Audience Research
- Because our film is a hybrid and divided into two genres of films, we have to look at the audiences of both an urban drama and a horror film.
- The horror film audience is usually aimed at young people between the age of 15 and 25 years old. Reasons for this stem from the idea of youth and how (it is perhaps a stereotype) young people wish to rush into life and obtain all the experience they can get without being guided. Consequently, this leads to the idea of 'thrill-seeking' which is particularly found in the film genre of horror. A younger audience is also more likely to appeal to the constant violence and gore, which perhaps would not appeal to an older audience. Particularly within this age range, men are more likely to take an interest in scenes of extreme violence and gore because thrill-seeking could be associated with the young male hormones. Also, generally men like themes of violence ans action therefore men are specifically targeted however women are not ruled out. It has also been established through audience research that groups of people who have established horror films as part of their collective identity tend to watch films in groups, where the thrill-seeking elements and excitement are shared within the group creating the experience even more enjoyable for individuals in this group.
- When we began to look at audience research for an urban drama, we established that urban dramas are divided up between contemporary modern and the 90's. Typically, 90's urban dramas originate from racial feuds within America in the 1990's (Boyz n The Hood , Juice) however, seen as we are creating a modern urban drama which looks at the British working class youth, we researched only the audience of this type (Kidulthood, Adulthood, Sket, Anuvahood).
- Within these modern urban dramas, the focus of the film is associated with 'survival of the fittest' within a concrete jungle. Originally, these films were aimed at older audiences in order to promote the dynamic realism within these films which has the potential to change perceptions. However, the comedy value in films such as Anuvahood, offers a funny perception to the reality of young people and therefore, target audiences have began to shift. Also, the constant violence within these films (as recognised within the target audience of a horror film) is particularly appealing to young people which means that younger audiences have become the subject of the target audience for this genre. The limit on the oldest people (perhaps 25 at most) who are targeted is because these people are able to relate back to such situations during their younger days.
- When we began to look at audience research for an urban drama, we established that urban dramas are divided up between contemporary modern and the 90's. Typically, 90's urban dramas originate from racial feuds within America in the 1990's (Boyz n The Hood , Juice) however, seen as we are creating a modern urban drama which looks at the British working class youth, we researched only the audience of this type (Kidulthood, Adulthood, Sket, Anuvahood).
- Within these modern urban dramas, the focus of the film is associated with 'survival of the fittest' within a concrete jungle. Originally, these films were aimed at older audiences in order to promote the dynamic realism within these films which has the potential to change perceptions. However, the comedy value in films such as Anuvahood, offers a funny perception to the reality of young people and therefore, target audiences have began to shift. Also, the constant violence within these films (as recognised within the target audience of a horror film) is particularly appealing to young people which means that younger audiences have become the subject of the target audience for this genre. The limit on the oldest people (perhaps 25 at most) who are targeted is because these people are able to relate back to such situations during their younger days.
