Primary Audience

The genre for my final scene is going to be an action comedy; with the sub-genres of slap-stick fish-out-of-water within the content of the interrogation I am going to be working on.

This is important; as the genre and content seen will have an impact on both the primary and secondary target audiences. However; for now, I'll only be focusing on the primary audience.

The factors that I'm going to consider for my target audience are...

• Age
• Class
• Gender
• Occupation
• Race
• Social Grade

Target Audience of Slapstick

Slapstick comedy can be applied to almost all of the above; as many comedy films; especially in my chosen genre do involve quite a heavy about of slapstick. Therefore, this has little effect on my research.

Target Audience of fish-out-of-water

I feel that this sub-genre will go somewhat the same way as slapstick; it can be designed to fit into any the categories above; depending on the main content of the movie itself. However, I feel that my target audience will be slightly older; between 15 - 24. Since there are a lot of action/comedy movies involving fish-out-of-water; including Cop Out; this task shouldn't be all too difficult.

Target Audience of action comedy

This is the biggest genre that'll be having an influence on my target audience. I'll split this into two; to get a better idea of what I am aiming for /exactly/.

Action

Age & Gender

The primary target audience of action movies are typically young adult males, or males in adolescence; between the ages of 15 - 40. The reason for this is due to the fact that action usually entails things such as car chases, explosions, gun violence, etc. These are stereotypically masculine conventions; therefore leading to this general basis. Young adult males would generally want an adrenaline bust whilst viewing a movie; as opposed to something boring, such as romance or even drama. Once reaching into the 40+'s, they'd tend to prefer to slow down; therefore meaning that the primary audience leans towards the younger generation.

It is also worth noting that the majority of characters in action films are male; and if females appear in the films, are usually stereotypes as 'perfect', and usually appear attractive. Generally speaking, women wouldn't want to see a wrongly acted female character; but otherwise males (especially younger) would be attracted to this. They'll also enjoy these movies as it depicts the majority of the male characters as being powerful and strong; something they'd like to be.

Social Grade, Class & Occupation
These young males are usually in the middle social class; as they'd have the general luxury of being able to watch these movies regularly, along with the time to watch them at will. The income bracket for action is B - C2 (working class-skilled working class). Though E (students) also fit into this bracket; as they're in the right age bracket, and usually are able to go and see movies whenever they like. (Generally speaking).

Race
This leads me on to mention that with such a diversity of races appearing throughout action movies, it is fair to say that action appeals to a much wider spectrum of races; rather than other specific genres having a near enough all-white cast.

Uses and Gratifications

Action is an escape from reality in many cases; such as the Fast and Furious series of movies. To some extent it is realistic; therefore both educating and informing the audience; giving them understanding of the world around them. With the crime genre heavily associated with action, we see a whole array of characters from different job fronts and classes. Especially things such as job roles through the police departments or other likely roles that the viewer may never have heard of.  Not mentioning things such as natural disasters, unfamiliar places across the globe, and even worldwide problems (terrorism, corruption, etc.). Going back to how I said that the action genre is an escape from reality;  this is because action movies do tend to blow things out or proportion; make them worse than they really are, taking a step out of what would be classed as realistic. This is where the purpose to entertain comes in. Since these movies are a step out of reality so often, it makes it enjoyable and purely for entertainment purposes. (I could link the idea of the adrenaline rush back to the entertainment side of things). Now, going into the idea of characters, usually characters are built to be relatable, be it through class, age, gender, etc. Social interaction is a big part of this, as personal bonds are built between the viewers and the characters, making the film far more effective in many different ways. Not only that, but it creates social interaction out of the narrative too; giving grounds for discussion, and somewhat being an ice breaker. Of course, back to my previous point, self gratification fits into this genre, as people can identify themselves in a media text through either character or circumstance; or even both.

Comedy

Age & Gender

Comedy has such a wide spectrum of types, that it is difficult to identify one specific age nor gender for it to be designated to. Each rating (U, PG, 12, 12A, 15, 18, etc.) has a different target audience stereotypically seen as enjoying the genre. Instead, I've thought about what I aim aiming to achieve.

