What's a target audience? - Research on American Pie

Audience profiles for teen films: American Pie

Demographics

• Gender: Male
• Aged: 25-39
• Social Grade: C2DE

Top Regions

• Wales
• Midlands
• South Coast

Politics

• Left wing

Professions

• Advertising/Marketing
• Consulting
• Manufacturing

Monthly Spare

• Less than £125

Lifestyle

Hobbies & Activities

• Quizzes
• Using the internet
• Board Games

Favourite Sports

• Boxing
• Football

General Interests

• Sex and Relationships
• Video Games
• Movies

Niche interests

• Sleeping
• Australia
• Amsterdam
• Careers & Requirements
• Paris

Most likely pet

• Cat

Personality

Describe themselves as

• Loving
• Funny
• Kind

But on occasion

• Selfish
• Quick-tempered
• Lacking self confidence

Brands they consume

Consumer of

• First Capital Connect
• Sky One
• CANON
• Apple
• McDonald's
• Batchelor's 
• National Rail
• Pringles
• NINTENDO
• London Underground

Shops at

• ASDA

Clothing brands

• Sports Direct
• Rocksport
• Timberland

Bank

• HSBC

Most likely car

• Toyota

Entertainment

Favourite movies

• American Pie 2
• Meet the Parents
• There's something about Mary
• The Hangover
• American Wedding

Favourite TV Shows

• Friends
• Men Behaving Badly
• The Office
• Little Britain
• Bottom

Favourite Music Artists

• Rihanna
• The Black Eyed Peas
• The Cranberries
• No Doubt
• Blink-182

Favourite Celebrities

• Owen Wilson
• Jack Black
• Elle Macpherson
• Adam Sandler
• Will Ferrel

Media

Online for

• 11-15 hours per week

Newspaper read

• Mirror

Magazines read

• Nuts magazine

Watched TV for

• 1-5 hours per week

TV Shows watched recently

• Family Guy
• 24 Hours in A&E
• How I Met Your Mother
• Come dine with me
• Googlebox

Having only researched this one film into proper depth, the conclusion I came to was that the audience for this film was quite different to the usual audience you would expect to see for a teen film. What I found out was that the majority of the audience for this specific film was male and 25+ whereas the usual audience for a teen film would be teenagers. Although it was clear that adults do watch teen films, the genre of the film states that it's specified for a certain target audience - and that is, teens. However I found out that the audience for this film was very manly, working class and 'lad-ish'.

Surprisingly, the audience for the other movies I briefly looked at was very similar to this one - in referral to the age group. Most movies had an audience of 25-39 in referral to age. Only the Inbetweeners movie and Kidulhood had an audience of 18-24 which was not surprising. What I found that was surprising was that Harry Potter had an audience of females 40-59 years old, and Attack the Block had male 40-59 which is very unexpected.

To conclude my research, what I initially thought was the audience for teen movies (mainly teenagers) turned out to be quite different to what I found out in my research. The target audience seems to mostly be 25-39 year olds.

Who makes title sequences?

GAME OF THRONES TITLE SEQUENCE

 

The Game of Thrones title sequence was produced in the Production Studio Elastic as we can see by the creative director Angus Wall.

Here we have more information from artofthetitle.com on the credits:

There is also an interview about the title sequence which gives us an overview of how the designers deal with the title sequences.

We also get a sense of the people who get a say in the title sequences.

As Game of Thrones is a TV based show with a TV based title sequence, I decided to also show a perspective from a movie (The Interview)

Bloggin Task 11 - Sub-genres Of Teen Drama Films

Favourite film

Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant

Credits

• Production/Distribution companies x4 (Universal Pictures, in Association with Relativity Media, a Donners' Company/Depth Field Production, a Paul Weitz film)
• Title (Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant)
• Actors x17
• Original score
• Co-producer
• Visual effects
• Special effects x2
• Costume designer
• Editor
• Production designer
• Director of photography
• Executive producers x4
• Producers x4
• Based on
• Screenplay x2
• Director
• 43 credits

Analysis of the title sequence

• This title sequence is very similar to other Hollywood title sequences in the sense that we are first introduced to the Production and Distribution companies, and then we are introduced to the title of the movie, followed by actors, producers etc. and lastly followed by the director. 

• However it's quite different from some other Hollywood movies, as it shows it's own unique design in referral to font and the way that it shows on the screen. It very clearly links to the theme of the film and the general plot-line of the film. This also stands for the scenery behind the credits, which is very dark and gloomy - very much like the plot of the movie and the events which happen during it. 

• The dark, gloomy colours, the small figures which are moved by strings and the red eyes all refer back to the title of the movie. The sequence very much reminds me of a Tim Burton movie. In this sequence we are introduced to the main character at the beginning of the sequence, and during the sequence we are introduced to a few more important characters, although not all of them. 

• Furthermore, we get a sense of setting - which is a very gloomy, graveyard/circus setting and we also see a lot of spiderwebs. They are also seen in the credits, used as one of the ways in which the credits enter the screen. 

