Holly Morsley

Target Audience Analysis

The chosen genre for my opening sequence is thriller, with the subgenre being
spy thriller. This allows for a lot of information to be kept from the audience
through plot devices relating to secrecy, creating a sense of mystery for the
viewer. This also allows for aspects of other genres (such as action) to be linked
in without compromising stylistic conventions, allowing for a wider target
audience.

The main target audience is usually white males aged 18 and over. Thrillers tend
to have darker themes than other genres which may not appeal to (or indeed be
unsuitable for) younger audiences. Also data such as this table shows that that
generally, males tend to prefer the thriller genre over females. It also shows that
as they get older, the interest in thrillers increases as well. As you can see from
the below table, the thriller genre is more popular with those over the age of 55
years old of both genders. This could suggest that the level of maturity changes
over time and therefore allows the audience to enjoy and appreciate the genre
more as they are able to understand adult themes such as drugs and crime. As
shown, this genre has a similar popularity with women over the age of 55. This is
for the reasons mentioned previously with the addition that the codes and
conventions aimed at certain genders become irrelevant and doesnt impact on
the enjoyment of the film.

However as we can see from the first result in this column, the genre is still
pretty popular with the teenage demographic (15 to 24 year olds) as this age
group is probably attracted to the action and violence commonly associated with
this genre with the thrill factor accounting for this. Nevertheless, the lack of
maturity in this age group would mean they couldnt appreciate the genre as well
as older viewers. The popularity of thrillers among younger women is
significantly lower than the males, possibly relating to the gender specific codes
and conventions such as violence being off-putting to a female audience.

In relation to my piece, this means I would have to include enough adult themes
to attract an older audience, also allowing the visuals to appeal to the younger
audience. This is because, as shown by the graph, over 160 males over 55 and
females over 55 enjoyed the thriller genre which is significantly bigger than the
105 young males and the 84 young females that enjoyed it, showing that this
genre is more popular with older viewers.
Holly Morsley

As you can see from the graph below, over half of the average audience for a
thriller is male. This is because certain aspects of the genre appeal more to men
i.e. how the male protagonists are presented and violent scene. Nevertheless
there are still a strong amount of female viewers who watch and enjoyed this
genre. This could be with an increase in equal representation of gender in film
and the humanisation of female character in the thriller genre. Therefore within
my piece I would have to ensure that both genders presented are represented
equally and humanly.
Holly Morsley

In terms of ethnicity, it would make sense that the primary demographic of the
thriller genre is white as, in a lot of spy films, the villain tends to be an outlandish
foreign stereotype fighting the heroic white male. This could detere foreign
audiences from watching. There is also data to show the preference of film genre
by ethnicity. For age, the primary demographic is those aged 18 and upwards.
This is because many plotlines in spy thrillers are mature due to references to
topics such as violence, drugs and (possibly) sex. Therefore a younger audience
would be not mature enough to handle such complicated plots as it could detere
them from the story. It appears that older women prefer the spy genre for this
exact reason. A younger female viewer might not engage with the plot as they
will only see violence and may not feel engaged with the actual story due to its
complexity. Nevertheless, the genre is still more popular with older males as plot
devices such as violence are more targeted at males due to their masculine
traits.

Please not that "thriller" isn't noted as a genre, therefore "murder" will
represent it
Holly Morsley

As you can see, of the few people who prefered the murder genre, the two main
ethnic demographics are white and latino. These demographics are prominant in
countries such as the United States so this statistic makes sense. In order to
represent this demographic in my opening sequence, the cast will be mainly
white. As the area does not have a Latino population, it is very difficult to include
characters of this ethnicity. While this does mean that there will be minimal
ethnical representation, it will represent the demographic I am trying to appeal
to.

The codes and conventions of my genre include:

Strong male protagonist - The main character of a spy thriller is usually a

straight, white male with a strong physique, typically masculine
personality traits and (depending on if its an action) strong stamina. This
character is the often shown as the hero throughout the movie, even if he
shows aspects of violence.

Secondary female character - This character is normally shown as less

important, only being used as a plot device for the male character. Much
like the "Bond Girl" stereotype, this character is hypersexualised and
represented as dim or weak to contrast the strong male protagonist.

