The Woman in Black questions

Audience and Institutions: The Woman in Black (Watkins, 2012)

1) Who do you think the primary and secondary target audience is for The Woman in Black why?

I think the primary audience for the woman in black is young adolescent males, older adolescent females and young adults. The film is rated a 12 which indicates it is for young people and by having a low rating this means more young people will be able to watch it, suggesting by having it so young their main target audience is in fact young people. When publishing the film they specifically reached out to young people through marketing such as with online social networks- knowing that the mass of people on these are young. The secondary audience is for an older audience known as the mature middle class; Harry Potter fans who adore Daniel Radcliffe will be the secondary audience as they are most likely to just watch the film because of Radcliffe starring in it. Other people would include fans of literature and theater; as the film is originally a novel which has been adapted into a play also. 

2) How was The Woman in Black marketed? (Think about genres, sub genres, media platforms, target audience, promotions, size of campaign, etc). 

They started by bringing out teaser posters, trailers and competitions on their website. This gets a fan base ready and introduces them to the genre of the film. The original teaser poster has a close up of Daniel Radcliffe's face and writing behind it saying "Do you believe in ghosts?" which immediately informs the audience that the film is a horror/thriller regarding ghosts. The main campaign which was released nearer the films release was huge. It includes a new version of the poster and a proper full length film trailer instead of a short teaser. There is also advertising in news papers, magazines and online sources to attract their target audience and others into seeing their film. There is press advertising with critics reviews which will persuade horror fans; as well as having a large social media campaign with the help of Daniel Radcliffe tweeting about the new movie, doing videos online talking about it etc to reach out to his Harry Potter fans. Billboards and general publicity are other ways the film promoted itself, from interviews on television with Daniel, magazine spreads to huge posters in big cities. Promotional material is the merchandise released with the film. This includes t-shirts, mugs and new copies of Susan Hill's novel with Daniel's picture on it. 

3) Do you think the marketing materials for the film were appropriate? Why?

Yes, because the film is doing whatever it can to promote itself. Given it's primary audience being young people, they went around it the right way by doing a lot of promotional stuff online with social media websites, interviews which are posted online and on television to channels which younger people watch. Also by re-releasing the book cover with Daniel's poster version will attract the middle class fans of the book and play by informing them there is a film coming; and might make them want to watch it if they are fans. I think the target audience of the film a 12 is personally too low in order of how scary the film is. The film is a thriller which is pretty freaky and jumpy at times and is probably to young for twelve year old's to view.

4) What kind of release did the film have?

On it's release the film was shown in 37 different countries, The woman in black was first released in the USA on the 5th February 2012 and was shown in 2,855 screens across America, it made $20,874,072 in the opening weekend at the box-office; making it the biggest US opening for a Hammer film in all of Hammer history. It premiered in the UK on the 12th of February 2012 and made $3,153,020 in the opening weekend and was shown in 412 screens across the UK. As of June 2012, the film had made $127,730,736 worldwide; making it the highest-grossing British horror film in twenty years. 

5) How much did The Woman in Black cost to make and what was the industry impact of The Woman in Black?

The woman in Black had a budget of $15 million to make the film, but of course took in a lot of profit with how much the film earned after it's release. The film was a global success due to it's unusual horror story line and the actor in the lead role, being the very popular Daniel Radcliffe. Fans of the actor would go to see the film just to watch and support Daniel. The film is also based on a book by author Susan Hill and is a supernatural horror, the storyline is based around ghosts and this woman who has issues with children living in the town due to her past which is unveiled. Unlike many other horrors the film is not based on the victims but on the person behind them and supernatural elements. 

6) Why do you think the film was so successful? 

My first reason is due to the huge marketing campaign. The ad campaign, promotions and advertisement were all extremely well thought out off. The competitions, merchandise and Daniel Radcliffe using social media and television to promote the film to his fans and horror fans is one of the main reasons as to why the film is so successful. They started teaser trailers and posters way in advance of the films release; which reached out to their target audience and developed fans who were excited for the movie to come out. 

My second reason is the actor behind it all, Daniel Radcliffe. The film's target audience helped the primary audience but the secondary audience including devoted Harry Potter fans would of made an impact on the intake of the film worldwide. Daniel done a lot of the promotion and it being his first film since the Harry Potter movies was probably exciting for his fans and therefor drove them to the cinema to go and watch him in a new role.