TARGET AUDIENCE 4/9/18
To know what type of audience we are dealing with (gender, age group, lifestyle, ethnicity, weath), in order to successfully sell the media product to them.
FACTORS
Age Group
Lifestyle
Class
Ethnicity
Spending Power
Gender
Age Group - children, young adults, mature
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Lifestyle - what things are they interested in?
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Gender - male, female, all genders
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Ethnicity - a group of people who share common culture and traditions for eg. spoken language, religion, culture
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Class - working, middle, upper eg. level of education? Job?
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Spending Power - disposable income (money to spend) or tight budget?
Tomb raider - first draft
- action movie fans
- mostly male; a lot of sexuality
- young adults/adults
- disposable income
- too violent for kids
- rather fast editing
- the protagonist was white, American and an English Speaker. (Ethnicity and lifestyle)
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Tinkerbell - first draft
- for mostly children; little girls
- very dreamy; about fairies and myths
- very European style of tale
- suitable for English speaker / westerners
- too childlike/imaginative for adults
summary
From this research into target audience demographic, I now know how their factors such as ethnicity, lifestyle, age and gender influence films.
One of the main differences between the opening of Tomb Raider and Tinker Bell are targeting different genders of audience. Tomb Raider focuses mainly on male audiences whereas Tinker Bell focuses more on female audience. Male audience are the target demographic of Tomb Raider as the protagonist is female, and the opening scenes includes a lot of sexuality and female body parts, for example, the first shot focused on her facial features, later on, the camera focused on her thighs and legs, making the scenes more appealing for male audience. Furthermore, the violent and action scenes, such as the use of cinematography dedicated to focusing on the use of guns of the protagonist, are believed to be more enjoyed by male audience. On the other hand, Tinkerbell strongly targets the female demographic. Tinker Bell, being an animation, has a very dreamy, imaginative atmosphere, involving the topic of fairy tales and magic, which stereotypically appeal to female demographic. It has a very soft and calm narrative which softens the mood of the movie. The cinematography includes a shot of a laughing baby in a crib, leading to the dandelion being blown into the air, giving a very magical and fairy tale-like vibe. This further emphasizes the targeting of the female demographic. In conclusion from the examples, Tomb Raider and Tinker Bell target different demographic in relation to gender.
MAINSTREAM/NICHE FILMS 4/9/18
Mainstream audience - incorporating a wide range of people, something that has a popular appeal (eg. Avatar, Harry Potter, Jaws)
This audience would be involved in the texts for entertainment or social integration, some may feel they need to watch mainstream media texts because it makes it easier to be involved in conversations with friends, family and any type of social life
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Niche audience - specific, particularly small, group of people. The media product would be unpopular.
They tend to watch media texts that are interesting to them in particular. Media texts may be more difficult to access and have less coverage across media platforms. Niche audience tend to be people that are more individual in their tastes and opinions.
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Mainstream
- Avengers
- The Dark Knight
- Jurassic Park
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Niche
- PI
- Donnie Darko
- Mulholland drive
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Mainstream - Notting Hill
Production company : PolyGram Film Entertainment, Working Title Films
Release date and year : 21 May 1999
Director : Roger Michell
Actors : Hugh Grant, Julia Roberts
Genre : Romantic Comedy
Country of Production : Britain
Runtime : 124 minutes
Who is the target audience/demographic :
What is it about? :
William "Will" Thacker owns an independent book store, The Travel Book Co. in Notting Hill. He is divorced from his wife who left him for a man he claims looked like Harrison Ford. He shares his house with an eccentric, carefree Welshman named Spike and has a small, tight knit group of friends that includes his sister, Honey, Bella, Max, Bernie, and Tony.
Will encounters Hollywood actress Anna Scott when she enters his shop. They collide in the street and his drink spills on her clothes where he offers his house nearby for Anna to change her clothes. She impulsively kisses him before she leaves and then asks him not to mention the kiss.
Will calls Anna and she invites him to visit her at the Ritz Hotel. Anna calls him back in and says she has cleared her evening. Will is exhilarated, before remembering that he is expected at his sister Honey's birthday party; Anna surprises him by offering to be his date.
