Target Audience/Release Research

          Entry 39: 4/4/22

     Who does not love last minute research? Now it is not exactly last minute research because we have been keeping it in mind but we have not exactly wrote about it yet. Listen, it is better now than never right? I'll shut up, but think of this blog post as a final research recap.

     TARGET AUDIENCE

• Main: young women (teens) who believe they are being influenced by the media 

• Mostly consume media on mobile devices; cellphones, computer, etc

• Use an excessive amount of social media; Instagram, Twitter, TikTok

• Most teenagers have a job and are able to go to the movies, more specifically for the documentary, using social media is most successful

• Other: young males and older women that consume media

• Young males: to realize the damaging effects of sexualized portrayal

• Older women: realize effects that they might have been oblivious to their entire lives

     RELEASE

      The release is a rather simple decision since we would follow what we did for Counter Conformity. So for the docu-series, we went ahead and research where our target audience flocks. 76 percent of American teens age 13-17 use Instagram. This is huge. We can reach almost 80% of our target audience just through Instagram. Posting on Instagram and promoting it throughout Snapchat and Twitter deems to be extremely effective. 

      We also do have to keep in mind our level of maturity for the documentary. Not matter what we do currently, we are still amateurs so heading to the theaters is not wish for us. Social media is our best bet at reaching as many people as possible. The only issue is that twitter does that a time limit so we would not be able to post the full documentary there but we can link it.

      GENRE

      This is the hardest research topic. Isa and I struggled to find which genre fits. The one we found that most clicks is the expository mode. A expository mode documentary means "gives the narrator the role to explain or argue the film's rhetorical content. Stories and statements are given through voiceover with images to illustrate the tone of the film. Using this mode, the filmmaker collects footage that functions to strengthen the spoken narrative." This is exactly how we filmed, edited, and created our social media/magazine based off. To follow the genre with our filming, we had an interviewer (mostly myself) giving conversation starters (the interview questions) to the interviewee's. This allows the audience to feel like they are talking with the subject and are living the story with them. Not only this, but while we filmed the interview, there were two camera angles. This means that the viewers get a wider shot and a close up for more intimate conversations. While Isa was editing, she made sure to interview the was always speaking or she put b-roll on top of them. This gives the viewers a more personal connection to the interviewee's. Lastly, a expository documentary genre fits perfectly with our doc because "expository documentary films focus on the filmmakers' involvement with his or her subject, using his or her personal experience or relationship with the subject as a jumping-off point for exploring larger, subjective truths about politics, history, or groups of people." This is excellent for our social media and magazine since our social media has teasers, BTS, and content that allows for awareness in different areas. Also, the magazine is a feature on the director, Isabella Chiappini. This quite literally focuses on the directors involvement in the piece. Overall, the expository documentary mode is the genre for us.

     Now that I gave you guys all the inside scope, it is time to finish the rest of the project. It feels like the end of an era, not sure how to emotionally feel about it though, excitement, happiness..