Description of a stereotypical fan:
The target audience for our horror trailer will be teenage, working class, mainstream females. Their ‘mainstream’ nature influences their likes and interests; for example, our target audience of young females are likely to have trendy clothes with a darker, grungier take on fashion. Their interest in fashion may also suggest they maintain a blog and are involved with social networking and like to keep up to date with what everyone else is discussing in the mainstream media world. As the ‘hipster’ lifestyle has become more popular, mainstreamers are likely to explore alternative ways of life. This has resulted in things that aren’t initially considered ‘cool’ becoming more widely admired as being ‘different’ is the new mainstream thing to do. This has allowed things like horror films, heavy metal, gothic clothes and eccentric makeup/hair to become much more popular.
Demographic profile:
Our target audience of mainstream females are likely to be considered as social class D. This means they will be working class and are likely to be employed at high-street franchises such as New look, River Island or even Topshop. The age range of 16-24 year olds may also suggest the target audience have other part time occupations such as waitressing or cleaning; all of which are low level unskilled jobs. This suggests that people of this social class are more likely to watch the less pretentious genres of film; this could include horror as it avoids conveying conceited, posh lifestyles which makes it more relatable.
Psychographic profile:
The title of 'mainstreamer' can incorporate sub categories of stereotypical groups of people. For example, mainstream incorporates groups such as ‘hipsters’, ‘trendies’, ‘casuals’, or even ‘townies’. However, currently the more dominant of the mainstream groups is hipster which suggests our target audience will consider themselves as alternative and original even though being this has become the new mainstream. As a mainstreamer, our target audience are likely to portray a very cool façade demonstrated by their love for partying, unknown bands, fashion and celebrities, festivals, tumblr and controversial films. To ensure they maintain their reputation, they are likely to rely heavily on social networking to show their interests to the people around them. Therefore, websites such as Twitter, Tumblr and Facebook provide a platform for advertising the horror genre of films; particularly a psychological, gory horror like ours. In addition to this, the incorporation of a young girl as the main character can make the film trailer more relatable for our target audience. Similarly, incorporating mainstream interests such as partying, unique costumes or original music into the film will contribute towards catching the audience’s attention.
Favourite films might include:
Known for their unique and original plots, films such as ‘The Woman in Black’, ‘Paranormal Activity’, ‘Saw’ and ‘The Blair Witch Project’ are likely to be admired by our target audience. For example, ‘The Woman in Black’ is a favourite film for mainstreamers as it includes a psychologically thrilling plot. Similarly, ‘Saw’ is considered to be a mainstream film for its ability to interest the audience by the gruesome, horrific killings they wouldn’t usually be able to witness. As ‘Saw’ is regarded one of the goriest films, it becomes appealing to the mainstream audience because it’s different from the majority of what they’ve seen. Also, a well-established brand suggests that a lot of people are engrossed by the film and its sequels. Therefore, creating a trailer that represents already well known aspects and features of existing popular films will help to grab the attention of our target audience.
Below is the class horror poll that we conducted in October, 2012. It was carried out with 8 males and 9 females, and confirmed that females generally prefer psychological and action horrors, while males prefer gory horrors. The results were close, however, which suggests horror can appeal to both genders.
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