PLANNING: Audience Theory

Audience Theory from EllieSmart

PLANNING: My Target Audience

1. Who is my primary target audience? 

 British young males and females from ages 15-25 (young adults and teenagers enjoy thrills more than older generations) who enjoy watching films with thrill and suspense. Might attract a wider female audience due to a female lead.

2. What kind of films and television are they likely to prefer? 

Our target audience are likely to enjoy thrilling television series with strong, gripping narratives. The genre horror might also appeal to them if they enjoy the realism of horror films that are based around real life events rather than a supernatural element. During our further research on films and television series that might interest our target audience, we found that the psychological thriller Netflix series 'You', adapted from the novel by Caroline Kepnes followed a similar narrative we were developing. It follows the story of Joe, a bookstore manager, who upon meeting Guinevere Beck becomes infatuated with her. He feeds his obsession using social media to track her and remove obstacles in their romance. The themes of obsession and stalkers relate extremely well to our film opening through the sense of the victim being unaware of the threat of someone close to them. 

3. What platforms do they choose to watch films and where are they likely to see information about films?

Our target audience are likely to enjoy streaming our film online on sites such as Netflix and Amazon Prime video, as they are easily accessible for younger generations to watch on their phones or electronic devices. Similarly, younger generations are likely to see information about films on social media and therefore we will put an emphasis on social media when we market our films. However, our audience is also likely to enjoy the movie in a cinema, to immerse themselves in the thrill and atmosphere the big screen creates.

4. What brands do they prefer? (food, clothing, media)

Brands which a younger audience would enjoy, for example: Nike, Adidas (also inspired by the element of sports in our film), social media such as Instagram, snapchat and tiktok, clothing brands such as Topshop, Urban outfitters and Zara and fast food brands might also be a preferred food choice due to the younger appeal, for example: Nandos, McDonalds and KFC.

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

Our film encompasses a sense of realism, intensifying the drama, and is a gripping story based on realistic concepts that that could happen in the real world. This is effective in immersing the viewer in the story through provoking emotions of the paranoia and fear our protagonist feels. We are also challenging the stereotypical male stalker and female victim, and instead having a female predator introducing a new element and avoiding the cliché. 

6. Why should my audience watch my film? 

Exposes the reality of being stalked in a thrilling, immersive way, with features from both the genres horror and psychological thriller. The female lead helps to empower women and promote feminism in the film industry.

PLANNING: Treatment

Planning my treatment:

To write my treatment, I initially did research on how to best write one, to clearly convey the narrative of our film opening. Some key findings were:

• Keep it short and concise
• Do not include too much detail, summarise the plot
• Show an active protagonist
• Make it readable and moving, ensure sentences flow 
• Include 2/3 images to spark intrigue 

As part of of my research I have watched a FutureLearn video, presented by Frank Ash - a creative consultant for the BBC. The video was extremely informative in explaining how films are successfully constructed to connect with an audience. 

Frank Ash's video:

In the video I learnt a number of useful questions to consider when constructing my own production in order to attract and intrigue audiences, such as 'what is the big question' and 'what is in it for the audience'. A key concept that I now understand is the use of a 'top-line' to focus the story into a single, impactful sentence. 

Our Treatment:

A story of deception, following a young woman, Sarah, who has a love for lacrosse  and a passion for photography. However, she is unaware that her every move is being tracked and documented through the lens of a camera and her  photos continuously being captured and developed.  From her lacrosse practices to her work as an assistant at a photography company and eventually to the safety of her own bedroom. She starts to notice an unsettling presence in her life, but remains oblivious to the true threat, that is so much closer than she knows. One night, Sarah senses a figure outside her bedroom window, she thinks nothing of it until she notices a sudden flash out of the corner of her eye. She closes her blinds, but not before glimpsing a shrouded figure hiding behind the lens. 

Top Line and Big Question: 

Our Top Line: Deception and deceit mask the true danger that faces a young women, who is unaware every aspect of her life is being captured and documented through the lens of a camera.

