PLANNING AUDIENCE RESEARCH

12/11/14 | PLANNING | HOW BRANDS TARGET AUDIENCES

Today I began to research how brands target certain audiences. This is all to prepare for creating my own audience profile for my GCSE Production. In addition to my audience profile I need to make a structured plan which further researches my audience.


Distributing my film includes many factors so I will need to develop an effective way to market my movie. This includes using forms of social media, for example creating a Facebook page and Twitter account. This enables me to promote and connect to the target audience. I will need multiple marketing strategies in order to make it more effective. For further investigation after my audience profile, I will also research why my target audience enjoys and does certain leisure activities. I need to discover what they like and how to make my film more attractive to them.

My Target Audience: Erica

1.     Who is my primary target audience? 

British, men and women, 15-30+, who love horror and thriller films, TV dramas and psychological thrillers.

2.     What makes my film stand out from the competition? 

My film is about a mentally corrupt young child, suffering from multiple personality disorder (MPS) and consequently murders two older girls.

3.     Why should my audience watch my film?

Empire magazine says: “Absolutely astonishing! A definite must-see movie! The most intriguing and engaging film since Se7en.”

Developing a thorough understanding of my audience is essential. GEARS is an acronym which allows us to define an audience:

Ø  Gender

Ø  Ethnicity

Ø  Age

Ø  Region / nationality

Ø  Socio-economic group

I consulted the Bauer Media website to confirm that all products, including mass media products, have individual clear, defined audiences. 

 Here are some examples from the Bauer Media website:

These examples are all magazines and my audience is likely to consume other forms of media too, such as radio or television. When I am marketing my film I want to make is as accessible as possible to my audience. 

My target audience utilises the internet to gain more information on film releases. For example, my friends and I (who fit into my target audience bracket) find out more about new films by accessing: imDB; twitter; instagram; facebook; iTunes movie trailers and cinema websites, such as Odeon. 

As most media marketing is very visual, I decided to research radio. Kiss FM is a suitable media platform as “KISS 100 continues to successfully hit the mark with its young London target audience, reaching more 15-34s than any radio station in London.” This fits perfectly with my target audience.

I also decided to look at iTunes movie trailers as this displayed the films which are available and popular:

According to Maslowe's Hierarchy of Needs, audience behaviour is split into different levels. Each level displays a difference in the needs of the audience.

 Maslowe’s Hierarchy of Needs:

Audience behaviour is divided into models. There are several models, passive and active are two which construct audiences in contrasting ways. The Media Effects model (or hypodermic syringe model) is the passive model. This is where audiences are very easily influenced by the media they consume; therefore, constructing the audience as passive. Whereas an active audience has more say in the media they are consuming and make active choices. 

The Uses and Gratifications model display these four needs:

Ø  Entertainment/ escapism/ distraction 

Ø  Seeking information/ surveillance 

Ø  personal identity/ support of our world view

Ø  social relationships (on screen and off screen)

  
Socio-economic bands:
Socio-economic bands also define the audience. I discovered this:

AUDIENCE PROFILE COLLAGE

This is the collage I made which represents my audience profile: 

AUDIENCE PROFILE

8/10/14 | PLANNING | AUDIENCE PROFILE

During the lesson we started to plan our audience profile. Mine goes as follows…

Age: 15-30+

Gender: Men and Women

They are likely to watch: American Horror Story; Breaking Bad; The Inbetweeners; The Hunger Games; The Dark Knight; The Walking Dead; Dawn of the Planet of the Apes; Game of Thrones; Carrie; The Conjuring and Kill Bill.

During leisure time they are likely to: Meet up with friends; go to parties; eat fast food; play video games; go on social media; go shopping; watch television and listen to music.

They are likely to buy clothes and shoes from: Topshop/ Topman; New Look; Hollister; Office; Jack Wills; River Island and H&M.

They are likely to use media, such as: Netflix to stream films, tv shows and documentaries; Amazon to purchase items online; Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to keep up to date on social media; YouTube to watch videos and listen to music and they are likely to have an Apple device such as an iPhone or MacBook Pro. 

