Target Audience Research for
Crime films
Our film
‘Infidelity’
Target Audience
The target audience of a film is essentially who the
distribution companies aim to sell and promote their
particular film to. It can vary between age groups, gender,
social class and film preferences – (foreign, independent,
different genres. Etc.)
Promotion consists of two categories: Primary and secondary.
A primary target audience being the main focus and direction
of which the advertising is aimed at.
The secondary is another group which the film may appeal to
but is secondary in importance/ significance to the
distribution company in terms of selling its product.
Target audience for our film - Infidelity
The target audience for our film Infidelity would be preferably a young male
audience, aged 18-35 years. Our film has few characters starring in it. The
two males and one female, suggests to us that it would be beneficial to aim
our film more at a male audience. With the themes of drugs, crime and
male jealousy at the heart of our film.
Although there is a case to be made with the film also appealing to a female
audience due to the strong female lead who is at the centre of the plot, who
plays the role of antagonist and sets the murders in motion.
Our film could appeal to people younger than 18 because of the teenage
themes/ cast but may be too mature for audiences below the 13 year old
mark. Due to the explicit violence, and hard drug abuse.
The film certificate is an 18+ so we wouldn’t target an audience which
would not legally be able to go and see the film – though of course people
under the age of 18 would go and see the film, it wouldn’t be as successful
aiming it at the age group because of the certificate barrier.
Target Audience of the
Crime genre - Gender
Conventionally crime films are aimed at a male gendered audience. This can be broken
down via the themes which most crime films cover; many feature guns, sex, violence,
gangs, cars and drug use. The stereotype is that a male would receive more enjoyment and
a rush than a female from watching films with these elements infused with in it. The
themes are combined with the characters in crime films, the stereotypical lead role is often
a masculine male with strong male traits – handsome, strong and often with a good set of
morals (although they can be slightly twisted due to the nature of their criminal behaviour).
However in todays postmodern era of film we are seeing more female actors play the lead
roles in films. Although there are not many crime films which convey a female lead. Kill Bill
and Jackie Brown are two examples of female driven films from the postmodernist director
Quentin Tarantino. Often in cinema history women play bit part roles in crime films. The
classic Femme Fatales of film noir come to mind when reminiscing over old crime films.
Female characters portrayed as the femme fatale; are shown as the seductive but
dangerous women who bring more problems to the main character than they solve. This
negative depiction of women can hamper the appeal of these crime films to a female
target audience and provide a stimulus for offering ‘eye candy’ for the male audiences.
Target Audience of the
Crime Genre - Age
The age set for a target audience can be pivotal to the marketing success of a film. An
age group can be key for knowing how to sell a film. For example a film trailer for a
teenage drama would use contemporary music to appeal to its audience by being more
authentic/ hip. The themes and actors used in a crime film will need to be relatable to
the age of the target audience. If say a crime film which was based upon the shooting of
John F Kennedy and starred Clint Eastwood, the majority of 15-18 year olds may not
know about the significance of the subject matter or recognise the actor.
Due to the genre of Crime, the films portray elements which may be unsuitable to
people below the age of 15. Many of the crime films have a 15 certificate rating due to
the content of criminal activity, drug abuse and sex as well as violence.
As well as the moral look on the film promotion in terms of age there is also a view for
the business sense of how you promote a film. Statistics state that the majority of
people who go to the cinema are aged between 15 and 24, and so distributors will often
aim their films toward this age group for maximum commercial success.
Marketing & Production
The production companies for films are not generally genre specific. Rather they are divided into
categories of financial power and either mainstream/ independent / Art house. Our film would fall
into the category of an independent production, with a low budget and unknown actors playing the
roles. The film does not require a huge financial backing due to the few settings, no use of special
effects or high profile actors.
The same applies to marketing/ distribution companies in that there are few genre orientated
companies specified to one or two genres of film only. However depending on the budget to
which the film operates it can acquire many distributors to exhibit their film internationally if
they wanted to. Our film would be shown only in the UK, due to our independent/ low budget
we wouldn’t be able to reach international audiences. I don’t feel our film would necessarily
appeal to audiences over seas as we have aimed it at a British audience, Infidelity is not a
Hollywood styled blockbuster crime film which has a mass appeal.
There are a few ways in which independent films can effectively promote their films. The
obvious use of cinematic trailers, posters will be used. Also we can gather ideas from other
indie films, such as Monsters (Gareth Edwards, 2010). They used a smart phone app called
‘Four Square’ which invited people to participate in events leading to the release of the film in
2010. They used elements of the film in the marketing, ‘infected zones’ were set up around
particular cities which willing participants would go to via Four Square. Once all the infected
zones had been reached, free tickets to see the film were rewarded.