Target Audience.

• I am analysing the trailer produced for my A2 coursework for our group's original film idea "Best friend's for life." It's narrative describes a story between two friends and how the mental illness of one turns her into wanting to kill the other.
• Demographic target audience: our film is aimed at both males and females between the ages of 15-30, as it is a psychological thriller with student characters. The audiences' positions can range from unemployed to labour workers, to junior administrators. Local and independent cinema releases and netflix website would ensure good numbers of British and maybe even international audience, which is a good achievement for a low budget British film.
• Psychographic target audience: One of the target groups are strugglers. For them the trailer would have a deeper meaning, because they will relate to the character's mental issues as they might be facing mental problems of their own. Aspirers are also a target group, because they will enjoy ther trailer experience, as they will get to judge the character's behaviours and compare them to their stable personalities. They will also enjoy watching violence, as they will not face a lot of it in their real lifes. The trailer is also aiming at explorers, as our film differentiates from some expected conventions (male character being the victim), they will find the originality of ideas interesting and maybe promote it amongst the people they know or using the social medias. Finally reformers are also a target audience, because they will feel sympathy for the mental problems of Kylie and will want to help people who suffer from similar problems.
• In terms of uses and gratifications theory, I think that the audience will like to watch the trailer to get the jumpy effect from the psychological issues and the violence. The purpose of the trailer and film idea is to entertain and to challenge the audience with the twists of the narrative, so the audience who like to predict the events of the film will enjoy it.
• Looking at the effects model and hypodermic needle, it is generally considered a difficult theory to relate to modern film industry products. The message or the purpose of the idea behind the trailer is to shock the audience with the narrative events, as they would be faced with a very contrasting character with unstable mentality. The whole idea of wanting to kill your best friend should psychologically scare the audience, so for a few hours after the film they are cautious the people around them
• Looking at the Stuart's Hall reception theory, the trailer's audience would relate to two aspectsof it. The negotiated reading would relate to the female audience, as they would find it fair that a male character is made the victim, but they would not be very thrilled with the female character being a mentally unstable killer. The male audience would relate to the oppositional theory, as many watch films to see males as strong and dominant gender and anything unconventional to that idea will create a conflict with their expectations and likes.
• To sum up the target audience discussion, I can say that in m opinion the idea of demographic audience and Stuart's Hall reception theory are most important to understanding the target audience, as they focus on the interests, personalities and character type of the audience, which is important as it determines what types of films they prefer and whether they will enjoy the trailer.