Exam Question.

Explore the different audience appeals of your three main texts. 

Audience appeal is the media texts ability to attract it's target audience. The film industry make films aimed at a specific audience so that there is a market for the film and an audience to watch it. Some films aim to target a larger and broader audience whilst others aim towards a more niche audience. In the three films I have studied, there are many ways and methods used to attract a specific audience. 

Looking at more 'niche' film, they tend to show characters that are not often portrayed within films, therefore the characters and the situation tend to relate to a smaller audience. A film that shows this is 'Weekend' directed by Andrew Haigh in 2011. The film depicts a romantic relationship that takes place over a weekend between two men. The significance of this, is that the film goes into more detail into the protagonists lives and their experiences as homosexuals.The film shows both positive parts to homosexual relationships by showing the development of the relationship but also shows negative parts by showing the verbal abuse they receive. This film is targeted at men around the age of 18-25 because of the issues that arise in the film and the protagonists are of a similar age. The audience appeal in this film is based on the actual subject matter. It attracts audiences such as the LGBTQ community and also people who may what to know more about the subject matter. By having a niche story and not one that is particularly shown within stereotypical Hollywood films, is a main method to attract an audience as they could be more inclined to watch it as they could relate more to the characters. Having relatable characters along with the subject matter is important in niche films and their ability to target and attract and audience.

In more main stream films they use star power as a way of appealing to an audience as it draws in an audience who may not have watched the film based on the actual content and story. For example, a film that uses this is Skyfall directed by Sam Mendes in 2012. Part of the James Bond franchise, it already draws in a massive audience because of the history of the films. However using star like Daniel Craig draws in previous fans of his and create a larger audience pool for the film. He is a big name within the film industry and therefore brings a positive image to Skyfall. Sam Mendes, the director, also is part of the star power the film uses as he also has fans from his previous work. He has directed films like Jarhead (2005) and after Skyfall went on to direct Spectre (also part of the Bond franchise). Having big names behind the film is part of the audience appeal because it creates a certain reputation for the film. Another aspect that affects the audience appeal is the awards the film has won, in particular the Oscar award for the song Skyfall at the 85th academy awards. Not only does the film have a link with the Oscars from winning an award, the song was sung by Adele who is a massive name in the music industry. This is also significant when it comes to audience appeal because Oscar winning films become more recognized and advertised, which again reaches and attracts a larger audience.

Another way in which films appeal to the audience is through the genre of the film and the relatability of the conventions it uses. For example, the film Kingsman: Secret Service directed by Matthew Vaughn in 2016, depicts the story of a young British boy living on a South London estate training to become a spy. This film can be clearly linked and compared to Skyfall as they are both spy films with similar conventions. The popularity of the genre will draw audiences from Skyfall to Kingsman which is one method of how Kingsman appeals to an audience. However, unlike Skyfall, Kingsman is based around the relatability of the main protagonist Eggsy. In Skyfall, the audience is introduced to the posh and more upper class side to London and show James bond to be sophisticated and smart. This may be hard for the target audience to relate to as this only represents a small part of the possible audience. However, Kingsman shows the more working class side to London by showing the main protagonist living in a run down estate and also getting in trouble with the police. The film shows Eggsy as a normal charcter as he is not dressed in the way the audience would link to a spy wearing. Most of the audience for this film will be late teenagers and also come from a similar background. This makes Eggsy more relatable if he is wearing or looking like the films target audience. The film looks at British culture but in a different way to the Bond films. Kingsman almost spins around the Bond films by showing a different depiction of spies and it could be argued that it almost a spoof of the Bond films. By changing what the audience already know about the spy genre and making it more relatable by showing a more honest side of London is the main way in which this film appeals to the audience.

In conclusion, in the films I have studied, they almost all try and relate to their target audience as that is one of the most important ways to appeal to the audience. From all the methods listed above, the films try and sell their films on a certain point. Films need to be able to appeal to an audience to become successful as without an audience they don't have a film. In my opinion I think that in my three case studies show just how important relatability is. Films tend to try and use multiple methods to appeal to different audiences to make sure they get a larger pool of people to watch the film.