Target Audience Research

We decided that the target audience for our film will be from 15+. We feel this is an acceptable and appropriate age for target audience, as our film is certificated 15. Although this gap is very wide, i have took into consideration the target audiences of gore horrors, and ordinary horrors, and combined the two.  On this post, i will be finding different surveys and pie charts which will demonstrate the target audience which is best suited for the genre of a horror. This will help us, as it will make us understand what different members of the public, and ages of the public are best suited for horror films.
The target audience for many gore horrors is  usually 18+. This is because there is very graphic violence, which an aggressive nature in the film, which would not be acceptable for young children. This type of information is usually displayed on the back of the DVD, or is presented on the screen before the film is displayed. E.G "the following programme contains strong violence, and sexual scenes and nature."
The usual age for people watching horror films is between 15-25. At this age, young people are starting to experience things, and start to learn about the world.  They want to try new things and learn and experience new feelings and emotions. They usually want to rush into life without being guided, and therefore seek adrenaline and a thrill. Horror movies can produce this thrill, and excite young audiences easier than older ones.
Males are tended to be the gender that horror films are mainly targeted at. Boys are normally more aggressive and violent, due to their hormones making everything seem like a competition. Horror films can give off this mood, which helps to attract the male gender of the female gender. Violence is a common attribute liked by boys, and horror films can produce this emotion.

Horror films are mainly aimed at the working class community. This is due to the levels of excitement which is gained from a horror at a cheap price. If the higher class watched a horror film, they are usually a sub genre on another genre such as action or romance. 
From researching horror films, i was able to create this pie chart to give myself a visual representation of the percentages of films that individuals at my age range (17-18) liked to watch. From observing the chart, it is clear that the most popular film was Insidious.  Insidious is a 2011 American supernatural horror film directed by James Wan, and is based on a boy that becomes possessed. In our trailer, we want to do a similar thing, whereby a ordinary, innocent person becomes possessed. Seeing that people our age group liked that type of film, it seems obvious for us to do the same thing in our trailer. The least popular film was Cabin in the woods. This film centers around zombies, and is very much realted to the idea of gore and blood. this only got a percentage of 5% suggesting that the gore factor, is aimed at audiences much older, such as 25+. 


From looking at a very useful website named "Pearl and Dean", i was able to find the exact statistics for films, including the gender, age and class of the film. I looked at the film of Insidious, as this plot and basic narrative of the film is the same kind of scenario we want in our trailer.  The chart exemplifies that the gender is very close, but the male gender winning by 2%. From researching, it is clear that boys prefer horror films over girls. The main age group that the film is aimed at is 15-24 year old's, which is a similar age range that we are looking for in our trailer. Surprisingly, there is a small percentage of 8% in the 45+ section. This suggests that although horror films are primarily aimed at young adults, we cannot rule out other age groups. 

Certificate Research

All films made or created by some of the most talented directors all have something in common- they all have a labelled certificate on them. Age ratings on films can go from a U all the way to an 18. Although, the certificate on the film, should match the target audience of the film. This is because if there was a film aimed at an audience for children, yet was certificated an "18" this would make the film company loose money, and fans to the film, as 18 year olds + would be there main target audience. Films have certificates on them, in order to either protect the viewers from harmful or offensive content or to prevent children under age from watching content that they might find offensive. Certificates on films are created by the BBFC, which stands for BRITISH BOARD OF FILM CLASSIFICATION.

The film with a 15 on it, obviously shows that the particular film is aimed at people 15+. Aggressive violence, nudity, sexual scenes and nature, drug taking and discriminatory language and behavior is all common material expected in a 15 rated film. In addition, 15's tend to be either horrors or adult comedies as there is rude or offensive material, that younger viewers would not appreciate, or would not understand. There is no limit on how much offensive language can be used, however continual use of it, will be rated at a .sexual activity may be portrayed but without any strong detail. Films such as "the ring" and "paranormal activity" are rated at 5's.

