Audience Profile

The chosen genre for my film is action-comedy, this genre is a mixture of

action & comedy and has been very popular during the last 10 years. I know

this because I looked at action & comedy films that have been released in

the last years, their gross and how much the film made [Figure 1]. With

addit ional research I establish that some action movies contain comedy

elements such as Men in Black II (2002), 21 Jump Street (2012) & Bad Boys

(1995). These films are very popular among action-comedy fans and are

considered to be action-comedy films as the audience spot both elements of

action & comedy, which is why the directors continued producing several

parts e.g. Bad Boys II (2003) & 22 Jump Street (2014) were released.

Figure 1

This shows that having action-comedy as our genre means that we can

attract audience easier as it is a popular choice with the public and that

individuals would be interested in watching.

From my research the expected age bracket for this genre lies between 12-

40 years old, this because of the language and violence used which is

popular among teenagers and young adults. The majority of action-comedy

audience are male, this is because the action element generally attracts

male audience. As it is stereotypical to attract males by the use of violence in

a film, however the comedy element in the film attracts female audience

who dislike the ‘violence’ in the film. We have lost our 50+ year’s old

audience because they prefer a slow-paced which established most of the

conventions in a reasonable pace, which this genre and our movie doesn’t

provide.

Furthermore, I looked at the ethnicity of the audience of action-comedy. For

example ‘Bad Boys’ has a diverse cast from different background and

religions (Black, Asians, Lat in, White etc.) therefore I can assume that this

genre appeals to a wider range of races within our audience as we are not

creating aiming our film at a specific ethnicity. Looking at the socio-

economic groups, I think that our film would fit C2, D & E because these

groups will relate to our storyline but our film will also be filmed in locations

that they’re familiar with e.g. bazaars, local parks and etc. Our movie is not

aimed at the groups A, B & C1 because these groups have more

complicated preferences when it comes to films e.g. group A & B want to

watch films that challenge them mentally or films that agree with their views

for example polit ical films.

The advantage of having this genre is that it is popular amongst people our

age (Teenagers), however, this genre has a mass audience which means

that we have to try and sat isfy the majority with our film.

Next, I researched the main conventions used by directors to attract their

target audience by watching several action-comedy films and then

conclude what has been used in each of them. Some of my main findings

were:

Introduction of the main character(s)

o This has been done in the opening minutes so that the audience

can established the characterist ic of the character and what they

can expect of him/her during the film.

Establishing the narrat ive at the beginning

o The director has established the narrat ive in all the films analysed in

the opening of the films, this was done because the audience can

connote the narrat ive very quickly due to their experience and

knowledge of other action-comedy films.

Establishing the mood/atmosphere

o This is important because it links to the establishment of the

narrat ive and genre, if the director chooses certain dialogue for

the characters than this can connote the genre e.g. in ‘Men in

Black II’ the narrator mocks the Men in Black which connotes a

comedy element to the audience.

Flashback

o Returning to an import event in the past, so the audience have a

better understanding of the narrat ive.

I will be using these conventions when creating my film, as they are a great

tool to attract a greater audience, but also to establish the narrat ive in the

giving t ime that I have when my final film is produced.

One of the producers & directors that drew my attention when planning my

action-comedy film was David Gordon Green who is known for producing

‘Pineapple Express’. As most action-comedy directors he used the main

conventions and other tools effective in the opening scene to produce a film

of high quality for example he used a flashback and the audience knew this

through the use of costumes and colour scheme.

By looking at what he achieved through the use of the used conventions and

tools, I will t ry to apply these techniques to my film and hope for the same

result .