Audiences and Institutions: The Woman in Black

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

The primary target audience of the film is quite clear as it mainly appeals to the under 25 males and females profiles. As the age certificate is only 12 which is very low for a traditional horror film, this was able to attract a very big primary audience of young teenagers, older teenagers and young adults which is later reflected in the box office figures.

The secondary target audience is a much older audience of adults who may have read the book or seen the play. Being set in the Edwardian era, this appeals much more to an older audience as do some of the other, more established actors such as Ciaren Hinds or Roger Allam who have been in other blockbuster movies. Even though the films plays heavily on Daniel Radcliffe being the lead role, majority of the older audience would also know him through Harry Potter or Radcliffe's theatre performances.

• How was The Woman in Black marketed?

The Woman in Black had several marketing campaigns throughout the preview and release of the film to capture the attention of as many people as possible to increase the audience which would result in an increase the amount of money made at the box office. The teaser campaign was shown far in advance of the film’s release and including a poster, trailer, many Youtube videos and a competition to make the public aware of the future release and make them interested so they would be more likely to find out more about the film and see it when it was released. The teaser didn’t give away the story but still made the audience aware that it was a supernatural horror film with Daniel Radcliffe. Later on closer to the release date was when the main film campaign was unveiled which again featured posters  and trailers as well as press releases in newspapers and social media pages to attract a larger audience and to increase the potential box office revenue. The poster gives a more clear indication on what the film is about and some of the characters and locations in the film in addition to some of the people who worked on the film.

The Woman in Black main poster

By targeting different ages of their target audience differently, this enabled the film to reach as many people as possible through the media products and services they use. The younger demographic was advertised through TV channels such as E4 and magazines such as NME while the older audience was targeted through different types such as ITV, Heart radio and Dread Central. They also appealed to a very different audience that would normally be inclined to see a horror film - the mature middle classes. As the film is originally an adaptation from a book, the company was able to market the film and book together along with joining with the theatre production to market them together through competitions.

6 sheet advert on bus stop

By generating publicity outside the home, the film was able to reach an even bigger audience that may not have seen the adverts or the press releases through out of home advertising such as billboards. The 6 sheets advertisements used on bus shelters and other similar size surfaces were very popular, as were the bigger large format adverts on the sides of buildings and highway billboards. Using Daniel Radcliffe as a marketing tool for the film was well received by the public as he was able to explain the film and what it was like to work on. He participated in a number of publicity campaigns through interviews in magazines and on TV shows as well as online reviews and the world premier that generating a lot of media buzz and many journalists and reporters to get interviews with the actors.

The Woman in Black merchandise

After the film’s release, many related products and merchandise was released to maximise the films profits. By giving away the book in middle class papers such as The Daily Telegraph, they was again able to market to the more mature, middle class audience through more serious types of media like novels, which the cover was redesigned to fit with the film and competitions for theatre tickets. They also managed to appeal to a much young audience through school activities that would be suitable through the low age rating compared to many other horror films that are normally a 15 or 18. Other merchandise products were available to buy after the film was released such as t-shirts, cups and the soundtrack for the film to boost the overall profits of the title from the fans of the film. With the film being available for teenagers and young adults to watch, they are more likely to have extra money to spend on fan merch and more media-based items than an older audience.

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

Some of the many online articles and reviews of the film

As the film had so much marketing in different formats to reach all of the potential audience groups, it already gives the impression that the film is worth seeing as the company as spent so much money on it. The film had marketing on digital, print and video formats which are appropriate for both the younger and older target audiences as it could reach so many people at the same time ahead of the release to create the 'hype' for the film.

By using Daniel Radcliffe to heavily promote the film was a clear strategy from the distributors as he is such a famous actor due to his iconic role in the Harry Potter franchise. As well as interviews on television and in magazines, he also helped promote competitions through Youtube videos and did an interview on Twitter that was published in 'Cosmopolitan' magazine which has become increasingly popular as the popularity of the site increases. During the premiere, it became very apparent that not only did people attend to see the film, many Harry Potter fans came to see the actor which expanded to audience range for the film as many fans are now teenagers and young adults after growing up watching the Harry Potter films.

An article from The Guardian on the films success

• What kind of release did the film have?

The film had a very good release with both positive reviews and a high audience turn out at the box office. In the opening weekend, it made $20 million and was only behind the Chronicle that earned a million dollars more which is quite small in box office terms and was over the $11 to $16.5 million earnings that the film analysts predicted. Being the biggest grossing film British horror in 20 years, by June 2012 the title had made $127,730,736 worldwide.

• How much did The Woman in Black cost to make? AND what was the industry impact of The Woman in Black?

The Woman in Black had an estimated budget of $17 million

• Why do you think the film was so successful?

As the film had such a wide target audience compared to many films, especially films of the horror genre it was able to attract a large amount of people to see it, which was represented in the amount of advertising and marketing the film had on many different platforms of media. By using Daniel Radcliffe as the main advertising tool was another attribute that expanded the market for the film and attracted people who wouldn't normal watch horrors to the cinema. All of these tools attracted a large amount of people to see the film at the cinema which resulted in big profits which is the main agenda for the movie industry.