There are a lot of different social groups that exist in all genres of film, including my film. Some of these include:
- Age
- Gender
- Sexuality
- Ethnicity
- Homosexuality
- Disability
AGE
From doing research into the target audience of the slasher genre, I found out that the primary target audience age for slasher horror films is 15-24 or 18-24. There are also secondary audiences for slasher horrors such as tweens and adults aged 24+. This influenced my decision on the target audience age for my film.
From doing research into the target audience of the slasher genre, I found out that the primary target audience age for slasher horror films is 15-24 or 18-24. There are also secondary audiences for slasher horrors such as tweens and adults aged 24+. This influenced my decision on the target audience age for my film.
The primary target audience for my film is 15-24 year olds. Usually a film's main protagonists reflect that age of the primary audience. In my film opening, there is a teenage cast so this would attract a teenage audience. I chose to use actors of this age so that our target audience can relate to the characters more, rather than having the actors of an older age where my target audience won't be able to relate. There is also some cast that are age 19-20 which would attract a young adult audience. The final girl that I chose to use in my film is somewhat a countertype of the stereotypical final girl because she is attractive, wears make up and is not a virgin. I wanted to use countertypes in my film opening because I don't like the normative representations in slasher films. But on the other hand, she does have some traits that are typical for the stereotypical final girl such as being a brunette, being clever, knowledgable and resourceful.
The secondary audience for my film is tweens (children aged 8-12) and adults aged (24+). I think tweens would be the secondary audience because, for many films, people under the age of the age rating of a film go and try to watch these films online illegally because they can't go and buy it in a shop or watch it at the cinema. My BBFC age rating is 15 so tweens would be younger than the age rating here.
The secondary audience for my film is tweens (children aged 8-12) and adults aged (24+). I think tweens would be the secondary audience because, for many films, people under the age of the age rating of a film go and try to watch these films online illegally because they can't go and buy it in a shop or watch it at the cinema. My BBFC age rating is 15 so tweens would be younger than the age rating here.
GENDER
From doing research into the slasher genre, I found out that for target gender, slasher horrors usually attract a predominant male audience. Also, the 'final girl' character attracts a strong female audience because this character is the main protagonist and therefore survives.
The target gender for my film opening is males and females. I think the tough, resourceful female character (the 'final girl'), that I have in my horror slasher film opening, helps to draw in a female audience. I believe that a female audience will relate to this final girl (final girl - Evie).
From doing research into the slasher genre, I found out that for target gender, slasher horrors usually attract a predominant male audience. Also, the 'final girl' character attracts a strong female audience because this character is the main protagonist and therefore survives.
The fact that the killer in my film opening is female may also attract a female audience because this is a countertype of the usual male killer.
I think the horror, gore, torture, mystery and action would attract a male audience for example in the rape chase scene and the lair scene. The rape chase scene obviously includes a 'rape' and this, I think, would attract this male audience because there are two guys hunting down a vulnerable, attractive, feminine teenage girl which relates to the idea of slasher films having an object of a knife that makes a slash - this can be interpreted as a phalic object and movement (slashing movement) to symbolize rape. Also, I think a male audience would relate to the scream king later on in the film opening because he is a normal teenage boy. Also, I have used Laura Mulvey's 'Male Gaze theory' on the killer to attract the male audience. The female killer is dressed in sexy clothing: black sparkly dress, black fishnet tights and black high heels; Some of the shots of the female killer objectify the killer (mid shots of the killer's legs walking, shot of her licking a knife) to attract a male audience.
When doing research into the slasher horror genre, I looked at a past student's blog, Sophie Rasmussen, and found some statistics from a British Film Institute from 2012, which showed me that the amount of males and females under the age of 35 watch horror films is almost the same, this connotes that the audience for horror is both females and males.
I think that these statistics are the way they are because in slasher films, there is a strong female main protagonist that attracts a strong female audience and the horror, gore and action that is present in slashers attracts a strong male audience.
ETHNICITY
From doing research into the slasher genre, I found out that most slasher films mainly contain caucasian characters to attract a caucasian audience.
Although in Scream 2 there are black characters.
Halloween:
This film predominantly contains caucasian characters.
Jennifer's Body
This film predominantly contains caucasian characters.
Scream/Scream 2
The two characters at the start of the film die (making them scream queens/kings) and they are black.
Friday the 13th Remake:
This film predominantly contains caucasian characters.