Categorising title sequences

Titles on a blank screen

Historically the most common type of title sequences, it involves different types of face usually white on black to create contrast. Usually used on low budget films.

Example: Pulp Fiction [A very simple and boring title sequence which tells us nothing about the storyline, plot or mood of the film. It only shows us the credits.]

Titles on still images

Much more elaborate than titles on a blank screen. They indicated a way to move past text, and move onto visuals to show theme/tone of the movie. Studios began to support development of more elaborate title sequences. It requires combining different media to make backgrounds. Music and still images accompany credits to introduce theme/genre.

Example: Kyle Cooper [Very simple again, but shows main characters and possibly gives a general introduction of plot line]

Titles over moving images

Incorporates credit titles with moving images behind the dialogue. The moving image usually offers metaphor/narrative thread to hint the tone/storyline.

Example: Rear Window [Very boring, main focus is on credits and we can't really see what's happening behind the dialogue.]

Titles using Animation/Motion

Became very popular in the last 90s. Titles became part of moving images and integrated with images we see. Requires digital technology and stylised editing.

Example: Casino Royale [More interesting than the other title sequences, shows plot line and gives a general idea of what may happen. Keeps you interested.]

Research into institutions

During the research into institutions, we looked at two films which were American, and two which were British. From our initial research on title credits, we concluded that the two American films (10 Things I Hate About You and Mean Girls) had much more credits than the British films (Mean Girls - 26 credits, 10 Things I Hate About You - 28 credits) whilst the British films had around 10-15 credits each. We came to the conclusion that the Hollywood movies were high budget, and the British films were low budget therefore more money could be spent on having more people in American movies in the credits.

During our research on budgets, we found out very similar things as we did with the credits' research. The Hollywood movies simply had more. Whilst the budget for 10 Things was $16 mil and the budget for Mean Girls was $17 mil, whilst the budget for the British movies was under $1 mil each. Furthermore, the Gross budget was very high for the American movies (Mean Girls - $129 mil Worldwide, 10 Things - $53.4 mil Worldwide) and also very low for the British movies, even though Beautiful Thing made $3 mil.

We concluded that 10 Things and Mean Girls were mainstream movies, and that Beautiful Thing and My Brother the Devil were independent movies.

What is Genre?

What is genre?

A Genre is a particular literary group specified for its qualities.

What is a Teen Drama film?

A Teen Drama film is a particular genre which targets a Teen audience. 

A particular Genre such as Teen Drama can convey certain aspects that attract them to specific audience members. Mainstream Teen Dramas such as American big budgeted movies (Mean Girls, Clueless etc) appeal to mainly the female gender and of a variety of ages from 12-28. Whereas Independent movies, mainly UK based will convey different Teen Drama aspects in their productions that may not target the female gender and ages 12-28. 

Blogging Task 8 - Teen Drama Genre

 

When researching into the institutions that produce teen drama films, we compared four films, two British and two American. Through watching each of the films title sequences we found clear differences between the British films and the American films. The title sequences showed that "Mean Girls" and "10 things I hate about you" (American films) had more then 25 credits each, whereas "My brother the devil" and "Beautiful thing" (British films) each had below 21. These statistics tell us that usually most mainstream films have the money to include more factors into their film and contracts are also made before films to ensure who gets into the credits. In both "Mean Girls" and "10 things i hate about you" they have a main Production company, again whereas "My brother the devil" and "Beautiful thing" have more than one (Beautiful thing has four production companies). This is necessary for independent films as they need a number of different production companies to fund their films in order for them to make them, mainstreams films can afford to have one production company.

 When looking into the budgets for each of the films, the american films were funded around $16/17 million each and the British films had less than £1 million and in return "10 things i hate about you" received $53 million worldwide and "Mean Girls" a Staggering $129 million worldwide. However for the British independent films "My brother the devil" only received £1.2 million and "Beautiful thing" 3 million. Through looking into these institution, we can see that mainstream teen films have a bigger audience then independent teen films, this is due to the budget and the conglomerates that own the big production companies that fund them.

Blogging Task 7 - Analysis of Favourite Film Title Sequence

Memento

      

Directed By: Christopher Nolan

Produced By: Suzanne Todd, Jennifer Todd

Screenplay by: Christopher Nolan

Based on :"Memento Mori" By Jonathan Nolan

Starring: Guy Pearce, Carrie-Anne Moss, Joe Pantoliano

Music By: David Julyan

Cinematography: Wally Pfister

Edited By: Dody Dorn

Production Companies: Summit Entertainment, Team Todd

Distributed By: Newmarket

Release dates: 5th September 2000 (Venice), 16th March, 2001 (United States)

Running Time: 113 minutes

Country: United States

Language: English

Budget: $5million 

Box Office: $39.7million

Order of Credits:

• Title
• Actors (x5)
• Casting Director
• Music Director
• Costume Director
• Editor
• Production Designer
• Director of Photography 
• Co-Producer
• Co-Executive Producer
• Executive Producers (x2)
• Producers (x2)
• Screenplay
• Author of the Book
• Director