Audience Research

J.L C.M M.T

Secondary Audience Research

Welcome to The Punch trailer - Over 2000 likes and 1.5 Million views, mixed reviews on IMDb but generally popular with the younger generation - especially those under the age of 18, interestingly however it had higher ratings from female audiences which could either be to do with the good looking two main actors or the intellect which sets it apart from other films of a similar genre? It also got identical ratings inside and outside the US, which shows it was relatable universally and had no specific cultural relevance.

Memento - Almost 2,500 likes and over 2.5 million views. Interestingly similar likes for the drastically different amount of views, related to the film being a classic with many of the previous generation being a fan, those who don't have YouTube accounts? Again, on average the under 18's rated the film much higher however this time it was the males who rated it higher than the females, possibly due to no James McAvoy? Also interestingly, it was not poplar at all with females over the age of 45 whereas males over 45 seemed to still enjoy the film more. Again, finally, there was no significant difference between inside and outside the US.

Bourne Identity - With similar viewing figures to Welcome to the Punch yet less likes, we can see that the trailer is not as popular as the film. Still, over 1.5 million views and near 1.5 thousand likes is not bad. Again, as with the previous two trailers, and what is starting to become a common theme, is that The under 18 age group rates the film the highest - however there is a much smaller spread between the results as well as an overall average closer to that of the ratings of the under 18's and over 45's.

There are some confounding variables which must be taking account for however, the trailer for Welcome to the Punch was released 5 years after even memento on YouTube, which means (according to YouTube statistics) exponential growth of YouTube visitors and accounts over the past 3 years would have had a major effect. There is also the amount of ratings for each film, with Welcome to The Punch having over 200,000 less ratings on IMDb which means outliers could have a greater effect. 

We did learn from this research however that our justification to rate our film a 15 was correct as the type of film we are making is obviously most popular with the younger generations than the old. Our target audience of 15-24 is easily where the highest ratings lie, however there is no significant evidence for a niche audience in the older generations - this is something we would have to look in to further. 

 

Another justification of our choice of certification is seen in the graph below, with our specified age group the second highest cinema goers, making up a massive quarter of all UK cinema admissions, with our suspected niche audience (45+) and previous crime thriller film fans making up the majority. This shows that by making a relatively mainstream crime thriller film trailer, we can attract both our primary and niche audience who together make up over 60% of cinema admissions. 

The below statistics are also very useful in establishing our target audience. With Taken 2, Dark Knight Rises and The Sweeney all being similar films to ours and having a majority viewing percentage in our target age group. It gives me and my partners confidence that it is not just in theory that crime thrillers are popular in our specified age group, but in practice also. 

The blow graph is also justification for our target audience. With similar genre films to ours, Dredd. The Sweeney, Total Recall and Dark Knight Rises having a significantly greater percentage of male fans and audience attendance. There are down sides to this, however, as we would neglect 48% of our target audience in the females by catering only to male desires. Because of this, we believe we would need a James McAvoy type lead role to entice both genders. 

Barthes Audience Theory

Roland Barthes is a narrative theorist who bases his supposition on 5 narrative codes - These are as follows -

Enigma Code - The structure of puzzles in the text and the way in which we are hooked into the narrative by a desire to find the answers
Action Code - The ways in which we identify familiar situations and actions though conventions of language and the use of key phrases and words; we do not need everything spelt out for us, so from words such as "betrayal" and "love" we can decode plot elements
Semic Code - Details concerning individuals in the work which allow us to build up a profile of the character
Symbolic Code - Refers to the way in which themes are developed throuh the use of recurring symbols, usually in order to convey a message
Cultural Code - Details in the narrative that confirm the cultural context, such as its location, when it was taking place and the kinds of moral values, ideas and fashions which are associated with the time

In order to make our trailer appealing to an audience we must include some of the above narrative codes as it creates either a link between the characters in the film and the viewer or an interest in the narrative/characters in the film which must then be followed up by going to watch the film. In our trailer, we are planning on utilizing the Enigma Code, the Action Code and the Semic Code which will have the effect of creating a mystery which the viewer would wish to complete, as well as emphasizing the previously mentioned link through the familiarity of characters and situations to real life/the viewers schema of what certain characters should be like.

Barthes also had a theory concerning Readerly and Writerly texts. The idea is that the readerly text the reader follows easily, while and writerly text makes the audience construct the narrative for themselves. Usually, the first act is completely readerly while the second act introduces a sense of the writerly. In the final act, the montage, there is majorly writerly however the aim of the montage isn't to show narrative but the best shots in the film. We wish to emulate this structure as it will maximize audience interest while maintaining ambiguity in the narrative.