After awhile of thinking and a little research into the genre, I've gone with an age range of 15-25, as this covers the general basis of the content in the idea I have come up with. Comedy movies aimed at this age bracket are usually somewhat more crude in nature, with specific subjects teens and young adults would find amusing. Also, comedy for young adults in the 21st century usually consists of crude humour, rude jokes, and even violence. I'd specifically be looking at a primary target audience of young white males. This fits with the action genre too (again, with the violent and controversial content). Anyone under this age would typically not be able to view the movie, and anyone of an age 25+ would not find this specific kind of comedy enjoyable; and could be offended by the content. The audience I have specified would have to enjoy adult humour, crude humour, violence, crime, and also controversial concepts.

Social Grade, Class & Occupation

It seems as if the young males of which would be viewing a movie of the comedy genre would be in the same demographic as that of the action genre. C1 & 2 - D, with the exception of part of the E grade. (Including students and casual workers; but not pensioners and unemployed). This is because of the exact same reasons as specified before with the action genre. However, the B grade would be excluded, as for this specific age range, it'd be unlikely for teachers etc. to be viewing a movie of such immaturity.  Instead, you'd expect people ranging from students, unskilled manual workers, builders, plumbers and even junior management to enjoy this specific area of the comedy genre. People in these specific brackets would have the luxury of being able to view these movies, as mentioned before; as well as being the right age and right levels of immaturity to some extent. They're still fairly young, in simple terms.

Race

Race is a lot more divided throughout the comedy genre; though as seen in movies such as Cop Out and White Chicks; race has slowly become something that is not so joked about as it was previously in the media world. However, I feel with the idea I have, the cast would generally be all-white. Therefore, having the generic young white male primary audience.

Uses & Gratifications

Just as the action genre; comedy is much more of an escape from reality; being blown out of proportion, and far too centred around specific characters to fit into reality. Therefore, comedy movies are more of an escape from reality than set-in-stone action movies, because real life situations are never so light-hearted or funny. However, something comedy movies are generally not set to do, are to inform the audience, or educate them. Comedy movies are instead set on what the main character sets out to do, and whatever that includes. With a movie scene harbouring such a genre, it'd be more silly, immature and following story-lines holding no informative detail. Comedy movies work better for purely entertainment purposes, as they are funny and are designed to make the audience laugh, have a good time, and escape reality, which may not be half as fun as the movie. This leads me on to talk about social interactions. Since in most comedies of this nature, the characters are pretty much normal people; therefore relating to the audience, making connections and dragging them into the narrative, as if they personally know the character. It also helps that the characters are typically young, around the same age as the viewers. Not only that, but it

"creates social interaction out of the narrative too; giving grounds for discussion, and somewhat being an ice breaker"

"Of course, back to my previous point, self gratification fits into this genre, as people can identify themselves in a media text through either character or circumstance; or even both. "

Conclusions 

So, now that I've picked up on every little detail and pulled the genre apart, I've reached the point where I'm able to conclude the specific primary target audience I have in mind, in order to come up with the most successful idea I can.

Age

15 - 25

This is due to the type of comedy, since younger generations tend to enjoy the violent, rude and controversial comedy, as opposed to lighter types of comedy such as romantic comedy.

This also fits into the idea of the action genre, as younger audiences tend to enjoy that adrenaline rush they get when viewing a movie of this nature.

Gender

The all around gender chosen for my primary target audience is male, due to the fact that this type of comedy is aimed at this gender. This is also due to the fact that action movies are typically aimed at males.

Social Grade, Class & Occupation

The social grade I am going with is E - C1; as this typically fits both action and comedy genres. Of course, this excludes pensioners and unemployed from E.

Race

Finally, despite action being a multi-racial genre; I feel that action-comedy leans more into the idea of the audience being white, as not always, but most of the time, the specific movie I am looking at is aimed at white, British people. Not to mention the fact that they would generically be an all-white cast.