ART OF THE TITLE 3 - THE CONJURING

9/10/14 | RESEARCH | ART OF THE TITLE 3 

For my third Art of the Title opening                                                                       sequence, I decided to research a modern horror film; The Conjuring. The use of old newspaper clippings, articles and photographs of the Warren’s enhances the ‘realness’ factor. The Warren’s are characters in the film based on real life ghost hunters/ paranormal experts/ “demonologists”. The interview below states that the director and creative editor were sent genuine articles and documentation about the Warren’s which inspired them for the opening sequence.

 The whole title sequence is shot in black and white, sometimes negative black and white which is especially bone chilling on the images of the house. There are many images in the opening of the actual people whose story is used for the film. This increases the tension as you prepare to watch this film which has lead you to believe already that each detail is true. Of course this is not that case as the film is only based on the story but nonetheless, you start believing in ghosts and demons before the film has started. The fonts are basic, yet clear as they are placed over newspaper articles they have to remain legible. They have been cleverly placed and blend nicely into the images they are put over, along with all the darkness it looks very creepy. There is one shot one a graveyard with a large headstone with a cross on. Just as the shot moves and changes the cross flips upside down; the symbol for anti-Christ, Satan. This connotes witchcraft, the devil, evil and demons intensifying the feel of fear as the opening titles get closer to the end. The music is extremely tense and eerie, it almost sounds screechy. With lots of fast notes and big build ups it complements the genre of the film. 

ART OF THE TITLE 2 - SHERLOCK HOLMES

9/10/14 | RESEARCH | ART OF THE TITLE 2 

For our research today we accessed the Art of the Title website and then looked into the opening title sequence of the movie, Sherlock Holmes. We analysed the title sequence and picked out key details. The opening clearly establishes the genre of the film and allows the audience to determine the type of film they are watching; in this case it is a historical detective actiondrama. 

The font used mimics Victorian handwriting, which indicates the period in history in which the film is set. This, along with the transitions between moving image, to still image, to digital sketch gives an authentic feel to the titles. The graphics morph fluidly using CGI, which enhances the excitement and tension before the film. When the moving image pauses making a still image it gradually filters into a sepia image (sepia images are associated with the Victorian era). They have a foxed look on the photos by using an effect which makes them look like they’ve been splattered by ink; this also authenticates and ages the images. The sketched effect images then reanimate and turn back into another moving image. Each of these elements is used to age the overall look of the opening title sequence and let it reflect the genre of the film. The music is light-hearted and instrumental which contrasts against the dark and melodramatic looking images.

ART OF THE TITLE 1 - DETECTIVES

9/10/14 | RESEARCH | THE ART OF THE TITLE

We went on The Art of the Title website today and analysed the opening to a French detective series called ‘Détectives’. We all participated in analysing and deconstructing the visual codes in the opening titles.

We went through each shot discovering how there were clues in the titles to the genre and what identifies it as TV show not a film opening. I almost immediately recognised that it was a TV series as the sequence was rapidly paced and showed images of the main characters. In film opening sequences it is very uncommon to show images of the characters they usually simply display the actor/actresses name. Films are also a lot more relaxed with the length of the titles as they do not need to rush into the programme they can build tension up for the film.

The location was also established quickly as the title sequence is made up of the streets of Paris being filmed and then sped up with a time lapse effect. We can see that it’s based in Paris as there are shots of iconic landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower. The music is upbeat and bouncy which indicates that the TV series is cheerful, this somewhat contrasts with the name which suggests serious crime. The pace of the music also suggests that in the show cases are solved quickly. The whole sequence appears to be showing the streets through an advanced version of Google maps. 

EXTRA RESEARCH

23/9/14 | RESEARCH | PSYCHOLOGICAL HORROR FILMS

Eleanor and I discussed researching into psychological thriller and mental illnesses to determine which to use for our main character Erica. Eleanor did further research following up on the Scoop it work and I researched a couple more Art of the Title opening sequences. “I wanted to conduct some more research into the genre, surrounding the issue of multiple personality disorder (MPD) in the main character, because this is what we want our main character to have. Multiple personality disorder is defined as: ‘a rare dissociative disorder in which two or more personalities with distinct memories and behaviour patterns apparently exist in one individual’. In our film, this is what causes Erica’s sudden change in mood and causes her to go from a harmless young girl to a merciless killer within seconds. Erica’s change is triggered by a flashback in our film to a time when she was bullied.”