At the house of Will's friends Max and Bella, Anna fits in perfectly as they all share stories. Anna and Will share a private moment in a garden square as they walk back from the birthday party. The next evening they go to a restaurant, where Will overhears a group of patrons making crude remarks about Anna and attempts to defend her, before Anna steps in herself and humiliates them. As they walk back to her hotel, she invites Will up to her room. But when he arrives, she tells him he must leave immediately. Her American movie star boyfriend (who was never mentioned until now) appears. Anna is apologetic and embarrassed, while a stunned Will leaves. Over the next six months, Max and Bella set Will up on a series of blind dates, trying to help him move on, but Will, still hung up on Anna, does not connect with any of them.
Much of the filming took place on Portobello Road
One day, a distraught Anna appears at Will's doorstep; some pre-stardom nude photos have been published in the tabloids, and she needs a place to hide from the fallout. She also apologizes for the previous incident, telling Will her boyfriend simply showed up out of the blue and the relationship had broken down long before then. That night, Anna goes to him and they have sex. The next morning, the press (inadvertently tipped off by Spike) besiege Will's house and get pictures of him and Anna half-dressed. While packing to leave, a furious Anna accuses Will of exploiting the situation for his own benefit and declares that she regrets their time together, because the press will make sure it never goes away.
Seasons pass and Will, though determined to forget Anna, remains miserable. Spike and Honey find the numbers to Anna's New York and London agents, encouraging him to reach out, but Will decides to throw them away. At a dinner with his friends, Will discovers that Anna is now an Oscar winner and back in town making a period film. He visits her location shoot, where Anna sees him and invites him past security. Although things are not going well on set, she asks him to stay because there are "things to say". Given headphones to listen to the actors over their microphones, Will overhears Anna bantering with her rude co-star, until the co-star mentions seeing Will, and Anna refers to him dismissively. Saddened, Will leaves the set.
The next day, Anna comes to the bookshop with a present. Visibly nervous, she apologizes for her previous behavior and expresses a desire to rekindle their relationship. When Will points out her comments the previous day, she explains that she would never discuss her private life with "the most indiscreet man in England." Believing it inevitable that they would break up, Will turns her down, as her superstar status would mean he could never really escape the pain of losing her, and having it happen a third time would crush him. Although saddened, Anna accepts his decision, but reminds him that underneath all the fame—which is really just nonsense— she is "also just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her."
Will meets his friends in a restaurant with the opened gift—the original La Mariée. They take turns supporting his decision to end the relationship by (halfheartedly) pointing out Anna's flaws. When Spike enters and is told what happened, he promptly calls Will a "daft prick". Will reiterates Anna's last comment and realizes his mistake. They pile into Max's car and race across London to Anna's hotel, where they find that she has checked out and is holding a press conference at the Savoy Hotel. When Will arrives, Anna's publicist is telling the crowd that Anna will be taking time off from making films and leaving the UK that night. Will, pretending to be a reporter again, admits he made the wrong decision and begs Anna to reconsider. After admitting she would, Anna announces that she will be staying in Britain "indefinitely." Anna and Will smile at one another from across the room as the press goes into a frenzy. A montage shows their wedding and arrival at one of Anna's movie premieres, before ending with them on a bench in the private garden, Will reading to a visibly pregnant Anna.
Budget : USD 42million
Box Office Revenue : USD 364million
Source : Wikipedia
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Niche - Memento
Production company : Summit Entertainment, Team Todd
Release date and year : 5 September 2000 (Venice), 16 March 2001 (USA)
Director : Christopher Nolan
Actors : Guy Pearce, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano​
Genre : Neo-noir Psychological
Country of Production : USA
Runtime : 113 minutes
Who is the target audience/demographic : (YouGov)
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What is it about?
The film starts with the Polaroid photograph of a dead man. As the sequence plays backwards the photo reverts to its undeveloped state, entering the camera before the man is shot in the head. The film then continues, alternating between black and white and color sequences.
