Target Audience Research

Secondary

 

Who watches these films these films?

Horror movies are instinctive to humans; various samples of research has shown how the monsters and murders in horror movies have developed from the primal evolutionary fears of, animal teeth, the unknown of the dark, the poisonous spider or snake and the idea of being eaten. These primal fears have developed the monsters such as zombies, vampires and cannibals, which are all very common in today’s culture. One reason for the occurrence of such creatures in our movies can be explained by the theory of social fears. During the 2000’s we fear the possibility of nuclear disaster or a viral pandemic resulting in a zombie apocalypse.                                              

In todays culture horror films are targeted more and more on adolescents. For example according to the BBFC the majority of films released in 2013 where certified as a 15 and some (more than I would of expected) at a 12.

I think that teenagers are lured in to watching horror movies through:

1.      Tension, teenagers are more inclined to search for strong sensations such as fright and that sudden jump.

2.      Relevance, filmmakers began to use younger actors and base their films around younger people this meant that younger audiences found it easier to relate to the characters and the events of the story. By aiming their films at the subgroup of teenagers they managed to make their movies more personal.

3.      Unrealism, this is where my own movie comes in, the use of black comedy, multiple camera angles and sound tracks allow the audience to realize the lack of authenticity. I think our film achieves this by our twist on allowing the audience to empathise with the monster.

It is also believed that men responded better to horror movies. There’re and many reasons for this:

·         Men are the main gamers in our culture and they are continually bombarded with horrific and violent images, meaning they are more prone to respond to them.

·         The heroes in many horror movies are men, meaning there is more of a personal relevance and this is the same for the monster or murder.

·         Finally the portrayal of women is practically always consistent. They are shown as the damsels in distress, running around half naked relying on the men to protect and save them. This is therefore very attractive to the male sex.

A study was taken to see how young people in couples responded to and enjoyed horror movies. Adolescent boys were seen to enjoy the movie far more when their female companion was scared compared to when they weren’t; this was the opposite for the girls they preferred it when their male companion was brave and unafraid. This shows that young couples like to watch horror movies together as well.   

How do the institutions target their audiences?

The best example I could fine of how the institutions target there audiences, is the Women in black, this is a film that was released a few years ago starring Daniel Radcliff. Now Radcliff’s involvement sparked a serious debate about how films in this country are certified. Women in Black only received a 12A Certification which meant people did not agree with. Following Radcliff’s earlier success in the Harry Potter movies he was very attractive to younger audiences and the production Company Hammer field Productions wanted to exploit this popularity and really pushed for the BBFC to give it a 12 rating. Although the production company had to darken and, shorten and cut out a few scenes they still only achieved a 12A certification. This shows how some production company’s aim there horror films at younger and younger people and how they don’t only use their story lines and characters to draw people in but also the actors that play them.