Audiences and Institutions

The Woman in Black

The primary audience is the main target audience whose attention is what the product is after. For this film, it is the horror fan base as that is the genre which is being addressed. The certain elements of the film and also the advertising techniques, such as the colour schemes and taglines, indicate that the primary audience is horror fans.

The secondary audience is the audience which is attracted by the product but not for the main reason as intended. Within this film, the secondary target audience would be Harry Potter fans. This is because of the starring feature being Daniel Radcliffe, who plays Harry Potter in the franchise. The fans have a connection with him as this audience has grown up with him throughout the making of the Harry Potter films, and will follow him in his later films because of it.

Who do you think the primary and secondary target audience in for The Woman in Black? Why?

The Woman in Black was released on the 10th February 2012. Before that, there was a marketing campaign designed to get the target audience interested in watching it, and ready for release.

The size of the campaign was large as it was a high budget film estimated at roughly $17,000,000. The campaign was on a large scale including the teaser trailer, main trailer, posters etc. However, what boosted it along massively was the input of Daniel Radcliffe, the lead actor. Having a fan-base of his own, Radcliffe was able to attract the attention of his Harry Potter fans by carrying out many interviews each promoting the upcoming horror film, and also by distributing video messages via The Woman in Black website and YouTube channel.

Given that this film was on a high budget, the campaign was able to be distributed everywhere. Billboards, bus-shelters, and posters around cities, as well as a huge online campaign with a website, adverts on social media and also adverts in newspapers. This was all alongside the main and teaser trailers.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXXRS3Kghh4 – Official Trailer.

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

Given that the marketing materials covered almost every ground, it would seem to be appropriate. The target audience being horror fans stretching from teens to middle-aged means that the internet is a good place to advertise. The internet is a well-used, modern and quick way to advertise. Also, using buses and transport advertising is appropriate to reach the target audience as it relates to the reach. The scale of this film being so large means that the reach will be big, and plastering posters on buses etc, will ensure that the large target audience will see it and the promotion will be reinforced.

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

The Woman in Black had a big release as the advertising campaign was so large. The primary target audience was reached, and so was the secondary target audience in terms of the advertising, therefore the film was well-known and distributed before the release.

The Woman in Black was released in 39 countries, which shows the large geographical reach in which this film had achieved.

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

The Box Office trends state that The Woman in Black was a high budget film and it cost $35,000,000 to make. However, this figure also includes the cost of marketing and the advertising campaign.

The weekend in which the film premiered and started showing, worldwide it made $20,874,072. This is already over half-way to break even, meaning that it most probably will make a profit as it was shown for a longer period of time given how popular it was due to the marketing campaign and popularity from the opening weekend.

The worldwide gross grew to $128,956,290, which shows a massive profit as it exceeds the production costs meaning that the film was a success.

How much did The Woman in Black cost to make? (Production budget) AND what was the industry impact of The Woman in Black? (Box Office trends).

A key factor into why the film was so successful is the work of Daniel Radcliffe in not only delivering a convincing performance, but also encouraging the Harry Potter fan base to support and follow the film. Just being involved with the film enabled him to do this, but also the extra support and promotion he did to boost the reach of the film was a massive contributing factor into the film’s success.

Another reason for success could be the fact that it is already a well-known story by Susan Hill, and was infamous for being the most ‘chilling theatre experience’ to go and watch live. This fame before the film had even come out boosted the anticipation and high expectations for the film to be successful, as there was already an established background behind it.

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