Horror Audiences - Research

What is an audience?

An audience is someone is someone who digests text from films, books, newspapers or radio. Audiences are made up of many different groups. 

Group A                                   Group B                                       Group C1

Doctors                                      Teachers                                        Junior Management                           Lawyers                                     Middle Management                     Nurses                                

Scientists                                    Fairly well paid professionals      Bank Clerks                           

Well paid professionals                                                                   'White Collared professionals' 

Group C2                                 Group D                                        Group E
Electricians                                Manual Laborers                           Students
Plumbers                                    Drivers                                          Unemployed
'Blue Collared' professionals     Manual workers                            Pensioners

Why are audiences important?

An audience is vital to any piece of media, they control whether or not a piece of media will be successful, if there is no media, there is no profit. Also, without an audience there is no media. Producers tend to take advantage of the audiences for thing like; to gain popularity, money and education. 

Analyzing Movie Audiences

Carrie

Carrie is a film about a schoolgirl who is finding high school tough, with her schoolmates picking on her and bullying her in the locker room and her extremely religious mother keeping her housebound, life is bound to be difficult. But there is something different about this shy schoolgirl, she has the ability to move object with her mind. I feel that this film is aimed at people in the Group E, specifically students. This is because the films main character is a struggling school girl and the final scene of the is her going to the prom with her date. If i was to be even more specific i could say that film was aimed a school girls and not just school students, this is because the film revolves around the life of a teenage girl and the people who usually picked on her were girls.

The Babadook

This film is about a single mother who realizes that her child is telling the truth about the monster in there house through a book that was left on there doorstep. I feel that this films audience is aimed a single parents or anyone that has had to raise a child by themselves. I feel this way because throughout the film you see how difficult it becomes for the mother to care for and protect her child when she is haunted by the death of her husband and the monster lurking in her house. I would also say that this film would steer towards Group E, because single mums are usually people who earn low pay and struggle for money.

The SAW Franchise

These films are about a sadistic serial who targets and traps people who have done wrong in their lives. He creates deadly traps and games that he forces his victims to take part in. These victims are usually very prestigious people who have caused other people bother in the past. This is why i feel that these films are aimed at Group A,B or C1. I feel this way because the professions in these groups are some of the most prestigious jobs any person can have. 

Our Target Audience 

By looking at these classes, i have decided that our film will be aimed at the people from group C2 to E. This is because the people in these groups tend to be the lesser paid professionals, meaning they would have a lot more time on their hands. With this spare time they will visit church and concentrate on religion, unlike the people in the higher classed groups who who will not enough time to go to church. Group E includes pensioners, the elderly often are very religious as they have lots of spare time.