Research Part 1: Genre, Target Audiences and Production Companies

 Introduction

Welcome the beginning of the film research booklet our group has created to analyze, study, and annotate the steps we followed in preparation for our upcoming film, stay tuned! As the title of this post may entail, this blog will discuss and break down the genre our film, the target audience our film will communicate to, and the production companies included in a well-known, existing film that is similar to the one our group will create. Below is a poster of the film we will use.

Genre and Sub-Genre

Genre has the ability to help viewers identify categories used to separate distinguishable, conventional signs and Mise-en Scene associated with films. After deep consideration, our group chose to create a Drama/ Dramedy, which also includes elements of horror and mockumentaries. Therefore, the subgenres that result from those mixes are Dark Comedy, Satire, and Melodrama. We decided on these choices not only because of prior research from the Preliminary exercises revealing that generation z to millennials statistically prefer horror and comedy, but because they are our personal favorites that we are well acquainted with.

Furthermore, Dramedies are known for their balanced composition of comedy and drama elements into one, and a well-renowned example of a dramedy is the 1988 cult-classic "Coming to America," in which a facetious prince from Africa experiences dramatic events upon his arrival to America, and being exposed to its culture for the first time. Dramedy Explained — A Study of the Comedy Drama Genre, Studiobinder.com, states “A dramedy is a movie or program that balances the elements of a drama and a comedy. Also known as a comedy drama, this hybrid genre often deals with real life situations, grounded characters, and believable situations.” Another main genre that will be prominently included in our film is the horror genre, in which out group has prior knowledge to from previous preliminary exercises. Horror is acknowledged for its use of unsettling characters, themes, imagery, and events that are meant to frighten or cause fear in the audience. A modern classic example of horror is the 2012 film "A Cabin in the Woods," where a group of college students are faced with a series of gruesome events during their vacation stay at a cabin within a remote area in the woods. In, What is Horror: About- The Westport Library Resource Guides, it states, “Horror is a genre of literature, film, and television that is meant to scare, startle, shock, and even repulse audiences. The key focus of a horror novel, horror film, or horror TV show is to elicit a sense of dread in the reader through frightening images, themes, and situations.”  

To add, Dark Comedy is most notable for its use of dark humor, which ironically makes light of gruesome and horrific situations, in order to bring awareness to certain themes or issues, and it combines elements of both comedy and psychological horror. The article 70 Hilarious Dark Comedy Moves & TV Shows, Studiobinder.com, states, “Dark comedy, black comedy or black humor is a sub-genre of comedy where commonly objectionable topics and events are used in a satirical manner as a source of humor in a narrative work. Dark comedies intend to make light of events that would otherwise be considered too painful to discuss.” Another element our group believes will add a more intimate and interactive experience to our audience would be the Mockumentary genre, which encompasses organic cinematography style that documents fictitious, but seemingly realistic events. As an article titled Mockumentary- Everything You Need to Know, www.nfi.edu, states, “A mockumentary is a documentary-style film with a fictitious subject. Mockumentaries present their subjects sarcastically. In addition, many mockumentaries incorporate improv-style comedy.”   

Target Audience

As our genre choices may hint, our group's main goal is to create a sense of relatability in our film that resonates with young to older teens, which will be our main audience, and to communicate to our in a natural and organic way. We plan to do this by representing diverse ranges of age, race or ethnic background, culture, attitudes, interests, and struggles. The premise of our film is meant to reach a mainstream audience, as our group is producing a Hollywood-style film that addresses topics such as mental health, discrimination, and personal growth, in which we believe to be themes that will resonate with our audience on a large scale.  

Below displays a survey conducted by our group, which demonstrates common characteristics and interests of students at our high school, and has overall helped us achieve a better understanding of what our audience's preferences are and ways we can improve our film : 

1st Respondent’s Survey Answers (Sophia): 

 

 

 

 

Respondent Analysis: Sophia is a 15-year-old woman who is eager for exploration and discovery; horror and action are her favorite film genres. 

 

2nd Respondent’s Survey Answers (Gavin): 

 

  

3rd Respondent’s Survey Answers (Ardens): 

 

 

These images are sourced from a Microsoft Forms Survey titled, "Target Audience Survey," created on our school computers and laptops for the purpose asking our peers about their interests in order to get to know our audience better. 

Brief Summary of Our Data:

How does Our Audience Access Their Movies? (cinema, online: which websites, etc.) 

Observing the data below from the Target Audience Survey that we collected, our interviewees admitted to preferring cinema and streaming platforms, such as Netflix, to access film. 

