A2 Media Studies Question 1B - Audience

It is useful to start off with a quote from the UK Film Council website.

- More than half of 15-24 year olds in the UK visit the cinema at least once a month.

- The average number of visits per person works out at 2.7 a year.

Distribution Plan - 15-19 year olds- mostly use social networkign sites, visit public places regularly such as bus stops, shopping centres, TV, read magazines, as well as listening to the radio e.g. radio 1 which is aimed at young people through the music and the presenters etc.

- regularly go to the cinema

- other films are aimed at the same sort of audience include I Am Legend and 28 Days Later.

Film as entertainment (4-11 years) - 4-5 year olds find the cinema to be a thrilling and scary place.

- older children find watching films an important part of personal and emotional development.

- mainstream films e.g. Star Wars tend to be central in promoting interest in audience.

Film as identity (12-17 years) - film becomes more wrapped up with people's identity and personality, helps them to define 'who they are'.

- the age when people start to actively look beyond mainstream film choices.

- ownership starts to become more important, the feeling of a personal investment in favourite films.

- the trusted opinion of family and friends, film clubs and inspirational teachers.

Film as culture (16 years and above) - people start to look beneath the surface of the film and subject it to critical analysis.

- begin to look for films that offer an alternative to mainstream and move out of their own comfort zone.

- the period where people's lives often correspond with academic development which can assist them in adopting critical perspectives and cultural tastes. often a key milestone movie that prompts a move into this stage.

What does film bring to our lives? - we like stories and film offers a visual narrative that can entertain.

- we like to discuss the films that we have watched and it is often a social experience that we go to the cinema with our friends.

- films remain a crucial part of our lives. over half the nation are watching 6 or more films a quarter, with 1 in 10 watching 25 or more.

Roy Stafford, BFI (2007) - we can:

- book tickets online

- look at promotional websites

- read reviews

- discuss films on social networking sites

- watch trailers

- research information

Traditional film promotion - to create visibility, raise awareness and engage interest. how this is achieved will depend on the target audience, a mixture of advertising and publicity is used, but word of mouth is the best way to attract an audience.

Web 2.0 and film promotion -  Youtube appeals to 15-24 year olds who are the main cinema audience. also useful for independent filmmakers, low budget films.

- Facebook - offers opportunities to share views on new films - word of mouth

- film blogs - can be official blogs or fan blogs can create a buzz.

e.g. in our film trailer we used youtube to post our film trailer, photos and ideas such as fonts. also using facebook to get opinions.

Brand Image - our brand image includes an image of the main character and the three characters which feature on the poster and magazine. We chose Little White Lies because it is seen as a creative and young magazine for those interested in art and film. For the poster we used the same image and included texture effects as well as making credits and keeping to the same font and having no tagline but the USP of 'from the director of'

the 15 age related classification was related to our film because it would feature violence and swearing which doesnt fit into the 12 rating also we felt the film was more suitable for 15 and over due to the characters featuring in it.

From the audience feedback they all mostly understoof the genre with some calling it thriller and even knowing the actual genre. some even said they would like to see the whole film and enjoyed the upbeat music and voiceover.