Description of my target audience

Description of my target audience:

My target audience revolves around a range of variables that are connoted through demographics and psychographics.  The first, most simple factor depending on my target audience is the age. The age must be extremely accurate and precise in order to maximise profits and views but at the same time not exposing violence to a young generation. Therefore, the age rating is a 12 – our unofficial age is 12 – 30. Reason behind this is because the characters are quite young, accordingly wouldn’t necessarily appeal to an older demographic.   

A big factor that divides the world’s population in half is gender. The genre of the opening sequence is sport and stereotypically, men are more attracted to sport then females. Although, to be specific, our opening sequence is based around a sub – genre that in turn is boxing and therefore sport. However, there are sporting women and I aim to target them. So therefore I am targeting males and females but when they both cross over into the sporting category. Tying in with Angela McRobbie’s Gender theories whereby men are stereotypically represented as the ‘ideal’ man – being strong, sporty, aggressive, misogynistic towards women but at the same time in magazines such as, ‘Vogue’ often represent women as being strong, individual and dominant women. Therefore, both these types of genders are incorporated into our demographic.

The social demographic is specified through social class. The ‘A’ and ‘B’ categories are suited to the upper/middle class, which in turn is aimed at luxury goods and products. However, our demographic is aimed at the working class because the location is quite a fairly run down boxing ring and therefore will relate to that demographic. Accordingly, our social demographic is suited to the ‘C1’, ‘C2’ and ‘D’ categories purely because it is based around the working class. Referring to stereotypical views, this is the correct social demographic for my genre and narrative. Some of these views consist of: violent backgrounds, the use of taboo language and is interested in these genres. The ‘E’ category is irrelevant to our demographic because as it is formulated with ‘pensioners’, I don’t think they would like to watch it. Therefore, the ‘C1, ‘C2’ and ‘D’ categories are relevant to our opening sequence.

The occupation of our target audience is very relevant because it describes what the demographic like to do. And what they work for. The attributes of our demographics job could include features like a physical or sporty job. For instance: manual labour or a sports coach. This therefore relates to the nature of the film and links in well with the genre, accordingly attracting the target audience. 

Every single human has hobbies and interests that they like to pursue. This is why hobbies & interests are so important in determining our target audience because it really defines what type of person you are and if the audience will enjoy our opening sequence. Some hobbies that our target audience may like completing are sporting activities, such as: football, rugby, boxing etc. Therefore, the audience can relate to the sporting genre and the boxing sub – genre, resulting in the audience being entertained because they are engaged. The interests are extremely important as well because it sparks the audience’s engagement.

The style of the audience is crucial because in order for the audience to be engaged then they must feel like they can relate either to the movie or a certain character. This connects with Rick Altman’s Genre Theory whereby the audience forms an emotional bond between them and a character in order to relate to the film. This can be achieved through the costumes of the characters style, for example: the protagonist in our opening sequence is wearing beats (a well-known headphone brand) and will therefore appear ‘mainstream’ and an audience with a particular style of mainstream in them can relate. At the same time, in contrast, the protagonist is also wearing a mysterious robe with a hood connoting mystery and this could potentially relate to a ‘niche’ alternate target audience at the same time by syntactic elements though the the formation of a an emotional bond between the audience and the character in order to relate to the film, or in our case, our opening sequence. Therefore, the style is important to consider when describing the target audience.

Also, the personality of the target audience is similar to their style. In order for the audience to connect they must feel related to either a particular character or just the narrative in general. In this instance, the protagonist is extremely competitive – connoted through the representation of him being passionate about winning this fight, signified through him shadow boxing at the start preparing and taking the fight with all seriousness. Therefore, one feature of the target audience’s personality could be if they’re competitive or not; so that the audience can relate to the character. Again, this links in with Rick Altman’s Genre Theory because it enables syntactic elements to be incorporated into our opening sequence, through the use of an emotional bond between the character and the target audience – due to the fact that the audience can relate through their personalities. Therefore, personality is a key part in describing our target audience.

