4) Who would be the audience for your media product?
My main task is a horror/psychological thriller and so I would rate it 15 because of the violence involved. My film may contain numerous scenes containing gore and blood, which can be seen in the opening sequence with the pictures of weapons and dead bodies. When observing the criteria for a 15 certificate on the British Board of Film website, I found that the guidelines for an audience younger than 15, did not match the content of my film. ‘Sacrifice’ is a psychological/horror thriller, and if it were made into a feature-length film there is a high chance of strong scenes of violence and gore.
The majority of psychological thrillers are given a certificate of 15 and over due to the nature of the genre, being that it tackles psychological issues which are a sensitive topic and young audiences are quite impressionable. 'Black Book' and 'The Bone Collector' are examples of psychological thrillers with a 15 age rating.
Murder and cultism are apparent themes in my main and so the violence may be too graphic for a younger audience. This is advocated by the imagery used in the beginning of my film, the presentation of knives and bloodied bodies will be unsuitable for an audience under the age of 15.
The age range for the target audience of my main task would be 15-25, as this is a common age for viewers of thrillers and they are of a similar age to the cast of the film.
I created a questionnaire to see which subgenre of thriller was mostly popular amongst teenage girl (16-18) I found that the psychological thriller was popular alongside a drama thriller. However, when researching the demographics for psychological thrillers I found that they were mostly popular amongst a male audience; this was found on the website IMDB.
The storyline of ‘Sacrifice’ may appeal to an older audience as psychological thrillers depend on the knowledge of the audience to follow the narrative without confusion. Particularly as my plot uses editing techniques such as cutting between narratives, effects to reflect the torment in the characters mind and mature themes. Therefore, the ideal age group would be between the ages of 15-25; as this is a social group which are more likely to understand the plot as well as enjoy watching the film.
Macarthy Productions