What Socio-economic Group Does Our Audience Fit Into?  

The respondents showed a leaning favor towards free movies or movies that cost less than ten dollars, without advertisements. This bias could reflect the geography and area in which our interview took place, which was on campus. Students are from middle-class and below families and backgrounds, which is probable as to why they fancy lower priced films. 

What Are Our Audience's Film Opening Preferences?

There was a diverse selection of film opening preferences, such as our first respondent claiming non-linear narrative openings, in which a jump cut is used as a method to hook the audiences’ attention to watching the film. Our second respondent enjoys a classic opening, which introduced the film’s title, and is consistent to the plot development of the rest of the film. Third, our last respondent favors a voice over opening, which in most cases, consists of an unknown narrator or character from the movie to briefly explain a scene or an abstract introduction of the concept of the film.  

 

1st respondent (Sophia):  

 

 

 

 

 

2nd Respondent (Gavin): 

 

 

 

 

3rd Respondent (Ardens): 

 

 This half of the assignment was completed by me

 

Continued Research of Films That Are Similar To Ours:

Production Companies	Film Titles	Budget	Gross
Monkey’s Paw	Get Out	$4.5 million	$255 million
Lionsgate	Hunger Games	$78 million	$3.3 billion (about $10 per person in the US)
Dimensions Films	Scream	$15 million	$170 million

This section was completed by Peyton P

Reflection

All in all, our group researched the psychographics and demographics of our audience, as well as we searched for films that are comparable to ours, which will help us to not only learn more about our potential views and what interests them, but to find existing examples of movies with a similar vision to ours, to visualize what our film may look like. Upon our group's research, we found a Netflix Original film produced by Lionsgate Productions in 2022 called, "White Noise," which is the film our group decided on for our research. W chose this movie because of its quirkiness, unpredictability, relatable message, and its genre. This film discusses a controlled society after an unexpected tragedy struck in this previously calm, Suburban family neighborhood, that inflicted chaos unknown to the inhabitants.  The genre is Horror Dramedy, which is beneficial to helping our group realizing the key elements that go into producing a film with that genre.  This a movie with familiar faces that are well-known names within the Comedy and Drama genre such as Greta Gerwig, Andre 3000, and Chloe Fineman.  The relatability of the movie’s adaptation of the chaotic, unpredictability of the modern world that humans navigate through wearily is an element of drama our group wants to incorporate into our film. 

Sources: 

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-StudioBinder. (2020). 70 Best Dark Comedy Films That Filmmakers Can Learn From. [online] Available at: https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/dark-comedy-movies/.

-lightninli (2023). Horror Movie Studios: A Dead List Ranking. [online] The Scariest Things. Available at: https://scariesthings.com/2023/11/11/ranking-the-greatest-horror-production-studios/.

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-Abreu, R. (2022). Dramedy Explained — How to Combine Laughter & Tears. [online] StudioBinder. Available at: https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-is-a-dramedy-definition/.

-Team, N.F.I. (2022). Mockumentary - Everything You Need To Know. [online] NFI. Available at: https://www.nfi.edu/mockumentary/#:~:text=For%20the%20most%20part%2C%20mockumentaries.

-Ryan, J. (n.d.). LibGuides: What is Horror?: About. [online] westportlibrary.libguides.com. Available at: https://westportlibrary.libguides.com/Whatishorror#:~:text=Horror%20is%20a%20genre%20of.

 

-www.imdb.com. (n.d.). White Noise (2022) - Taglines - IMDb. [online] Available at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6160448/taglines/ [Accessed 15 Apr. 2024].

 

-IMDb (2017). Get Out. [online] IMDb. Available at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5052448/.

-Box Office Mojo. (n.d.). The Hunger Games Head-to-Head. [online] Available at: https://www.boxofficemojo.com/showdown/sd708638212/.

‌-Williamson, K. (1996). Scream. [online] IMDb. Available at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117571/.

 

-Baumbach, N., Baumbach, N., DeLillo, D., Driver, A., Gerwig, G. and Cheadle, D. (2022). White Noise. [online] IMDb. Available at: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6160448/?ref_=tt_mv_close [Accessed 15 Apr. 2024].

-Cedars. (2023). ‘White Noise’ depicts how we are drowning in the noise we make. [online] Available at: https://cedars.cedarville.edu/2023/01/white-noise-depicts-how-we-are-drowning-in-the-noise-we-make/#:~:text=The%20whole%20point%20of%20the [Accessed 15 Apr. 2024].