Character and Narrative

Audiences of the Horror genre

I will be forming a detailed Audience Profile for the horror genre's target market as this will give me a perspective on who is watching this genre. With a detailed analysis it will be me relevant information for me to then implement into my film production, where I will have an understanding on what group within the demographic I will be marketing towards. My research will be mainly towards what type of people watch the psychological horror genre as this narrows it down to the exact audience profile most similar to the target market for my short film.

I will be researching psycho-graphics which will give me a clearer insight on what specific audience I believe watches psychological horror films. With this research I am able to identify there likes and dislikes which is beneficial in regards to the creation of promotional packages and other marketing aspects. Psycho-graphic profiles is a heavily analysed outlook on the different people in the audience from there personality to their behaviour rather than only focusing on the simplistic form of identification such as an age and gender.

After researching these different psychographic profiles I believe that the psychologic horror genre would be targeted towards an explorer. This is becomes out of all the different groups someone watching horror would be a thrill-seeker as they would enjoy being scared through seeking sensation and instant effect which is what a horror film wants to conduct with there target market. Also an explorer is typically young and a student which is the target market typically for psychological horror films.

Target audience profile

Age: 15-25

I decided that this was the most suitable age category for a psychological horror as with young adulthood and teen years this age bracket is learning about themselves, developing and trying new things which comes hand in hand with horror films as horror films gives out a thril, which is what this specific group of young people are seeking. Also, the younger audience would feel less negative about the conventional elements within a horror film as violence, blood, sex & gore as opposed to an older audience who may get judgemental.

Gender

For the overall horror genre, I believe that males would watch it more than females purely based on the fact that stereotypically males prefer thrill-seeking and gravitating towards action, violence, blood and gore which can be backed up by video gaming and the large percentage of males that play games (which include violence) compared to females. However, this could be challenged with psychological films as women are more intrigued with sensitive, heavily story lined, emotional narratives which have enigma and elements where it gets the brain working. In opposition, males would prefer for example Slasher films as there is masses of blood, gore and violence within that specific horror genre. So, within my audience profile the target market will have elements of both genders in regards to marketing but it will mainly be targeted towards females for the psychological horror genre.

Social class

I believe my TA would live within a C2 social class where she has an ordinary life and is studying in sixth form/university where she has a part-time job within retail or a local coffee shop to support her funding.

My TA would have an interest in a variety of different music genres such as Pop, alternative and indie as this person is very free-spirited and open-minded so they are always out to try new things, as the same old and consistent routines may get boring over some period. These artists within the genre could consist of 'Melanie Martinez', 'The Beatles', 'Kings of Leon', 'The Script' as well as 'Ellie Goulding'. My TA is likely to be in a relationship as she is a thrill-seeker looking for new challenges as single life may be boring, however explorer's may have shorter-lived relationships due to their free spirt. My TA also has a lot of friends as they ae quite talkative and love meeting new people along the way. Also they will be on most of the social networking sites that are popular within the younger generation presently such as Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat where they are always active posting about their lives and updating their friends on what's going on.

Audience theories within the Horror genre

Stuart Hall is a cultural theorist that suggested how the audience is positioned within mass media texts by social groups and how there are three ways the audience reads a text.

o Dominant reading: The reader accepts the preferred reading, meaning that they read it how they were meant to causing the code to be very transparent and natural.

o Negotiated reading: The reader sort of believes the code and partially accepts the preferred reading, how it is interpreted depends on there own experiences and interests.

o Oppositional reading: This is opposite to the dominant code as the reading has been dismissed and rejected.

Hall was mainly concerned will how much power the media has as certain social values are creating dominant ideologies within the present society.

David Morley's: Morley's audience theory resulted in the understanding that people who were raised in different social backgrounds receive media texts differently. So it differs in regards to a persons social class, gender and ethnicity.

Blumer & Katz:  The uses and gratifications theory was suggested by Blumer & Katz which suggested that when choosing a media it has to consist of four main points, which include:

o Identify – when the media allows you to find a person/product recognisable, for example roles models that may have the same values as yourself.

o Educate – when the media allows you to search for relevant information, knowledge and understanding of a particular topic.

o Entertain – when the media allows you to find something that will give enjoyment and happiness away from reality.

o Social interaction – when the media allows you to have communication with other people from all over the world.