Question 4-Who would be the target audience for your media product?

At first we assumed that our target audience for a western would be middle aged men as they are who we stereotypically view as the target audience. The results of the first question in our questionnaire: “Are you a fan of westerns?” are as follows:

Resulting in only 60% saying yes, with the minority that said yes being either male of middle aged showing that the stereotypical views that we hold are true. However from talking to friends (both boys and girls) I discovered that it depends on the context and situation in which the film is being played.  For example some were saying that if they were to get in one evening or after being out at the weekend, had nothing else to do and a western was on TV they may watch it-making them an audience though not our target one. Though they said they would only watch it if:

~        Someone was already watching it.

~        They were tired and just wanted to rest on the sofa, so not minding what was on TV

~        To please a family member that was watching it

~        Out of curiosity/if nothing else was on

~        To see the fighting (boys response)

I also found out that boys were more likely to watch one than girls. This may be because of some of the conventions of westerns (fights, chases, shoot-outs)

As these are all things that stereotypically appeal to boys. Though this would not be our intended audience they are an additional cross-over audience.

The intended audience still remains to be middle aged men (even after finding this out). I think that this may be a slightly restricting audience as westerns don’t seem to be overly popular in society today but I think that there is a niche audience that it would appeal to.

Had our film been released in the first half of the 20^th century the audience would have been completely different and a lot broader. This is as westerns were one of the earliest genres in film dating as far back as Edwin S Porters “The Great Train Robbery” (1903). At the time of release westerns attracted a wider audience from across a range of social groups that now may not necessarily seen to be interested in them. According to the American Film Institute (www.fathom.com/course/10701053/session3.html) “Audiences identified with the desire to have a dangerous-but-secure lifestyle, and were captivated by the central conflict between civilization and savagery.” I think that some people still long for this type of lifestyle as it is only natural however instead of watching films people are more likely to identify with things through books, music or they fulfil their desires through modern technology such as video games which create an alternative virtual reality in which people can loose themselves.