intro to audience - global, national, local
TRANSCRIPT
Audience
What is a Target Audience
“Who would stand in a queue, outside in the freezing cold, at night, in January to see this film?”
Gender, Age, Socioeconomic status, Rural/Urban, Race, Family status, Special Interest (political/Religious/Music/ Art/ Relationship etc)
Mass Target Audience vs Niche Target Audience Global Target Audience vs Local Target Audience
Global Target Audience
Universal stories with universal appeal (relationships/ traditional boy meets girl kinds of stories/ Famous stories that everyone would know)
Universal Themes (Love/ Revenge/ Journey) Universal experiences (Families/Jobs/Relationships) Traditional Stereotypes Wide range of traditional characters (Age and gender) ‘Safe’ humour Not too violent (Rating of about 12)
The National British Audience
Specific UK Culture and History Well known UK stereotypes Social Realism Nostalgia/ Heritage Films Satirical Humour ‘British’ stories and Ideas.
The ‘Local’ British audience
Shares many of the qualities of the National audience but often the story might be especially relavant to the local area because of content, stars, location, narrative explored.
How do these film have local appeal?
YES - Four Weddings and a Funeral 1994 (Working Title)
One of the highest grossing British Films in cinema history Wide target audience 20 -40 yrs (less diverse) Universal themes, witty dialogue, stereotypical quirky British
characters, favourite American genre, American star (Andie MacDowell), mix of personalities
The success of FWF meant that many UK film makers started to make film with ‘universal’ appeal rather than British appeal
‘Really American films with an English accent’ Don’t deal with the social struggles/issues but instead have
‘insignificant story lines’
NO - The Boat that Rocked (Co Production)
Target Audience – large and diverse Teenagers/Young Adults – type of humour, use of actors that would be
recognisable from other ‘teen’ films (Gemma Arteton – St Trinians), rebellious spirit, Release in the April half term, stereotypes, colours on posters are bright
Older people reliving the 60’s – the music, the setting, the historical story and references, well known director for this group, classic British stereotypes, Poster is like The Beatles (Abbey Road) or Andy Warhol work
NO - The Boat that Rocked
Target Audience – large and diverse and difficult! But what made it appeal to one audience was what would put off the
other. Very heavily male cast and the only female characters are not that
positive….. R15 rating also cut out a lot of its target audience (DK was 12) Failed to appeal to enough of either group in both the UK and US
market
How do American Institutions try to appeal to the British audience?
Use examples from this years Oscars