I believe the primary target audience for the woman in black is the mainstream audience. I believe this because the main selling point of the film, is Daniel Radcliffe! Rather than focusing on the film and it's story line, he is the focal point. at he reason for this is his 'public outcry' for wanting to be released from the chains of the 'Harry Potter' saga. Certainly, he has proved he can act in another role through this film. His face was all over the advertising of this film, bringing in the mainstream film, that has large followers from all around the world. Rated PG-13 it clearly targets pretty much all ages. I think this is cleverly done as even children can go and see it, therefore being a horror, parents will want to go as well bringing in more money. Plus, the mainstream audience and typical Harry Potter fans consisting of adolescents that have grown up with the film will also be part of an age target audience. Therefore, I think all ages will be viable to being attracted as a target audience to the film, but the secondary target audience will be the adolescents as this is who the general horror target audience is.
2. How was The Woman In Black marketed?
The woman is black was marketed via posters, interviews, radio, social media, adverts, magazines; every type of marketing/ advertising was used. they even made merchandise too. Daniel Radcliffe represented the film through numerous interviews across the world to promote the film, he even reads extracts from the book on YouTube...
Using social media he promoted the film via his Facebook page and Twitter, encouraging fans to watch the film and help spread the word. The film also advertised it as being more along the lines of having a story line which could suit 12 year olds (its age restriction) helping to attract a wider range of people and a greater target audience too; assisting, earning more money. The size of the over all campaign was therefore of a mass scale, attracting as many people as possible, helping it to be the UK's best ever horror film, earning in its opening weekend £3,153,020 (412 screens).
Also, on the promoting film posters you can see that Daniel Radcliffe's face covers the majority of the poster, this is a great way to advertise the movie by showing a proven, yet rising 'star'. Yet, being about the women in black you'd have presumed the movie poster would be focused much greater on her. This also gives you a slight idea of the film too, suggesting he's the main character and maybe the women in black is a ghost?!
In the (UK Official) trailer many different techniques are used to create the class/genre. the music is like a little girls jewelry box opening, and the creepy old toys in the house follow this theme, especially as we see little children throughout. This sub-media platform was huge and I can remember seeing this advert over and over again.
Half of the budget for this film went on advertising/marketing. That's nearly $9 million.
3. Do you think the marketing technique was appropriate? Why?
The marketing materials I believe were appropriate however by twisting the scariness of the film to make it appropriate before the water shed to increase target audience was clever as well as somewhat devious. This misconception of the age rating helped to gain a larger target audience, as it's rating of PG-13 was on the basis that it had thematic material and scenes of violence/disturbing images. Yet, I would never take anyone under the age of 13 to go see this film, as it will probably give them nocturnal enuresis. The way the director and distributor made the marketing materials for all ages and using a world renound star as the leading actor, brought together a huge audience. It was pretty much impossible to not know about the film. it was on billboards, TV chat shows, Adverts on TV, through Radio, Social network sites, it was astronomically well publicised; making it's huge success. Daniel Radcliffe also wanted to prove himself as a serious actor and wanted to leave the harry potter trademark behind, and used this as a huge marketing weapon too.
4. What kind of release did the film have?
In America they screened the woman in black through 2855 cinemas, which is an incredible feet! In the opening weekend in USA it made nearly $21 million. And in the UK made just over $3 million with 412 screens showing the movie in the UK. It then got brought out in span and made 3 million Euros.
5. How much did The Woman In Black cost to make? And what was it's impact?
The woman in black cost an estimated £10 million, but could make money not only from the film but through other strands of box office, i.e. sky later on after cinema release, DVDs, memorabilia. On the weekend of its release from both UK and USA it made nearly £16 million over all (converting the figures into sterling) just from the cinemas. It's on going success resulted in it becoming the biggest selling British horror of all time.
6. What do you think were it's reasons for it's success?
As previously explained I think it's main reason for success was having Daniel Radcliffe as the main character. He had been trying to get out of the Harry Potter loop by trying to do plays and it hadn't really worked out for him. This was a brilliant chance for him to be in a British film, which was also key, and prove himself. Because of this, not only did he want to promote the film as much as possible (like he did) but you also had his Harry Potter fan base that be crucial to gaining a larger target audience. Daniel Radcliffe and the films distributors used technology from the social networking side of things to create an over hall of free and expensive advertising online. This attracted a substantial audience and helped receive an even larger audience.
I also believe the avoidance of creating an age restricted film was also key. This meant that the film could target a larger audience, even though it was still a horror and be promoted on so many different levels. This meant that even the young avid Harry Potter fans could go and see the film.
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