Research: Targeting an audience

To target an audience the film distributors use a wide range of methods to help attract people. They use film trailers which is a sequence of clips from the film and this helps to give the audience an idea of what the film is about. They also use adverts on television which contains a short trailer and this helps to attract a wider variety of people. Junkets are also used which is where members of the cast are interviewed and they answer questions about the film.

Another very common method is used to target audiences and this is film posters the colours used within that film poster usually represents the genre of the film and this shows the audience what it will be about.

For example in this poster for Saw VI a lot of black is used and this helps to show the audience that it is a very dark and scary film and also the red in the middle which is usually symbolic of blood and this also helps the audience to realise the genre of the film. There is normally a picture of the protagonist or a motif that is linked to the film and this is called the central image.

In  this poster we see the red spiral and this is a reoccurring image within Saw as it is saw on the dolls face, the antagonist. This shows the audience that the films are carrying on and the same franchise is making more films.

Film reviews and word of mouth are also other ways that films are publicised. Film reviews are usually shown in magazines and also on the Internet and if they are good they will encourage people to go and see the film however the can also discourage people if the review is bad.

http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/reviewcomplete.asp?DVDID=9010

This is a review that is taken from Empire magazines website about the film 28 Days later, this review is accessible for anybody with the Internet and could seriously affect the films sales depending whether it is good or not. Also through word of mouth somebody may discourage or encourage you to go and see a particular film.