Who would be the audience for your product?

Evaluation Question 4

Distribution

Social Realism Distributors

Artificial Eye:
Fish Tank (2009)
Last Resort (2000)
The Son (2002)
The Child (2005)

Verve Pictures:
The Arbor (2010)
Bullet Boy (2004)
Red Road (2006)

Pathé Distribution:
Ratcatcher (1999)
Adulthood (2008)
Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
Suffragette (2015)

Icon Distribution:
Sweet Sixteen (2002)
Looking for Eric (2009)
Precious (2009)
Ae Fond Kiss (2004)

Optimum Releasing:
Tyrannosaur (2011)
This Is England (2006)
Blind Shaft (2003)

Style and Publicity

Artificial Eye’s style of poster and or marketing looks like a screen cap from the film or a basic picture of the characters, with simple writing to show the title of the film, some actors names and characters, with simple writing to show the title of the film, some actors names and some reviews. This suggests that their audience doesn’t judge the film based on how enticing the poster is, but for other reasons, such as the issues/themes and representation of social groups. On Artificial Eye’s website, they claim to release ‘critically acclaimed films to discerning UK audiences’. This means that their target audience are film literate, with a keen interest in good quality content film. Artificial Eye distribute international and arthouse cinema, and with each film release, they are targeting a niche audience.

Style and Publicity

Verve Pictures' posters for Bullet Boy and Red Road may suggest a convention of leaving the main character's face mainly in the dark to make the potential audience want to know who it is. This only leaves The Arbor which seems to be a screen cap from the film with simple writing. However, the film is experimental and may be targeting slightly different audiences to the other two films. Verve Pictures ethos includes discovering and growing new talent. They often distribute films from directors of their first feature length, and only within the UK. These films are distributed to a limited number of multiplex cinemas, specifically those in main cities around the country. This might suggest that their target audience consists of young, city going individuals with an interest for independent film.

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Style and Publicity

Pathe Distribution's posters seem to look a bit more interesting, as a possible convention of their film posters could include the cast of the film superimposed over a different background. This can be said for the posters for Adulthood and Suffragette. The writing over the top of the poster is also similar in that they are written in capitals, which might grab the viewers' attention more easily. Enticing posters may be due to the fact that Pathe claim to distribute a diverse range of media and entertainment interests. This might suggest that they are often appealing to mass, mainstream audiences, as their films are also shown in mainstream multiplex cinema chains. This might confirm that their target audience is a mainstream one, although Ratcatcher is a social realism film which has a niche target audience, which could suggest that Pathe are also well equipped to distribute to these audiences also.

Text

Style and Publicity

Icon Distribution's posters could have a possible convention of including more than one image/imagery to provoke a viewer to go and see it to see what kind of realationship all of the images have within the film. White, along with brighter colours are used to catch the viewer's eye. It looks as if a more 'interesting' font is also used for the title of the film. The poster for Precious subverts this convention a little, as the poster is an illustration. However, this still is quite an eye catching image to place on the poster. Icon Distribution is the UK's leading independent film distributor, and so their target audience would be those interested in the independent film scene, some of which would just visit multiplex cinemas, whilst others would go further to independent cinemas to see a wider range of Icon distributed films.

Style and Publicity

Optimum Releasing's posters are more abstract compared to other distributors. They make the viewers ask more questions as they don't immediately give suggestions as to what the narrative might include. Therefore, it can be said that viewers that aren't necessarily interested in social realism my be more interested in watching based on these posters. Optimum Releasing mention that they want to bring film maker's visions to the widest audience possible. Therefore, although social realism films such as This is England have niche target audiences, Optimum Releasing distribute to such audiences, but with posters that might also appeal to others to increase the audience that goes to watch the film.

Advertising

Social realism film often have a low budget, and so one of the most quick and cost effective way of advertising a social realism film is through the use of social media platforms such as Youtube and Twitter. This way, trailers and information about the film can be shared around as a social act, making its way to those who have similar interests to those in their social circles, followers, friends etc.

Advertising

For example, Suffragette has it's own Twitter account, along with Pathe UK's Twitter, which promotes upcoming films. Uploading the trailers to Youtube means that they can be shared across social media. Social media is accessible to almost everyone as it's free to sign up and is much less formal than other methods of advertising

Advertising

Adverts for a social realism film would also be easily found on a website with a similar target audience, so then they are reaching the people that are most likely to be seen. This is the same for the trailer on television on channels that are cheaper to advertise on that also have a similar audience.