Our Big Question: Will she uncover the face behind the camera?

PLANNING: Characters

Social Groups Pinterest Boards

We looked at the different social groups and stereotypes that we wanted to incorporate into our foundation production, so that they were easily recognisable to our audience. 

I made Pinterest boards to individually represent the social groups involved in our narrative: sporty girls and stalkers, using stereotypical representations of each. This was extremely useful for our development and planning as we could clearly see the distinct visual styles and work out how best to represent them in our film opening. 

Through this process, key visual codes became apparent for each of the groups. My board on stalkers consisted of black and monochrome tones with dark lighting. Inspired by this, we decided we would use low lighting and the use of shadows when capturing shots of our stalker, to emphasise the unnerving, ominous feeling associated with the antagonist. In many of the pictures, the 'stalker' was pictured with a black hood up, resulting in a hidden identity - a key element we concluded we wanted to use in our narrative. 

We decided to represent our protagonist as a young, sporty girl. To put emphasis on the main focus of her character, sport, we will make sure that we choose costumes carefully to fulfil the stereotype through well-known branded sports clothing (e.g. Nike). 

Stereotypes are universally deemed useful by the media for many reasons such as helping the audience understand characters. Through stereotyping (with body language, costume etc.), visual shortcuts are created, allowing audiences to easily decode a character. They also help to build character relatability, in terms of empathy, sympathy and antipathy, as well as signposting audiences to the potential narrative based on stereotypical events. Finally, the use of stereotypes also help to reinforce genre expectations through allowing audiences to recognise stock characters. 

Stuart Hall is a sociologist and cultural theorist who wrote why stereotyping can also be negative and dangerous. He believed stereotyping creates 'groups' that can be recognised through negative features and that they imply these negative traits are 'natural' qualities that each member of a group has. For example, the stereotype that black men are lawless or blondes are dumb. This leads to what Stuart Hall called 'power circularity', meaning that powerful groups are the ones with the power to create stereotypes and exclude others from the elite list. 

 

RESEARCH: Audience Questionaire

https://forms.gle/xfb6XWxbC8V3vzEo8

 I designed and distributed an audience questionnaire via Google Forms, with the aim of better understanding our target audiences preferences. This will help my production team and I as it ensures we have a sufficient range of data from all genders and ages, each with different lifestyles and activities. In turn, this is useful in helping us to gain a wider knowledge of what our target audience enjoys, so we can effectively market our film to make them want to watch.

I tailored my questionnaire to fit the kind of film my production team are planning on creating, and so asked questions unique to the genre we are developing: psychological thriller/horror. 

To distribute my questionnaire efficiently and to maximise response, I intend to both email and post it on social media (Instagram and twitter) to reach a wider audience, therefore providing us with more results. 

Results:

I found that the majority of people in our target audience (under 21) are heavily influenced by social media in terms of how the are made aware of a film coming (100% said social media) and what they are most significantly influenced by - along with trailers and recomendations. Similarly, 100% of the people questioned used online streaming services such as Netflix to watch films and found out about upcoming films online, highlighting an extremely effective path of distribution. The majority of the participants liked the comparable films ('You', 'Secret Obsession' and 'Greta') for the following reasons: they are 'dramatic', 'trilling' and 'engaging'. However, a few of the over 21s commented that the trailer for 'You' was slightly predictable, which is therefore something that we can avoid in our narrative for Camera-Shy. 

PLANNING: Audience Profile

I understand that all products are targeted at specific audiences. In order to successfully target my specific audience, I made a plan using an audience profile. To do this, I needed to understand who they are through considering factors such as age, gender ethnicity and social class. To engage my target audience I also need to know what their media needs are, so that I can create a product I know that they want as well as knowing the most effective way or reaching them in order to successfully market my film.

Time spent understanding my audience has helped me create a profile of my ideal audience member: