How Can An Audience Be Targeted Directly?

Audience Profiling

Media organisations do not create media texts without clearly defining a target audience. Professional modern directors use Psychographic Profiling to decide who will watch their film or TV program. This is when the director observes the target audiences needs and motivation, i.e. what makes them go and see a film, rather than simple demographic factors like age, social class, religion and gender. This process is also used by advertisers to establish the correct ideology to make the target audience want the product, this allows them to focus on the campaign and making sure pitching ideas or releasing trailers does not create too much tension or hype, because the audience may overestimate a film from its trailer.

In my opinion, this is an effective way of stereotyping audiences. I think this because it gives the producers a wider angle of perspective of what consumers want out of the product. For example J.J. Abrams may use this technique of classification to consider who will come and watch Star Trek, Lost or The Force Awakens. Furthermore it can increase the revenue of that particular product, for example Doctor Who 2015 Christmas special was released at the cinema on Christmas day. This is because Doctor Who is enjoyed not only across the United Kingdom but the whole world, and because the amount of consumers and international revenue streams this television show has, it became the highest grossing Sci-Fi show.

My Initial Ideas

My idea is to create a short comedy film about an ordinary ‘average Joe’ bloke named Rodger who is contacted by God, and they have the most unholy conversation. The short film will be set in one location which is either my house, or who ever plays Rodger. This will decrease my budget and set availability drastically. Luckily, God will most likely not be making a physical appearance. I chose this because it profoundly cuts down the hassle with choosing actors and their availability; additionally because other films which have a God role such as Bruce Almighty tend to have a stereotyped opinion on what God looks like, i.e. white robes and long beard, so I thought I’d avoid that. In order to define my target audience I set up a focus group.

My Focus Group

What genre of comedy do you like? Can you give examples of you answer?

Two out of three members of my focus group said that dark comedy was their favourite genre of comedy. This will later influence the sort of jokes or style of humour I will revolve my short film around. The other member said that they enjoy slapstick and mockery/with humour; making me more than excited to include some awful ‘dad joke’ puns.

What is your favourite scene, line or stunt from a comedy film?

For this question I had answers that I, marginally, expected because the films they had mentioned were very recent and well known comedies. This gives me the impression that these contributors have a very mainstream sense of films. On the other hand, each example given was completely different, someone liked a quote, another enjoyed a particular scene, and the other liked the character themselves.

Do you find comedy funnier with or without violence and bad language?

This I could answer myself as what I received was expected. “It depends one the genre or age rating” which made sense because a ‘U’ or ‘PG’ made Disney will not be effing and blinding all the way through; it will contain comic (more slapstick) violence,whereas films like Shaun Of The Dead or Superbad will contain a plethora of swearwords raging from bodily parts and functions, all the way to potentially controversial slurs.

Do you have a favourite comedy actor or director?

The answers to this, like to the previous question, were very similar to one another. This once again gives me an idea of the mainstream tastes of film. However, I noticed that they like the same actors in different films. For example, member one liked Simon Pegg in Paul rather than the Cornetto Trilogy and member two prefered Pegg in Run Fat Boy Run. This will send me off on tangents so I wont focus on roles rather than the styles of acting.

Targetting my audience: Cross – Cultural Consumer Characteristics

Mainstreamers

This category of audience usually just follows trends. Mainstreamers are usually conformists, tend to follow the same conservative ideology and generally aren’t free thinking – “following the crowd”. Products they consume are often recognised or popular brands and pursue popular, often cult, films like Marvel, and watch day time TV. In addition mainstreamers don’t like change, therefore making them the largest consumer group.

Aspirers

Aspirers are ambitious and like to set the bar high. This brand of audience yearn to become like their idols and their lifestyle. They also aim to improve and absorb their own materialistic ideology, making them fairly different and more free thinking. Although they tend to be free thinking, they also may be subject to the American Dream, allowing them to believe in their freedom but now being in total control.

Individuals, Free Birds and Tribe Wired

These two types of audience are both very technology literate and are young, creative and free-spirited. Unlike aspirers they are in total control of their freedom and choices they make. Individuals are often college and/or university educated and are drawn to an image not a product. Also, they both have high expectations of products, but like the mainstreamers, they tend to see the same films, but thinking that they are more detached from a crowd. Free Birds are more active and have an open-minded way of approaching things. Free Birds also are more adventurous with their taste in media – making them a stark opposition to mainstreamers.

