For a film to be successful it is vital that the target audience is at the heart of all key decisions mad.
These are the people who will ultimately make the film a success or see the film as a major flop. The first key decision that the institution must make is, who exactly are the audience? They may choose to first produce the film and then figure out who it is aimed at, or in most cases the company will decide to make a film for the target audience.This then allows the institution to focus the marketing on them, employing the best possible ways to connect with the audience, such as for younger generations an internet viral campaign whereas for the elder generation it may be wise to focus on television and newspaper advertising. For my case study I took a look at ‘Slumdog Millionaire’, this was originally aimed at a predominantly Asian audience within the UK and also towards Danny Boyle fans.
Despite this the film had unexpected success at film festivals, and being nominated for Oscars led to it having a second theatrical release.Slumdog Millionaire’ is a clear example of how a film can be wrongly marketed, albeit with a more successful outcome. Many film companies decide to focus on a wider audience breadth as a way of maximising the potential viewers they can get, rather than just focusing on a small sector of the market. However this is often more difficult to do for smaller companies, as they do not have the funds to do this. For example, in the UK ‘Wallace and Gromit’ does well as it targets everyone, where as something like Ali G may experience poorer sales as it has a niche and predominantly male audience.Once this focus has been found it is important that the institution produce a media text that suits the target audience and does not drift into other target audiences.
In production there are several audience influenced factors that need to be considered. The institution need to consider the budget and if it will fulfil the needs of what the production team want, and allow them to produce a film that is right for the audience. It is also important once again that they have clearly identified who their target audience is and more importantly what they expect to see.The audience also needs to be considered in the distribution stages of a film. One decision that has to be made is whether to use a famous distributor. For many larger film studios the distributor is part of the whole synergy of the company, whereas smaller companies use distributors which they can afford on their limited budgets.
The importance of this decision was highlighted in Film 4’s film Yasmin’s case. This was initially released on a small scale and overseas and also aired the Film 4 channel.However this increased its popularity and people found that because it was released by a small distributor they could not find it anywhere. The first choice that many distribution companies need to decide is where to screen the film. They have several choices, if it is a large budget film then it will usually go straight on at a multiplex cinema, if it is made by an independent company then it is likely to be screened in an art house cinema, or it may be released straight onto DVD. Another decision is what languages the film should be shown in.
To maximise a films revenue and the audience it can reach, many film companies will translate their films into other languages, either through subtitling or voice over the original film. The media institution also must choose the correct technologies to distribute their media texts. For example one of the main questions for film companies nowadays is whether to release on DVD or Blu-Ray only. The advancement in technology and in particular HD means that home cinema now can produce stunning visuals.In Fox’s film Avatars case this it is increasingly important to make full use of the technology as their frequent use of CGI means that improved visuals make the film look more impressive.
3D may yet also improve this experience of home cinema, but the problem is that the scale of this at the moment is fairly limited as not many people have the technology capable of receiving it. The British Film Industry uses this technology through freesat, a free satellite digital television service that offers channels in High Definition.If a film is therefore shown on one of the Freesat channels, for example on the BBC, then it will also be broadcast in HD. It is also vital to make the film well known to the audience through using the internet. This can include creating an own website, linking this homepage to other websites and also using viral adverts.
The internet has also increased the ways in which an audience can choose to view a film, both legally and illegally. You can choose to use film postal order websites such as lovefilm.COM or download certain movies through iTunes, whilst it is also possible to download illegal copies of movies through websites such as the infamous ‘Pirate bay’, often before the actual film has had its theatrical release. A film institution may also be able to more accurately target the correct audience, by methods such as offering a trailer on YouTube and monitoring who watches it.
An issue also raised by the media institutions is the audience strategies in facilitation or challenging an institutions practices.The audience can facilitate the British Film Industry through watching the film on different platforms, such as on TV, from rental shops or through the internet. This can be damaging to the British Film Industry as they obviously don’t get all of the profits generated. Challenging an institution is not very common in the film industry; this is because there is barely any indication of what an audience will get from a film before it is released. The customers may have a say through preview film screenings, however the company is unlikely to consider dramatic changes, rather subtle ones such as the inclusion or exclusion of particular scenes.
In conclusion there are many issues brought up by the media institutions need to target specific audiences and there are some specific things that need to be done to achieve the right targeting of the right audiences. For example creating the text for a specific audience, then using technology to finds out a more refined idea of the audience and then marketing appropriately and subsequently the institution needs to distribute the text appropriately. It is hoped then that if the institution meets the needs of the criteria it should not be a flop.