From doing research into the slasher genre, I found out that most slasher films mainly contain caucasian characters to attract a caucasian audience.
Although in Scream 2 there are black characters.
Halloween:
This film predominantly contains caucasian characters.
Jennifer's Body
This film predominantly contains caucasian characters.
Scream/Scream 2
The two characters at the start of the film die (making them scream queens/kings) and they are black.
Friday the 13th Remake:
This film predominantly contains caucasian characters.
In my film opening, I contained mainly just caucasian characters to attract a mainly caucasian audience; there was one character that was Indonesian in the green screen abduction scene but other than that all the characters were caucasian. Although, if I was making an entire film of this film opening, I would definitely want to include some non-caucasian characters for sure to challenge this specific stereotype/convention of slasher horrors.
SEXUALITY
From doing research into the slasher genre, I found out that in the slasher genre, the characters are usually heterosexual to attract a mainstream audience. The audience consider this to be a normative representation therefore attracting a mainstream audience because people relate to normative representations. This slasher target audience' sexuality influenced the decision on the target audience' sexuality, for my film.
In my production, all the characters are heterosexual. By doing this I am reinforcing a normative representation as stated above.
In some ways, my film represents a certain aspect of sexuality, because the killer's weapon is a knife. The knife is considered to be a phallic object because it connotes sexual assault. So, the fact that the female killer in my film killed the boy who raped her before, with a knife, connotes that she is getting revenge on him by doing exactly what he did to her, rape. But I like the fact that in my film, a female is using the phallic knife object giving out a message that men can get raped too.
SOCIO-ECONOMIC GROUPING/CLASSFrom doing research into the slasher genre, I found out that in the slasher genre, the characters are usually heterosexual to attract a mainstream audience. The audience consider this to be a normative representation therefore attracting a mainstream audience because people relate to normative representations. This slasher target audience' sexuality influenced the decision on the target audience' sexuality, for my film.
In my production, all the characters are heterosexual. By doing this I am reinforcing a normative representation as stated above.
In some ways, my film represents a certain aspect of sexuality, because the killer's weapon is a knife. The knife is considered to be a phallic object because it connotes sexual assault. So, the fact that the female killer in my film killed the boy who raped her before, with a knife, connotes that she is getting revenge on him by doing exactly what he did to her, rape. But I like the fact that in my film, a female is using the phallic knife object giving out a message that men can get raped too.
From doing research into the slasher genre, I found out that the socio-economic group for slasher horror films is class C2-E. So, I think the socio-economic group of my target audience for my film would be class C2-E (due to slasher genre). Young adults who are in the E group are the primary audience.
USES AND GRATIFICATIONS THEORY
There are 4 specific gratifications:
1. Escapism/Diversion
This gratification appears in my film. The fact that my film is a horror slasher, makes my film easy to escape and divert into from every day activities/routines, this is because horror slashers are fiction and full of action and suspense.
2. Personal Identity
This gratification appears in my film through the teen characters (the final girl, scream kings, killer), they are relatable to a teen audience.
3. Personal Relationships
This gratification appears in my film. My target audience will relate to the relationships in this film.
4. Surveillance
This gratification doesn't really appear in my film because my film is fictional and does not contain any non-fictional information to engage in.
BBFC AGE RATING
After doing research into the age ratings of existing slasher films I decided that my film opening would be most likely have an BBFC age rating of 15. By clicking the link below, you will see that the age rating of 15 includes the following:
http://www.bbfc.co.uk/what-classification/15
- Language (There may be strong language. Very strong language may be permitted, depending on the manner in which it is used, who is using the language, its frequency within the work as a whole and any special contextual justification).
- Sex (Sexual activity may be portrayed, but usually without strong detail)
- Nudity (There may be nudity in a sexual context but usually without strong detail).
- Violence (Violence may be strong but should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury. The strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable. Strong sadistic violence is also unlikely to be acceptable. There may be detailed verbal references to sexual violence but the depiction of sexual violence must be discreet and justified by context).
- Discriminatory language or behaviour (The work as a whole must not endorse discriminatory language or behaviour, although there may be racist, homophobic or other discriminatory themes and language).
- Drug taking (Drug taking may be shown but the work as a whole must not promote or encourage drug misuse, for example, through instructional detail. The misuse of easily accessible and highly dangerous substances, for example, aerosols or solvents, is unlikely to be acceptable).
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