Evaluation - Question 4

Who would be the audience for your media product?

According to the cinema exhibitor’s association UK (http://www.cinemauk.org.uk/facts-and-figures/ uk-cinema-audience-analysis/uk-cinema-audience-by-age-and-gender/) the 15 – 24 age group is still the largest demographic going to see films. A glance at IMDB ratings for thriller films such as Shutter Island suggests that it is the 18 – 29 group who are most likely to watch this film so we can conclude that thrillers are watched mainly by people in the early to mid 20s. Film companies know this through their own market research and therefore target films at this demographic. Knowing this made us choose a young adult as our hero as he would fit into the demographic of filmgoers so that they could more readily associate with the film. They will be able to put themselves in his position and see the narrative through his eyes.

It would be more true to say that the IDMB market research breakdown reflects our choice of film narrative then the other way round. We did not deliberately set out to make a film to fit into the IMDB demographic breakdown. That would be too limiting in my opinion. We wanted to attract as wide an audience as possible and so we have not aimed the film at a specific race or class or gender – we have set out to make a film that asks questions about what is acceptable within our legal system and to make us vigilant against corruption in institutions. These issues affect everyone regardless of status as is seen in the recent operation Yewtree against celebrity pedophiles. Corruption affects everyone.

This is all confirmed in out own market research where we asked a sample population to fill in a questionnaire. The responses showed a small but statistically relevant percentage increase in the number of males who would be interested in our film due to the action, mystery and potential violence. Our research also revealed that more females are scared by this genre although that is also a reason they like to view it. So thrillers are appealing to both genders for slightly different reasons.