4 - Who would be the audience for your media product?
Earlier on in the research stage, I conducted some audience research, which allowed me to understand what the film opening me and my group are creating should include, in terms of codes and conventions to meet our chosen genre of action and espionage. To view the comprehensive analysis on audience research, click here.
If ‘Ethan Steal’ was made into a full movie I believe that it would be certified at 15, under the BBFC guidelines. This is because ‘Ethan Steal’ follows a strong action and espionage narrative, following a merciless Turkish Mafia family. And, in order to recreate a more accurate stereotype of Turkish Mafia, I feel that the film will need to include many of the elements that fit into the category of being certified at 15. This includes strong violence between the characters, frequent strong language, both in English and Turkish, involvement in human or drug trafficking, as well as some possible references to sex, or even sexual nudity. All of these elements can be found under the 15 certificate, on the BBFC guidelines website [4.17].
Likewise, since the film spotlights the Turkish nationality, I believe that a large number of Turkish people would also be attracted to watch the film. This would increase in the national success of the film, because there is a large Turkish community situated in London, consisting of around 59,596 people who were born in Turkey, recorded in 2011 [4.18]. This is the 17th ranked nation of people who migrated into the United Kingdom. Additionally, Turkish is the 7th most spoken language, which is spoken in London [4.18]. This would be a unique conception in the British film industry, but may result to very interesting results. Furthermore, if ‘Ethan Steal’ was released worldwide, I feel that it would be quite successful in Turkey, as well as English speaking languages, such as the US.
I and my group’s target audience for ‘Ethan Steal’ was young people aged between 16-18, but more realistically 15-25 year olds, would probably also be interested in the narrative of the film. I also believe that both genders would be quite interested in the film. However, I think that the audience would consist of a greater number of males, because they are stereotyped to prefer action films, due to the dominance of a main protagonist, usually being a male character. Additionally, I believe that ‘Ethan Steal’ would dominantly attract the white British population to see the film.
I have created a profile of the type of person who would enjoy me and my group’s film, as well as similar films they would pay to watch. Advertisers commonly take this approach of creating a demographic overview, in order to see where that person fits, in terms of a population, as well as a psychographic overview, which is more focused on the personality, values, attitudes, interests, and lifestyle of the person being studied.
Two views of the same person
Name: Zack Anderson
Demographic Overview:
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Adolescent
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Age 17
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Studying further education
Psychographic Overview:
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Young Male
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Watches movies frequently
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Loves action films
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Favourite Film: Expendables
From the information above, I believe that Zack Anderson may enjoy ‘Ethan Steal’ because its main genre, action, falls into the genre that Zack is very passionate for. Additionally, his favourite film, ‘Expendables’ holds some similar traits that would be seen in an espionage or spy film. For example, the fact that the protagonists in ‘Expendables’ are working alongside the US government, means that they are almost like agents for that nation, and this characteristic would also be seen in films like James Bond: ‘Skyfall’, where Mr Bond is an agent working with the British government. I believe that Zack would also like films such as the ‘Fast & Furious’ series, ‘Welcome to the punch’ and ‘Snitch’. Although these three films vary in subgenre, they all convey the common codes and conventions of the action genre really well.
From the audience research that I have conducted, I believe that the majority of the young people we surveyed, would be interested in ‘Ethan Steal’, as based on the research conducted, a staggering 84% of people said that the action genre was in their top three genres, meaning that they are more likely to look out for an action film. Additionally, when asked for their favourite action films, as an open question, the respondents had quite similar results. The top three favourite picks are shown in the green bar chart. The ‘Fast & Furious’ series was the most selected, with 14 picks, meaning the audience are quite familiar with a successful franchise, which does convey the action genre really well. In second place was ‘Taken’, which is an action thriller. However, Liam Neeson portrays an agent type of role throughout the film, which could closely be linked to espionage, possibly also highlighting that the audience would be attracted to ‘Ethan Steal’.
Overall, I consider that ‘Ethan Steal’ the full movie, does have a chance of being successful, and would attract a wider audience than some already made action films, due to the strong narrative, and immense build-up from the film opening. However, this will also mean that the plot would have to be incredibly dynamic and well thought about. Meaning, I and my group are not just making another cliché spy film, but would make a film that will lead people to want sequels, allowing us to develop the plot, meeting codes and conventions of the action genre, with greater quality and audience immersion, than a single film would be able to do.