Lucy Parsons

Age
For our opening sequence we chose to aim at the higher end of the teenage bracket which is 15-18 year olds. We chose this age group in particular as we ourselves fall into this age category along with many of our peers. After conducting research via the use of audience questionnaires we discovered that the most popular genre amongst teenagers was a horror/thriller. In addition to this, the characters shown within in our opening sequence also fall into the social group of teenagers therefore as the audience are of a similar age they are more likely to be able to connect and relate with the characters.

Gender
In terms of a targeted gender for our product, we didnt have one as our production is not gender specific. This means that our sequence can be watched by both the male and female population as it is applicable to either gender. The decision to make our product gender applicable came during our research where we questioned both male and females on what films they enjoyed watching and found that both genders with the desired age group favoured films within the thriller/horror genre.

Social Demographic
The social demographic we are aiming at is those within the C1 and C2 categories, this is the working class. This is the category where teenagers/students can be found, the target audience we are focused on. Despite this, we are not dedicating our sequence to just this one social demographic as we believe that our production would also appeal to others, in particular from category B and D. Due to our sequence coming under the thriller genre narrative enigma and plot twits are common therefore someone of a higher social demographic category may find this easier to understand. As those we questioned for our research where students they believed it would be best for us to aim at the demographic in which they fall into thus explaining our choice. However we did not make this specific as we believe others would found our product just as interesting.

Similar Films
After watching many successful films of a similar genre and storyline plus researching the target audience of these films we discovered that teenagers watched films within this genre the most out of all ages. We also learnt from the Uses and Gratification theory of entertainment that teenagers tend to watch films for the entertainment factor. Films under the thriller/horror genre provide the audience with the most entertainment alongside comedies. Research into similar films also presented that in terms of gender they are apply to both.

Importance of a target audience

It is essential for our group to target a specific audience for our opening sequence as it ensures that our product is a convincing thriller/horror film. The audience will gain information on specific characters within the film, however, narrative enigma is used in order to make the audience question why certain things happen, creating a sense of tension and suspense. These techniques can all be used to entice the audience and make them engaged with the opening sequence of the film.