How my product engages with audience and how it would be distributed as a real media text [EVALUATION Q2]

PRODUCT ENGAGEMENT WITH AUDIENCES

During the planning of my film, I used several different sources of information to try to establish what my target audience would be.

Summary: My target audience is mostly male and in the top 50% of the NRS social grades. The most popular age range within my target audience is between 25-34 years old. Majority of my target audience prefers watching movies in cinemas than anywhere else. They also typically watch movies so that they can talk about those movies with their friends and family. My target audience typically enjoys films featuring blockbuster action, comedy, music and family friendly content. They usually watch conventional films, but are open-minded and still watch some unconventional films. They tend to live near city centres and have easy accessibility to art galleries.

Now, how do certain aspects of my product engage with my target audience?

Narrative

My story is clear for most but begins with one specific unexplained moment: why the protagonist is strangely showering with all of his clothes on. I have a MacGuffin in my film: The Girl. This character is what moves the plot forward where The Man has the intention of getting into a romantic relationship with The Girl. My target audience typically enjoys films where they do not completely understand the plot until the end, because they are mature enough to understand and enjoy the mystery of certain unexplained aspects of the film.

Exploring fears 

The film plays on the fear of human predators, The Man - a smart and dangerously ambitious character - preys on The Girl - a young and naive character. Moreover, the monstrous character - The Man - is the character who wins in the story and gets what they want, so there is no happy ending. My target audience is old enough to want to watch a film with a topic this disturbing, whereas other audiences may find it too scary and traumatising. My target audience also typically enjoys catharsis - enjoying the purging of dark thoughts through experiencing them in a safe way by watching scary films such as mine. Psychoanalyst Ernest Hartmann sees dreams as ways for people to learn how to deal with dangerous situations without having to experience them in real life. Similarly, my target audience typically uses films like mine to learn from them and to apply them in real life situations without having to actually experience them in real life; other audiences are not as likely to experience such occurrences in their age range and therefore this film would not be as necessary to them.

Ideology

The main ideological issue that my film presents is whether we should feel pity or anger towards a mentally ill criminal; is the crime completely their fault? Can they control what their ill mind is telling them to do? My target audience would be intrigued by this question as mental health is a very relevant topic in my target audience's age range.
 

Representation

My film's main character, The Man, follows similar traits to that of my target audience: Male and both physically and mentally mature. Because of this, my target audience is more likely to see themselves in this character and feel more invested in the film due to the fact that they can relate to this character, at least before the death reveal. The other main character in my film, The Girl, is seen as a naive and innocent girl; someone who does not seem like they know a lot about how to stay safe or be aware of any danger around them. The fact that this victim is already presented as vulnerable through her personality reinforces the sympathy that the audience feels for her.

Tone

The tone of my film is mysterious, musical, romantic and disturbing. The sudden changes between tone intensify how disturbing the film is, and so my target audience would be engaged in this movie because they typically like movies with music in them. The film's intensity of disturbance is also appropriate to be shown to my target audience.

Style

My film is similar to a silent film and it uses a near equal amount of conventional and unconventional film techniques. Music also plays throughout most of the sequence. The sequence example that I am comparing my film to is one that I have previously analysed, from the thriller show True Blood (2008-14):

Like my film, this credit sequence has music playing throughout the sequence. This appeals to my target audience because most of them want to watch a film with music in it.

DISTRIBUTION AND MARKETING

Distribution Strategy

I would plan to distribute my film in cinemas because most of my target audience enjoys going to cinemas. Since most of my target audience are of the higher classes range (ABC1), they can likely also afford to buy a video-on-demand platform subscription such as Netflix. I would sign an distribution deal with Netflix because it is the most popular streaming service in the world, with 221.8 million subscribers (as of April 2022).  I would also submit my film to 3 main film festivals: Festival de Cannes, Toronto International Film Festival, and Bombay International Film Festival. I would plan to do this because these festivals are widely spread across the world, and these festivals are very well-known, so if my film gets shortlisted in the festivals then they will be effective global promotion for my film. I would aim to submit and showcase my film to the film festivals before releasing it to cinemas and Netflix, so that the exclusivity of my film engages the interest of potential audiences globally. The cinema release date for my film was initially going to be someday in October, the month of Halloween; however, if my film is released at that time, like many other mainstream horror movies will be, then I would have a lot of competition. Therefore, I have decided to release the film as far away from Halloween as I can and instead release it in cinemas on the 30th of April, 2023.

Choice of Distribution Company

I would choose Magnolia Pictures, because this American film distributor specialises in foreign and independent films, especially thrillers; my film fits all of those descriptions. 

Marketing Strategy

Since my target audience enjoys going to the cinema often, the most effective form of marketing would probably be cinema in-store promotions, such as: window displays, trailers, cut-outs, etc. This is because whenever they go to cinemas, which they do frequently, they are much more likely to notice the advert. I would also have broadcast advertising because majority of my target audience enjoys to watch light television. The broadcast advert would be a short clip of starting with a screen glitch, cutting to a black screen with sounds playing from my film. This tv spot gives very little information about the film and therefore raises a lot of intrigue because of the mystery of the ad. This is a form of guerrilla marketing which I believe will help build publicity for my film due to its ambiguity attracting a lot of curious potential audiences.

I would not use web advertising because a large amount of my target audience uses ad blockers, therefore making my marketing less effective in engaging as much of my target audience as possible.

An example of a distribution strategy of a film with the same genre as mine is the one for The Babadook (Kent, 2014). 

The film was first released in January 2014 in Sundance Film Festival. It later went on to be shown in many other film festivals before having it shown anywhere else yet. It eventually released in cinemas in Australia on the 22nd of May, 2014.