Evaluation - Question 2

Who would be the audience for your media product? 


My movie is a Neo-Noir Thriller called Truth. My primary audience are young male and female adults aged 16-24. I have profiled an audience from other research on similar products using the YouGov Profiler ( https://yougov.co.uk/profiler#/ ) to suggest who my audience is. 

First I researched people who liked the movie Sin City, as it was an inspiration for the style of my movie (the neo-noir effect). 

From this research I can conclude that the audience is mostly males aged 25-39 which is higher then my initial target audience. The type of audience who watch Sin city are those who have a general interest in movies, and enjoy going to the cinema. They describe themselves as being "Geeky" but also individualistic, which shows that they like to be different and this reflects in the types of movies they watch. Another couple of films that are their favourite include Kill Bill: VOL 1 and Fight Club. Although my movie is directed at both genders and a lower age range, the similar movies that they watch suggest that my movie would be a keen favourite for this audience. The theory of Web 2.0 ( that the audience interact with the media text further e.g- go online and share what they just saw/read) is supported by this audience as the research also suggests that the top Facebook pages are Kill Bill, Fight Club and Pulp Fiction and this is where they would be able to talk to others about these movies and therefore engage more with it. 

I also researched the YouGov Profile for Kill Bill: VOL 1 and found similar results to the Sin City profile. Again males were the main audience for this style of movie and at the same age range as well. But for those who like watching Kill Bill, they prefer to watch movies on the television rather then go to the cinema to watch it, suggesting that they are more private people then the Sin City audiences who as a hobby go to the                                                  cinema.

By comparing Truth to Sin City, it has shown that the audience that would watch my movie are more likely to be male rather then female and the main reason why this audience would use my movie would be for personal identity and for general entertainment purposes as well as self-actualization through problem solving and the acceptance of facts. This is due to the stage of life my audience ( 16-24 year old) would be at, as a lot of things would be changing for them for example from adolescence to adulthood and having to act more mature. My movie would help this as it shows Roseanne having to grow up quickly and act mature from an early age. 

I also did research into the amount of box office sales of similar thrillers to mine, I found that:

Sin city was a huge success in the UK with sales reaching $12,899,526 at box office. This shows that the style of Neo Noir was new and exciting and is very popular with its audience. It's target audience would have been similar to mine but was is based on a graphic novel  therefore its audience would have to have been those who enjoy reading graphic novels and watching film adaptations. Although Sin City was a success, Sin City: A dame to kill for was less popular and made only $2,967,018 which implies that the audience didn't like the squeal to the first film, possible due to the fact that the idea of a Neo Noir is no longer as exciting as other movies have been released since the first one. 

An even bigger success in the UK box office sales is Kill Bill VOL:1 with $20,966,844. An exciting thriller movie which I have also used as an influence of my movie style. Although not shown in the opening, the movie would develop into showing Roseanne's physical ability. This is popular with both the male and female audience for two reasons, the 'male gaze' and the idea of female independence. The 'male gaze' side of it obviously appeals to men of all ages who would be attracted to watch Roseanne and her development throughout the movie, whilst female audiences would watch my movie for the idea that Roseanne is independent  throughout the whole movie similar to how 'The Bride' is in Kill Bill VOL:1. 

The audience for my movie would also be more of an active audience then a passive one ( according to the passive and active audience theory). A passive audience ( suggested by theories such as the Hypodermic Syringe model) suggest that all audience react the same way and are easily manipulated into thinking similar things however the problems with this theory is that it ignores people's personalities and it neglects to consider an individuals moral compass and has been refuted by theorists for many years. Another theory is the Inoculation model where audiences has witnessed graphic content such as violence for a long time and are no longer exposed to the message of violence as they are 'immune' to them. The problems are that the audiences personality and cultural upbringing are likely to be much more influential on their behavior than the message of the media and it treats the audience as being passive.

 An active audience like mine, can be explained through the 'Two Step Flow' by Katz and Lazarsfeld in the 1940s. Their theory suggests that there are those ( called 'opinion leaders' ) who will take the media message ( my movie has several messages including independence and the acceptance of facts for example)  and filter information from it to other people such as their families and friends and they actively pass on more information about the message even though the other people may have never seen that piece of media before. In the modern era, it is easier to do that through the use of modern day technology such as the internet and through social media. This means that the audience can interact more with my movie by talking about it to fellow audience members and they can also go on to do more research about my movie product and expand their knowledge of it, therefore they are actively participating as audiences to my movie rather then just passively watching it and accepting one message from it. 

To conclude, my audience is an active audience, both male and female aged between 16-24 although my research suggests that the target audience would most likely be those aged slightly older I have decided that my movie is more suitable for a younger audience due to the age of the characters and the audience being able to connect to them.