Soul: Audience Profile

In terms of target audience I wanted 'Soul' to appeal to a teenage audience as well as a fanbase of thriller / horror films, looking for at least a 15 or 12A certificate in order to appeal further to these groups of people. My reasoning for appealing to a teenage audience for 'Soul' was because of the themes presented , being governed by a higher status society and having everything including your freedom decided for you, as well as the situation and personality of Faith herself, feel detached and isolated from the rest of society because of her differences. By Faith's character being inspired and referenced from numerous other films including the characters of Hanna, Carrie and Andrew from Chronicle I came to realise that the target audience for this films were teengers and fans of the genre due to the relatability of the characters, having all all 3 consist of having a lead teenger and 2 of the 3 being based around the lives of teenagers and dealing with the differences they have to others.

  this lead me to believe the younger teenage audience was drawn to this because of the gratification need of escapism and realising that being able to associate themselves with a teenage lead allows them to put themselves in the characters shoes and diving into their life ultimately forgetting theirs for the screen time of the film.

 Psychographics:

For teengers, a horror / thriller film would make a perfect chilling atmosphere as well as intense mood appropriate for the genre to appeal to teenagers looking for a teenage film to watch with a group of friends. This would be not only have the audience relate to Faith but also due to the atmospheric aspect of the film causing them to indulge into the world of 'Soul.

As for thriller fans: Soul would appeal to them due to the conventions presented within the film, creating an intense and dramatic thrill appeal as a result of the quick cuts, toned down grayscale colour scheme as well as the plot twists and characters which demonstrate binary opposites to be included within the final prduct. With all of the above include to exemplify the political and social themes presented, making a comment on society which thriller films often make, this would ultimately attract thriller fans to 'Soul' as a result of this.

Lastly due to the cross genre 'Soul' would also appeal to a horror audience. this part of the genre however was difficult to capture while also keep the main story and themes because of the typical jump scares and presence of blood and gore instead of the more atmospheric approach, which 'Soul' was more tailored for. By having a more atmospheric approach this would ultimately build an uneasy mood and vibe for the film, giving the illusion of generating uneasy and unnerving scenes to watch; giving a different kind of scare compared to a quick jump scare. 

This would be presented by the presence of Soul carrying the supernatural aspect of the film in not only having the presentation of Soul hidden from the audience and being oblivious to what he looks like but also him lurking around Faith however being unseeable.   

Hanna Equilibrium Theory

Chronicle: Equilibrium theory

Hanna Trailer Analysis

Hanna, a unique teenage girl like no other, has been undergoing intense training by her father, an ex - CIA agent, to become the perfect assassin with having the strength, stamina and smarts of a fully fledged soldier. From the isolate Finland wilds, her intense training take a turning point after Hanna’s father sends her on a mission across Europe in order to take out a ruthless intelligence operative who has dispatched agents to capture and kill both of them for reasons still unknown. However as Hanna approaches her ultimate goal she is suddenly faced with the daunting truth behind her existence as well as the secrets of her father's ambitions.

The intense thrill of Hanna was captured perfectly through the trailer, having it’s exciting, original score co-exist with the visuals on beat. As usual the beginning of the trailer started off slow displaying the characters and their current position in the story and towards the end having the pace quicken to an intense action sequenced, continuously until the end cut off point; leaving the audience lusting for more.

Although the trailer was partly misleading, in some cases being good or bad, it could have set up the wrong impression for the film as the beginning of the trailer has Hanna within an interrogation room presents her almost as a young criminal and the overarching story being that she must escape for purposes that were not present in the trailer. However instead was about her being a trained assassin and taking down the head CIA experimentation facility.

this factor alone could have been the reason why the box office for Hanna wasn't as successful as it could have been, only in taking an estimate of $13,000,000 on the opening weekend in comparison to the original budget of $30,000,000. Although as soon as the film came available to DVD the over all grossing skyrocketed to $40,000,000, perhaps because of the true story being released for people to witness instead of the misleading trailer which originally set p the wrong pitch for the film.

Chronicle Trailer Analysis

Plot:
Following the shy and lonely outcast teenager Andrew Detmer, he decides to document his  high school life with a camera; using this as an escape from his abusive alcoholic father and bullying from school. His cousin Matt Garetty upon driving to school invited Andrew to a party however on the night, meeting up with school friend Steve Montgomery they decide to explore a mysterious hole in a field near the party after overhearing unusual noises. Venturing into the hole deep underground the 3 wake up the next morning with no memory and the footage lost from last night. The only thing they had gathered was from last night they had gained telekinetic abilities, with Andrew experimenting and eventually becoming the strongest of the 3. As time continues however Matt sees that Andrew is becoming too strong, endangering not only himself but others around him, causing their great power to bring their dark sides out.



The trailer and even the film of 'Chronicle' consists of a very long and unique style where the use and effect of cameras angles and shots can only tell the audience so much as the entire film is shot from a handheld camera despite a few exceptions of security cameras. This almost has the effect of the audience being a member of the group with Andrew, Matt and Steve, sharing the secret they all have. The camera furthermore represents the feeling of secrecy and mystery, being slightly cut off from the rest of society.
Although the way the key plot points was given away in the trailer ,very much like 'Carrie', it still left a lot of curiosity for the audience to go off of as the subject of the telekinesis and super human abilities are a big success in the film industry, having a hug hit if done correctly. This also comes into play with the choice of camera movement playing a huge part in telekinesis power and how more realistic the powers the more successful the theme of the story is. With Telekinesis plot points being exposed the curiosity is still peaked as to how these characters lived with these powers and what made Andrew turn to use his powers against others; In comparison to How Carries situation was exposed and how she reacted being revealed within the trailer instead of teasing the audience with what she might have done.

the trailer and even the film Chronicle consists of a very unique style where the use and effect of camera angles and shots are limited to what they can tell the audience as the entire film is shot through a handheld camera despite numerous security cameras, almost in the way that the film ‘Clover field’ was filmed. this almost has the effect of the audience being a member of the group with Andrew, Matt and Steve, sharing the secret that they all have. the camera can furthermore represent the feeling of mystery and being secretive, as if cutting off from the interaction of society and perhaps keeping to themselves instead of risking exposing their secret.

Although the way the key plot point was given away in the trailer ,very much like Carrie, it still left a lot of curiosity for the audience to grab onto as the subject of telekinesis and super human abilities are a big success in the film industry if done in the correct way. further more the superhuman power being present in films other than super hero or marvel films creates even more of a success as it leave the audience on the edge as to what the film might contain or play out, if not following the generic superhero conventions that most films that present this power has. This also comes into play with the choice of camera movement playing a huge part of the telekinesis power and how the more realistic the power is the more successful and well received the film is. This choice was obviously well perfected as well as the marketing scheme for the film playing a huge part in presenting the trailer as the box office shows the opening weekend in taking $22,004,098 and overall grossing $64,572,496;  nearly 5 ½ more than the original budget for the film.

With the telekinesis plot point being exposed through the trailer the curiosity is still present as to how the characters have lived their daily lives with these powers and what originally made Andrew turn to his darker side as shown in the trailer or if it was even Andrew at all doing this out of his own free will.