Kayvon Nabijou - Question 5: How did you attract/address the audience?

When deciding how to attract and address our audience, we considered the Katz & Blumler Uses and Gratifications Theory. Below is a group Prezi that shows our thought process when deciding on certain elements of our own film opening.



Why did our film attract/address our target audience?

The Katz and Blumler Uses and Gratifications Theory came into use when considering this.

Identity

• Relatable characters: Our audience are either at school or were at school only a few years ago. Characters such as Michael, Lara and Tris are easily recognisable by the target audience as they will know or will have known people like at least one of them.

• Relatable setting: Our film is aimed at a UK audience, and is being distributed in big cities for theatrical release. The semi-detached big-city-suburbs setting will be recognisable by the target audience, making the film more personal to the viewer.

• Relatable events: The first thing that happens in the film is that Michael gets dumped. The relatively young target audience will most likely have experienced one end of this event, making their emotions more active in viewing the film.

Entertainment

• Comedy: Michael runs away from Lara in a comical way, which the audience may find funny.

• Enigma: The audience will initially wonder why Lara broke up with Michael, what he is going to do about it, who Brad is etc., making the film more enjoyable.

• Suspension of disbelief: Due to the smooth editing, subtle grading and montage, the opening sequence is quite immersive for the audience.

Information

This would not be the main reason for watching the film, but a viewer could learn from the mistakes and actions of the characters in the film, such as the shallowness of Brad and Lara, and the choices Michael makes throughout the narrative.


Audience Feedback

We posted our film on Facebook along with a survey. The following graphs show the spread of results we obtained.

The vast majority of people who answered our survey were 16-24 year olds - our target audience.

The gender balance was fairly equal, meaning both genders wanted to answer the survey

To conclude, I think that we attracted and addressed our audience quite effectively, as they could easily follow the narrative and relate to it, the characters and the events involved. They picked up on the comedy aspect of it, as we were worried that some of the comedy parts in the opening weren't exaggerated enough.