Audience Construction

When looking at cinema audiences within the UK, there is an established trend of cinema goers. When looking at age, the majority of cinema goers are in the age range of 15-24. Though, from the year of 1997 to 2008, the percentage of younger cinema goers decreased to the expense of an increasing older audience.


Additionally, when considering the most popular gender recorded going to the cinema this is seen to be dependent on the film being shown. For example when looking at both genders, there was a high percentage of female cinema goers when the film 'Bridesmaids' was showing within the industry. This was contrasted with only a small proportion of males visiting the cinema.  This would be so, due to weddings appealing more to the female audience and also the casting of the film being mainly female actresses.  In opposition to this, there was seen to be a high attendance male audience when the film 'Transformers: Dark of the Moon' was released. Again, this is due to the genre and subject of the film being both action packed and based upon cars, something generally associated with the male sex.


Again, the social group of the most popular cinema goers depends on the social class of the film. A more sophisticated film such as 'The King's Speech' saw a high percentage of the social group falling into the AB category whereas, only a small audience of these were seen viewing, 'Johnny English Reborn' when a high DE audience were present. This is due to the genre of the film being less formal, being more on a comical level.



How have the audience been constructed for three films? 

Firstly, I will be analysing the audience for the film, 'The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2'. This film was recently released in sequel in November 2012.  Typically, I would assume this film to appeal to a young teenage audience. The main reason for my assumption is due to the casting of the film. The main cast are seen to be young actors and actresses, fitting the storyline of a teenage girl falling in love with a vampire.
When considering gender preferences, I would think females to be the majority of the audience. Firstly, this is due to the perspective of the film being shown from a females point of view. Additionally this film contains areas of the romance genre. Romance is generally associated with the female audience due to the assumption that the male sex do not show emotions. Finally, my assumption is evidential due to the actor, Robert Pattinson being seen as a teenage girl 'heart throbe', increasing the female, teenage audience.
The NRS social grade of the film is hard to distinguish. Though, I would say this film would appeal to both AB and DE social class grouping. My reason for this choice is due to the advertising material of this film. When looking at two dimensional advertising materials such as posters, these are seen to be of high quality being professionally photographed showing quality. This would suggest a replication of quality within the film and therefore appealing to the AB social class. In opposition to this, the majority of the posters are seen to show exposed figures, with the male sex being projected topless to reel in the female target audience although, this may be seen too unsophisticated for the upper social grouping but instead appealing more to the DE audience.
Finally, when considering the characteristics and values of the audience, I believe that the audience are interested in symbolism and possibly mythological creatures. I believe their is a lot of symbolism in this film with the wolves representing companionship and leadership, in contrast to vampires representing life after death. With the audience believing in mythological creatures this would mean that the audience are interested in the fantasy genre. With the fantasy genre this means that the audience are imaginative, connecting and intervening with super natural events.

For my second film choice I will be analysing 'Les Miserables'.  This film was recently released last month on 11th January 2013. Firstly, when considering the age category seen to be viewing this film, I would depict the main age group to be that of an older audience, ranging from middle aged to the 'baby boom' audience. My reasoning for this is due to the film being released on the 25th anniversary concert of Les Miserables. This would almost immediately rule out the young to teenage audience due to issues in relating to the context of the film. Whereas, to an older audience, the film could be considered as part of a sequel to what they have already seen. This therefore, may influence the audience to experience a 'classic' in a different media platform.
The predominant gender audience, I feel would be female. This is because the film falls into the musical genre, specifically encompassing that of opera. Relating back to historic times, opera was popular within the female audience, from then constructing films such as 'The Sound Of Music' and 'Moulin Rouge' to particularly target the female audience. Not only this but, a sub genre to this film is romance. Romance is generally associated with females due to it implicating the desires of which women hold and hope.
I would assume the NRS social grading of this film to apply to the AB audience. My assumption is held because firstly, the film is highly historically based, being set in the time period of the French Revolution. This would mean that the audience would have to be fairly educated, allowing them to understand the context within the film. Also, if you were to look at the advertising material this is seen to be professionally constructed, capturing the emotional aspects behind the film. From looking at the two dimensional advertising, you can retrieve the sophisticated manner of the film due to the bold serif font and the simple but effective phrases such as 'I am the law'. This is a powerful statement, suggesting this film is something audiences must follow by.
Finally, the audience carry certain characteristics and values. I think the audience must fall into the value of working class citizens due to their potentially high AB social class. I would think the characteristics of this audience would be individuals who are interested in the theatre relating to the musical genre of the film. They maybe also be interested in culture due to my assumption that they will be an older, more mature audience.

For my third and final film, I will be analyising the film 'SkyFall'. This film was released on 26th October 2012.  Skyfall is Columbia Picture's 23rd James Bond film to be released. Firstly, I would predict the age range for this film would be the large 15-44 age category. It wouldn't be lower than this as much because the film is rated a 12A therefore, meaning parents would have to accompany their child to the film seen as they are too young to screen the film by themselves. You are able to distinguish this audience age catergory for many reasons; the first being the monochromatic colour scheme on the website.

The black, white and grey colours are more sophisticated which aid the more adult themes in the film. Similarly, the language used on this site such as "consideration", "theatres" and "corporation"  are all fairly complex in their denotations. "Theatres" isn't a common word used nowadays for the cinema but older generations of adults might tend to use this word as opposed to "cinema". Therefore, the film is clearly made for an older audience. What's more the logo of the film (007) has the image of a gun on it. This symbol is repeated in the film poster where James Bond is holding a gun. One could suggest that the use of violence and action in this film would deter many younger cinema-goers (and their parents/guardians) from allowing them to go and see it but also influence the male gender. 

Following this, Immediately one would assume that this film is predominantly for a male audience due to the action genre, gun shaped logo and James Bond's "cool" character appealing to males. Traditionally, the females that appear in his films are overly sexualised to appeal to men, usually revealing large amounts of flesh. This therefore, wouldn't appeal to women due to the possible negative emotions that they might feel towards the model-like actresses along with a sense of disrespect towards the female sex. From an early age boys are taught that action scenes and action characters are "cool" and that they should look up to them,  hence why this film would appeal more to a male audience. When referring back to the Statistical Yearbook, one notices that action films such as Mission Impossible and Fast and Furious were popular amongst males - 77% and 67% of these film's audiences were males. Crucially, these films are of a very similar genre to Skyfall so it could be fair to say that it can be compared to them in terms of audience.

When considering the social classing, I believe that this film leans more towards the AB category  because the website's first tab is the Awards. Essentially, a cinema-goer with a higher regarded socio-economic status would be more interested in the Awards the film has won due to it being a prestigious film. Therefore, the web designers have placed the Awards tab first on the navigation bar in order for the AB audience member to be able to navigate more easily to that page. Not only this but two dimensional advertising is seen to be professionally photographed, showing a simple but effective image, enabling the audience to be withdrawn. 
Finally, I find it hard to determine what the audience's characteristics and values might be for this film due to the wide age range of people who it is made for. It could be said that the audience are interested in genres of film including action, adventure and crime or are instead interested by the exaggeration of ones everyday lifestyle. One might suggest that they have an interest in plots, schemes and violence because James Bond is based on these concepts. However, some might interpret this interest in a negative light, when in reality most audience members will find this interesting because it is in contrast to their personality and lifestyle.