Target Audiences

What is a Target Audience?

The specific group of people towards whom the film is directed.

Niche Audience- The separation of the film audience into segments each of which have different tastes and concerns.

When creating our opening it is very important that we can identify our target audience and gear our opening towards them and their interests. By researching into our target audience we will be able to learn what sort of things they like in Thriller films and what things they do not like as much. It is important to understand you’re your target audience are, what they like and why they like it in order for your film to communicate to them. If we can successfully do this it will allow us to create something that has all the elements of a successful Thriller opening that the audience will enjoy. I looked into the typical audience for thrillers and found that they are usually popular with under 30’s. Target audiences are usually defined by gender and age, however sometimes socioeconomic status, race and interests are also used to define them. Typical age ranges are:
5-11
11-15
16-18
18-25
25-54
54+
Age range is important to understand as it is unlikely that a film that entertains a 50year old will also entertain an 8year old. Another thing to think about is why your target audience will enjoy the film and why others don’t. What elements do Thrillers have that these people enjoy. These could be the excitement, suspense, tension, mystery, thrill, anticipation, action, all oh which are associated to the Thriller genre. Also from my research I learnt that Thrillers are less popular with females. I think a reason for this could be that most lead roles in thrillers tend to be males and most of the time the women can just be used as the beauty or the scene filler.


THRILLERS DO NOT USUALLY APPEAL TO:

• 
  Elderly
• 
  Children
• 
  People who do not like violence in films
• 
  People who have phobias of certain situations ie being tied up or drowning

Other ways to research more into our target audience is to outgo demographic research. This includes segmenting initial groups into sub groups ie professional status, geographical location. Also another way is to use psychographics which is a system for measuring the audience’s beliefs, opinions and interests in deeper context. Both of these give more insight into the audience all of which helping you come up with something that will really appeal.

Shanice
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