Audience Reaearch for Film Trailer

Secondary Audience Research

“Any media text is created for a particular audience and will usually appeal most to this particular target audience” (Hall and Holmes, 1998). 

Being aware of ways that audiences can be categorized and how the target audience is made up affects the what will be put in to my film. 

In order for a film to do well the target audience needs to be done with the audience in mind.

There are two types of audience;

Niche Audience: A niche audience is a lot smaller than a mass audience but is very influential, Marxist would say that it would be be upper class/middle class who controlled the media may see as 'high culture' programmes which warrants the launch of BBC Four for those who want to watch or hear high culture programs. Niche audiences aren't always this group they can just be small groups that producers feel like they are worth targeting or marketing products for. Example; 'adult' movies which can not be called 'high art'. 

Mass Audience: A mass audience is a large mainstream audience who comsime mainstream tr popular culture, a Marxist would say that this is just made up of 'working class'. Hollywood films and reality TV are examples of a mass audience production. 

Class

A very important way of determining the audience is the social-economic model. This was originally used by the National Readership Survey Ltd, it has been used for a long time and is a very good way of identifying an audience.

Results from Survey Monkey

This Survey Monkey was conducted to help inspire me on the creation of my own film trailer.  The primary reason for my Survey Monkey is to get to know my target audience and know who I am creating my final product for.  I posted the Survey Monkey on social networks Facebook and Twitter to ensure that I got a wide range of participants.

How old are you?

This question helps me determine who my target audience are and the age of them, this is important as I need to make sure that I am appealing to them specifically. It is important also because I need to ensure that the legal constraints are correct on my audience, the age certificate is an essential part to my film as I need to make sure the content is age appropriate. From my results I can see that the primary audience age is 12-15 which would mean that the age certificate would have to be 12 at the highest to ensure that my target audience are able to watch it. 

What is your social class/annual income?

This question helps me to determine who my target audience are, this is essential as I can appeal to their ideologies and include the trends and fashions of the social grade. The results show that the audience I am aiming for are social grade E which would mean primarily younger people i.e students. The secondary audience would be social grade C 2 which would be parents, I need to make sure that I appeal to both social grades.

What is your gender?

This question in terms of gender helps me when I am creating my own film trailer to make sure that it appeals to them. the results show that the target audience is primarily male which means that they would stereo typically be interested in action and violence.

What genre of film do you enjoy the most?

This question determines the genre of my film trailer, from the results it is clear that the most popular genre is fantasy. I am going to make a fantasy film and I will now research in to the genre to make sure that I fullfil the need f the audience I am targeting. 

What is important to you in a film?

This question will help me on the creation of my film trailer, I will focus on the aspects that appeal to the audience the most. The results show that audience are mostly interested in the quality of the camera work, therefore I will make sure that my film trailer looks as professional as it can. I will then work my way down the list in terms of most popular and make sure that I focus on the different aspects to ensure that my audience find the film trailer appealing. 

Why do you watch films?

This question will help me with the theme surrounding the film trailer. I can conclude that the results that the audience watch films for escapism the most, which is what a fantasy film aims to do therefore this will appeal to my target audience.