RESEARCHING MY TARGET AUDIENCE : BLOODLINE

PREPRODUCTION

RESEARCHING MY TARGET AUDIENCE Once we had finalised our film synopsis, we than had to

define who our target audience was, so we could construct and design a storyboard for the trailer that catered and appeal to them. As a group, we decided to brainstorm ideas of who we thought Bloodline would appeal to. As a media producer I need to know the:

·        social class ·         age ·         gender ·         raceof my potential audience, a method of categorizing known

as demographics is going to be used for my research into Bloodline’s potential target audience. Once I know this I can begin to design my trailer and ancillary tasks to appeal to a group with known reading/viewing/listening habits.

INITIAL THEORIES OF TARGET AUDIENCE

Who I think Bloodline will appeal to? Ethnicity: I think

my target audience is the African/ African Caribbean minority as the majority of the cast will be from this ethnicity. However, I would like to appeal to other ethnicities.

Class and occupation: our trailer is likely to appeal C2, D, E social classes. Especially students

Gender: I think Bloodline is more likely to appeal to females as our trailer is female dominated through the female protagonists, I would like to appeal to the male audience as well.

Age: I think Bloodline will appeal to the 15 to 22 year old age range as the film covers young adult issues such as relationships.

ARE MY INITIAL THOUGHTS RIGHT?

To see if my initial thoughts were accurate, I chose a wide range of viewers from all categories and pitched the film treatment / synopsis for Bloodline because I wanted to see if my initial target audience would be attracted to such a movie. In a way, it helps me guarantee that my trailer has a target market and ensures success, because to make sure that I am designing my media products for the right target audience and I also need to know how to cater my product to suit their needs and interests.

The feedback I received I decided to put into pie charts.

Using this questionnaire, I asked a 100 people of different ages, social classes, ethnicities about their demographics. I did this because I wanted to identify who I am catering my media products to in terms of design when constructing my products.

AUDIENCE FEEDBACK

C122%

C259%

D10%

E9%

Social Class

What social class is most interested in Bloodline’s synopsis?

From the audience feedback, I can see that the social class Bloodline appeals to the most is C2. I think this is because Bloodline appeals to students as it features a narrative based on young adult issues such as family and relationships.

AUDIENCE FEEDBACKWhat age group is more inclined or

appealed to Bloodline?

Age

18-2021-2323-25

From the audience feedback, I can see that the age group Bloodline interests the most is 18- 20 year olds, which fits the social class findings, as people in this age range are highly likely to be students. I also think Bloodline appeals to this age group, rather than the 23 -25 year olds, because the protagonists are also 17-20. Thus, the 18- 20 year old sector may feel that they can gain personal identity through the main characters.

Audience FeedbackWhat ethnic minority group is most likely

to relate to Bloodline or appeal to?

African33%

African Carribean39%

White 7%

Asian6%

Other15%

Ethnicity

From the audience feedback, I can see that the ethnicity of Bloodline relates to the African and African Caribbean community the greatest. I think this is because of the genre which is urban action, whilst still remaining loyal to the social realism genre. From my initial research, the majority of audiences from the social realism genre in films such as Kidulthood are of the African/ African Caribbean minority as they are the groups who are more likely to live in urban settings in Inner London such as council estates. However, we were also shocked to note that Bloodline appealed to a minority of white ethnic members, thus we would also like to cater for them to as a way of diversifying our target audience.

AUDIENCE FEEDBACKWhat gender is most likely to relate to

Bloodline or appeal to?

Male48%

Female52%

Gender

From the audience feedback, I can see that Bloodline appeals most to the female gender, possible reasons for this may include the fact that our narrative is female dominated and so females are more drawn to the film through the main characters. However, I was surprised to see that males also found Bloodline appealing, as I did not think the percentage would be that high. I think this is because the narrative features characters such as Paul and Sylvester who are gangsters/ drug lords and possibly interest the boys as they instantly have connotations of power and wealth through their occupation.

MOODBOARD OF MY TARGET AUDIENCE

This is a mood board of my target audience, I did this by using a compilation of photos of people who Bloodline appealed to, which allowed me to see the differences between each person in terms of age, ethnicity, gender and social class. For example, Leanne ( 2nd left) is 17, Black Caribbean, Class C2,female. In contrast, Elly ( 1st Right) is 19, White British, Class C1, Female. This allowed me to cater my media products to my target audience as when constructing my media products, I based my designs on what attracted and diverse audience, Bloodline has appealed to.

HOW WILL MY TARGET AUDIENCE USE MY MEDIA PRODUCT? The audience theories that I think will apply to my media

product are the uses and gratifications theory. Looking at my target audience, I think my audience can gain two gratifications from Bloodline:

Personal identity: my audience may be watching Bloodline to identify with characters in the film and may find that they can relate to them thus using them to shape their identity. For example, the majority of male gender of my target audience argued and noted that they related to Sylvester as through his occupation and lifestyle

Integration and social interaction: I found that my target audience are more likely to use my media products to find out the circumstances of other people. For example, they may find out about what is like to live in a patriarchal household with two girls in a urban town. Thus, my target audience would be able to integrate the characters into their lives

WHO AM I AIMING MY MEDIA PRODUCTS AT?

From my audience feedback, I can now conclude that my target audience for Bloodline is:

Mainly the African/ African Caribbean ethnicity and race, with other ethnic minorities in mind

18-20, ( main focus) 20-24 age range mainly social class C2, however significant numbers in C1 and

D males and femalesI am hoping to aim my teaser trailer at this specific audience

because they are more likely to relate to my trailer’s genre, narrative and representations that will be portrayed. I also feel that they will be able to appreciate the social realism element in the trailer and use it in their own lives as a learning curve by connecting with the characters and storyline.

REFLECTION After my initial theories and audience feedback results, the

target audience I had first outlined did not appear to be the real target audience for Bloodline. The film didn’t appeal to younger generation of 14- 17 age category so much, as they could not relate to the young adult issues that featured in the narrative nor could they relate to the characters. The majority of the male gender was drawn to the film for the itself as the genre of urban action interested them as well the storyline. All of my samples( people) are from different ethnicities so I think that allows me to generalise and say that it is mainly the Black ethnicities that are more likely to enjoy the film, however, other ethnicities may also be inclined to watch the movie, but I believe this will only be a small percent which has been confirmed. For example, white ethnicities showed 7% interest. I think that Bloodline is more attractive to a C2 and D audience as the film features authentic locations they are familiar with and features young adult issues such as relationships and drug abuse which they are more likely to experience than social class B or C1.