“Other psychological horror or thriller films involving multiple personality disorder include Fight Club, Psycho and The Three Faces of Eve. I decided to look into The Three Faces of Eve and find out more about it. It is a about a woman called Eve with multiple personality disorder caused by a traumatic event in her childhood (the death of her grandmother). One of Eve’s personalities even has murderous tendencies and causes her to try and kill her own daughter. This is very similar to our concept so could be useful for giving us ideas as to how a person with MPD is portrayed in films. It could also give us ideas for a title for our film, The Three Faces of Eve is mysterious and intriguing as it immediately creates an image of someone who is confused or not quite together mentally.”

HALF TERM WORK

31/10/14 | PRODUCTION | FILMING

During the most recent half term Eleanor, Harriet and I met up to film some shots for our project. We used a Canon D60 camera which was borrowed from school and a tripod in order to create professional looking shots. We did some short shots from the beginning and ending of our three minute film. These were all shot in Eleanor’s bedroom with Erica (Eleanor) acting as an innocent child going to bed. Then we filmed the part where it appears that Erica jumps out her window. I did Eleanor’s make up which made her features more defined and skeletal. Eleanor decided on the costumed and helped arrange the room. Harriet did the most of the filming. I also directed quite a few shots along with the help of Harriet and Eleanor. We began filming around 12:30pm and finished roughly 4 hours later. We successfully got the shots we wanted and were happy with what we achieved. 

ORDER OF EVENTS

3/11/14 | PLANNING | ORDER OF EVENTS

1.       Erica is released from psychiatric ward: set – Harriet’s room; costume – large t-shirt; props – clipboard, pen, stethoscope, release forms; actor/s – Eleanor, a man.

2.       Title sequence.

3.       Erica innocently goes to bed in girly room: set – Eleanor’s room; costume – nightwear and dressing gown; props – cuddly toys, reading book; actor/s - Eleanor.

4.       Erica sneaks out of room: set – Eleanor’s room; costume – nightwear and dressing gown; props – chain; actor/s - Eleanor.

5.       Erica walks through dark streets: set – Eleanor’s street; costume – nightwear and dressing gown; props – chain; actor/s - Eleanor.

6.       Erica sees some girls bullying another girl: set – Eleanor’s street; costumes – nightwear and dressing gown, regular day clothes for Faith, Chloe and Amber; props – chain; actor/s - Eleanor, Amber, Niamh and Harriet.

7.       Erica has a flash back: set – School; costumes – uniforms; props – school bag and books; actor/s - Eleanor, two other girls.

8.       The younger girl sees Erica walking closer, runs and hides behind a car: set – Eleanor’s street; costumes – nightwear and dressing gown, regular day clothes for Faith, Chloe and Amber; props – chain; actor/s - Eleanor, Amber, Niamh and Harriet.

9.       The older girls don’t know why and start walking home: set – Eleanor’s street; costumes – nightwear and dressing gown, regular day clothes for Chloe and Amber; props – chain; actor/s - Eleanor, Amber and Harriet.

10.   Erica closes in on them but they don’t notice: set – Eleanor’s street; costumes – nightwear and dressing gown, regular day clothes for Faith, Chloe and Amber; props – chain; actor/s - Eleanor, Amber, Niamh and Harriet.

11.   The younger girl watches in fear: set – Eleanor’s street; costumes – nightwear and dressing gown, regular day clothes; props – chain; actor/s - Eleanor and Niamh.

12.   Erica attacks them and strangles them with a chain: set – Eleanor’s street; costumes – nightwear and dressing gown, regular day clothes for Chloe and Amber; props – chain; actor/s - Eleanor, Amber and Harriet.

13.   The girls lie dead in the road: set – Eleanor’s street; costumes – regular day clothes for Chloe and Amber; props – chain; actor/s - Amber and Harriet.

14.   Erica returns home: set – Eleanor’s room; costumes – nightwear and dressing gown; props – chain; actor/s Eleanor.