Target Audience

Age
I aimed my film primarily at the younger youth audience (ages 15 to 24) This was reflected in my casting and choice of characters who were all around ages 17 to 18. It was also reflected in my plot and setting as a group of teenagers at a party is more appealing to someone of a similar age group, rather than someone older. In my initial idea I considered bringing in slightly older characters, around 25 to 30 years old to show the development in time however due to changes to the plot and my genre research I decided to only use teenagers. My film could potentially appeal to a slightly younger audience such as 13 or 14 year olds who are able to avoid age restrictions through illegal downloads for example. It could be argued they are motivated to do so by aspiring to the older characters represented in my product, and their peers.
Ethnicity
My product does not represent any non Caucasian characters however I still wish to target a wide ethnic audience. Through my genre research I have found various films which do not feature any non Caucasian actors, but have continued to be successful for example Donkey Punch (2009 Oliver Blackburn)

Gender
The genre I have chosen is seen as primarily male orientated however my genre research has shown me ways in which film producers over come this for example the introduction of a final girl, a tough resourceful character shown in most horror films who eventually defeats the villain. Final girls are often portrayed as brunettes with the scream queens who are killed of presented as blonde for example Drew Barrymore's character in Scream (1996 Wes Craven) I decided to use counter types rather than stereotypes and cast the final girl as blonde and the two "scream queens" brunettes. These two girls are attractive and portrayed as sexually available, meaning my product could attract more males because of the male gaze theory. "The male gaze occurs when the audience is put into the perspective of a heterosexual man. A scene may linger on the curves of a woman's body, for instance" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaze#The_Male_Gaze_and_Feminist_theory) I don't not feel this is conveyed through my final trailer however some of the scenes which were cut do incorporate this theory.
I initially portrayed the two brunette girls as more anxious and wary when the boy is telling the ghost story however this did not fit the overconfident, arrogant way in which I wanted to present the girls therefore in the final edit they are pulling the same scathing faces as the boys which could imply they are tougher and more rational than stereotypical scream queens.

Socio-economic groupings
My product is conventional therefore it applies to social groups C2DE however it does employ some counter types making it more complex. This could give some appeal to higher classes such as C1. Although the horror genre is generally associated with "popular culture" and classes AB are generally associated with "higher culture" which could include products such as period dramas, more sophisticated horror films centered around an older cast do appeal to groupings ABC1. Examples of this are Silence Of the Lambs (1991 Jonathan Demme) and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974 Tobe Hooper)
My characters all represent a middle class profile. This is portrayed in the way they are dressed and the house where the party is set is a typically middle class house, comparable to the one used in the opening of Scream.

Nationality/Region
The representation of the typical southern Englishman has helped boost foreign sales for example Hugh Grant in Bridget Jones Diary (2001 Sharron Maguire) however I decided to use northern English characters. This had proved a challenge in the past however films produced by Warp X such as Donkey Punch have shown to overcome this. I felt a northern accent best fitted my genre, rather than a southern one which is often associated with Rom-coms such as Love Actually (2003 Richard Curtis) At the beginning of my trailer I used the boy telling the story in a cheesy American accent. This is parodying the typical American slasher horror story however could work in attracting an American audience.

Fans Of...
I would expect the older section of my target audience (20 to 24) to be fans of Scream, Halloween (1978 John Carpenter) and possibly classic horrors such as Psycho (1960 Alfred Hitchcock) For the younger section I also considered them to be fans of Scream and also postmodernist hybrid films such as Scary Movie (2000 Keenen Waynas) and Shaun Of The Dead (2004 Edgar Wright) which is why I used the parrodying voice over element.

Psychographic Profile
I belive the typical person in my target audeince would be a 16 to 17 year old male who is possibly interesed in video games as these contain violence as do horror films. The appeal of the male gaze theory and the use of attractive, sexually availible females in my product brought me to this conclusion.

Maslows Heirachy of needs refers to various levels which must be completed before a state of self motivation is achived. This can be applied to the market and to my product in the way that
"if producers design products meeting consumer needs, consumers will more often choose those products over those of competitors. Whichever product better fulfils this void will be chosen more frequently, thus increasing sales." Therefore by looking at the target audinces needs and atempting to fulfil these in their products, producers increases the chances of their product being popular. I can apply this to my work by the geekier, outsider of the girls becoming the final girl, meaning girls who feel excluded may be able to relate to this and possibly feel reassured.
I researched the box-office performance of films comparable to my own, in the slasher genre to find out how well they were received in the opening weekend. The Decent (Neil Marshall 2005) took £570,850 and was shown on 329 screens. 28 Days Later (Danny Boyle 2002) took £1,500,079 and was shown on 318 screens.
In comparison to other genres such as action films horror films seem to receive the lowest amount at the box office, with films such as Watchmen (Zach Snyder 2009) receiving £3,243,001 and was shown in 419 screens on the first weekend. This is most probably due to the fact horror films are generally lower budget and appeal to a narrower audience. Another factor could be that Watchmen was originally a graphic novel therefore already had a large fan base.