Weapons - The use of weapons and violent motifs can be quite prominant
in this genre. Older spy thrillers would use knifes and chloroform rags
whereas now guns and heavy weaponary are more prominant.

Audio is very useful within this genre. Dramatic music can create tension during
a dramatic scene and can even create a sense of dread for the audience.
However in scenes that contain a lot of dialogue, music isn't used as it would
distract. Sound effects such as gun shots and explosions are also used to make
the experience more realistic for the audience as well as to create dramatic
effect.

The target audience for my genre is all genders aged 16 years and over. This
widely reaching target audience would mean that more people are likely to
watch it and stay engaged with the plot rather than losing the attention of half
Holly Morsley

the audience. The age relates to the films dark themes of violence and death,
which younger audiences may find disturbing, allowing me more creative
freedom in terms of plot.

In order to attract my audience to my opening title sequence, both a male and

female part has been cast in order to show representation of both genders, as
well as themes that both genders would appreiciate (violence and implied
romantic attachment). As these themes could be considered "mature", this
allows for the older target audience to be reached without the need for
censorship. In terms of lifestyle, I would think that the demographic of my
chosen genre would understand the profession of the protagonists through the
codes and conventions I use within the sequence.

The psychographic profile of white males aged 18-40 would go as follows:

Being in part-time or full time employment, possibly in a higher paid job as

that would pay for hobbies, offering plenty of disposable income.

Some kind of higher qualification such as a degree, apprenticeship or

diploma as this would show intelligence.

No relationship status with no current plans to settle down as this group of

people would still be considered in their prime due to their young age.

Has some kind of active hobby such as sports (i.e football, rugby.) as it
reflects an active lifestyle.

The target age rating for my piece of work is a 15 because it is accessable to

more people. While this does mean there are more restrictions, this also means
that more effort can be concentrated on developing the plot rather than
including excessive violence. Including two genders in the opening sequence will
allows for the majority of the target audience to relate to it. The mention of
death and violence in the opening sequence will be breif but prominant, meaning
for a mature but still accessable audience.

Questionaire analysis

As you can see, the vast majority of the individuals who answered this survey
identify as female, leaving only 15.2% of individuals who are either male or
other. This does not help my research as the intended target audience for this
Holly Morsley

piece is male. However as this is a potential audience, it would make sense to try
to appeal to this gender. To appeal to a female audience, many of the codes and
conventions of a thriller would have to be played down such as violence and
using weak female characters. Therefore within my piece, both the characters in
my opening title sequence have equal dialogue and play key roles in plot
development. However as the focus is on the main protagonist (who is male),
there won't be as much attention on the female character. Therefore the
information from this survey is not relevant as it is not from the target audience
perspective.

This graph shows that the most common age of the people who answered this
survey is 16 years old. The oldest person to answer this survey was 44 years old
and the youngest was 13 years old. This is good as it allows me to get a more
accurate representation of film viewers. This shows that the people who
answered the survey were of a broad age range, thus allowing me to take
information from this aspect of the survey.

This data shows that the majority of responders watch no more than 4 hours of
film per week, roughly equating around 2 films per week. This implies that the
majority of a films audience are casual movie goers, with a small minority of the
audience being avid movie goers. This is beneficial to my research as it could
show the audience has a good understanding of films. However this also means
Holly Morsley

that the audience wont have a full understanding of films and cant give
accurate answers. This could link to a fanbase surrounding a certain film (i.e The
Avengers, Harry Potter) or indeed people who simply enjoy movies as art.
Therefore it would be incredibly important to appeal to both audiences. This will
be achieved by making the films plot simple enough for casual movie goers to
understant while still appealing to the more keen viewers to be impressed by. As
of yet, I'm not sure how it will be done.

According to this graph, 75% of audience members find plot devices such as
characters and narrative are more likely to draw them into a film than stylistic
features such as visuals. Luckily this has already been taken into consideration
when writing the script with the focus being more on developing the characters
than showing off any attractive locations. Nevertheless, the needs of the 15.3%
who prefer "pretty visuals" have been taken into consideration. There will be
some use of special effects (such as text on screen to show a computer screen)
to appeal to the more visual viewers.