Reformers

Reformists are ideologists who seek change. They consume eco-friendly products and are often the ‘green type. They shroud themselves in liberal and subversive ideology, i.e. communism, although they tend to have a lust for freedom and individuality and preach for everyone to respect each other. Unlike Mainstreamers, they are non-conformist who oppose democracy and fascism – thus believing in true freedom.

Rugged Traditionalists and Dynamic Duos

Traditionalism is key part about these two audiences because they both relate to Mainstreamers in the sense that, although the don’t follow the same crowd, they both follow their own focus group; rugged traditionalists follow the same macho and manly/action packed films and Dynamic Duos may follow the same ‘romantic date’ or ‘boys/girls night out’ styles of film. Dynamic Duos tend to have a more ‘work hard play hard’ ideology than all the other audiences.

Home Soldiers and Priority Parents

These audiences tend be your typical nuclear family and are very home centric and have strong family values. These audiences will watch films and TV targeted towards families or young children, for example Pixar or Disney. Media dominates in these households and will affect their beliefs and own ideology, influencing them to believe certain things.

My Audience

My audience will be Dynamic Duos, Mainstreamers and Rugged Traditionalists because these are the types of audiences who would see a zombie/comedy film. Mainstreamers would be the operative type of audience because, in my opinion, Zombie Films are fairly similar, (and I know that Shaun Of The Dead pokes fun at that), but this type of audience would slide into this genre of film because of that. Mainstreamers would also go and see it for the comedy, not just the action, because they only see it as being a comedy, this relates to Rigged Traditionalists watching James Bond for the guns, cars and women (etc).

Case Study: Mars Needs Moms

Mars Needs Moms is a 2011 American 3D Motion Capture Sci-Fi comedy film based on the Berkeley Breathed book of the same title. This film is useful to research because it did not reach its target audience and flopped at the box office. The film is centered on Milo, a nine-year-old boy who finally comes to understand the importance of family, and has to rescue his mother after she is abducted by Martians. It was co-written and directed by Simon Wells. The film grossed $39 million worldwide on a $150 million budget.

Mise En Scene

As this film is set both on Earth and on Mars, a duo of high and low tech props, clothing and scenery was used. For the scenes on earth we see Milo, his mother and other characters wearing ordinary human clothes. For the scenes in space, the director used a traditional comic book like spacesuit. This creates a contrast between the dark and dull life on earth and the adventurous and wacky life on mars. Also, the designer for the aliens gave them an ET like look – small curved heads with humongous eyes, the same goes with the actual design of the whole planet and the environments, as they either look very Star Wars like or alike to the abandoned planet/scrapyard look in Wall E. These factors will have focused attention from mostly Home Soldiers and Priority Parents because if the adults know that the visuals are similar to other children’s movies or programs, they will be more likely to trust the appropriateness of the product and will go and pay to see it

Camera Angles and Shots

The simple layout of this film is very attractive to young audiences. After watching the trailer I can deduce that the majority of the shots are wide shots, establishing shots and pan/tilt/tracking shots. This draws more attention to the narrative, characters and settings rather than the more subtle implements like hidden messages or undercurrents- i.e. the mood of a shot. An obvious view on what is going on is a more sustainable way of capturing the audiences motivation to perhaps see a similar film. The combination of easy to follow shots and angles gives the audience, escpecially younger audiences, a realisation that there is a lot going on in that scene, or the activity in the shot is as important as the narrative. In adition it allows young audiences, i.e. children, to follow what is going on easier.

Sound

Provided that this a feature-length animation, non-diegtic sound is absolute. This is recorded and may be edited by a Foley artist and sound designer. The sound used in Mars Needs Moms will be a collection of Sci-Fi noises that resemble an alien mothership but also a selection of more human and Earthly noises. For example, in Prometheus, suspenseful silences and bloody squelches are used to amplify the eeriness and horror-esque mood. However in M.N.M, classic footsteps on gravel or Star Wars like beeping of buttons are used to make for a more comforting and friendly environments, appealing to young audiences and maybe families too.

