AS Media

1. Who would be the audience for
your media product?
By Myles Egan

2. My Product
• My product belongs to the social realism genre, this is a genre with
a smaller audience of people compared to more mainstream genre.
• Social realism is known as a niche genre as only a small specific type
of people are interested in these types of films.
• Although, belonging to this genre and being ‘true to life’ creates
aspects of relatability and can sometimes address more than just
the usual social realist fans.
• My product also contains two protagonists, who are in a love
relationship and this adds elements from the romance
genre, although combines the two genres together due to the
unpredictability of it.

3. Theatrical
• Due to social realism being a niche audience and therefore reaching out to a smaller amount
of people compared to mainstream films, this is often the reason why mainstream cinemas
like Odeon, Empire and Cinemax don’t provide these types of films.
• Although with Social Realism attracting a certain type of audience, this still creates a gap in
the market for demand. Therefore there are very little amount of places around the UK that
provide this type of entertainment, but here are a few: The Arnolfini Centre (Bristol), The
Corner House (Manchester), Nation Film Centre (London), Every Man Cinema (Film chain)
and Picturehouse (Film chain).
• As you can see by the location of these theatres that they’re usually based in easy-access
locations and are all near universities. These types of theatres need to be easy-access due to
the wide demographic of their audience and low competition, by placing it in a main area
with a lot of transport options this makes it easy to attract consumers to come to their
theatre. The reason these theatres are also by universities is that social realism is a genre
usually watched by an audience who are more educated to media and being near a uni will
mean they’re closer to their target audience.
• This is why the mainstream film chains often don’t provide this entertainment as their
audience is usually younger and less media educated and therefore not interested in this type
of genre.

4. Theatrical
Providers of social realism
• As you can see there is a certain
type of more artistic and formal
look to these types of buildings and
this symbolizes the type of
audience they would attract and
are hoping to attract.
Mainstream film chains
• Here you can see the simple, clear bold
lettering of their brand and use of simplistic
structure when it comes to the buildings.
Aesthetically they can’t be too boisterous
as they must cater for a wider
audience, hence the reason they’re so
aesthetically plain.

5. Online
• The online market is expanding in recent times at an unpredictably rapid rate due to the
everyday advances in technology, more and more sites become available due to such high-
demand from consumers of the easy accessibility of streaming films. The accessibility of
these types of companies is a really unique advantage compared to other areas of the
market, who don’t provide this type of selling point, although may provide a better
experience.
• Another advantages of online usage is the cheap costs of it, as when using sites such as
Netflix and LOVEFiLM the consumer receives an account to which they pay a small monthly
rate in comparison to the rate of buying the actual film or going to cinema and this allows
them to watch an unlimited amount of films to which these companies provide.
• LOVEFiLM and Netflix both target very mainstream audiences and this is due to the increased
amount of mainstream genres and although it has a huge variety of mainstream genre films,
this leaves their more niche genres like social realism quite scarce. They only really provide a
small amount of social realism films such as; Kidulthood, Adulthood, This is England and Fish
Tank.

6. Online
• Although there are other sites, which are less mainstream and less known; for example,
MUBI is one.It could be seen similar to LOVEFiLM, but isn't as popular and is described as
more of a niche film site.On MUBI there are less mainstream films; you can watch the best
classic, independent and foreign films. They describes themselves as 'Movies for people who
are passionate about film' this shows that it covers all areas of the film industry and provides
a range of genres and not only a range of genres, but also a variety of films from the genres.
It also shows that they’re targeting themselves at a specific audience and with the use of the
word ‘passionate’, this is likely to mean they want an audience who are more media educated
and will utilize their site to the full potential. For example, MUBI have set up an option so
that users are able interact by sharing opinions and reviews on the website; being able to
discuss these types of films and gathering each others opinions is often what people do when
they’re more educated to media and want to discuss the film intelligently and into more
depth.
Looking at this advertisement,
the words discover and discuss
support my point in that MUBI
are looking to attract a more
media educated audience.

7. BBC TWO – Social Realism Documentary
In 2007, BBC Two aired a documentary called ‘British Film Forever’ the synopsis contained
this:
‘Programme Three in BBC TWO's landmark series on the history of British Film takes a look at the most British of
genres - Social Realism. There was a revolution in British film at the end of the 1950s: working people and the
realities of their everyday lives started to appear on the big screen. Hardship, Humour and Heroes traces the
evolution from Billy Liar to Billy Elliot via Saturday Night Sunday Morning, Kes and Trainspotting.Featuring
original interviews with Ewan McGregor, Jamie Bell, Rita Tushingham, Malcom McDowell, Phil Daniels, Danny
Boyle and Johnny Vegas - as well as the directors who have shaped the genre: Ken Loach and Mike Leigh.’
This does not mean that they specifically air this type of genre, but what it does show is an
interest in more of the educational-side of media and the audience that BBC Two have are
ones who would be similar to the audience that I’m targeting my product at.
After researching BBC Two more extensively, I found out that there was a period of a week
Television