In terms of viewing a whole film, 62.4% of audience members typically find the
plot the most important aspect of the film. This could be because an audience
can relate to these aspects of a film, feeling more personally in touch with the
film. As said before, the main focus during the script writing process was plot
and character development as many people generally find these important
anyway.
Holly Morsley

As you can see by the graph, the thriller genre is the least popular among the
people that answered the survey. This is not helpful to my research as the
chosen genre is thriller. In fact, the two most preferred genres of the survey were
"romance" and "comedy" - genres which would be considered at the exact
opposite of my chosen genre. This could be due to the mainly female responses.
Some elements of romance are hinted in the opening sequence (i.e the person
on the contract) however that is only a minor aspect in order to appeal to this
audience type. Aspects of drama may be added to the plot as these two genres
would be considered very similar.

As you can see, over 60% of the respondants said that they would like some form
of anatagonistic reveal in the first half of a film. This is quite normal in a thriller
film as the antagonist tends to reveal their scheme within the first half, leaving
the protagonist to fight the villain in the second half. However, as it is only an
introduction to the main character, I feel it wouldn't be appropriate to introduce
any antagonist in the first two minutes as it would draw away from the main
character.
Holly Morsley

As we can see, 56.4% of those who answered the survey are impartial to the
gender of their protagonist. This is probably due to the increase in films trying to
break stereotypes. Only 11.4% believe that the protagonist should be male. As it
is a common convention for the lead in a spy thriller to be male, the protagonist
of this sequence will be male. However, all other gender identities will be
represented with respect as to meet the majority.

A strong 90% of the responders believe it is not essential for the main
protagonist to have a love interest within the film. A code and convention of a
thriller is commonly to have a female side character who acts as a "love interest"
for the damsel in distress effect and to make the main character more masculine.
While there is an implied romantic past between the protagonist and the person
on his contract, it will not be a focal point in the plot as to appeal to the majority.
Holly Morsley

According to over 90% of the respondents, the plot of a film is considered more
important than action. Some reasons given include the plot being a carrier for
the action and that without a good plot, the content of the film becomes
meaningless. As the first two minutes includes no action and is solely based
around the character development and plot introduction anyway, this answer
makes no difference to the content. However, if this was a full film project, some
action may be included as to keep the audience engaged.

On a scale of 1
to 10
10 = very
important

When asked (on a scale of 1 to 10) how important protagonist relatability is,
nearly more than half stated that it was highly important. This is probably
because many viewers want to see aspects of their personality and homelife
reflected in the people they watch on screen. 2 people stated that this wasn't
important. This could be because some people like to have an idealised,
unflawed character to look up to rather than reflecting the everyday. I am hoping
my main protagonist is able to appear "larger-than-life" but still maintain a sense
of normality as to appeal to both demographics.

I would say that my opening sequence belongs to the spy thriller genre. I am
hoping that, through the dialogue and situations presented to the characters, the
representation of both genders will represented fairly while still trying to keep
the strong male protagonist that is often seen in these films. As there is no villain
present in the opening, this convention will not be challenged nor used. Violence
will be a theme in this piece however it will not be shown onscreen simply
represented through mise en scene within the protagonists costume by showing
Holly Morsley

blood on the characters shirt. Both characters will appear strong in their own
rights and yet still vulnerable, allowing for the strong male/weak female
character convention to be broken. This will be achieved by having both
characters show strong morals and real emotions through dialogue and body
language and not presenting one character as above the other socially or
professionally. However as to keep the rating at 15 and to save important action
for later, the violence will be played down in order to keep the focus on the plot
development. In terms of the title, the stamp design of it will represent authority
and order as it shows the completion of a task while also representing the gritty
side of contract killing through the titles rough-around-the-edges appearance.
The capitals used within this title will represent the strong presence of the main
protagonist and will also show themes of authority. This affect will also be
achieved through the boldness of the font. The main representation of violence,
authority and danger will be the colour red used in the title as it has connotations
of blood, death and danger.