Evaluation. Question 4.

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

Traditionally romantic comedies have a target audience of around 15-35 years. The more mature romantic comedies are targeted at an audience of around 30-45 years. For the younger audience there are romantic comedies labelled teen romcom’s for the younger generation of around 12-25. This is my main target audience for my film Classmates and the audience I will be focusing on. 

As all the actors in my two minute opening are all in a specific age range of 16-18 years, this will attract an audience of the same age range. Having a large difference in class presented by my characters, attracts an audience of different social classes that everyone can relate to. For example the main male character is a character that quite a lot of men can relate to, whatever their class. He enjoys going for a drink with his mates, sleeps in from time to time, late for school etc.

It is difficult to pinpoint an exact target audience for a certain film, as there are different romcom’s aimed at different audiences.  For example a romcom such as Love Actually has quite a large target audience of around 20-40 years of age. This film is aimed mainly at middle aged women as the content contains material about love and marriage which would not appeal to a younger audience. The film has a certificate 15, which is a different decision for a romantic comedy as it limits the audience. As the film is targeted at an older audience, it would not be seen as the wrong decision to make.

Whereas a film such as Mean Girls would not appeal to the older generation, as it includes characters who are all quite young around the ages of 16-25. The teen romcom Mean Girls in set in an American high school and follows the life of a teenage girl and all the different stereotypes she encounters at her new school. This is another aspect that would not interest an older audience as the plot does not appeal to them, as having matured tastes and having already lived through the younger stages in their life.

The social class for a teen romcom is aimed at the higher end of the middle class to towards the middle working class. This is the same for teen romcom’s as it is the more mature romcom’s. The genre of romcom can target both middle class and lower classes by including characters that reflect every class as a whole. Stereotypes are often used in films to reflect certain people and personalities, with this the teen audience who watches the film, can relate to the different characters independently to what social class they may be from.
The predominate race in my film are Caucasian characters. The actors all live in a similar area to one another, and so have a similar culture. The audience for this film would attract a Caucasian audience as people who can relate to the characters.
This however does not rule out other ethnicities. The target audience is not simply narrowed down to a Caucasian audience, just because the majority of the characters are Caucasian. Films that in the past that have featured mainly just Caucasian characters, has not affected a mixed race audience or box office ratings. My featured film should not have a narrow cultured audience either.
Most romantic comedies are aimed mainly at a female, heterosexual audience. My film does explore different aspects of peoples sexuality, therefore allows for a homosexual audience as well as a heterosexual one. The main focus and idea of my film is that the male character falls in love with the main female character, who is a lesbian. Seeing as the general focus for the comedic and romantic aspects of the film will be the male trying to win over the rich, attractive, popular girl when she is actually in love with a woman would attract a heterosexual and homosexual audience. By targeting a homosexual audience as well as a heterosexual audience goes against the usual romantic comedy conventions of a male and female falling in love with each other. My storyline complicates the plot of a usual romcom and after the two minute opening to the film, leaves the audience wanting to watch the rest of the film.  
I created a romantic comedy questionnaire to give to my target age range to find out what they actually though and knew about romantic comedies and wherever they felt targeted as a teen audience.

This is the questionnaire I gave to 15 member of my target age range. The age range of people who answered my questionnaire was between 14-18 years.

Who would be the audience of your media product?

Untitled from HarrietHarding on Vimeo.

Romantic Comedy Questionnaire

     1.       Do you feel that you are targeted as a teenage audience for some romantic comedies? If so why?

     2. Who would you watch a teen romcom with?

3. What types of stereotypical characters would you expect to see in a romantic comedy?

4. Who do you think the targeted audience is for a romantic comedy?

5. From what social backgrounds are the typical romantic comedy characters from?

6. What sexual orientations do you usually acknowledge in a teen romantic comedy?

Question 1:

Yes, most teenage romantic comedies are based in schools with characters of similar ages. However some are targeted at an older audience as they have story lines that would interest a more middle ages person. Question 1:

Question 2:

Friends, family, boyfriend.

Question 3:

Attractive male and female characters, groups such as nerds, geeks, losers etc.

Question 4:

Women, around the ages of 16-30.

Question 5:

All different types of social backgrounds. Rich and poor, and in-between.

Question 6:

Straight couples, gay, male best friends.