8. Here is the project page from 2007 named ‘British Film Forever’
BBC2 TWO – Social Realism Documentary
Television

9. BBC Four
Television
BBC Four shows a wide variety of programmes including drama, documentaries, music,
international film, original programmes, comedy and current affairsan alternative to
programmes on the mainstream TV channels. So really BBC Four is similar to MUBI in the
sort of things they broadcast/provide and as MUBI is known to be quite a niche company
and withholds a wide variety of films, some being social realism, the two companies are
very similar in catering for the smaller audience who are interested in less mainstream
films.
Also, BBC Four is required by its license to broadcast at least 100 hours of new arts and
music programmes, 110 hours of new factual programmes and to premiere 20
international films each year; this means that my independent niche product with a
factual storyline about the overwhelming effects of new responsibilities at young
adulthood and how new legal activities can cause turmoil in peoples lives. Further more,
with the element of my product being ‘true to life’ it would also be factual to peoples
everyday lives, and this is why I feel BBC4’s audience would be people who are also
interested in my product.

10. Television
Film 4
Film 4 did not originally focus on broadcasting blockbusters, but nowadays broadcasts
many mainstream Hollywood films. The channel frequently has themed nights or seasons
in which it will begin to show a number of films centered around one genre, director or
actor. As Channel 4 also owns a film production company (Film 4 Production) it shows
many of its own productions.
After reading about their themed night organization, this tells me that their audience are
interested in experimenting with film and are interested in a variety of films and tells me
that their audience must be educated to media for these reasons, this provides sufficient
information in that I believe Film 4’s audience would also be interested in my film.

11. Radio
BBC Radio 3
‘The cultural movement labeled 'kitchen sink realism' gave urgent, vivid expression to
the reality of post-war Britain, through film and the arts.’
Is what BBC Radio 3 said when posting about a huge variety of Social Realist films such as;
Looking Back in Anger, The Wednesday Play: Up The Junction, John Bratby – The Toilet and
Women in a Dressing Gown.
All of these films were exhibited by BBC Radio 3 and with this in mind, you can start to see
certain similarities between BBC Radio 3 and BBC4 in that they provide similar material
and have therefore got a similar audience that connect with them. BBC4’s audience were
usually people who cared more about a variety of film and were often more media
educated, this gives me the impression that as the audiences are similar that BBC Radio 3’s
audience would also be interested in my media product.

12. Radio
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 along with Open Cinema helped to host a screening of ‘Sweet Sixteen’ which
Ken Loach and Paul Laverty attended at the Pearce Institute in Glasgow, 17 January 2011.
This shows the organizations support for this film and this type of genre, as hosting a
screening of a film isn’t a regular thing for BBC Radio 4 and to display a social realism film
shows that their audience is interested in this type of genre and are open to a variety of
different films, showing they’re more media educated.
Therefore accounting these factors, BBC Radio 4’s audience would be interested in my
media product as it displays a lot of themes and issues which are true to life and this is
something you don’t get in mainstream films, as my media product belongs to the niche
genre of social realism, which is something that BBC Radio 4’s audience has made clear
interests them.

13. Print
Sight & Sound Magazine
Judging by the layout and colour scheme of this cover, it is
very simplistic and not very eye-catching. I feel that these
features portray a sense of formality and maturity of the
consumer. As it isn't bright, loud and in your face - it is
targeted at people who already know or are a fan of this
magazine; hence not a mainstream audience. When looking
inside of the magazine you can start to notice that the
language is aimed at a media educated audience with the
constant use of media specific terminology, as using these
sorts of words in a mainstream magazine wouldn’t work as
a lot of the mainstream film audiences are not media
educated. This tells me that the audience for Sight & Sound
Magazine is a very niche audience and those of who are
media educated. Often audiences who are more educated
to media want to explore a variety of film genres rather
than just one, this tells me that Sight & Sounds audience
would be interested in my media product.

14. Print
Sight & Sound Magazine
As you can see from this Sight & Sound
Magazine cover, it already has
advertised a Social Realism film called
‘Fish Tank’ this tells me that the
audience of Sight & Sound Magazine
are interested in the Social Realism
genre and as my media product belongs
to the Social Realism genre, I feel that
Sight & Sound Magazine’s audience
would also be interested in my media
product.

15. Print
Quantitative
When researching my target audience, I
gave my quantitative questionnaire out to
around 20 people; after concluding my
results, I found these two answers very
interesting as it tells me that 91% of
people had not seen a social realism film at
a cinema/theatre and 80% of people did
not find social realism films easily
accessible, therefore with this in mind
places such as The Arnolfini
Centre, National Film Centre and The
Picturehouse may not have the best
audience for my product and as my
audience are looking for more
accessibility, an online software
Programme like MUBI’s audience may be
more suitable.