My intention is to focus on my target audience in greater detail.

Homing In On Your Target Audience

I agree with the points made in chapter nine of Home In On Your Target Audience. I agree because John T Trigonis states that a film’s success is due to the time the filmmakers took to focus on their target audience and the quality of the promotion(s) rather than prioritising the quality of the film itself. This is important a target audience is more likely to spread word about the film and make it more popular, causing a ripple effects. The first step to find your audience is to clarify a genre, however this can be a very demanding task because modern films are “broken down into smaller categories” like bromances, dramadies and psychological horror. That said, subcategories are useful because it’s easier to find a target audience. For my short film, the genre I aim at are audiences who love thrillers, horrors and comedies. These types of audiences would primarily be Mainstreamers, Dynamic Duos and Tribe Wired because in my opinion, these are the main profiles that would pay to see a Zombie/horror movie.

Trigonis also mentions that using online revenue streaming is one of the most important things because there are communities that follow specific genres dwelling in each corner of the internet. Using revenue streams such as Facebook, Twitter and Vimeo can up a producers game by targeting individual audiences that fit into these subcategories, or perhaps several of them. Granted that promotion is key, John claimed that it is also essential to gradually start increasing promotion rather than immediately dumping your ideas on your audience. This gives you time to develop a “newfound network of people who’ll help you with funding”, meaning that over time more and more supporters will donate money into your budget, giving the producer a high aspiration to set a high bar for the quality for the film – this relates back to John’s earlier point that filmmakers create success by focusing on quality of advert, than quality of product.

Analysing and Researching Outlets to Reach My Audience

Revenue Streams

A revenue stream is a form of revenue. It is considered one of the building blocks of a business model canvas, that reveals the earning a business makes from all the methods by which money comes in. Film and Television producers have a plethora of revenue streams. Examples of these are Vimeo, Youtube, Facebook and Twitter.

YouTube

The best thing about YouTube is that it is free to use, even for business. With 100 hours of footage uploaded every minute, YouTube is the number one video platform on the internet. Another pro is that anyone can access it, as long as you have a Google Mail account, you can quickly sign up and watch or even upload your own videos. The freedom of access is what gives YouTube its title as a number one revenue steam. The problem with is that the money you earn is dependant on the number of views and the length of time they are viewed for. If a video is viewed by 10 people and 4 of them watch half of it, you will only receive ‘peanuts’. However if you receive 10 million views and three quarters of them will watch it all the way through, a much larger amount of money will come through. As YouTube is everyone’s first choice for video publication, it is extremely beneficial to my production because users can watch it, ‘like it’ and share it onto their social media or emails (etc), this will rocket my rate of views and will increase audience size despite people sharing it or not. I can also use it as a revenue stream because i am able to earn money with it.

Vimeo

Like YouTube, Vimeo is used by anyone to upload and share their own videos with the entire world. Vimeo basic offers a free membership where users have 500 Megabytes of storage space. To gain more storage space and other special features, users will have to upgrade to a paid membership. Despite the cost, Vimeo is the best way to feature your short films because it is more professional and is used by professional filmmakers.

Social Media

The benefits of social media is that everyone has it and everyone uses it. Websites such as Facebook and Twitter allow you to promote your films or upload short clips/trailers to help sell your product. Millions of people from across the globe will have access once you upload it and they can ‘Like’ it and Share it to other people – creating a ripple effect. Another benefit with social media is that people can comment on your content, and can contact you via ‘direct messaging’. In addition, famous actors and directors have social media too. Although they may not have time to contact you directly, they can post items that can help you in production, or can even watch your product(s) and promote it themselves. This would benefit my production because I myself am on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. All three are platforms that can elevate the build up of my audience.

My Production

Director Edgar Wright’s famous Three Flavour Cornetto Trilogy (Shaun Of The Dead, Hot Fuzz and Worlds End) are what my idea of comedy is. Shaun Of The Dead is my main inspiration because it’s a satire that pokes fun at older zombie film, for example the title is a direct reference to ‘Dawn of The Dead’. The amazing thing is that instead of joking about the characters, the joke’s on the audience; the main example is in the opening sequence where we see many people carrying out the same tasks, over and over again and while Shaun makes his way to the shop he never realises that there are zombies patrolling the streets – leaving the audience to wonder if that their own personal ‘bubble’ would distract them from noticing their zombified neighbours or friends.

