Target audience

Target audience

Below is my research into the target audience for the genre, physiological thriller. It is important when creating a film to be aware who your target audience is and what will interest, grip and appeal to them. It’s also important to be aware what they may find boring or unappealing so that the film can be appropriate for the target audience and become successful.

The chosen genre for our opening sequence is physiological thriller, the target audience for this genre is generally not young children, as they might find the events of the films disturbing and frightening and the storylines too complex to understand fully. Many physiological thrillers have an age rating of fifteen, because teenagers that are over that age are less likely to be effected by any disturbing content and more likely to be able to comprehend some of the more complex storylines. Making the genre more appealing to them. Therefore our target audience is teenagers/young adults between the ages of fifteen and thirty. They would generally be watching it as a diversion (Blumler) as teenagers and young adults tend to enjoy physiological thrillers finding them interesting and entertaining. The target audience would probably be aspirers (Young and Rubicam) who would be attracted to the idea of ‘solving the mystery’ that is conventionally linked with the genre, by attempting to work out the twist before the end of the film.

The stereotypical older generation may not find the genre appealing as these types of films often contain distressing and unsettling storylines that they might not find enjoyable. Also they are not traditional or customary so may not appeal as much as older or more ‘classic’ films such as‘My Fair Lady’.

Although our target audience is not ‘girly girls’ who may find the films overwhelming, grim and perhaps even boring as it is not the genre of film they are stereotypically interested in, it’s important not to make it too gory or violent. There is sometimes a very fine line between horror and physiological thriller and if the film contains too much savagery, so that the clever storylines that mess with the minds of the audience are lost in blood and gore then the film will become a horror, alienating those in the target audience who are not horror fans and prefer the twists and turns of the conventional physiological thriller.

The typical target audience for a conventional physiological thriller would probably be C1, C2 and D on the socio-Economic Scale (Lower middle class, skilled working class and working class), because the they would find the complex storylines intriguing and be able to relate with some of the characters and events of the films. The upper classes may not be able to relate to characters and situations in the same way. This is because many of the characters tend to be of the working class or lower so viewers of a higher class may find it difficult to understand the reasons behind some decisions made by characters as they cannot relate to the characters or the situation they may be in. Also viewers in the ‘underclass’(E) may stereotypically find the storylines too difficult to follow and too deep and may prefer more easy going lighter genres, such as comedy.

The narrative pleasure conventionally associated with the genre is it appealing because you have to try and solve mysteries. Also many physiological thrillers challenge stereotypes by having characters that don’t conform, meaning the stories are appealing because they challenge your beliefs and values. And it is common in the genre to lead the audience into an awkward situation by explaining the reason behind the actions of the ‘baddy’ so that they fell compassion towards them but still feel they should hate the character for any crimes or immoral actions that they have previously done.

Therefore the target audience for our opening sequence will be teenagers and young adults between the ages of fifteen and thirty who are interested in solving complex storylines and find the often dramatic twists intriguing. We will be trying to appeal to both male and female aspirers who are looking to watch films as a diversion to entertain them and are of the lower middle, skilled working and working classes. The opening sequence should also appeal to others that do not fit under all of these categories but are fascinated by the physiological thriller genre.