Advertising this way means that the people who see the advert will be the ones that are most likely to want to see the film, as they will know where to look for the film being marketed. However, people who don't know where to look are not as likely to want to see the film anyway, as they don't frequent channels/websites that share interests with the people who visit them, and the film.

Advertising

For example, social realism films are commonly advertised and promoted in the magazine 'Sight & Sound'.The audience for this magazine are clearly going to be those that are film-literate, and are willing to visit places other than multiplex venues to see a range of films. Those who don't have this same interest in film won't be aware of the release of many of the films advertised in this magazine.

'Sight & Sound' is a formal magazine dedicated to review all upcoming films. So, like those who are writing the reviews, the target audience are likely to be those who are film-literate and are eager to find new films to watch, that are well respected by those who have similar interests to them.

The lexis and syntax of the content of the articles suggests that this magazine is only accessible to those of a higher education level, as it consists of a more complex selection of vocabulary.

None of the reviews have a star rating, to save prejudiced viewings.

Advertising

Distributors also find areas in which their target audience are most concentrated, so that they can place posters where they are likely to pass. They have to think carefully about this as they should make sure that they aren't wasting time and space by placing it where the relevant audience won't see it.

Exhibition and Consumption

Cinema

Arthouse Cinema

Everyman cinema is a chain of cinema that is dedicated to showing independent films. They present themselves as being passionate about quality. They also say that they aim to immerse the viewer to help them forget they are in the cinema. Their target audience would be those looking for a high quality film and cinema experience.

Picturehouse is a cinema chain that specialises in arthouse cinema. They present themselves as appealing to a niche audience that knows where to look to find independent films that aren't shown in many other venues.

Arthouse cinema chains market the films that they are showing to attract a larger audience than independent cinemas. Whilst attracting the same niche audience, they also show mainstream films to appeal to a larger amount of people.

Independent Cinema

The National Film Theatre (BFI Southbank) presents itself almost as a cinema that holds a large collection of films - especially those that are classic independent and foreign- as well as extras, such as Q&A's with the cast and crew, and extended runs of films.

Arnolfini in Bristol is a gallery for the contemporary arts. It exhibits arthouse films and presents itself as an good place to visit for those who want to appreciate the values of social realism.

Likewise, Cornerhouse in Manchester is a centre dedicated to appreciating contemporary visual art. Similarly to Arnolfini, this would have a target audience of those who wish to admire the art in film.

Independent cinemas rely a lot more on their websites to market the films that they are showing. Members can sign up to newsletters and/or emails and follow on social media.

Online Streaming Services

Many independent films don't make it to cinema screens, but are instead released straight to home media. It is quite common for an independent film to debut on online screening sites such as Netflix or Amazon Instant Video, which target mainstream audiences with a range of titles, or Curzon Media Player or MUBI, which targets more niche audiences.

Mainstream Online Streaming Services

LoveFilm was a DVD rental service and online streaming service that allowed users to watch film and television from the comfort of their own homes. Amazon bought LoveFilm in 2011 and developed it into what is now called Amazon Instant Video, as a branch of their Amazon Prime subscription.

Amazon also owns the Internet Movie Database, and uses this to promote films. Therefore, many of those who use the Amazon Instant Video service are likely to be much more interested in just the film, as IMDb gives information about the cast, crew, technical specs and statistic regarding the film. Users of IMDb can also leave their reviews of the film on there. Amazon Instant Video users can leave reviews under the film that they have purchased to watch as well.

Mainstream Online Streaming Services

The comments left on IMDb for Suffragette definitely suggests a keen interest in film. They are commonly a very in depth analysis and overall opinion of the film. The comment pictured also featured the user giving out a link to his website, in which he reviews even more films. The language used by the majority of the reviewers on the website suggest that they are educated, intellectual and film-literate.

The comments left on Amazon Prime for the same film are a bit more varied. The users could choose to show which format they watched the film on, whether it be DVD or online. Many longer comments that were similar to those left on IMDb came from those who had watched it on DVD. This might give the impression that these reviews were coming from an older audience than those who watched it online, as the online reviews were less formal and a lot shorter. This suggests that the main users are educated, film literate people who fall into the 20+ age bracket.

