EVALUATION PART 4:

AUDIENCE
IDENTIFICATION

IMPORTANCE OF IDENTIFYING A
TARGET AUDIENCE
It is very important when creating a media
text such as an opening scene that you
know who your target audience is so
that you can construct the narrative
around their interests and so it should
reflect the type of people that you are
trying to reach. Also different genres
appeal to different people.

OUR TARGET AUDIENCE

We carried out lots of research into who
should fall into our target audience by
looking at similar thriller films such as
Se7en and Shutter Island and who they
appealed to. Also by studying media
theories to figure out what pleasures
they could get from our opening scene
and who these would appeal to. From
this we decided our target audience.
AGE: The age of our target audience would range from 15 35.
We have said this because the age rating of our film is a 15 so
that is the minimum age that for who it is appropriate to watch,
also the main characters are teenagers and so they can relate to
them. We said up to 35 because it does involve some complex
narratives that we thought older people would enjoy decoding.
GENDER: It would be targeted to both male and females as there
is a lead character of both genders. The female audience will be
appealed due to the emotional side of the narrative where they
would sympathise with the female character and relate to her
feelings.
ETHNICITY: It would be targeted to all ethnicities.

SOCIO DEMOGRAPHIC GROUPING

One way of identifying your audience is through
there socioeconomic group. The National
Readership Survey separates these groups into
different categories for people around Britain.
We said that our target audience would be A-C2
which are upper middle class to lower middle
class. We chose this are people in the A group
are managerial roles who are intelligent and so
they would be able to easily understand the
complex narrative that our films involves. It will
also make them think and hold their attention in
suspension of disbelief. They also have high
stress jobs and so our film will be able to relieve
that by giving them the gratification of
escapism.
It will also appeal to people down to C2 because they include junior staff
who may be younger and so will more easily be able to relate to the
characters and themes within the narrative. Although it has complex
storylines it isnt full of psychological elements meaning that it will still be
easy for them to follow.

PSYCHOGRAPHIC PROFILING
Psychographics is the study of personality,
values, opinions, attitudes, interests and
lifestyles. We used this to find more out
about our target audience.
Our film will be target towards explorers
and strugglers. It will be targeted to
explorers as they seek discovery and
innovation which our film offers. Also they
are typically the younger demographic
which are appeals to a lot due to them
being close to the age of the characters.
We also target strugglers as they seek
escapism which our film will be able to give
them as they will instantly be involved in
the narrative and characters we have
It
would also be aimed at mainstreamers as they seek control and are
created.
conformist and are film does conform to a lot of stereotypes which they
would enjoy. This will present them with the pleasure of safety and
security as it is conventional.

MEDIA GROUPING
Our opening scene will be aimed at people that enjoy thriller films such as
Shutter Island and Se7en and people who like the feeling of suspense
and tension as that it what our film will make them feel as it has a lot of
twists and unexpected turns that will keep the audience on the edge of
their seat. We showed our focus group the opening scene of Se7en and
they all said that they liked it and thought that it was very effective so
this is why we have included this as one of their media interests.

Our target audience will also

like TV programmes such as
Dexter and American Horror
Story which are of the
drama/thriller genre similar
to ours and also murder
mysteries such as Sherlock
and Luther than have a
psychological element to
them.

USES AND GRATIFICATIONS THEORY

The Uses and Gratification Theory by Blumler and Katz is an approach to
understanding why people actively seek out specific media to satisfy their needs.
Our opening offers many gratifications such as:
Identify, the audience will get this gratification as they will be able to relate to the
main characters are they are perceived as normal and conventional and people
will also be able to relate to the situations that they are in.
They will also receive escapism from day to day life as they will be able to focus on
someone else life for the duration of the film meaning that they will get
transported into the world of the film. We have also created this through extreme
close ups of the characters, this creates a synthetic personalisation with the
audience making them feel like they are involved and being spoken to personally.
It will also offer social interaction due to the complex narrative which will create a
talking point for people to create discussions about on social media or talk to with
friends.

DYERS UTOPIAN SOLUTIONS THEORY

Richard Dyer stated that people will respond to a media text if it offers
them compensation for the inadequacies in their own lives.
Our film will give the audience the solution of community because
again it is a film where you will be able to create a talking point to with
other people who are also fans of the film. Also as its a thriller films
that contains scary elements, it is a type of film that you would go and
see with a friend who is also interested in it.
It will also give the solution of excitement as there are lots of twists,
cliff-hangers and tense moments that will make the audience excited
about following along with the narrative.

MASLOWS HIERARCHY OF NEEDS

Maslow states that there are 8 basic needs that If
targeted will produce a greater chance of success.
The needs that we targeted to present in our
opening scene was safety and love/belonging.
Love and belonging because in the beginning you
can see the relationship and friendship between
the two characters before things turn bad
reinforcing the need for it in people lives as
otherwise it can have a negative impact.
Also safety because the audience can see the
impact that being vulnerable can have on
someones life.