If our film was going to classified be the BBFC, we believe that our film would get classified as a 15. In our trailer, we want to incorporate very scary scenes, that people under the age of 15/14 would find scary and disturbing. We also want to use fake blood in our film, which suggests the concept of gore. Gore is usually classified as an 18, but ours will not be as explicit. Therefore, we feel that a 15 certificate is a successful rating to give our trailer.  We feel that if our film was set as a 12, it would not attract our target audience, as they would not be as passionate about a horror than a young adult would be. We didn't want to choose an 18, as it would be too high, and people may presume that the film is too graphic and violent, turning viewers away. We feel that a 15 is an acceptable age rating, through researching horrors, and finding their target audiences. 

Planning, Chatting and Ideas.. What are we doing next?

To kick start out trailer, we needed to sit down and plan our entire trailer and what we wanted and how we wanted it to work. We all sat down and discussed relevant ideas that we could all use in our film. We discussed characters, clothing, plots and sounds. We decided to come up with the concept of a creepy clown idea. We feel that clowns can be extremely  scary and abnormal looking. We all agreed that this would be a good idea for our film, and we then started to look at outfit ideas. We googled outfits and makeup that clowns had. We needed to get inspiration, and we feel that pinterest did this well. We typed into pinterest "Creepy Clowns" and a wide range of pictures, images and gif's were displayed. We browsed these for about 15 minutes, before deciding exactly what we wanted our clown to look like. I created this small grid down below of some images that we had collected off of pinterest. As you can see, each photograph of the clown are very different, so it's important that we all find a particular appearance that we all like, and one that links into out genre well. The second image (horizontally) we feel is the kind of look we want to go for. We feel that the whole "possessed" look is the root we want to go down, whereby the clown is a human who has become possessed by a spirit. The outfit appears very casual and layed back which adds to the conventions of a horror trailer.  We also feel that the 8th picture is the kind of makeup looks we want to go for. The software of YouTube was extremely helpful when researching tutorials of makeup. This meant that we could all learn and take advice and tips from professionals in order to make our clown look as realistic and effective as possible. Creating this grid really helped me gain ideas as to how our clown will look. Having all the images next to each other, made it easier for us to eliminate clowns we didn't want, and filter it down to the images that we feel are the most effective.  We mind-mapped ideas of names for our trailer, and surprisingly thought of a name pretty quickly. We decided to call our trailer " Jokes on you". We feel that this shows a strong manipulation and pun on the main concept of our trailer. Clowns are known to tell jokes, so it helps to show a link to the protagonist in our film.  We also decided to look at the morphology of the title. Clowns are also commonly linked to balloons, so we decided to add a balloon to replace the letter "O" in the title. We are only going to use the balloon once  as we don't want to over use it, as we feel it will strip away the strong effect that it has on it's own. 
Regarding the plot to our trailer, we were thinking of having two characters which are best friends which are bullies towards one individual. The victim of getting bullied then wants to seek revenge, hence the title "Jokes on you.". We haven't yet figured out the other parts of the trailer, but this was the general jist of what we wanted to do Looking at the location of our trailer, we noted down some locations that we could use: 
 - A local Park
- Train Station
- House 
- Fields
- Lakes 

Horror Trailer Conventions

As we are now doing a horror trailer, it was imperative that we did our research into horror trailers. I looked at some trailers such as, Insidious, The Orphan, The Grudge and Scream. These trailers helped me to get a wider understanding of the codes and conventions of a horror trailer. This will then help us when creating our own production. 

MISE EN SCENE-

Setting-  
In a horror film the setting can be anywhere. In the trailers that i have researched they are all set in a different places. Either in the woods, in the home or in the middle of nowhere, however they all tend to be isolated from the rest of society with only the villain and the victims there. This helps to create tension and suspense towards the audience helping them feel gripped and enticed by the action happening on the screen, knowing that something is going to happen, but not knowing when helps to create an adrenaline rush.