The media grouping is associating into categorising the audience through various media platforms. One of these platforms is films and which type, or which genre of films is the audience engaged with, so that they can relate and enjoy our opening sequence. An example of a media franchise that is synonymous to our opening sequence sub – genre could potentially be: the Rocky franchise – produced and distributed by Warner Bros. Purely based on the fact that it’s the same genre and very similar regarding action. Also, the access to films worldwide has increased significantly, in comparison to 30 years ago due to globalisation.  Therefore, the ‘favourite film’ category within the media group is based around a sub – genre of boxing. Our opening sequence is very similar to the narrative and surrounding enigmas throughout the Rocky media franchise.

Another media grouping would consist of: ‘favourite television’ programmes. The programmes would have to be possibly a little bit sporty and definitely entertaining in order to engage the target audience. For example, sporting programmes such as: coverage of sports like football, the rugby and boxing. Sky Sports is the main institution that provides this sporting entertainment because its ideology is possibly to stir the competitive nature of the human condition creating thrilling moments and dramatic scenes, really providing an engaging piece of entertainment. That is exactly what our target audience is about in order to enjoy and be in engaged in our opening sequence. Therefore, an example for media grouping under ‘favourite television’ programmes could be ‘Monday Night Football’.

A different media platform concerning media grouping is music. And the type and genre of music our target audience would conventionally listen to would be quite a fast – paced rhythm to the music track connoting the sense of tension and adrenaline the boxers are experiencing in our opening sequence. Accordingly, this type of rhythm links in with our film sub – genre (boxing) and the genre of music that our target audience listens to (which is ‘Hip – Hop’) isn’t only fast – paced but it is also very exciting. Therefore, the media grouping that refers to the music platform is fairly fast – paced and that ties in with the fast – paced and tension building narrative which is emphasised in my opening sequence. There are a wide range of artists that perform this genre of music, such as: Justin Bieber and his new album. Ultimately, our target audience’s favourite artist and therefore music are of ones in which they can excite and entertain them. This is exactly what my group and I aim of achieving in our opening sequence, is to have that effect on our target audience.

Blumler & Katz’s Uses & Gratifications theory suggests that all media texts must “gratify an audience’s needs” through offering them particular ‘functions’, such as: escapism, entertainment, education & information, social interaction and a sense of identification. These entire functions link into every media text one way or another, in particular, the entertainment function links in with me and my groups opening sequence. Accordingly, our opening sequence will offer the active audience an entertainment element, through the use of an intense build – up throughout the sequence and the action found in the final scene. The intense build – up is achieved through the use of a motivational speech cued at the start and the shadow boxing – accompanied by powerful music – leading into a ‘silhouette’ right before the fight. Also, the action packed scene towards the end of the opening sequence is demonstrated through the realistic boxing match. The camera work is crucial when trying to illustrate the action theme because each angle represents a different dynamic to the audience; that’s why I will incorporate hand – held shots and tight frames of the boxer in order to connote the competitive and therefore entertainment factor within the film. Furthermore, the editing techniques are vital because a shot, reverse shot editing technique would suit very nicely in connoting conflict between the boxers and accordingly will bring another element of entertainment for the audience’s pleasure.  Therefore, this offers the target audience a specific function relating to Blumler & Katz’s Uses & Gratifications theory, which is the entertainment element.

Our opening sequence will not only offer functions for audiences, but it will also offer solutions to some of my target audience’s problems. This links in with Richard Dyer’s Utopian Solutions theory whereby a piece of media text offers a solution to a target audience’s problem, for example: Boredom would be solved with excitement and entertainment. Therefore, audiences that have a problem of boredom in their life could potentially be more attracted in our opening sequence because it offers a solution to that problem. Reason being that our opening sequence provides entertainment and excitement for the target audience and will therefore solve that boredom problem. I will achieve this through the use of various techniques, such as: camera work, editing techniques, mis-en-scene and sound. Accordingly, that is why our opening sequence solves these problems and therefore links in with the ‘Utopian theory’.