Question 4: Who would be the audience for your media product?

The audience for our thriller, "From the Dark", is 16-25 year olds, as described in my Prezi describing our target audience.

Target Audience for our Thriller "From the Dark" on Prezi

This age group would be able to relate with our characters, as the main characters are teenagers/young adults, except from the mother, Eve. The standard middle-class teenage/young adult boy is a standard figure, and the audience would be able to relate with him, and empathise with him as he is thrown into a world of crime - like "J" in Animal Kingdom. As discussed in the Prezi above, Animal kingdom has a lot in common with our film in terms of audience - it is aimed at the same age group, and our thriller would ideally be advertised in a similar way.

"J" from "Animal Kingdom" - a similar film in terms of audience to our thriller, "From the Dark"

The standard, middle-class house can also be related to by the audience of our thriller, which is British, white, middle-class males aged between 16 and 25 - this further helps the audience relate to Jonathon Cody, as the location will be reasonably familiar. However, the action in our thriller, where this standard person is thrown into a new world of crime and danger, will excite the audience and keep their attention. This combination of a familiar figure and a sudden, drastic change in events will keep the audience interested.

As I have just mentioned, the audience of our thriller is British, white, middle-class males aged between 16 and 25. Our target audience is white because of the white characters of our thriller, and British because British people will be able to relate to the locations, themes and characters of the film. Also, the mise-en-scene of many shots contains cultural references to Britain e.g. the posters on Jonathon's wall showing British comedians and musicians. The audience is middle-class due to the middle-class house and characters. Finally, the audience is male because the characters of the thriller are mostly male. All of this helps the target audience relate to the character of Jonathon.

Posters showing British musicians, comedians, etc.

In addition, the fear we have utilised in our thriller (the fear of being alone and stalked by an unknown, hostile figure), is well-recognised to be universally suffered from. Most people have this fear, and by using it we have made the thriller more frightening and absorbing. The 16-25 demographic are often fans of horrors and more mature, non-child-friendly media texts as they are discovering things that they could not access before, when they were young. So by using a widespread fear, that of being stalked, we are making our film more exciting to this demographic.

Our target audience would likely watch thriller films such as James Bond, Animal Kingdom, etc. They would be interested in independent, niche, lower-budget films that are gritty and dark - such as our thriller, "From the Dark". This is also discussed in my research into our target audience.