Target Audience

Gender - Male

Slasher films appeal to a predominantly male audience as men in general are more likely to enjoy films that contain graphic violence. It could be said that the slasher sub-genre may alienate women by constantly showing the predation upon them and that the juvenile sexual content (sometimes bordering on soft core pornography) may also repel them. Because of these reasons my film will target a male audience.

Age - 18~24

My film will target this age bracket because in general they are the audience that are attracted to the themes present in the slasher sub-genre (death, violence, sex e.t.c). As my film will not challenge convention and will follow the typical slasher formula (masked man goes on killing spree), audiences older than those I have targeted may find it immature and repetitive. My film would most likely be classified with an 18 certificate making anyone under this age irrelevant. The victim in my sequence will be identifiable to the 18-24 age group as he resides within this bracket and is playing video games in the sequence which a large percentage of this age group do.   

Race - White


My film will be targeted at this race as fans of slasher films are predominantly white nerdy young men and I feel my production will appeal to this group in particular. Although the only actors who's faces are visible are black, which would suggest it was targeted at a black audience, the film would still be viewed by a mainly white audience as they make up the largest percentage of cinema goers (for slasher films).

Class/Education

In general class is synonymous with education and the class that is typically targeted at when considering a slasher film is the working class. The Middle to upper classes typically prefers a more cerebral experience when watching a movie which the slasher sub-genre does not cater to. My movie will be targeted at working class people.

Slasher fans at a convention

 

If my production was to actually be distributed I would advertise it in Gamer magazines such as OXM as well as magazines such as ZOO and Nuts as these magazines share the same target audience as my production. I would also create a promotion where people who pre-booked tickets to watch my film would recieve masks in the same style as the one worn by the killer of my film.

Target Audience of the texts I researched 

Scream.

Scream targeted the same demographic I have; white men between the ages 18-24. From looking at the video above (queue for the premiere of Scream 4) this is evident as, although there is a mixture of ethnicities and both men and women are represented in that queue, the queue is made up of predominantly young white men. Something that Wes Craven (Director) did that was unique, with regards to target audience, was adding the character Randy Meeks. Randy Meeks (played by Jamie Kennedy) is a representation of the archetypal horror movie fan, with an encylopedic knowledge of the horror genre including the codes, conventions, history e.t.c. who comments on the situation the characters are in with reference to his knowledge of horror films. While this was done in an ironic fashion, the representation still identifies the target audience of the film and the people most likely to watch it.



Randy Meeks from Scream