Audience Research

In the commercial world of Film making it is important to know your target audience. The reason why it is so important to know the target audience is because it will help when deciding what content is to be included. For example, an older audience may prefer a different editing style to a younger audience. This means that there must be a certain understanding of your target audience i.e. what film genres they like, type of filming style, editing style etc. This understanding will ultimately mean a better revenue than if you came up with a story and tried to advertise without any knowledge of your target audience.

Tom researched into Horror audiences and concluded that the target audience for most contemporary horror films is roughly aged between 18 - 24. He used the following graph below, sourced from the 'national metro', to come to this conclusion:
As seen on the graph, 48% of horror film consumers are aged between 18 - 24. If this age group was ignored when producing and advertising a horror film a massive amount of revenue could be lost unless it was gained from the other age groups. This is highly unlikely, though, since there is a significant age gap between all of them.

We were then left with the decision of whether to go for a specific target audience or a more broad target audience. One of the advantages of having a more specific target audience is that it can be more tailor made. This means that filmmakers and marketing directors do not have to worry about appealing to a wider group of tastes. However, one of the disadvantages of having a smaller target audience is that you may not make as much money as you would if you had a bigger audience to appeal to. An example of a film that primarily appealed to a small audience was 'Tormented'. This film, released in Britain May 2009, was aimed at teens and only grossed, according to 'the numbers', $ 452,479. This is a small amount compared to some horrors which went for a wider audience such as 'The Amityville Horror' which grossed $ 108,047,131. This is considerably more than than 'Tormented' which could be attributed to the fact that 'The Amityville Horror' appealed to a much larger audience. However, it has to be noted that this was not the only factor causing 'The Amityville Horror' to gross more. 'The Amityville Horror' had a bigger budget and, as such, a higher production value. It also had more money spent on its advertising ($35,000,000). Furthermore, American films are generally more successful than British films clearly demonstrated by 'Tormented' not getting an American release. Nevertheless, even British horror films like '28 Days Later', which grossed $82,719,885, with a larger target audience tend to be more successful.

Finally we decided to have an audience falling within the 15-24 age category because this age bracket are the most frequent horror film viewers. This means that we will be aiming to get a 15 certificate so we can have mature themes included.