodermic needle theory, which "injects" the message into the audience, essentially the opposite of the uses and gratifications theory. However the Tertiary audience do still have less of an effect on the film's success, compared to the primary and secondary audience. 

The BBFC are very specific in the way they deem a film to be a 15. Below is the specifications for that, from the BBFC's official website. It all fits in with my thriller content.

Discrimination

The work as a whole must not endorse discriminatory language or behaviour, although there may be racist, homophobic or other discriminatory themes and language.
 

Drugs

Drug taking may be shown but the work as a whole must not promote or encourage drug misuse (for example, through instructional detail). The misuse of easily accessible and highly dangerous substances (for example, aerosols or solvents) is unlikely to be acceptable.

Imitable behaviour

Dangerous behaviour (for example, hanging, suicide and self-harming) should not dwell on detail which could be copied. Whether the depiction of easily accessible weapons is acceptable will depend on factors such as realism, context and setting.

 Language

There may be strong language. Very strong language may be permitted, depending on the manner in which it is used, who is using the language, its frequency within the work as a whole and any special contextual justification.

Nudity

There are no constraints on nudity in a non-sexual or educational context. There may be nudity in a sexual context but usually without strong detail.
 

Sex

Sexual activity may be portrayed, but usually without strong detail. There may be strong verbal references to sexual behaviour, but the strongest references are unlikely to be acceptable unless justified by context. Works whose primary purpose is sexual arousal or stimulation are unlikely to be acceptable.

 Threat

There may be strong threat and horror. A sustained focus on sadistic or sexual threat is unlikely to be acceptable.

Violence

Violence may be strong but should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury. The strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable. Strong sadistic violence is also unlikely to be acceptable. There may be detailed verbal references to sexual violence but the depiction of sexual violence must be discreet and justified by context.