Project Portfolio - Target Audience

Genre and Audiences

   Genre is an important aspect of conforming to an audience. You can't force an audience to watch something that doesn't fit in with what they're already not interested in. People's target audiences are always for a specific niche – a collection of people with specific interests who are of a certain age, gender, and have certain interests, among other things. Yes, there are times when films don't fit into one specific niche (and it happens more frequently than one may think), but the actual broad appeal in the film industry is a very uncommon, almost extinct situation.

    Whenever you hear anyone saying “this is a universal film that will be loved by everyone” just shake your, a distributor, investor, or producer hears such wording in a pitch you can forget about getting a good deal. In fact, forget about getting any deal at all. While it’s sometimes important to follow the example of other filmmakers and try to make them love your job, remember that they are NOT your target audience. These aren't the filmmakers who buy billions of movie tickets, buy your DVDs and merchandise, or make up the "paying" segment of your target audience. So, if you know that one of your coworkers will dislike your work but that the public will adore it and sell out the tickets at the box office, consider what is more important to you.

   You don't have to eliminate people who don't fulfill your exact criteria just because you're targeting a specific market. Take Smurfs, Lost in Village, their main audience was obviously little children so they used a partnership with McDonald's happy meal to adhere to that. Targeted marketing, on the other hand, allows you to focus your message on the correct audience – and the individuals most likely to buy from you. You may spend less on customer acquisition costs and earn more by targeting the most valuable leads in your network if you have a target audience definition to work with.

My Audience

For my film intro I want to attempt to adhere to younger teens between the ages of 12-17. My film is all about trying to be perfect in a hard and cruel world. I think something that will move kids even more is knowing that they have felt this way before and bringing that reality on the big screen. Having this audience is not only important for the production side but it is also crucial for the marketing side of the film (I will talk about in another blog post). Marketing to a younger audience has never been easier with apps like TikTok and Instagram where you can put ads for all age groups to see and target certain ones with he push of a button. The strategy and approach that the recent 'The Batman' movie took was brilliant. Not only were they smart in using social media platforms for their younger audience whom love both action and superhero movies but also used other tactics to attract action lovers.