Task 3 – Target Audience
Star Wars A New Hope’s target audience is a film aimed at age groups from the ages ten and up (particularly a male audience). The reason it did so well in the box office is the fact that it is one of the most exiting films of its generation, Star Wars was a revolutionary movie when it was made in the sense that it was quite different from what had gone before. Lucas showed great imagination and great execution in bringing the film to fruition. Critics views said that the overwhelming majority of critics praised this movie and particularly Lucas role in creating it, including the characterization of the lead characters and mythology at its centre.
The poster for the 1977 film shows off some of the main characters being Princess Leia, Luke Skywalker, R2-D2, C-3PO and Darth Vader. It also shows off some of the fantasy parts with space in the back with the Death Star and some of the fighter planes. This would appeal to a male audience mainly because its about conflict in a sense. It also appeals to many different genres being action, science, adventure, fantasy and thriller. This means that it will appeal to many people that enjoy different genre’s. This is because Lucas wanted to break the rule book and combine multiple genres so it appealed to a wide audience in a certain way. The film starred many famous stars at the time including, James Earl Jones, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford.
The trailer:
Star Wars A New Hope was released on December 27th 1977 and had a production budget of $11,000,000 but made an overall box office of $786,535,665. After watching some interviews for Star Wars A New Hope it has shown me that the target audience for the film is so much wider than just sci-fi fans because Star Wars mixes such a lot of genres so tries to capture everyone. In one interview with Harrison Ford, he says that it is like making something like Flash Gordon but with Star Wars it is making it more accessible to people because its on the big screen instead of a book or something and it allows fans of fantasy, space, science, action, adventure, futuristic and robots to come into one film which is why i think that it did so well.
Watching the TV spots for Star Wars A New Hope, you can definitely see that each one is targeted at whoever likes that actor or actress. The TV spots are completely catered towards specific stars for example, some that i watched were specifically for either Obi Wan, Luke Skywalker, and Han Solo. This is so if you are specific fans of either Ewan McGregor, Mark Hamill or Harrison Ford then these TV will appeal to you and hopefully a certain percentage of audience will go to see a film because their favourite actor or actress is starring in the film.
This poster focuses on the main stars and also have additional extras such as some of the action elements. It has the main characters, some of the droids and ‘creatures’ with some rebel fighter planes and some explosions with galaxies in the back. This then appeals to space fans, fans of the stars, fans of action and adventure, robots, creatures and just the fact that it is new technology so it instantly appeals to a new audience because its almost like a revolution of special effects.
NRS Social Grade – Star Wars
The NRS social grades are a system of demographic classification used in the United Kingdom. They were originally developed by the National Readership Survey to classify readers, but are now used by many other organisations for wider applications and have become a standard for market research. They were developed over 50 years ago and achieved widespread usage in 20th Century Britain. Their definition is now maintained by the Market Research Society. The distinguishing feature of social grade is that it is based on occupation.
I think that Star Wars will appeal to all classes on the social grade because it has been a franchise that has been around since 1977 and so people can now grow up the social ladder for example if they are born into ‘Grade E’ which is ‘Casual or lowet grade workers, pensioners, and others who depend on the welfare state for their income’ then they can progress throughout the course of their working life to make their way up to ‘Class A’ which is the ‘Higher managerial, administrative or professional’. The thinking behind this is that people that grew up in lower class families that watched the films will work up the NRS social ladder to get themselves to a higher grade which means that they can earn. Stereotypically, lower class people have a lot of time on their hands and watch a lot of daytime TV but also will have time to go and watch films but might not have a lot of income to spend so they will wait for the bigger films of the year, the big blockbuster films which will be released every so often, so Star Wars is one of these films which people will wait and want to go and see because its been around for so long and it also changes a lot and has a lot of marketing so it has a very broad range of people that will go and watch the film because it has the label Star Wars and it captures all ages and especially classes on the NRS scale.
The 4 C’s Theory.
The 4 C’s stands for cross cultural consumer characterisation. This is a theory that claims that their are 7 groups that people can fit into depending on their motivation.
The aspirer: Materialistic. They focus more on others opinions and perceptions of them rather than their personal preference. They respond to other people’s ways of life (appearance, personality, fashion etc). They think that appearance is more important than personality.
The Succeeder: They have self confidence and they’re very organised. They have a strong goals and they want to be successful. Often have an aggressive attitude to life.
The Explorer: These people look for more newer challenges and discovery. They always want to be the people to try out new experiences and ideas. They look to be different from other people.
The Reformer: They value their own judgement, they do what they want. Considered as intellects. They have a lot of tolerance. Their motivation is for enlightenment.
