The Perfect Audience Member

There are so many different types of people in the world, all with different interests, hobby's, careers and features. Out of all these people, I thought 'what percentage of them will actually take an interest in my film?' Everyone is different therefore I thought that perhaps my film might have a wider audience range after all. I have done a lot of research to find my 'perfect audience member' and investigate into what people I thought would over look my film, might actually take an interest in it if I were to include certain elements that spark their interests.
I have used various websites to help support my theory and help me find the perfect audience member for my teen comedy 'Alter Ego'

One website that I used to help with my research, was 'UK Tribes'. This is run by ITV and looks at young people of Britain between the ages of 16-24. This website was perfect for my research as the age range it focused on was very close to the age range of my target audience which is 13-30.
UK Tribes found out that their were so many different types of young people in Britain that it was hard to just simply categorize them as they all had so many interests and opinions. For example, a typical girl who dresses trendy, has perfect hair, is wealthy and is very popular could be easily cast as a 'mean girl/popular' but what most people don't consider is that she could be extremely intelligent and not a shallow, cruel girl. She probably has so many layers to her. That is why UK Tribes found it hard to categorize the young people as there was more to them than meets the eye.
UK Tribes categorized these young people into five different categories

1. Alternative- This tribe strives to be different and stand out. From Coloured hair, tattoos, piercings and loud clothing they are determined to be different but do it together.
2. Mainstream- This tribe forms the backbone of tribal society, they are indulged by things such as popular music, Friday night parties, bit of booze, prime time TV and cliché things like Starbucks and top shop.
3. Leading Edge- This tribe is the leading edge tribe, they are scene leaders taking up activities such as magazine publishing, documenting and collecting.
4. Urban- The majority of people in this tribe are wealthy or are influenced by wealthy styles of life. They are interested in latest sounds, clubs and fashion.
5. Aspirant- This tribe of people live life for the moment.

Looking into all these tribes, I decided that the tribe that will most likely watch my teen comedy film would be the Mainstream tribe. I think this as they seem to be influenced by activities and would deal with issues that my film would deal with. Things such as Friday night parties with booze, music, dancing and friends is defiantly a big part in teen comedy's. Therefore the 'mainstream' tribe can relate to my film. The mainstream tribe are also associated with cliché things, that is what my teen comedy focuses on, clichés and stereotypes.

I do think that the 'urban' tribe would also be interested in my film as they are described as being 'rich' or having an interest in a 'wealthy lifestyle'. This relates to my film as the main character is of a wealthy background, therefore her lifestyle could potentially spark their interests.

Overall there was no perfect individual audience member in any of the tribes. This is probably because no body is perfect and no matter how many people watch my film, everyone will have their own opinion on it, things they liked, things they didn't like or jokes they didn't find funny, while another person found it hilarious. The closest thing in the UK Tribe to a perfect audience member was probably the 'mainstream' tribe as they really seem to associate with my film and a lot of them are close to the actual characters in my film. Because of this they would most likely find the film funny yet realistic and easy to relate to. I have found that when audience members find films easy to relate to, they tend to have more emotion towards it as they have perhaps experienced something similar and can feel the emotion of the character. This makes them grow an attachment to the film as they share a common trait, much like how you grow attachment to friends and family in the same way.

On the other hand, if there were to be a perfect audience member:

• They would be polite about all the film elements even if they didn't like certain parts. I would want my perfect audience member to respect all aspects of the film and appreciate the hard work that has gone into making the film.
• They would dress trendy but comfy as well. I would want my perfect audience member to dress trendy and keep up with the latest fashion as someone who does this tends to represent a person who is daring and likes to try new and exiting things. A person like this would help create a perfect audience member as it means that they are a fun person and it could mean that even though 'teen comedy' perhaps is not their favourite genre, they would be willing to watch it, to try and experience something new. Yet I would want them to dress comfy as this could symbolize a person who knows what they like and doesn't let other peoples opinions defeat them, they do things for them and not for anybody else. This would help build the perfect audience member as they would not hesitate to watch a film they love, they will not let other peoples opinions influence them in a way that they would stop watching your film if they love it.
• The perfect audience member would eat healthy but would also enjoy foods such as chocolate, sweets and candy. I would want my audience member to eat healthy so that they do not have any health problems. I would want them to enjoy treats like chocolate because thoes are the kind of things you eat when you watch a film.This suggests that the more sweet treats the audience member east the more films they watch.
• They would listen to pop/house/dance music as that is the music that is advertised the most in the media through film, TV, radio and magazine. Therefore this could lead to the audience member to hear about my film and take an interest in it as it shares mutual media resources such as radio and magazine. 
• The perfect audience member would watch TV shows similar to the 'teen comedy' genre. TV shows such as 'Gossip Girl', 'Melissa and Joey' and 'Teen Wolf'. Also maybe some Disney shows such as 'Hannah Montana' and 'Wizards of Waverley Place'. This is because if they are already familiar with the 'teen comedy' genre, they will already be open to finding new 'teen comedy' films and TV shows.
• They would read teen pop magazines such as 'Bliss', 'Tiger Pop' and 'Sugar' to get familiar with the stereotypical 'teen' traits and the teen lifestyle that these magazines feed to young men and women. Because of this, the perfect audience member would perhaps want to watch films to see what a typical teenage lifestyle looks like. I would also want my audience member to read fashion magazines such as 'Vouge' to stay on top of the latest fashion.

They would also:

• Read classic Literature books
• Enjoy going to parties on Friday nights
• like spending time with friends
• Is around the age of 16-18
• Is currently in High School/Secondary School
• A fairly clever person
• Enjoys doing activities such as drama, photography and dancing
• The perfect audience member for my film would preferably be female

If an audience member had all these traits they would defiantly be interested in watching my film. even if they didn't like it or they didn't think it was that funny, they would appreciate the hard work, time and research that went into it anyway.Their personality has traits from the characters in the film so they can relate to them and they are of the age range of the main characters as well.

Check Out the UK Tribes and see what tribe your in: http://www.uktribes.com/