The black and white sequences begin with Leonard Shelby, an insurance investigator, in a motel room speaking to an unseen and unknown caller. Leonard has anterograde amnesiaand is unable to store recent memories, the result of an attack by two men. Leonard explains that he killed the attacker who raped and strangled his wife, but a second clubbed him and escaped. The police did not accept that there was a second attacker, but Leonard believes the attacker's name is John or James, with a last name starting with G. So, Leonard conducts his own investigation using a convoluted system of notes, Polaroid photos, and tattoos. From his occupation in the insurance industry, Leonard recalls a fellow anterograde amnesiac, Sammy Jankis. Sammy's diabetic wife, who wasn't sure if his condition was genuine, repeatedly requested Sammy's assistance with her insulin shots; she hoped he would remember having already given her an injection and would stop himself from giving her another before she died of an overdose. However, Sammy continues to administer the injections, and his wife falls into a fatal coma.
The color sequences are shown reverse-chronologically. In the story's chronology, Leonard self-directively gets a tattoo of John G's license plate. Finding a note in his clothes, he meets Natalie, a bartender who resents Leonard because he wears the clothes and drives the car of her boyfriend, Jimmy Grantz. After understanding Leonard's condition, she uses it to get Leonard to drive a man named Dodd out of town and offers to run the license plate as a favor. Meanwhile, Leonard meets with a contact, Teddy, who helps with Dodd, but warns about Natalie. However, a photograph causes Leonard not to trust Teddy. Natalie provides Leonard with the driver's license for a John Edward Gammell, Teddy's full name. Confirming Leonard's information on "John G" and his warnings, Leonard drives Teddy to an abandoned building, leading to the opening, where he shoots him.
In the final black-and-white sequence, prompted by the caller, Leonard meets with Teddy, an undercover officer, who has found Leonard's "John G," Jimmy, and directs Leonard to the abandoned building. When Jimmy arrives, Leonard strangles him fatally and takes a Polaroid photo of the body. As the photo develops, the black-and-white transitions to the final color sequence. Leonard swaps clothes with Jimmy, hearing him whisper "Sammy." As Leonard has only told Sammy's story to those he has met, he suddenly doubts Jimmy's role. Teddy arrives and asserts that Jimmy was John G, but when Leonard is undeterred, Teddy reveals that he helped him kill the real attacker a year ago, and he has been using Leonard ever since. Teddy points out that since the name "John G" is common, Leonard will cyclically forget and begin again and that even Teddy himself has a "John G" name. Further, Teddy claims that Sammy's story is Leonard's own story, a memory Leonard has repressed to escape guilt.
After hearing Teddy's exposition, Leonard consciously burns Jimmy's photograph, writes a message to himself on Teddy's photograph that he should not trust Teddy, and drives off in Jimmy's car. He then has Teddy's license plate number tattooed on himself, as if Teddy were the second attacker, leading to Teddy's eventual death.
Budget : USD 9 million
Box Office revenue : USD 39.7 million
Source : Wikipedia
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Common trends
- runtime for niche movies are shorter
- budget for niche movies are lower
- box office revenue higher for mainstream movies
- more people watched mainstream movies; accessible, social integration, advertisement
- more famous actors, directors, production companies for mainstream films
Media convergence
(aka Cross Media Convergence ) How production companies use a variety of media to display their product. (5/9/18)
Media platforms
- Television
- Newspapers
- Radio
Media convergence is made possible by technological development and convergence. (Media convergence requires technology in order for them to be produced and distributed into the media)
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Jumanji used both media and technological convergence to advertise their film. Firstly, they had the trailers on social media, YouTube and on television. Interviews were made and uploaded onto YouTube and also broadcasted in radio shows. The movie has its own social media accounts on platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and also its own official website. Magazines were published with the Snapchat code of the movie, in order for the audience who bought the magazines to be able to experience the Jumanji world through AR technology. Several versions of the posters were released and billboards were postered all around. Online news platforms have published many articles regarding the release of the movie, how it has became "one of Sony's biggest hits ever" and the audiences' responses to it.
