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Q5: How did you attract/address your audience?

By Devon Dalton
Our Target Audience
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The aim of our film is to attract our target audience. To do this, we
realised that as a group, our audience needs to be able to identify with
our characters and storyline.
Our characters are young adults who are students at school, and the
protagonists are males. This suggests that our target audience would be
narrowed down to young males who are either students or unemployed,
falling into the demographic group E. We chose this audience as it allows
them to relate to our film and find comedy within the similarities and
differences between the viewer and the characters.
Attracting our target audience plays a huge role in the success of the film
as it aims to appeal to a particular group of people. If we fail to attract
our target audience, our film may not appeal to anyone and result in low
profits. As a group, we have conducted research on target audiences,
film openings, generic conventions and genre comparisons to ensure
that we use the right material in our text to lure the audience we aim to.
Our target audience would be attracted to our film because we have
intentionally created a connection between our viewers and our
characters in terms of lifestyle, appearance, maturity and sense of
humour. We have also researched into this by looking at films with
similar target audiences and using similar techniques and conventions.
An example where this research is evident is the high school geek
theme, which is similarly used in the film Superbad (2007).
The Main Attractions
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As a group, we find that the storyline itself is seen as an attraction for our audience.
Because it’s unique and original, it’s distinctive from other film storylines and delivers
something new and fresh to the audience. This assumption is based on:
• Our unique twist at the end of the narrative, where Stacey reveals she has a secret
identity
• The contrast between the characters’ personalities and appearances. Whereas geeks in
films tend to take on a general, stereotypical appearance, our characters use this
stereotype but adapt it to their individual personalities (eg. Tom’s fingerless gloves and
Stuart’s love for Star Wars).
• The geeky humour used throughout the film. Although a similar comedy style is used in
films like Superbad (2008) and The Other Guys (2010), the sense of humour is unique to
the characters and is not often used in films (such as the cutting of music when Stuart
appears in the opening).
The cutting of music when Stuart appears in the opening would particularly appeal to our
audience as the isolation of the character and his distance with the other characters is
seen as comical.
Stuart’s character in particular is seen as humorous as he tends to have a problem with
relating to Bob and Tom, and is seen as a bit of an outcast in the group. This strikes
humour in the audience in the same way an overweight person is found funny to
someone who is more lean, introducing a bit of dark humour into the narrative of the film.
Camerawork
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In order to reach our audience, the events of the film will be seen
through the geeks’ perspective, seeing as they are the protagonists.
To show this, our film will contain a few point of view shots. This
allows the audience to relate to the characters by looking through
their eyes.
The reasons that we would not be using point of view shots regularly
are:
• Mainstream films tend to use much more common and ‘safe’
camera angles, such as close-ups, mid shots and extreme close-ups.
Point of view shots are a bit more quirky, and tend to be used in
niche films or horrors, such as Cloverfield (2008).
• Comedies generally use close-ups and extreme close-ups to focus
on characters or comical objects.
• We want to keep a consistent theme in camera angles and humour,
and our chosen camera angle is close-up/extreme close-up. We
chose this shot as it draws attention to particular people/objects in
our film.
Although our film would not use a lot of point of view shots, this
would not hugely affect how the audience perceive the film as the
protagonists (the geeks) would always be the centre of attention and
in the frame the majority of the time throughout the film.
The Impact On Our Audience
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To create an impact on our audience and involve the viewer in the film, we
have used enigma codes as well as the hypodermic needle.
The enigma code is used by showing objects and props throughout the film
to hint at Stacey’s nerdy identity. By showing these clues, we allow the
audience to stick the pieces together and think about the twist of the story.
This stimulates our audience and intrigues them into finding out what the
mystery behind Stacey’s character, and causes them to pay particular
attention to detail.
At the same time, our film uses the hypodermic needle theory, which
suggests that the film is ‘injected’ straight into the head of the audience
purely for entertainment. Although the hypodermic needle theory
contradicts the use of enigma codes, it is also used in the comical side of
the storyline. Comedies generally use the hypodermic needle as they aim
to entertain and cause the viewer to laugh. Our film will do just the same.
Although we have one target audience, using enigma codes and the
hypodermic needle theory appeal to 2 types of people: people who enjoy
thinking about films and storyline twists, and people who watch films
purely for entertainment. This benefits our film as we have expanded our
audience range, and could even attract people outside of our target
audience.
 Film Feedback
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After finishing our second rough cut of our film opening, we decided to search from some feedback. Although
receiving feedback from teachers would be useful, it would be even more useful to find out what our target audience
and potential viewers would think.
We asked 27 year 10 students (14-15 year olds), 25 year 11 students (15-16 year olds) and a year 13 media studies
group (17-18 years). We chose these groups because the ages were ideal for our target audience and the differences
in age provide a larger variety of opinions and comments.

