Audiences and Institutions: The Women in Black (Watkins, 2012)
via GIPHY
1. Who do you think the primary and secondary target audience is for The Woman in Black? Why?
The primary audience for the film The Woman in Black is from watching the film, those who enjoy horror films, containing jumpy scenes as well as featuring a supernatural presence, mainly spiritual. For the secondary audience, I feel as though one main audience would be those who were big fans of the Harry Potter films, evidently leading them to watching this film due to Daniel Radcliffe featuring as the main character within the story.
The film producers done much marketing for this film, one of the reasons was Daniel Radcliffe wanted to display to others that he can be a serious actor, as well as leap away from the Harry Potter experience that he was very fortunate for. As a result of this, Daniel Radcliffe wanted this film to be as successful as it could, he done much marketing for the film such as make a YouTube account specifically to make videos based on the film and answering audiences question as well as he could at the time not revealing too much. As well as Q&A's, he also done many interviews on TV in order to get the film more recognition, building up the excitement for the audience, Daniel also featured in many magazines doing interviews. He also made a Facebook page for the film, in order to spread the word of the film arriving in cinemas soon trying to grasp everyone's attention by trying to reach to them using a variety of different social media websites as well as through the media and press. The film was published in news papers such as 'The Sun' displaying the finished poster, taking up either half a page or even an entire page in the news paper, enabling everyone to notice it and catch their attention far more. The original book was re-published, displaying a different cover image than before. The cover image was the poster, also encouraging those to purchase the books. This progressed into marketing further using the news paper, displaying offers such as 'free book', encouraging those to also read the book. The film producers also made merchandise, this included items such as; mugs, t-shirts, a torch etc. Once the film was published, it then evolved into live performances, encouraging school trips to the theater to see the play evidently making more money for the film, as well as marketing the film further.
Once watching the film and discovering the age circulation was a 12, I personally feel as though the film should've been age rated to at least a 15. Due to the content revealed within the film, for instance a spiritual presence as well as the amount of jumpy and horrific scenes included. When observing the horror trailer, it identified what the film is about but limited the amount of information. It displayed to us that Daniel Radcliffe job was a sales man, who is traveling to another town to sell a house. Once reaching his destination everyone shuts their doors on him, for what reason we do not know. Once getting to the house, he looks around and then discovers he is not alone. We see children in the trailer, meaning we are identified that the film is relevant to children, who must play a significant role within it. Also we are shown a cross, meaning perhaps religion has a role within the film also. This is also displayed within the poster, as well as forest to the far left hand side which appears to be dark and misty. We are shown the women in black, however her identity is kept hidden. Between Daniel and the woman in black is a large house, perhaps indicating to us they both have a significance to the house. Also only one light is on in the house, showing us as an audience that maybe there is one main room which connect these two characters together.
4. What kind of release did the film have?
The film had a huge world wide premiere, inviting a wide variety of celebrities to come in order to generate more buzz for the public as well as make a huge fuss over the film. The reasons for doing this, was in hope for general positive feedback before the film was released to every cinema. The feedback would mainly be posted on social media websites such as Twitter, making those who haven't seen it want to watch it, as well as viewing celebrities comments will also make everyone want to see it so they can relate to them. On the opening weekend in the USA the film made $20,874,072, on the week of its release it was displayed in 2,855 cinemas and the week after 2,856.
5. How much did The Woman in Black cost to make? What was the industry impact of The Woman in Black?
The Woman in Black financial cost was around 15 million US dollars, a fair amount of the money was spent on advertising to ensure the film was as successful and gaining much profit. The film achieved a box office record, being the most successful horror film in British history. Observing the success of the movie, the film was at the top of the charts in the UK for 3 weeks, evidently leading to a gross of $47,729,196 over the course of 3 weeks when it was first released.
via GIPHY
6. Why do you think the film was so successful?
One of the main reasons for the films success, was due to the advertisement that Daniel Radcliffe done for the film. He created a YouTube page doing Q&A's, as well as providing the audience with information and sneak peaks in order to create the right amount of buzz for the film. He also created many social media pages, in order to grab the younger audiences attention. He also aimed for the older audiences as well, for this he done interviews on TV talk-shows as well as doing interviews for magazines in order to get the film out there as much as possible fulfilling every possible outcome for all to view and hear. The company also done much advertisement, such as putting the poster in newspapers and radio adverts, also aiming for the older audiences. Although the older audiences isn't there primary audience. Another reason for the films success, I feel is the main character being Daniel Radcliffe. He was well known for his role in Harry Potter films, for him to feature in a horror film was something completely different to what he has previously been in. Having him featured all over their posters and trailers attracted the Harry Potter fans, providing the right amount of mixture audiences they needed.
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