1. Who do you think the primary and secondary target audience is for The Woman in Black?
The main/primary audience for 'The Woman in Black' is mostly males and females who are under the age of 20, apart of BC1 who enjoy watching jumpy horror films . This is because of who plays the main character within the film would mostly be attractive to those who would have watched Danial Radcliff's 'Harry Potter' series. Also which points to this audience being the primary one is the certificate of the film (12A) which says that it isn't your conventional gory horror film. The secondary audience would be those who are aged from 20-45, middle class (BC1). This is because the film was originally a book who those of an older generation would be interested in. Also it would have to appeal to those parents who are taking their kids to go see the film.
2. How was The Woman in Black marketed?
The Woman in Black was marketed in a range of different ways. Such as pioneering ways such as social media. The distributors of the film created different media accounts on websites such as Facebook and Twitter. This helped reach out to the younger side of their target audience. Another way that The Woman in Black was marketed was through traditional ways such as billboards, posters, tv and radio adverts ect. This would have reached out to the older side of the audience as they would have a higher chance of seeing the billboards/ posters. The Woman in Black also had things such as teaser campaigns. These included posters and trailers. These are mainly made to create a buzz for the film to come out and for people to start spreading the word about the new film coming out through such things as word of mouth and word of mouse. After the teaser campaign comes the main campaign,. This is where multiple trailers are released of the film and posters which created the main buzz for the film leading up to the release. One big way that the film was advertised was through Daniel Radcliff. Daniel wanted the film to get the most publicity it could to show that he could act in different films. This meant he featured on many different TV shows and interviews to publicize the film. 3. Do you think the marketing materials for the film were appropriate? Why?
I think that The Woman in Black was advertised to the max to receive the most possible publicity. The materials they used are pioneering and suit the new age of technology, however in my personal opinion i think that the film should have been marketed as a certificate of 15 instead of a 12A. This is due to the distressing images that could possibly make a 12 year old horrified through the use of the jumpy images. In fact there were over 100 complaints towards the tone of the film as well as the theme would be too dark for a 12 year old to see. Despite this, the film was still a great success with the main marketing point of this film being Daniel Radcliff.
4. What kind of release did the film have?
The film had a big release in the United States on the 5th of February 2012. On its opening weekend it made $20,500,000 and was showed on 2,885 screens. A week later it was released in the UK and was shown on 412 screens making £3,100,000. All together the film was shown in 2850 theaters across 46 different countries.5. How much did The Woman in Black cost to make? (Production budget) AND what was the industry impact of The Woman in Black?
In total the cost to make The Woman in Black was estimated at $15 Million. The film however achieved a box office record which was the most successful horror film in British history. At the charts, the film was at the top in the UK for 3 weeks and after those 3 weeks the film ended up with $47,729,196 from when it was first released.
6. Why do you think the film was successful?
I think that the film was so successful because of the casting of Daniel Radcliff. This attracted a much larger audience compared to what they would have had if they got someone else to take his place. Daniel Radcliff brought the Harry Potter franchise's audience which is large and this is the reason why he was the main selling point of this film.
