Your target audience for your media production is a mainstream audience of 30-49 year olds. 

Complete these tasks:

1. Define the term ‘mainstream’

Mainstream is a term used to describe ideas and attitudes shared by most people and is regarded as normal

2. Identify five contemporary (last 10 years or so) mainstream films for each of these genres/subgenres:

Action

• John Wick (2019)
• Taken 3 (2015)
• 118 (2019)
• Baby Driver (2017)
• Mad Max (2015)

Superhero

• Avengers Endgame (2019)
• Black Panther (2018)
• Guardians of the galaxy (2014)
• Spiderman: Homecoming (2017)
• Wonder Woman (2017)

Crime

• Mission Impossible: Fallout (2018)
• James Bond: Spectre (2015)
• Hot Fuzz (2007)
• Nightcrawler (2014)
• Oceans 8 (2018)

Musical

• La La Land (2016)
• Mamma Mia: Here we go again (2018)
• The greatest showman (2017)
• A star is born (2018)
• Aladdin (2019)

Fantasy

• Fantastic Beasts (2018)
• Alice in wonderland (2010)
• Harry Potter & the deathly hallows (2011)
• Maleficent (2014)
• Snow White & the huntsman (2012)

Historical drama

• Mary queen of Scots (2018)
• 12 Years a slave (2013)
• Suffragette (2015)
• The Kings speech (2010)
• Lincoln (2012)

Western

• Hostiles (2017)
• The Hateful Eight (2015)
• The Revenant (2015)
• The Lone Ranger (2013)
• Django Unchained (2012)

War

• Dunkirk (2017)
• Hacksaw Ridge (2016)
• Fury (2014)
• Allied (2016)
• American Sniper (2014)

Horror

• Us (2019)
• Get Out (2017)
• It (2017)
• A Quiet Place (2018)
• The Witch (2015)

Science fiction

• Arrival (2016)
• Blade runner 2049 (2017)
• Annihilation (2018)
• Intersteller (2014)
• The Martian (2015)

 

2. Read and take notes on this article by Stephen Follows: https://stephenfollows.com/what-older-cinemagoers-are-watching/

 

The genres older cinemagoers are watching

Drama has the oldest audience overall, with over 60% of cinema-goers who watch dramas being older than 25. The oldest age group are best represented among dramas. Other genres which perform poorly with older audiences are Animation (13%), Sci-fi (16%) & Action (16%).

The most popular films with older cinema-goers

(45+ AS % Of audience)

• Sweet & lowdown (100%)
• Mr. Turner (81%)
• The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (81%)
• Philomena (79%)
• The Queen (77%)

 

Popular actors/actresses with 45+ age segment showed that Judi Dench appears in 9% of movies within this group. As well as Cate Blanchett (5 appearances), Meryl Streep (4), Maggie Smith (3), Ralph Fiennes (3) & Jim Broadbent (3).

 

3. Create a SurveyMonkey for adults aged 30-49 and aim to get at least five responses to your survey. Your survey must include the questions:

• How old are you?
• What is your favourite film?
• What is favourite genre? (Give options)
• What is your favourite film era (50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 00s, 10s)
• What was the last film you saw at the cinema?
• What features make you want to watch a film? (Add options to this)
• Do you visit film websites?
• Do you engage with films on social media?
• Do you use streaming sites to watch films?
• Are you aware of the film company Universal?
• If yes, could you name a film made by Universal?
• Are you aware of the film company Columbia?
• If yes, could you name a film made by Columbia?

 

My Survey Monkey: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/7HXMCW8

Stretch and challenge task: Analyse the survey data – what does this information tell us about film trends among this age group? (150-250 words)

It shows us that younger audiences enjoy more animations and fictional films, whereas older audiences enjoy almost the opposite. Their lack of interest in animation, sci-fi & action suggests that they enjoy more realistic approaches and representations in the film genres. It shows us that 15-24 year olds are most interested in horror (54%) & crime films (41%), whereas 45+ enjoy Dramas (28%), Romance (24%) & Mystery (22%). Although the 35-44 age range is fairly consistent across most genres, (with the lowest of 12%- Horror to 21%-Animation). These results are almost the inverse of what I would expect, suggesting that these age ranges likely were with their children to see Animation films which might help explain the data results. It clearly shows that the Horror genre is targeted towards 15-24 year olds, and a complete lack of anyone under 15 seeing these films. (which can be as expected due to the age ratings of most horror films being 15/18+). However, it could be argued that streaming sites such as Netflix may sabotage this data.