My Target Audience Defined

SOCIAL GROUPS 

There are a lot of different social groups that exist in all genres of film. Some of these include:

• Age 
• Gender
• Sexuality
• Ethnicity 
• Homosexuality
• Disability

AGE

My primary target audience is 15-24 year olds. Usually a film's main protagonists reflect that age of the primary audience. In my film opening, there is a teenage cast so this would attract a teenage audience. I chose to use actors of this age so that our target audience can relate to the characters more, rather than having the actors of an older age where our target audience won't be able to relate. There is also some cast that are age 19-20 which would attract a young adult audience. After researching into the slasher genre the common target age range is 15-24. 
The secondary audience for my film opening is tweens (children aged 8-12) and older adults (24+). I think tweens would be the secondary audience because for many films, people under the age of the age rating of a film go and try to watch these films online illegally because they can't go and buy it in a shop or watch it at the cinema. My BBFC age rating is 15 so tweens would be younger than the age rating here. 

For my film, my target audience is 15-24 year olds, because it is a horror slasher genre film. The reason why the target audience is 15-24 is because my film includes teenage cast/characters. People from this age group will be able to relate to these characters. The final girl that I chose to use in my film is somewhat a countertype of the stereotypical final girl because she is attractive, wears make up and is not a virgin. I wanted to use countertypes in my film opening because I don't like the normative representations in slasher films. But on the other hand, she does have some traits that are typical for the stereotypical final girl such as being a brunette, being clever, knowledgable and resourceful. 

GENDER

The target gender for my film opening is males and females. I think the tough, resourceful female character (the 'final girl'), that I have in my horror slasher film opening, helps to draw in a female audience. I believe that a female audience will relate to this final girl (final girl - Evie). 

The fact that the killer in my film opening is female may also attract a female audience because this is acountertype of the usual male killer. 

I think the horror, gore, torture, mystery and action would attract a male audience for example in the rape chase scene and the lair scene. The rape chase scene obviously includes a 'rape' and this, I think, would attract this male audience because there are two guys hunting down a vulnerable, attractive, feminine teenage girl which relates to the idea of slasher films having an object of a knife that makes a slash - this can be interpreted as a phalic object and movement (slashing movement) to symbolize rape. Also, I think a male audience would relate to the scream king later on in the film opening because he is a normal teenage boy. Also, I have used Laura Mulvey's 'Male Gaze theory' on the killer to attract the male audience. The female killer is dressed in sexy clothing: black sparkly dress, black fishnet tights and black high heels; Some of the shots of the female killer objectify the killer (mid shots of the killer's legs walking, shot of her licking a knife) to attract a male audience.

When doing research into the slasher horror genre, I looked at a past student's blog, Sophie Rasmussen, and found some statistics from a British Film Institute from 2012, which showed me that the amount of males and females under the age of 35 watch horror films is almost the same, this connotes that the audience for horror is both females and males. 

I think that these statistics are the way they are because in slasher films, there is a strong female main protagonist that attracts a strong female audience and the horror, gore and action that is present in slashers attracts a strong male audience.

ETHNICITY

In my film opening, I contained mainly just caucasian characters, there was one character that was Indonesian in the green screen abduction scene but other than that all the characters were caucasian. Although, if I was making an entire film of this film opening, I would definitely want to include some non-caucasian characters for sure. 

SEXUALITY 

In my production, all the characters are heterosexual. By doing this we are reinforcing what the audience consider to be a normative representation. 
In some ways, my film represents a certain aspect of sexuality, because the killer's weapon is a knife. The knife is considered to be a phallic object because it connotes sexual assault. So, the fact that the female killer in my film killed the boy who raped her before, with a knife, connotes that she is getting revenge on him by doing exactly what he did to her, rape. But I like the fact that in my film, a female is using the phallic knife object giving out a message that men can get raped too.

BBFC Ratings:

The killers in slasher genre films commonly have a masked identity and have a psychological problem which leads to their motives of killing. So with my killer, her motives are the rape. The fact that she was raped has completely traumatised her. She is extremely angry so she wants revenge on the two men that raped her, and all the people who are friends/girlfriends with them. You don't really see her face at all in the film opening accept in the lair, when you see her mouth when she licks the knife, it builds narrative enigma by not showing her face. The 'scream king' is 17 and this is anchored by the clothes that he is wearing, the scream king usually wears little clothing that is revealing.
My Target BBFC rating is age 15. 

I looked at the BBFC and looked at the rating system. My film opening would be most likely to be rated at 15. By clicking the link below, you will see that the age rate of 15 is includes the following:

http://www.bbfc.co.uk/what-classification/15

• Language (There may be strong language. Very strong language may be permitted, depending on the manner in which it is used, who is using the language, its frequency within the work as a whole and any special contextual justification).
• Sex (Sexual activity may be portrayed, but usually without strong detail)
• Nudity (There may be nudity in a sexual context but usually without strong detail).
• Violence (Violence may be strong but should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury. The strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable. Strong sadistic violence is also unlikely to be acceptable. There may be detailed verbal references to sexual violence but the depiction of sexual violence must be discreet and justified by context).
• Discriminatory language or behaviour (The work as a whole must not endorse discriminatory language or behaviour, although there may be racist, homophobic or other discriminatory themes and language).
• Drug taking (Drug taking may be shown but the work as a whole must not promote or encourage drug misuse, for example, through instructional detail. The misuse of easily accessible and highly dangerous substances, for example, aerosols or solvents, is unlikely to be acceptable). 

SOCIO-ECONOMIC GROUPING/CLASS

I think the socio-economic group of my audience for my film opening would be class C2-E (due to slasher genre). Young adults who are in the E group are the primary audience.

USES AND GRATIFICATIONS THEORY
The Uses and Gratifications theory is the idea that the members of the audience are not passive but take an active role in interpreting and integrating media into their own lives. The theory approaches why people actively seek out specific media forms to fulfil their needs. The audience choose the media to meet/fulfil their needs. These needs can also be described as specific gratifications. 
There are 4 specific gratifications:
1. Escapism/Diversion
2. Personal Identity
3. Personal Relationships
4. Surveillance