PLANNING: MY TARGET AUDIENCE & HOW I ENGAGED THEM

Over Half Term, I started following a Future Learn course called Distribution: Connecting Films with Audiences. I know that all products are targeted at specific audiences.

I needed to plan how to reach my target audience. I needed to know who they are, and factors that may be relevant including age, gender, and social class. It is also important to know what their media needs are,  so that I could produce a product that will interest them, and how to reach them to market my film. I will show how my research has shaped / influenced my planning. 

I created a survey which asks about peoples age, interests, and social media use to get a clearer idea of my target market and what films would interest the majority of people. I sent this to a range of people, and got a range of answers which was very useful.

AUDIENCE PROFILE COLLAGE

This is a mood board I created about what I think my target audience will be like. They will probably be teenagers, between the ages of 15 and 20. This mood board is predominantly girls, but I think we will have both genders interested. Our film would cover many genres, so it will appeal to lots of different teenagers with all different interests. It will be a thriller like James Bond, but also a romance like The Notebook.

I based my audience profile on the way big, popular brands identify their audiences. For example, I researched how Bauer Media - the biggest media company in the country - NME, and Sky defined audiences. This helped me profile my own audience.

PLANNING: MY AUDIENCE QUESTIONAIRE

I am using Google forms to create a questionnaire for my target audience and send it to people who are likely to watch our film. I will ask questions referring to age, gender, what types of films they prefer to watch, what influences them to watch a film and where they prefer to watch it. Our production team want to make a film that would appeal to young people aged 15-35. Our questionnaire will be useful to ensure that our type of genre will appeal to this audience. Through the use of Google Forms I will be able to collect this data.

These are the questions I intend to ask:

1.  What is your gender?
2.  What age category do you fit into?
3.  Which of these your film genres would you watch? Pick as many as you wish.
4.  What was the last film you watched?
5.  What platform would you most likely use to watch a film?
6.  Which of these trailers have you seen?
7.  Which of these platforms would you use to find out about films?
8.  What is the most likely reason you would watch a new film?

My results consisted of both genders, and most people were between the ages 15-24. Romantic Comedy and Action were the most popular film genres, and Netflix is where most people watch films. The majority of people watch new films either because it's a genre they enjoy, they are a fan of the cast members or they just want to keep up with the latest film trends. They would mostly find out about new films from social media, or TV adverts.

 

What platform would you most likely use to watch a film?

77.7% of the responses said they would use Netflix, and the remaining 20.3% use Sky or simply the television.

What is your Gender?

I felt this could affect the subjects choice in their preference to movie genres. 66.7% of my respondents were female, and 33.3% were male.

Which of these film genres would you watch?

Comedy and Action were the most popular genres, followed by romance, thriller, horror, science fiction and mystery. Western was the least popular genre out of the options.

What was the last film you watched?

There was a range of films watched recently from different people, including Emma, The Purge, and Hot Shots.

Which of these trailers/films have you seen?

75% of respondents had watched the James Bond trailer, which is the most recent and popular film at the time of this survey. Just over 60% had watched The Notebook (romcom) trailer, and nobody had watched Murder Mystery.

What is the most likely reason you would watch a new film?

There was a range of reasons why people would watch a new film, including good reviews, or being a fan of the actors cast. Other people would watch to keep up with the trends, or to see the genre they enjoy.

What age category do you fit into?

This was important to find out who would be watching our film. Over 50% of respondents were between the ages of 15 and 24, 33.3% were aged 35+ and 11.1% were between the ages of 25-35.