My production may be shown on Facebook, Twitter, Vimeo and YouTube. The best one out of these four would be YouTube because it is recognised by every indie film maker and films can spread like a virus once a few people watch it. That being said, users can also ‘dislike’ the video so people can see how good or bad it is (based on the audiences opinions). In addition, if my film becomes a hit, or is liked by audience, on these revenues, then I would submit it for a film festival shortlist. An example of this is Aesthetica, where your short film is automatically listed for a BAFTA if it shown.

Using an Online Survey

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/WPHPFDT

I am using this survey to gather answers so I can engage an audience and understand and apply marketing techniques. I chose a questionnaire because it’s simple to set up and complete and can be very specific by asking vague questions. For example I asked “Choose a film and describe why that film made you laugh”, however the replies to this were fairly specific. In addition the answers were very similar, this certifies what principles I have to consider when writing my short film. Another aspect that surprised me was the answer for “Out of the list below, tick your favourite film(s) or Televised show(s)” – a lot of the answers were not what I expected. The Big Bang Theory was much more popular than I thought it would be, primarily because it has a reputation to be repetitious. The humour in it contains elements of character comedy, Sitcom, wit/wordplay and slapstick (physical). I would imagine Chuck Lorre realised that this basic form of humour is what makes most people laugh and is a form of comedy that can be used again and again without risking redundancy of jokes.

Commissioning and Analytics

Channel 4

Blaps are entry level, grassroots series of 3 x 4 minute pieces, for brand new comedy ideas and talent to find their creative feet. Channel 4 are looking for ideas that work brilliantly as shorts, but have the scale and potential to develop further and possibly get a full pilot. These ‘Blaps’ are open to anyone – so as well as taking submissions via production companies, they are also open to ideas that come in via individuals. Channel 4 require documents that explain the idea, detailing who will be involved on and off screen, and a breakdown on what Blap will be. i.e. synopsis. Creativity will help because one line with no supporting material won’t be enough to catch an eye in a sea of pitches; stand out. Additional supporting materials are essential – scripts, links to taster clips, example scenes, show reels, previous work online. This gives the Channel 4 commissioners an outlined perspective on your idea.

Outsiders: Boxes

This comedy is about a cluster of foreign students living together in Dagenham, London. The American girl is filling out a Visa form, Presumably for a British Passport, while the others are discussing one-another’s origins and ancestry, irritating the bloke in the beanie hat. This form of comedy is based on racial stereotyping, as we see everyone else try and guess the one characters origins by his skin tone. The name “outsiders” connotes the sense of alienation of foreigners in modern society and how they are stereotyped – this can be seen at the end of the sketch where the two men laugh at the character walking out of his house, calling him Binladen. This toys on the idea of controversy.

Film4

Film4 is Channel 4 Television’s feature film division. They have developed and co-financed many of the most successful UK films of recent years, Academy Award-winners such as Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave, Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire, Martin McDonagh’s In Bruges and Phyllida Lloyd’s The Iron Lady in addition to critically-acclaimed award-winners such as Mike Leigh’s Mr. Turner, Chris Morris’ Four Lions, Shane Meadows’ This is England, Ben Wheatley’s Sightseers, Clio Barnard’s The Selfish Giant, Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin and David Mackenzie’s Starred Up.

Commissioning

Film commissions are quasi-governmental, non-profit, public organisations that attract motion media production crews (including movies, television, and commercials) to shoot on location in their respective localities, and offer support so that productions can accomplish their work smoothly. Film commissions can benefit both the production company and the area they decide to shoot at. The production company can potentially save money by shooting out of state and hiring cheaper ‘below-the-line’ labour, shooting on location as opposed to building a set in a studio, etc. The economy at the location they shoot at can benefit via profits from hotel rooms, food, gas stations, and any other amenities that the ‘above-the-line’ labour will use throughout the duration of the filming. However, shooting out of Hollywood does affect those who still work in Hollywood. Below-the-line workers based in Hollywood have a smaller job market because production continues to move out of state.