When considering the certification that the film we are making a trailer for might receive, it is key to look at the certifications given to films that influence ours. The parents guide on films on IMDb is a good way to look at this, as I have done for two films that influence us.

Eastern Promises (BBFC 18)

Welcome To The Punch (BBFC 15)

Our certification would certainly place between these two, with likely violent scenes and profanity, but probably nothing too frightening or discriminatory toward minorities. I would place the film we have proposed in the 15 bracket, as it bears more narrative resemblance to Welcome To The Punch than the grittier and more violent Eastern Promises.

CM

Trailer Concerns/Ideas

In the group as a whole there have been some concerns regarding act three of the trailer, the montage. The introduction of the characters, especially in terms of the low budget we have, can relatively easily be made and made well. The same can be said about the second act, with a slight bit more difficulty. This is because we must show the disruption which causes conflict, which can be quite difficult to show and show realistically. The final act will be the most difficult however, including up to 25 shots and having to make each relate to the narrative in some way while still keeping them exciting and keeping the audience captivated. On our previously mentioned low budget (nothing) replicating scenes such as that in Hummingbird with high quality martial arts scenes, or Welcome to The Punch with ambiguous men immaculately dressed walking through shining clean buildings with bags of money and guns, will be a lot of work in itself. It may be something we will have to address when we come to it, however an idea I had was to include art house-esque shots such as dark, shadowed panning shots and over the shoulder shots with an effective blur to compensate for a possible lack of action. It would also allow me and my partners to show our skill with the camera, and the variety of shots we are able to execute well.

Certification

As part of our audience research we must obviously find out who our target audience, and if applicable, an obvious niche audience who we will be catering towards. In order to gage what sort of certification we should be aiming towards, we should first look at films in a similar genre to ours. On the whole, as the below collage shows, popular films of the genre very much take a norm of the 15 rating. The main exception to this is Eastern Promises, which can be explained by its sub genre as a gangster/mob film with the violent and graphic scenes commonly expected. 

The specifications for films attempting to be a 15 are shown at the bottom of the post, and we will very easily be able to have our trailer fit these specifications, however what would differentiate our film from one such as Taken (12A) is that we wish to set our film in darker areas of London, with more emphasis being placed on the psychological. In terms of accessibility, making our film a 12A or 12 would obviously increase the age range of our viewers, however older/more experienced film fans may not be enticed by the idea of a serious crime thriller as a 12A. This would lower our viewing figures in the elder age groups, and with the 15-24 bracket being who we are aiming for this would not be beneficial. Having the film as 15 allows for the guidelines of a 12 to be broken, making the film darker and more sinister while still maximising the age range of audience. It is also well known that people younger than the legal age sneak/are allowed to see 15 films so we could include a niche audience of a younger generation.

There is also the perk of being able to conform/replicate some of the things seen in our trailer inspirations mentioned in a previous post, as these are all 15 rated. If we were inspired by 18, the tone and even some of the things shown would not be able to be replicated and as such we would have to be completely original, not taking inspiration from anywhere. 

15 Film Guidelines -

Possibile Narrative - 1

The first possible narrative was put forward by Charlie, and although overused, can easily be produced and gives us the opportunity to show our skill in filming and truly take advantage of our location, of which we wish to use China Town and the centre of London, in combination with dark, desolate locations. The narrative goes as follows -

1) There is a police officer who has been chasing his rival for a long time - there is a personal rivalry between the two as the antagonist has killed/fatally injured someone close to the protagonist, but as he thinks he has finally reached his rival and is able to kill him he breaks down the door and see's him dead in his apartment/accommodation.
2) There is some sort of lead in the room which takes our protagonist to his next target, as he starts his tangent to get revenge on everyone who was involved in the death/injury of his partner
3) As he rises up the ranks, he becomes more and more embroiled in the danger of the situation and starts to look for a way out.

If this is the narrative we eventually choose, the acts of the trailer will be very similar indeed to that of Welcome to The Punch. The opening, establishing shots of all three acts was something the three of us were all massive funs of and something we wish to replicate in our trailer - although this may not be possible to the extent that Welcome to The Punch does, we will certainly do our best to make something similar.

Also similar to Welcome to The Punch we will follow the regular 3 act structure - with the first act introducing the main character or any accomplices he has. The second would then disrupt the continuum, showing both the death of the protagonists partner and the original antagonists death - finishing with the lead to the rest of his targets. As with many film trailers, we will have the third act as a montage involving chase scenes throughout the city, but unlike other films of the genre we will have these cut up with slower paced shots - giving the film an Arthouse filming type of feel but with a very much mainstream genre and narrative. Locations such as the shot of china town in Hummingbird and the previously mentioned Welcome to The Punch shot will be used proficiently.