Audiences 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 target audience for this film is young adults as the age certificate on the film is 12, as well as Daniel Radcliffe playing the main character in the film which would have drawn in many of the fans of the "Harry Potter" franchise. The secondary audience for the film is probably slightly older people, possibly from the middle class. This may be because the film originated as a book, and then was staged in various locations as a theatre play.

 

 

2. How was "The Woman in Black" marketed?

 

The marketing campaign for "The Woman in Black" was extremely large. It was very widespread, with advertising coming from radio stations, televised advertisements, YouTube trailers, and promotional film posters etc. Not only this, but there were Facebook and Twitter pages set up for the film, as well as Daniel Radcliffe's Facebook page posting soem content around the time the film was being made and marketed. Daniel Radcliffe also did a series of interviews about the film, partly to show that we was able to break out of the "Harry Potter" role, but also to talk about the film itself.

 

 

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

 

Yes - the way the film was marketed and promoted through different media platforms was particularly clever and allowed for a wider reach in terms of audience. For example, radio advertisements would probably have reached the middle classes who may have read the book or seen the play, while the YouTube trailers would probably have been aimed at film fanatics, and the Facebook and Twitter pages probably targeted the young adults and "Harry Potter" fans.

 

 

4. What kind of release did the film have?

 

The film's release was very big, and greatly successful and had a gross of $54,322,273 (April 29th, 2012). On the opening weekend, it was shown in 2,855 screens in the USA, and a further 412 screens a week later in the UK, totalling  3,267 screens in the USA and UK alone within just one week. At the world premiere in London, many of Radcliffe's fans attended purely because he was there as opposed to actually wanting to see the film; which they may not have had he not starred in it.

 

 

5. How much did "The Woman in Black" cost to make? What was the industry impact of the film?

 

"The Woman in Black" had an estimated budget of $17,000,000; meaning that by the end of April 2012 it had more than trebled its worth.