Evaluation Question 4 - Who Would Be The Audience Of Your Media Product?

Who Would Be The Audience Of Your Media Product?




THIS IS A WRITTEN VERSION OF THE EVALUATION:

Our target audience would be 15-24 (our chosen BFCC rating). This is because, after researching the definitions for a bbfc rating of 15, we found that our opening included violence, horror and connotations of sex. We also felt that later on in the film, it would make use of other topics which would fit the criteria to be a bbfc 15 rated film, such as drugs, language and nudity, as well as the topics already mentioned.
Some existing horror films which we thought may fit the same criteria as Tiny Terror when it came to the evidence of topic in the film opening were:

• Stewart Hendler's 2009 film Sorority Row - where a group of sorority girls accidentally kill their friend. - I have already done a blog post on analysing the opening: Sorority Row Film Analysis.
• Geoffrey Wright's 2008 film Cherry Falls - where a 'final girl' type character and her boyfriend are murdered after kissing in a car in a secluded rural type area. I have also done a film Analysis on this: Cherry Falls Film Analysis

Barncasarn used these film analysis' to inspire us when creating Tiny Terror.

However, we thought that Tiny Terror did not fit the criteria for most of the topics on the definition for the bbfc 18 rating. Definitions for the 18 rating were:

"where the material is in breach of the criminal law, or has been created through the commission of a criminal offence"

"where material or treatment appears to the BBFC to risk harm to individuals or, through their behaviour, to society – for example, any detailed portrayal of violent or dangerous acts, or of illegal drug use, which may cause harm to public health or morals. This may include portrayals of sexual or sexualised violence which might, for example, eroticise or endorse sexual assault"

A bbfc 18 rated film in which we thought was similar to Tiny Terror in that explored horror, mild sex references and violence was John Carpenter's 1978 film Halloween - where six year old Michael Myres stabs his 15 year old female sibling and her boyfriend after she has had sex with her boyfriend.
Our secondary target audience age range would be alot wider concidering teenagers who have heard of films such as Tom Holland's 1988 film Childs Play, and older viewers who enjoyed Childs Play when they were teenagers/young adults and want to compare with Tiny Terror. However the age range would possibly stop around late 30's as we have found that adults may prefer psychological thrillers such as Richard Kelly's 2001 film Donnie Darko or Martin Scorsese's 1991 film Cape Fear.

"Horror is most popular with teenagers and twenty-something’s, and this seems to go against the genre with a lot of critics, as if these age groups aren’t capable of making an intelligent film choice. This, of course, can be true; if at any time in the horror genre, we are being shown it now, with the surge of the re-make, where teenagers are unaware of the far superior (in most cases) films that are being regurgitated. While some horror movies do target the unknowing teenage audience, most horror fans can spot these a mile away. Sequels and re-makes have unfortunately given the horror genre a bad name; but even some of these are extremely well made films"

A quote from Bella Online which supported our choice of primary audience.

signifying gore

The age range for our cast is within the 15-24 mark (with Luke Kenna being 16 and Jodi Harrison being 15) So Tiny Terror should attract an audience of a similar age to the actors because the audience may feel that they can relate to the cast as they are in the same stage of life which could then also allow them to find it easier to put themselves in the characters position, adding to the scare factor and the reality of the film. Also, the sexual references that are in the opening would be more appealing to a male audience as stereotypically, they prefer a scream queen character as part of the male gaze, and gore/violence. On average, boys prefer horror films to any other genre of film. Females may prefer romcoms, this is because most rom-coms follow the plot of a single lady finding love, it is a more light hearted and comedic genre of film which is not so intense when it comes to violence, gore and horror. An example of a rom-com is Richard LaGravenese's 2007 film P.S I Love You. However, recently, more films are beginning to add Final Girl type characters whom portray a girl who is left to destroy the killer at the end of the film, and survive. More girls may be interested in the horror genre as they may look up to the Final Girl as a role model, and enjoy watching other females be powerful, strong and successful. All though in Tiny Terror, we did not use this, it is definitely an aspect which we would revise when creating the plot for the rest of the film. I have blogged on the final girl previously, quoting from Teenage Wasteland - The Slasher Movie Uncut on the Final Girl.

Some horror films which portray a final girl are:

• John Carpenter's 1978 film Halloween - with final girl "Laurie Strode"
• Wes Craven's 1984 film A Nightmare On Elm Street - with final girl "Nancy Thompson"

Nancy Thompson Final Girl In Nightmare On Elm Street

Laurie Strode Final Girl In Halloween

To support my argument, i found a quote from Science Daily explaining why individuals may prefer horror movies:
"The person is not actually afraid, but excited by the movie. The second explanation is that they are willing to endure the terror in order to enjoy a euphoric sense of relief at the end"


Tiny Terror uses slang in the opening, appealing to a youth type audience, for example the word "babe" is a colloquial term regularly used by youths.
Tiny Terror, at one point, also signifies that the couple are going to have sexual intercourse, which goes against an unspoken moral and also religion of no sex before marriage. This may appeal to a large audience who may be interested in the conciquences of these wrong doings.

We hope that our film will attract an audience, due to previous success in films which can relate to Tiny Terror, such as Childs Play (1988), which had a budget of $9 Million, and as of March 1989, made around $33 Million in the USA only.  Also, other evidence of this is Scream (1996), which had a budget of $15 Million and as of July 1997made $103 Million in the USA and £8.2 Million in the UK.