Amazon Instant Video DVD Reviewer

Amazon Instant Video Online Reviewer

IMDB Reviewer

Niche Online Streaming Services

MUBI is an on demand subscription service that specialises in arthouse cinema. Like Amazon, MUBI also has a database, though there is much less information displayed about the film. Despite this, users of the site can leave reviews, much like the users on IMDb can. In addition to these features, MUBI also has an online magazine, in which offers more in-depth coverage of the films they are showing, as well as other news from within the film industry.

The reviews left by users for Suffragette suggest a widespread concentration of subscribers to the service all over the world, as many reviews are in different languages. They are much shorter than those left on Amazon and IMDb, alhough the language suggests that these people are still film-literate, intellectual people.

Subscribers to this service alone are suggested to have an interest for film that cannot be found in the multiplex cinema culture. This service is important to those willing to look for quality independent films because it means that social realism and other arthouse genres are readily available for those who want it.

Niche Online Streaming Services

The BFI offer their own online streaming service. BFI Player offers several types of films, ones in which general users can rent to watch, and films which can be watched for free when they subscribe to BFI Player +, meaning that there is choice for users who are not sure what to watch until they see the selection of films. Users of BFI Player have the option to browse films through a set of different categories; they can look at films grouped by genre, collection, such as 'Best of BAFTA', 'Oscars', their own film festival, as well as animals, actors and writers/directors. BFI also have an option called 'Britain on Film', which allows you to type in a British location, to see if they can provide a film that features your search. This tool may be helpful for those looking for social realism, as a convention is featuring characters and places that are commonly under represented. By searching for a location that is not often featured on screen, the user might be able to find a social realism film.

The BFI Player also has a range of short historical videos, predominantly from the 20th century, that enriches the users knowledge of that time. It suggests that the audience is intellectual and well educated.

The website is easy to navigate, although the language used, particularly that used for the film summaries is of a fairly high level, and might not be as accessible to some. This, again suggests that BFI are targeting a niche audience that are film literate, educated and intellectual. There is no review option that is directly integrated into the website, although users can share their thoughts on Twitter, Facebook and Google+.

Primary Quantitative Research

For my primary quantitative research, I created a survey that asked participants for some pieces of personal data, such as age and ethnicity, as well as their opinions on social realism. However, for it to remain quantitative I needed my responses to come back in a form that I could turn into numerical data. To do this, I asked closed questions that only required a multiple choice answer.

After collecting responses, I analysed the data and graphed it to make the difference in results clearer. One of my questions was 'What would make you more likely to watch a social realism film?'. The graph shows that social realism audiences are most interested in the coverage of issues/themes.

The conclusions that I drew from my survey were that my audience consisted mainly of

-Female

-White

-16-24

-Student

-Completed GCSEs

-Lives in South East England

-Watches 3-5 films a month

-Enjoys social realism

-Drawn by appealing issues/themes

-Thinks homophobia, sexuality,sexism

as important themes.

Primary Qualitative Research

For this audience research, I asked several participants open questions to gain detailed answers about my storyboard. This would help me find out, before production, what my audience thought was good about my intro, and what could do with improvement. It allowed me to see my creation through my audience's eyes to see if they saw it how I wished them to see it.

From the nature of my questions, I could infer that my audience are film literate, as they understood the media language and the meaning of what I had asked them and put into my storyboard. This also led me to believe that they are intellectual, film-educated people.

My Own Context

There are several opportunities for me to exhibit and share my social realism introduction to potential audiences in my immediate environment, especially in the school community.

For example, this could be shown in active tutorials, assemblies and/or lessons such as citizenship or media studies, for the purpose of highlighting the issues/themes of the narrative in connection with today's society, or to give an example of the use of technical codes to construct a representation.

My audience for these purposes would be fellow students, perhaps of a wider variation of ages and levels of understanding.

If I were to screen my social realism introduction as a part of an extra curricular activity, such as an after school media club, the audience would be more refined to those with an interest in media studies.

If I were to screen my social realism introduction in a local independent and/or art house cinema, this might attract a slightly older, more intellectual and film-literate audience.

My Own Context

Like many other independent social realism films, my target audience is niche. I have come to the conclusion that it does not consist of a majority of either gender, and the age group is not specific, although I think it will apply to a fair amount of teenagers, as one of the main areas of representation is age and teens. The main people that would be attracted to this film are likely to be intellectual and film literate, as social realism audiences often have a keen interest in looking for films that subvert the trends seen in mainstream multiplex cinemas, and so know where to look for these. Other members of my audience will also be looking for a film in which issues are covered that mean something to them, or that express views on topics that they are interested by.

Conclusion