Second section of the report

The texts that I have chosen to research for my DVD cover was as follows: ‘Prom Night’, ‘Friday the 13^th’ and ‘Scream’.  The target audience for both texts of ‘Friday the 13^th’ and ‘Scream’ are incredibly similar based on the fact that they are aimed at 17-18 year olds, however they could attract older audiences as well since they contain certain factors that may interest them. This can be seen through the use of teenagers or young adults in the films and that elements of sex and ‘partying’ are involved, which are commonly associated with teenagers; by doing this teenage audiences can feel as though they can relate to the text. However, the target audience for ‘Prom Night’ differs largely from the other texts as it is aimed at anyone aged 13 and above as it is a PG-13 rated movie and includes elements of high school and the commonly associated big event of prom. Also, the body count is low and scenes of violence are done off-screen, unlike the other two texts which are very graphic. I first formed an idea of who the target audience might be for these texts by looking at the factors involved in the film and whom it may be aimed at. After this I used the web to research what horror film fanatics thought the target audience might be. I did this by visiting online blogs and student forums. I used this information in my production piece by certifying my film as ‘R’ or also known as ‘fit for viewings by persons aged 18 years or more’.

Furthermore, I used the texts, ‘Prom Night’, ‘Scream’ and ‘Mirrors’ to give me inspiration for my poster. I chose these texts as the posters that were designed for them were simplistic yet effective. All texts included one main image of a female looking as though she is in a vulnerable position.