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How does media convergence help to aim a film at a mainstream audience?
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The media convergence helps creating mass appeal through different media platforms, creating a higher exposure to the public, targeting many demographics at the same time.
technological convergence/digital technology 1/3/19
Technological convergence is how a production companies use a variety of technology to promote/sell their film. The 3Cs of technological convergence are content, computer and communication, it involves accessing information from anywhere in the world, at any given point in time. For our film, I have used social media as a platform to promote and increase the exposure of my film to the public, specifically Instagram. We have created an Instagram account of “@MidnightproductionsTH” to post updates of the film, behind the scene clips, and increasing the exposure of our film to the social world.
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Below, you can see the page of our Instagram account, and a post showcasing the official poster of our film "Attached". We have also created hashtags of #attachedth and #midnightproductionsth in order to organise posts relating to our film/production company, this has increased the number of people who knows about this project.
summary
I now know how a film can use media convergence to gain exposure to the public attention and gain popularity.
click on this image for our instagram account!
In the film Rear Window, the opening scene shows the audience different situations happening around that the protagonist can see from his window, it shows that this film is voyeuristic, as it shows the protagonist spying on other people.
In the film Hardcore Henry, the film was designed so that the audience will experience the film and the situations in the film through the protagonist, Henry, throughout the film. It is very unique amongst other mainstream films as the audience are not used to seeing things through the protagonist's perspective.
FILM GRATIFICATION 10/9/18
Uses and Gratifications Theory
Blumler and Katz 1974
Their theory suggests that media users contribute and have an active role in the media.
The audience has 4 needs
- Diversion (the need to relax and escape)
- Personal Relationship (using the media to fulfill their personal relationships with friends, becoming part of a social group)
- Personal Identity (using media to find out more about yourselves)
- Surveillance (using the media to find out what is going on around us)
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can be SUMMARISED as**
- Education
- Entertainment
- Escapism
- Social interaction
- Relating to characters and situations
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3Vs
Vicarious - Experiencing something through someone else
Visceral - A physical or emotional response
Voyeuristic - Spying on other people
1. The Shawshank Redemption
Unique plot, exciting storyline, famous actors
2. The Godfather
3. The Godfather part 2
4. The Dark Knight
Famous character/plot
5. 12 Angry Men
Interesting storyline, captivating shots/camera angles
6. Schindler's list
Historical, informative
7. Pulp Fiction
8. The Lord of the Rings the fellowship of the rings
Fantasy plot
9. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
10. Fight club
PLUTCHIK'S COLOUR WHEEL OF EMOTIONS 6/9/18
Robert Plutchik constructed a wheel diagram of emotions visualizing eight basic emotions. Joy, admiration, terror, amazement, grief, loathing, rage and vigilance.
Types of movies
Educational - Saving private Ryan, Titanic, Sherlock Holmes, Schindler's list
Entertainment - Johnny English, Boss baby, The Incredibles
Escapism - Narnia, Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, Enchanted, Tinkerbell, Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean, Guardians of the galaxy, Ready Player one, Black Panther
Social interaction - Avengers, To all the boys I've loved before, Totoro, Ponyo, Princess Mononoke, Your name, Spirited away
Relating to characters and situations - The secret life of Walter Mitty, the Mask, the Office
Visceral - Hashiko, War horse, Me before you, Be with you, CoCo, The Notebook
Vicarious - Hardcore Henry, Ready player One, Memento, Lord of War, Blair Witch Project
Voyeuristic - Saw, Unfriended, Searching, Creep, Night Crawler
This extract from the movie Inside Out shows how different colours are used to represent each different emotions in Riley's head. For example, yellow for joy, blue for sadness, purple for fear, green for disgust, and red for anger. The colours used in the film might not be exactly the same with the emotions in Plutchik's wheel, but it gives a good example
summary
From this research into Plutchik's wheel of emotions, I have learned how to use colours to interpret different emotions, such as red for anger, and blue for grief.
summary
From this research into film gratification, I now know what the audience needs a film to give to them, and how I can make my film more appealing to them.