Question 4 - Who would be the audience for your media product?
Question 4
Sol, Tyrone and Vincent from "Snatch"
Transit aims to target the demographic of 16 - 18 year old British black and white males because the main character is within this demographic and dominates the mise en scene for most of the film. When trying to gain a profile of the audience we thought about what kind of media products they would consume, focusing mainly on film and TV. 16 - 18 year old males usually enjoy watching films such as "Misfits", "Skins", "Snatch", "Fight Club", "Top Boy", "Kidulthood" and "Utopia". These media products are often liked by the 16 - 18 demographic because of elements such as characters, locations, actions, themes and soundtracks. Some of these were taken into particular consideration when we were thinking about our target demographic.
User rating for "Kidulthood", the target demographic of our film (16-18) rated it the highest
We were able to get the target audience to identify with Transit because of the characters seen in the short film. Sol and Ell are both within this age group and so the target audience should be able to relate to and identify with the situations that these characters find themselves in, particularly that of Sol (who plays John). John finds himself in a situation that he can't control and is out of his comfort zone, the audience don't know why but he could of been pressured into performing the task of dropping off the bag. The bag is also an enigma as the contents aren't revealed to the audience, but it could be interpreted as drugs. Drugs are becoming more and more common amongst young people, both as users and also as dealers, and are becoming freqent in most circles of friendships; thus it is unusual these days for teenagers not to be placed in a situation that involves drugs. This will mean the target audience will be able to relate to and identify with the situation of the character John. The action is seen through the perspective of John and also revolves around John, this is appropriate for the target demographic because they are young males, as is John. The audience will be able to identify with the film from this point because they will be seeing the action unroll as if it were actually happening to them. The action seen is also quite highly strung, especially the murder, which is often sought after by this audience and so they will be able to connect the action from Transit to other films that contain similar action/events.
Lisbeth Salander from "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"
When thinking about the best way to capture the target demographic we looked at other media products that were similar to ours and also targeted a similar audience to us, for example "Top Boy", "Misfits" and "Kidulthood". Looking at the characters in these gritty dramas/thrillers helped us to build a character profile that would appeal to an audience of around 16 - 25, this included the costume and behaviour of the character. For the costume of John we took inspiration from "Top Boy" and "Kidulthood" due to the similarities in the class/status of the characteres to that of John and the way that they dress. The costumes seen in these media products and the costume of John in Transit reflect much of the fashion that can be seen in the young urban youths of today, this would again help to make the audience able to identify with Transit through the characters because they wear similar attire. Ell, who is playing Hanna, is shown to have more status than John because she is who is supposed to receive the bag. This could help to attract a wider audience and also to identify with more of a female demographic because the female character is shown to be of a higher status and in more of a powerful position than John. When naming Hanna, we looked at the thriller "Hanna" because the main character is a strong 16 year old female who can handle herself, but also has a sense of vulnerability as well. "Hanna" also shares similarities to 'Mathilda' from "Leon the Professional" as she is quite an intriguing character. The strongest connection however was that of 'Lisbeth Salander' from "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" because of the similarities in appearance. This we hoped, would allow female audiences to be able to link the two and feel like they could identify more with Transit through the character of Hanna. An additional benefit of having a female character is the allure of the opposite sex to a male audience, having a female character will allow the target demographic to identify with the film. The fact that the main character, John (played by Sol) is multicultural also helps to encourage young adults of any ethnicity to watch the film and therefore helps to spread equality.
John from our film Transit, notice his clothes are similar to that of those in "Top Boy" and other such media and products, and how this reflects the fashion of many young males in this time.
Dushane, Sully & Ra'Nell from "Top Boy" shown wearing similar clothes to that of John
Hanna from our thriller, Transit. Notice how she is shot from a low angle, this is because we were trying to show her position over John.
The soundtrack that we used was primarily there to help set the pace of the action and to create building tension towards the final scene in the lift. The deep bass and percussion leans more towards the genres that some young people are interested in, but if it creates tension then the audience should be enticed into the action on screen. We took inspiration of soundtracks from Tick of the Clock by the Chromatics and Angel by Massive Attack.
Essex Boys
The location we used is very similar
to several other locations in films that we had researched. For example, the
locations seen in "Essex Boys" are drab concrete estates and bleak
open spaces; the dystopian, claustrophobic city of Copenhagen seen in "The
Killing" also helped to inspire us (especially the scene in the car park).
Another influence was the music video Angel by Massive Attack as it is set in a
carp park very similar to the one seen in Transit, and the angles used help to
create tension and mystery. The location could also be similar to the sort of
run down estates/industrial areas that groups of youths loiter and cause
trouble around so this could help the target audience identify with the film
because they may know areas around where they live that are like the locations
shown in Transit. The locations seen in Transit are generic due to the claustrophobic atmosphere and dimly lit spaces; these sort of locations are very familiar/recognisable to the British audience. Members of the target demographic who like similar urban media products, such as "Top Boy" and "Harry Brown" will expect to see this sort of locations and so will be able to identify with the film more readily.
Car park and surrounding area seen in Transit
Heygate estate used in "Harry Brown" is very similar to the location used in Transit
A strongly proficient response though profile of your target audience demographic is not empasised strongly enough. to strengthen:
1) Don't say clothes, instead media terminology "costume".
2) The female character is meant to have "more status" don't say "higher up".
3) Re your female character, she plays a marginal role in your opening and is bumped off very quickly. The mise-en-scene is dominated by images of Sol's character thus the audience who will best identify with Sol would be a demographic of 16-18 year old British males, white British and black British, who are interested in films such as....
4) Locations: explain they are generic, unglamorous seedy urban locations which are recognisable to a British audience. Also members of your target audience who are into gritty contemporary thrillers such as..... will expect locations such as this.
5) References to real thrillers. I suggest you google these films on IMDB and look at "user ratings". If you identify the demographic that gave the films you have discussed the highest ratings then you have evidence for identifying your target audience.
6) Your image of the girl in your film compared to the still of "Hanna" needs revising. The shots don't compare well. The shots are very different. I'd suggest a screen shot from "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" (2009 original, or 2011 USA) would be more appropriate.
7) First three paragraphs need to be broken up with either screen shots, photographs or footage/clips from your film and similar films which appeal to your potential target audience.
Keep up the good work Hamish. Very promising responses thus far.
A strongly proficient response though profile of your target audience demographic is not empasised strongly enough. to strengthen:
ReplyDelete1) Don't say clothes, instead media terminology "costume".
2) The female character is meant to have "more status" don't say "higher up".
3) Re your female character, she plays a marginal role in your opening and is bumped off very quickly. The mise-en-scene is dominated by images of Sol's character thus the audience who will best identify with Sol would be a demographic of 16-18 year old British males, white British and black British, who are interested in films such as....
4) Locations: explain they are generic, unglamorous seedy urban locations which are recognisable to a British audience. Also members of your target audience who are into gritty contemporary thrillers such as..... will expect locations such as this.
5) References to real thrillers. I suggest you google these films on IMDB and look at "user ratings". If you identify the demographic that gave the films you have discussed the highest ratings then you have evidence for identifying your target audience.
6) Your image of the girl in your film compared to the still of "Hanna" needs revising. The shots don't compare well. The shots are very different. I'd suggest a screen shot from "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" (2009 original, or 2011 USA) would be more appropriate.
7) First three paragraphs need to be broken up with either screen shots, photographs or footage/clips from your film and similar films which appeal to your potential target audience.
Keep up the good work Hamish. Very promising responses thus far.