Target Audience - 'Atonement' and 'This is England'

Atonement




This is England


Thses two films have very different target audiences.  This is England is aimed at both genders whereas Atonement has a mostly female target audience.   This is shown on IMDb where Atonement is most popular within a female demographic.  In opposition, This is England is targeted more at males.  This is shown clearly by the high amount of violence in the film.  This attracts a male audience.  This is England was aimed at a 15/16 year old target audience (according to the director Shane Meadows)  and it has an 18 certificate so it is not easy for the film to reach its target audience.  Because of the teenage cast in This is England, teenagers can easily relate to the characters in the film.  In Atonement (15 certificate) on the other hand, has a more mixed cast with a young girl and a woman both as significant characters, a female audience can relate to this. 

In Atonement the characters are from an upper middle class background.  For example the mise en scene of the dolls house shows this.  A more wealty audience will be able to relate to this more.  In This is England the characters are from a more working class target audience which a more working class audience could relate to more.

Aspects of mise-en-scene that my target audience will be able to Identify with

The most Identifiable aspect of my film is Tom's Hi-top shoes.  They reflect a rough 'skater'/'emo' style fashion that is popular amongst teenagers.  This shows that Tom cares a bit about his image although it is not completely followed through as he has a scruffy coat which almost represents how his situation is hindering him because he does not follow the fashion portrayed by these style of shoes completely.

The similar skater style demographic will identify with this aspect of the mise-en-scene and therefore they will sympathise more with this character in the film making it more appealing to them because of this.

In a similar way and context, Tom's 'snake bite' lip piercings relate to an 'emo' fashion and this is similarly shown to be hindered by his simple haircut and hat which are more simple and practical than that of his piercings.

Demographic of my target audience

The target demographic for my film would most likely be males of age 15-25 who tend to have mainstream aspirations and who are approximately in the C1/C2DE socioeconomic classifications.  This is a wide spread of classifications because my film follows many stereotypes and conventions which are easily interpreted which would attract a broad audience.  Also, because of the teenage actors/characters the film would be popular to a young audience because they could relate to the characters and their situations.  This would make it easier for the viewer to imagine the situation and what it would be like if it was them in the situation in the film.  This makes the film more believable and enjoyable to watch.  The teenage stereotypes makes the film entertaining from an older audiences point of view as well because they can relate to when they were of a similar young age and they can also compare themselves as adult citizens now which would make them feel almost empowered by watching my film which exaggerates stereotypes that older people may believe are true of young people.

Because of the white, British ethnicity of all of the characters in my film, I believe it would be more popular amongst similar western ethnicities.

My film would have an audience ranging entirely from negotiable to hostile viewers (because there are no famous locations, actors or directors involved). I believe that easily identifiable stereotypes are important because they make connections with the audience on a personal level making the actors themselves less essential. 

Target Audience Profile

My thriller target demographic profile

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The slideshow above presents a collage of stereotypes of things that are relevent to people of my target demographic of my film and because this target according to my research likes action as opposed to conventional thrillers, I have made my clip have 'action thriller' connotations like the fight for instance. 

Age/interest research

Research results

20 people

Ages 16-19

10 Male

10 Felmale

Favourite genres

Horror 2

Comedy 3

Si fi 0

Thriller 1

Action 4

Adventure 1

Rom com 5

Romance 3

Crime 1

War 0

Fantasy 0

This research an help me to conclude that films of the thriller genre in general would be more likely to be shown at art-house/independent cinemas and that they are not the most popular for my target age group.  However, I believe that my film has connotations of action and crime as well as a thriller.  Because of this I believe it will still be popular within my target demographic.

My Thriller target audience

Gender – This film would be aimed relatively specifically at an all male audience aged between 16 and 24  This is simply because of the all male cast and general masculine interest in punch ups and motorbikes. 

The audience will be able to relate to the characters as they are of young ages.  Also, the idealistic adrenaline fuelled excitement of a classic ‘boys toy’ would increase interest mainly of a young, male audience.

Character dress

The main character (with the most screen time) in my film opening is dressed to look simple, plain and inexpensive. This is because we are showing his background and that he is not in complete poverty but at the same time he is definitely not well off.  The plain and boring colours represent his unhappy and pessimistic outlook on his own situation.  We chose his shoes to be big, stylish and purple.  This is to give our character some obvious identity (considering our film is mostly set in the dark). This makes the film less confusing for the viewer.

The second character (Thug) has a hoody under a leather jacket.  The hoody is typical of modern, young, thuggish type teenagers/young adults who are discreet about their identity.  The leather jacket over the hoody represents a gangster type thug.

Social class

My thriller would intrigue both a working and middle social class because of the unfortunate young character Tom.  He has a poor background that people could relate to and he is young, also intriguing a younger audience.