YouTube Analytics

TRAFFIC SOURCES is a report that provides an overview of the different kinds of sources that send an audience to your Web site, for example direct traffic (clicks from bookmarks or visitors who know your URL) or Web search engines like Google. To help accumulate a wider traffic source for my film would be to make sure I upload it YouTube and Vimeo , that way I can share the URL (link) to my friends on social media and they can send it to their friends, causing an extreme ripple effect. I can also insert a link into my blog posts as well, that way people who read this, and other blogs, can raise my traffic source count.

AUDIENCE RETENTION is how long my audience view my videos for. Fro example if my 10 minute video was viewed for 2 minutes, that would be a very retention. To help keep my audience retention high I would need to make first of all need to make sure that my video appeals to who is viewing it.One thing that causes the big problems is that different people like different visuals, i.e. a 7 year old girl mike like unicorns and sunshine, and a 32 year old male might like motorbikes and big guns. This however can be avoided through colour correction and creating realistic visual effects (depending on the movie), but most of all making sure the sound is crystal clear and the audience can believe that the world or story they are absorbed in can be believed as being real, creating a placebo effect.

Beginning in the 1980s, cinemas started to drop movies that suffered a poor opening weekend. This made the performance of a film on its opening weekend much more crucial to its perception. With the growth of the Internet during the 1990s, chat rooms and websites enabled negative, and positive, word of mouth to spread rapidly.

SHARING is a key. Whether it’s a photography, film or something funny you found on Reddit, sharing something is what multiplies your audience count and can benefit you the most out of everything. When you produce a film to your audience on the internet you can immediately rack up views by sharing your content on multiple websites, giving it the immediate potential to go viral, more so than at a cinema or film festival. Social Media is the best way to share a video or photo because, as I have said many times, this can cause a ripple effect.

Crowdfunding: Kickstarter

Kickstarter is an American public-benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York which has built a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. Users can upload their ideas and projects and ask for donations to help them to continue making them. People who back Kickstarter projects are offered tangible rewards and one of a kind experiences in exchange for their pledges. This model traces its roots to subscription model of arts patronage, where artists would go directly to their audiences to fund their work

This trailer is for a documentary film called Suburban Pilgrims. This story follows a family as they tour around the United States of America in their caravan trailer.

I would back this project because the visuals and the narrative strongly urge me to watch more and more and create an enigma, in the sense that I want to know where they are going next and what they are doing. What makes this short film very attractive is the smooth colour grading the editor/s used to correspond with each location, i.e. for the mountainous shots there were blues, whites, greys and bright greens, and for the Forests and country roads shrouded with trees they used oranges and browns and various greens. The idea that it’s family orientated and based upon spending time in the wild gives the audience a feeling of seclusion but in a way that they feel comfortable.

My Genre: Comedy

Damsel is a story that asks the question about what happens during the “happily ever after” part of the hero’s journey. When the movie ends and we’re left to believe these two strangers riding off into the sunset were blessed by true love and went on to experience a long and happy life together. Director Scott Langford chose this idea because it is never portrayed in any film, thus making it incredibly original, this is ironic as most films of the same genre are very similar. That being said, films such as Monty Python and the Holy Grail are also satire. Langford’s main obstacle is creating a world that doesn’t look cheap and fake. The other primary risk would be producing a film that wouldn’t be competitive in the film festival circuit, but he already have people on the team who have the ability to make that happen.

The promotional video Scott Langford posted on Kickstarter was indeed selling. This is due to it’s simplistic look, which gives the opportunity to talk without the audience without being distracted by any background action. Further more the main actor interacts with the secondary actors which tells the audience that he is willing to contact anyone who wants to ask something (etc). Adding to the simplicity, there are so visual effects or any extreme changes with colour correction.

The actor addresses the audience directly, claiming that without ‘your’ help, they wont be able to make this production so amazing. This adds to how supportive the acotrs and other crew members are towards their audience.

Joe Prichard

"It's as simple as point and shoot"

Blog Post 1 – Analyse and Research the Audience