Audiences and Institutions: The Woman in Black (Watkins, 2012)

Audiences and Institutions: 

The Woman in Black ( Watkins 2012 )

1) Who do you think the primary and secondary target audiences is for The Woman in black? Why?

I think that the primary audience is under 25's as the film is rated at a 12a and will therefore attract teenagers and young adults that like horror films, and would prefer the thrills from watching a horror film rather than older people. The secondary audience would be Harry Potter and Daniel Radcliffe fans, as he would be bringing a crowd in to just see him in a film, but also people that enjoy a good supernatural/paranormal horror film.


2) How was The Woman in Black marketed? ( Think about genre(s), sub genre(s), media platforms, target audiences, promotions, size of campaign etc).

The Woman in Black had loads of time, money and effort spent on the marketing campaign prior to the films
release. It was marketed on social networking sites, and other sites such as Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, Sky 1 and FHM to reach the young adults, then they planned to go broader, hitting companies such as IMBD, Film 4, ITV, Heart radio and Comedy Central on Sky. They placed adverts on places like, bustops, magazines, newspapers, buildings, radio, TV, and online. Daniel Radcliffe played a large part in the marketing campaign out of TWIB, such as running competitions for merch, film tickets, giveaways etc. They also held a worldwide premier in London which got a lot of fans, and boosted sales.

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

I think that although the film was marketed at a 12A, the film was far too inappropriate for the rating, and was not suitable for the younger generation of Harry Potter fans. The promotional poster which features Radcliffe on an old English marsh, with a light blue sky shows that the film shouldn't be that scary or creepy and should somewhat be light horror, but after watching the film myself I think that the film is too dark, and although the poster is good, it should have been darker to show the audience what the film is actually going to be like.


4) What kind of release did the film have? ( Big/small? How many cinemas showed the film on its release?)

Due to the large amount of advertising and marketing that led up to the release of the film, it gained a large interest by both the cinemas/theaters as well as the fans and the public. The film was shown in pretty much every cinema across the country, and was huge when it was first released. The marketing campaign that led up to it was supported heavily by Daniel Radcliffe, which brought in thousands upon thousands of Harry Potter fans, which helped the large sale of the film.


5) How much did The Woman in Black cost to make? ( Production budget ) and what was the industry impact of The Woman in Black? ( Think box office and trends.)

They had a budget of $17,000,000 to make the film and up to October 2013 they made $127 million. When it was released in the cinema, parents were frustrated that the 12A rating for the film was wrong and the film was far too scary for a 12 year old to see, and was not appropriate for the young generation of Harry Potter and Daniel Radcliffe fans.


6) Why do you think the film was so successful? ( You must come up with at least two reasons )

It was successful due to the fact that the main character was played by Daniel Radcliffe, and as he had such a large fanbase from playing Harry Potter, he brought along a lot of fans which all paid to view the film in the
cinema.