1. Target Audience
The target audience for a comedy film is very much so influenced by the content of the film
itself. For example a comedy film aimed at children under the PG rating can have comical
scenes in which would relate to both the children and the parents of the kids watching the
film in order to appeal to a wider target audience. However, the audience would be
completely different for a comedy film labelled as a 12 or a 15, these films have the target
audience of the certificated age given to the movie as the base, the movies are likely to
appeal to people over the labelled age of film simply because comedy has a large target
market appealing to larger proportion of the comedy theme market.
Therefore my films target audience would be strongly influenced by the content in which is
present in the film. From my initial ideas I feel like the target audience for the film will be
quite broad rather than specific but a general idea of what they could look like is
demonstrated by the avatars above. They are of a younger age group but older than 12 as
some of the content of the film may not be suitable for those younger than the certificate.
In terms of class they would probably be between class A and D for the fact of being able to
spend money on cinema tickets and able to purchase DVDs. They are both dressed in
average casual clothing as I would like the film to appeal to a wider range of viewers hence
the casual dress sense. In terms of their interests, they would possibly like to go to the
cinema to watch films of a similar genre (possible sub-genres such as romantic-comedies
etc.) amongst other average activities. Therefore I think the content of the film (based
around the life of an average male lead) would appeal to both genders.
Audience Expectations
I gained an understanding of what my target audience would expect from a comedy by
asking the peers in my class, here are some examples of what was said:
- It should make me laugh, by having a good script/storyline. The acting will make the
film better.
- Actors that are funny both physically and verbally.
- A storyline that is engaging due to its humour.
- A clumsy character, simple but affective humour.
- Gags and slapstick humour and puns.
- A good music score always adds to the comedic value of key scenes in comedy films.
2. From looking at what my target audience expect to see from a comedy film it is clear that
my storyline should be good. It could focus around one main character who is very clumsy
as it will add an element of slapstick (which was also raised) in the film through simple
humorous events. Somebody said that the character show be funny both physically and
verbally; I could interpret the visual humour of the character from his dress sense and by
using an actor who has very good facial expressions, and I could interpret the verbal side by
the way in which he speaks. Slapstick humour could be used in my film to appeal to
audience members, which links to the clumsy characteristics of Karl- for example he could
fall out of bed.
