Media Studies - Audience Essay

Audience Essay

Codes of conventions of a film are the things that make up the genre of film, e.g. a film like Silent Hill will usually feature blood, weapons, violence, monsters etc. Films usually last an hour and a half or longer. Codes and conventions can be split into three groups, technical (lighting, camera shots), Image (clothing, hair, etc) and audio (music, narrator). Therefore a horror movie would have shaky camera movements and dark lighting, the characters would be covered in blood etc and the music would be fast and pacey or slow and creepy.

An audience would usually expect to be entertained when watching a film, if the audience was watching an action film they would expect to see special effects, explosions, fast cars, guns, etc. The audience want to be entertained so they would expect to see a good storyline in the film because if they do not like it they would not buy the DVD; therefore the film company loses profit.

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The film industry target their audience for a specific type of film through film trailers, sponsors, products with the main film star on it, etc. If the film industry was targeting a younger audience, for their film they could target their audience through sponsorship. A company like McDonalds can help target their audience by providing toy characters from the film. These toy characters would be put into the happy meal boxes so when the children buy the happy meal and see the toy characters’ and the film images on the box it will make them want to ...

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The film industry mainly uses trailers and posters to promote a film. Trailers are shown on TV and posters are displayed on magazines, billboards, buses, etc. Other ways of promotion is film premieres. The actors/actresses dress up for this event where they will show the first screening of the film. The audience will come to see their favourite movie star and they can ask for autographs’, etc. The actors and actresses will have photos taken and press conferences about the film.

These methods of promotions are effective because trailers are short clips from the best parts of the film, they leave the audience in suspense and the trailer leaves an enigma making the audience want to see the film. Trailers are shown on TV, cinema and can also be heard on the radio. Film posters are also effective because they can be displayed on a variety of different places such as buses, bus stops, the tube or in magazines and newspapers. Film posters will feature a picture of the main star and will have the title of the film and a tagline. Film posters usually have large letters in bold and bright colours. This makes the poster stand out and catches the audience attention making the audience want to see the film. As the can be shown on different places the film industry can have more people watching their film. Film premieres are also effective for promoting a film because many people will come to the premiere to meet their favourite actors and actresses. As the audience see their favourite movie stars walk the red carpet they get to ask them for autographs and have photos taken with them. The audience who attended the premiere would want to see the film even more after just meeting the movie star and because their favourite actor or actress is in it. I think the best method for promoting a film to an audience is trailers because they leave the audience in suspense wanting to see more. They are shown most of the time on TV and many people in the UK own a TV and spend most of the day in front of it. As for film posters not everyone takes public transport except mostly business people so they would not have enough time to look at the poster as they are rushing to get to work, also not everyone reads the newspaper or magazines so the posters would not attract the audience much. Film premieres are usually crowded therefore people will not attend.