The Mainstream: They follow routines of the very average person. They are the mainstream of society. They are the largest of the 7 groups. They tend to copy other people and like what they like. They follow groups and trends.
The struggler: Other groups often see them as victims. They rely on luck to get anywhere with their lives. Often are heavy consumers of alcohol and junk food.
The resigned:Elder people with unchanging values. Enjoy traditional roles and lives. Content with their lives.
Star Wars has become that kind of film that just appeals to most people, this means that most of these theories will be valid in some sense to certain kinds of people, because the audience who are watching the film will aspire to be a character in the film, for example some females might aspire to be ‘Rey’ in the film because she is a strong independent female character and so a lot of women will aspire to being her. Also, because Star Wars was always a male dominated film, mostly watched by males, it means that the males will be like the succeeder, because males are dominant and predominantly confident, this means that they have an aggressive attitude to life, not particularly physically aggressive to people but in general just confident. The reformers would go and watch it because it has an element of spirituality because of the Jedi form because this would give them enlightenment. The mainstream would be the most likely to be the audience for the film because it is a big Hollywood blockbuster film and so they would go to watch it because it is part of a trend and they have to keep up with what other people are watching and doing. The struggler would be the kind of people who would go and see the film because they are stereotypically on a lower income and so because Star Wars advertised everywhere demographically no matter your income, it would have people watching it who have very little disposable income and save some of this money to watch maybe one or two big Hollywood films a year and because Star Wars is one of the biggest the struggler would be a group that would be a part of the audience for the film. The resigned would be a part of the audience because they will have been alive when the film first came out in 1977 and will carry on watching the film because it is as such a tradition of what they used to do. The aspirer would be the least likely group to go and watch the film, this is because they try to explore for newer things and don’t like to be seen liking things that are “trendy” as such. This means that they wouldn’t go and watch such a big Hollywood film as it is such a mainstream thing, they would be more likely to go and watch an independent film which is harder to find and so they are not like other people.
Mosaic UK
D14 ‘Satellite Settlers’ – Mature households living in expanding developments around larger villages with good transport links.
I would tie this in with Star Wars because the location in which someone would live would has a good transport link, this means that even if the place where they live doesn’t have a cinema then there are also availability for public transport to the cinema.
E18 ‘Legacy Elders’ – Time honoured elders now mostly living alone in comfortable suburban homes on final salary pensions.
Older people who will have been around for when the first Star Wars came out so they will be interested in the newer ones that come out, it will also give them something to do if they are lonely and they have some disposable incomes on their pensions.
F23 ‘Family Ties’ – Active families with teans and adult children whose prolonged support is eating up household resources.
Families who will take their children to watch the new films that will come out in cinema or if they are families who will only take their children to watch the big blockbusters.
M54 ‘Down-to-Earth Owners’ – Ageing couples who have owned their inexpensive homes for many years while working in routine jobs.
Couples who will go out and watch films together, they have inexpensive homes which means they will have more disposable income so they can spend it on watching the newer blockbuster films.
066 ‘Student Scene’ – Students living in high density accomodation close to universities and educational centres.
Students that have a lot of free time and so will go and watch a film and also have a bit of money because of their part time jobs that they will have. Students are also targeted with the marketing because a lot of the marketing will be aimed towards students. It is also helpful for student film enthusiasts or film students who will analyse films.
I would say that first Star Wars was aimed at mainly male audiences from 13-39 years old, this is because fighting, explosions and guns stereotypically appeal to males. I would say that the film heterosexual sexual orientation because males and females can be attracted to some of the main characters, for example males will be attracted to Carrie Fisher and females will be attracted to Mark Hamill and the film can be enjoyed by a worldwide audience and so it does not target itself to one part of the world. I would say the first Star Wars is for more of a niche geeky audience who are into space fights etc. But this has all changed with the new Star Wars because it has been aimed at a massive audience because it links everything in with it and the age has changed so children will be lured into watching it by parents who have been around to see the first one in 1977 and the parents will be a bit older so it moves the age range from about 6-60 years old. The newer film has also made sure that it appeals to females along with males and is more of a film for all the family now. A way they have made it so enticing to children is because Disney bought Lucasarts and so Disney are able to make merchandise for the film which will make children want to watch the film. It also means that it opens itself to any kind of sexual orientation and it stays open to the entire world as an audience but it becomes more of a mainstream film now because its such a big thing now that its seen as normal and pretty mainstream instead of geeky.
Links to websites i have used for references, posters etc:
http://screenfish.net/star-wars-a-new-hope-is-your-lack-of-faith-disturbing/
http://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Star-Wars-Ep-IV-A-New-Hope#tab=summary
George Foy 