Researching The Genre Horror & It’s Audiences

Cinema Audiences

Horror Audiences

Audience data for a similar film to my

initial idea.

Horror advertisements &

promotions – Audience Influences

Film Trailer AudiencesZara Butterworth

Cinema AudiencesAudiences- Definition:Audience data describes the gender, age, ethnicity, social group and region of the film audience as a whole and for particular popular film titles.Shares of UK cinema audience by age

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15-24

25-34

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Here is an example graph showing the breakdown of the ages of people who visit the cinema on a yearly timescale, as you can see from the graph 15-24 year

olds are most likely to attend a cinema showing, this helps my primary research as I can use these demographics to select my target audience.

I asked people from the age group 15-24; “What do you look for from a cinema experience”Some of the Feedback: ‘ Good value for money’ ‘Seeing new film Trailers before the film to decide what film to watch next’ ‘ Buying merchandise for the movie, I used to have all the stars wars figures!’ ‘ Films which are really big like Harry Potter, it was fun because people dressed up’ ‘ Being able to watch the film and then rent it at home, paranormal activity had two endings!

Graph from : http://www.ukfilmcouncil.org.uk/audiences

Horror Audiences

Horror-Definition :an overwhelming and painful feeling caused by something frightfully shocking, terrifying, or revolting; a shuddering fear.http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/horror

Why do people choose to watch horror films?Horror films have an added element of entertainment and excitement, Audiences choose to watch horror films mainly because they have the ‘Thrill factor’ Compared with other genres such as comedy which are designed to be humorous or action films which entertain people in a different way.As there are many types of horror films and sub-genres people visit the cinema to enjoy different experiences, for example; A paranormal film is designed for the purpose of creating mystery and suspense.Target audiences for horror;Some of my research conducted on the website ( http://www.ukfilmcouncil.org.uk )shows that a typical viewer of the horror genre is more likely to be Male and within the age range of 15-24, the reason for this is that the largest group of cinema goers are people ages 15-24 (see cinema audiences slide) and male’s because they tend to seek thrill and action within films whereas females typically prefer genres such as comedy and romance because it is lighter entertainment.However recent figures show that females watching horror has exceeded male viewers for the first time.

Not only are women conventionally less likely to visit the cinema to see horrors but statistics show that the vast majority of films within the genre are directed, written and produced my men.Evidence of this comes from the article I have researched on the uk film council website, here is an extract ;

The number of women attending cinema screenings of horror films now marginally exceeds male attendance figures for the first time. With funding support from Skillset Film Skills' Fund, Warp X in partnership with Threshold Studios, has established Darklight: Women Direct Horror, a unique training and production initiative to encourage women directors keen to reinvent the horror genre for the 21st Century.

Audience data for a similar film to my initial idea.Similar film: Orphan

Genre : Mystery / Thriller

Brief synopsis: A husband and wife who recently lost their baby adopt a 9-year-old girl who is not nearly as innocent as she claims to be. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1148204/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1148204/

Quotes from reviews : “Finally, a horror film about adults.”

“Orphan is very disturbing at parts, and pretty gruesome.”“Dark, edgy, twisted, effective, clever, intense, and blackly comic -

one of the best "evil child" films I've seen.”

Research: From my initial research there are limited demographics regarding film audience specifics for this film , however in my own attempt to analyse a typical audience for ‘Orphan’ I would expect to find that the viewers range in typicality's.The film may appeal to females because the main character is a young girl, additionally other centre characters feature her parents, family and teachers so it could reach out to ; Couples and Teens age age 15+ as its viewing certificate is 15.

The last quote in particular would also apply to how I want my film to be presented, my film includes a young psychologically disturbed girl, if the film were to be fully produced it would feature her parents who are also on a mission to discover the mystery of her strange traits.

Horror advertisements & promotions – Audience InfluencesHow companies target people to watch horrors.

Shark night – Advertised on Odeon cinema website, includes; Film trailer, Synopsis & Film reviews and ratings. This targets online viewers.

The Body Farm- This horror TV drama is available to a home audience through the online market. The page includes; a brief overview of the plot, previous programmes and ratings.

The Sun newspaper is an example of how films are advertised through printed media, here technological convergence is used as the film is also featured on the newspapers website.

Film Trailer Audiences

Film trailers are a regular promotional feature within the film industry, trailers help the audience have a brief overview of the film plot and decide weather they would go and watch the film; trailers can be found in various contexts;-Before films in the cinema- usually more than one trailer featuring release dates and film context.-On Actual film websites used to promote to online audiences.-On TV where producers can reach a wider audience.Examples

The sun WebsiteParanormal activity 3 website

Cinema screening

As there is a constant demand for new films , the industry has to target a wide audience, showing trailers in various forms means that promotion in the 21’st century can reach almost every audience.Even when a consumer doesn’t plan to go to the cinema or view a trailer they are still exposed to all kinds of media promotions , such as TV , Newspaper and Cinema Screenings.Film companies spend Billions on influencing audiences to attend the cinema.