Year 10 Feedback (14-15 years) Year 11 Feedback (15-16 years) Year 13 Feedback (17-18 years)
- They laughed at the sound cutting out - They laughed at 'Wisecrack' logo. This - Good font for the titles and fitted with the
for the character Stuart. This is good as was good as it shows our institution has genre.
within the first few minutes the knowledge of the comedy film industry.
- Alarm clock also fitted with the genre.
atmosphere for our film is set and the
- They also laughed at Stuart's silence.
genre is quickly apparent. - The fact the alarm clock was green fits
This was good as both classes already
with 'Emerald productions'
- They didn't understand the story or plot. have awareness that the character Stuart
This led to the discussion of when the is boring and dull. - The music cutting out for Stuart seemed
title should appear. like an amateur element. They suggested
- It reminded them of the 'Inbetweeners'
we added in a record scratching when the
- They liked the character Stuart because (a teen/young adult show about a group
music cuts so it seems like the music broke.
he was so boring. of four teenage boys and their
adventures). This was good as our film - They said it resembled a TV show, not a
- The music set ambiance. Once again this
can be compared to a hugely successful film, because of the title appearing at the
is good as it created the right
show. end. This may be why the year 10 class got
atmosphere.
confused with the plot.
- 25/25 said they would watch this film.
- They loved the split screen and said it
- All the students said they would want to
worked very well.
watch this film and all also said they wanted
- 27/27 said they would watch this film. to watch the opening twice.
Improvements Based On Feedback
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Overall, we found our opening greatly successful is attracting our target audience and were extremely pleased
with all of the positive feedback. However, some very valid points were brought up that needed to be taken into
consideration:
• They didn't understand the story or plot. This led to the discussion of when the title should appear (said by a
Year 10)
• The music cutting out for Stuart seemed like an amateur element. They suggested we added in a record
scratching when the music cuts so it seems like the music broke (said by a Year 13)
• They said it resembled a TV show, not a film, because of the title appearing at the end. This may be why the year
10 class got confused with the plot (said by a Year 13)
After discussing these issues between us and with our teachers, we decided to begin making some improvements
that would change how our film affected our audience.
The first change we made was the sound effects used for Stuart. After watching our rough cut again, we decided
that something was missing, and took the Year 13s’ advice and added a record screeching noise for Stuart's first
appearance in the opening.
Then, we decided to change the title order. We concluded that the title appearing at the end of the opening
prevented our audience from creating a connection between Stacey’s character and the storyline of the film. So
we decided to move the film title from the end, to just after Stacey’s first appearance in the opening.
Final Cut Feedback
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After making our improvements, we went out to search for more feedback from the groups that made any
suggestions for improvements. We asked the original Year 10 group and Year 13 media studies group to give
feedback on our improved final cut.

Year 10 Feedback (14-15 years) Year 13 Feedback (17-18 years)

- They said they understood that the film was about the blonde - They said that the titles made a huge difference and now
girl (Stacey) and they could understand what the film was about resembled an opening more clearly.
better.
- They said the record screech was hilarious and made a great
- They found it funnier with the record screech for Stuart. addition to the opening.

Overall, we are glad that we made these improvements as they benefit our opening and our viewers’ experience.