My Film - Audience Research

To create a successful film, it's crucial to make sure that there's an audience for it.
I decided to look at the BFI's Audience Research and Statistics to find out more.
(I took screenshots of the information that was most relevant to my film, and the general state of the market.)

I intend for my film to be in the hybrid genre of horror, thriller and sci-fi, meaning that the target audience for it would typically be teenagers and young adults (ranging from approximately 15-24 year olds.)
Usually the audience for these film genres is predominantly male, but I want to target female viewers as well to expand my audience base (hence having a female protagonist and antagonist.)

Therefore my primary audience is going to be 15-24 year olds of both genders, while my secondary audience is 25-34 year olds.

The research I did helped to confirm my ideas.

As I didn't want my film to appeal to a specific gender, I wanted to make audience age my primary focus for target audience. These statistics show how the 15-24 year olds made up the largest percentage of audience; as people of this age also tend to prefer movies from my chosen hybrid genre, this meant I was setting myself up with a substantial potential audience.

General Notes 

• "The overall audience for the top 20 and top UK films in 2014 had a slight bias towards males who made up 53% of total cinema-goers for these films."
• "25-34 year olds make up the second largest percentage of film consumers at 18%."
• "Films with a strong action element were particularly popular among male audiences."
• "Female audiences were drawn to a broader range of films."
• "Black and minority ethnic groups were over-represented among cinema-goers."
• "UK films were popular among all social groups in 2014."  
  

As males make up a slightly larger percentage of the cinema-goers than females, it's important to look at what types of film's they're attracted to.

The AB social group (e.g. people in high power jobs - they make up about 20% of the HRP UK population) make up 30% of the survey population and found most appeal in the independent UK films, suggesting my film has a fair chance of appealing to them.

I also looked at the rating system by the BBFC.
 
Due to the theme of horror, and the violence that usually accompanies it, I predict that my film would be given a 15 rating, (even though I don't intend to include anything explicit in my opening.)