Props- 
 - Fake blood is used to show injury and destruction of the villain.
- weapons such as knives, guns and saws are used to show/suggest danger and violence and also the fear of being hurt and in pain, for example in the film e.g Saw in 2003.
- masks are also often used to hide the identity of the killer, e.g Scream in 1997

Colour Schemes- 
- The colours of the text are predominantly black, white or red. This is because these colours can represent death, murder and darkness. The colours work well together to create the effect of horror and evilness. The colour red helps to emphasise danger and blood, which are connotations that audiences would be alarmed by.In addition to this,
. Black represents darkness and mystery, it also relates to the phrase 'the black sheep' which is an outcast from family or society. This is generally the case within horror, when the villain is neglected from society. This is usually the reasoning as to why they are a villain in the first place.  White can suggest coldness, which can relate to the personality of the villain.
The colours are used on the text within a trailer, from my research it is usually white writing on a black background or in the trailer thirty days of night its red text on a red and black background which gives emphasis on the vampires within the film. Having black and white against each other helps to create a strong contrast,making texts and images stand out well. 

Costume, Hair and Makeup-

-The way the characters are dressed usually gives the audience a good indication of what type of character they are, for example if the character is dressed in dark clothing and is covered up-so the identity is not revealed then typically they are the villain. The make-up used on a villain, will generally be really pale so the features are emphasised e.g. pale face, with dark eyes to give them a creepy look. A good example of this would be the Joker in Batman. The victims (protagonist) are usually dressed in casual, everyday, outfits so that they look 'normal' towards society, whereas the villain will look different and will possibly stand out more (against the norm of society). However, this is not always the case and there will be exceptions to the rule, an example would be when when a villain is not obvious and are shown as part of the group.

SOUND-

Diegetic Sound- 

 -Diegetic Sound is almost always used in teaser trailers, it is sound that is within the 'film world'. An example of this within horror would be a victim screaming, the sound of a door opening or the sound of a gun shot. As film trailers have to be suitable for all ages, the trailer cannot show disturbing/violent scenes and cannot show any fright into much detail. Thus,they have to rely on sound and effects to make these elements evident e.g hearing a scream without seeing the attack. The use of character interaction (dialogue) will help the narrative along and will help the audience to understand the events within the trailer. Using this within a trailer helps show the narrative of the film and helps create suspense, tension and enigmas. The "Foley Process" can also be used during horror films. For example, snapping a carrot in half to a speaker, can be the sound effect of a bone breaking in the film. 

Non-Diegetic Sound-

-Is sound that has been added during post production. Within horror trailers, the sound used is generally music that will create a spooky effect or will create tension. Sounds such as a heartbeat can be used to create a scary effect and suspense.

For example in the high pitched sound in the music in the trailer for Thirty Days Of Night gives a sinister feel to the film and helps create tension along with the visual in screen.

Sound Bridges- 

- The same music or sound that links two scenes together, to make the action scene interrupted. This would be use in the middle of the trailer as it will be revealing the action within the film, it helps to keep the continuity within the film by carrying on with the same source of sound.

CAMERA-

Establishing shot-
- Is used at the beginning of the trailer to set the scene and to show equilibrium. Normally you will see the soon-to-victims leading their normal lives before the disruption occurs.

Close up - 
- This shot shows the detail of a subjects face. It's used within horror trailers to show the fear and emotion of the victims and making the audience to feel their pain. It can be also used to show the face of the villain, or an extreme close up may be used to show just a section of their face for example their eyes. This will create an enigma as the audience won't be sure what the villain fully looks like.

CHANGE OF GENRE:

From discussing with the group, we have all had a slight change of plan when it comes to the genre side of things. Up until now, we wanted to do an action trailer. We had all researched the adequate trailers and found conventions that would help us film a successful action film. However, we feel that as a group of four girls, performing an action trailer is going to prove difficult, as none of us are willing to perform stunts and tricks. In addition, from researching target audiences for action films, majority are all aimed at the male gender. we feel that are a group of four females, trying to film aspects to aim at a male audience, is going to be pretty difficult. The group and I gathered our ideas together, and we found it hard to commit to a certain idea for action.  We then started to consider other genres, looking at comedy and romantic comedies. We didn't think that we would be successful at this either. We then looked at the horror genre, and ideas and inspiration was coming in much quicker and efficiently. We were all able to share ideas, which we mapped on on some paper. 

MAGAZINE COVER- Iron Man

I then decided to analyse the Iron Man magazine cover. I feel that this is poster is different to other magazine covers that I have looked at in the sense that the title of the magazine is in a different font and colour to usual and the use of colours on the cover are very different too. 

Firstly, the title of the magazine ("Empire") is in capital letters and is the largest font on the cover. This seems evident as the audience need to be aware of what magazine they are picking up. The colouring is a light blue colour, which almost looks like it is glowing. This is effective as it helps the audience to establish a genre of the film. In addition, there are small electricity/lighting lines coming off of the title which conforms the the idea of a superhero/action film. 

There is a small sticker posted on the cover stating "ULTIMATE REVIEW OF 2009" this gives the audience an indication of what is to be expected in the magazine. The use of the word "review" would help appeal to the audience as they are most likely going to want a review on a film. As the review has been printed into the magazine it is clear that the review is some what accurate. 

Regarding the main subject of the magazine cover, Iron Man is placed center of the cover, making the character appear powerful and dominating which conforms to the genre of the film. His head covers a slight part of the title which is a common convention in magazine covers. In the middle of the character there is a small glowing thing that is placed in his armour. This is effective as it helps to balance the composition between the title of the magazine and the main character.

"PLUS THREE NEW AMAZING EXCLUSIVES" is an effective way to entice audiences. The primary audience is likely to be male film lovers as males are more likely to be into action films than females. 

The bar code seems insignificant, but is a common convention expected to be shown on a magazine cover. it suggests that it is professional and is not free to purchase.

Other films are also promoted at the bottom of the page "Robbin Hood", "Avatar" and "Kick-Ass" this is effective as it helps show audiences that the magazine contains information about other films and not just the one printed on the front cover, making it seem like they get a good deal. Having other films be promoted is also a stereotypical convention of film magazines. 

MAGAZINE COVER- Inception

I next decided to analyse the Inception film cover. I have already analysed the Inception trailer, so it helps link everything together. This particular magazine cover has a different layout compared to other magazine covers that i have analysed in the sense that it has a 3D appearance to it, whereby the lettering is placed at a sideways angle to make the main figure stand out to the audience on a much wider scale. 

The basic colour scheme of the cover consists of black and red. These stereo typically connote negative aspects such as danger and death. This is because the colour red can be associated with blood, and black in general has a negative association. 

The title of the magazine and the title of the film are placed in the same font and colour. They are also in bold and in capitals. This helps the composition of the poster appear balanced and well constructed. 

The main figure on the cover shows an image of Leonardo Di'caprio in a suit, and holding a gun in his left hand. His face is not looking directly at the audience but rather glaring at something towards the left. Wearing a suit connotes authority and power, and makes him appear dominating and in control. The gun further heightens this idea, as guns are a stereotypical conventional prop used in spy films. This also helps to keep the audience excited and thrilled,as the presence of a gun can be seen as dangerous, therefore adding anticipation towards the audience. 

As mentioned, the text is layed out at a sideways angle, that helps to make the main subject of the cover to stand out to a more extreme level. The fonts on the sides are smaller, and are in black,which helps to balance the composition as the main character on the screen is also wearing black. 

On the sides of the magazine cover, there are also other films being promoted. "Toy Story 3" "Thor" and "Batman 3". These help to intrigue and persuade audiences to buy the magazine. This is because the audience of the magazine is primarily aimed at film lovers, therefore they would want to know what new films are being promoted. Having other films being published on the cover is also a common convention on magazine covers

The use of the gold sticker placed at the center bottom, suggests that the cover might be of a limited addition. This would help audiences want to buy the magazine as its almost like it is one of a kind. In additon, the colour of gold helps it to stand out against the background. 

The blue futuristic background helps Leonardo DiCaprio stand out and appear secretive and encourages readers to want to learn more about him. 

The mentioning of the director "Christopher Nolan" is mentioned twice on the cover. Christopher Nolan is a very famous director and has produced some of the most success films such as the Batman franchise. This helps to advertise and intrigue the audience into the film, as its most likely to be successful due to the directors reputation in the film industry.