Unit 1 Audience Research
- 1. Unit 1 Audience Research
- 2. Male and Female Young Audience This is my male avatar, he is of age around 14 or 15 and he lives around the south of the country and is part of a working class family. He has not been around for the old movies and has only recently seen the newer ones – The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi. He is into games and uses social media quite a lot including Instagram and Snapchat as they are popular for his age. He owns a bit of Star Wars memorabilia and would like to own more but he is only a recent fan. His family is around the C1 scales which is administrative or professional. He watches Star Wars because he can relate with some of the male characters such as Poe and Han Solo and he also watches for the diversion away from reality so he can get into the film. He doesn’t usually spend much on Star Wars but at the moment he spends around £5 a month on figurines and collectables. This is my female avatar. She is around the age of 12 years old and also lives around the south of England and she enjoys to do more creative things such as drawing and painting. In terms of class, her parents are in working class as well. She has just moved up into secondary school and she watches Star Wars due to her parents recommending it to her when she was younger. She has watched most of the originals and the newer films and she likes to watch them primarily for the female characters such as Princess Leia and Rey in the newer film so she has a role model. Her parents sit around the C2 on the ABC1 scale but still spares some money so she can buy some memorabilia, she gets around £3 - £5 a month for it. On the 4C’s scale, she would be an explorer because she likes to try out new things and she is very curious to do a variety of stuff. She wanted to watch Star Wars as soon as she was recommended it even though she was young.
- 3. Male and Female Older Audiences This is my older male audience, he is just above working class and he is in his 40s with an above average income. He lives in London and he has been interested in Sci-Fi and action since he watched the original films that released in 1977. He watches Star Wars mainly for the fact that he can identify with the personality of some of the characters such as Luke Skywalker and Han Solo. He has always been into building Lego sets and more and still tends to spend money on collectibles for his shelves to this day. He tends to spend around £400 - £500 a year on these sort of collectibles for his house and things to keep him entertained. On the NRS Scale, he is around a B which means he is of a higher status. On the 4C’s scale he would classify as a mainstream as his lifestyle seems to be similar to other people and especially other people that you can classify as Star Wars fans as he has the same interests and the same hobbies as the majority of them do. This is my older female audience. She is in her 30s and she is around the working class and has a regular income and is able to spend a substantial amount of money on herself when she wants to in a month. She lives around the midlands and she watched the original films just after the third one released therefore she was a bit of a later fan to the franchise. She has generic stereotypical hobbies such as make-up and photography and much more, however she does like to watch sci-fi films as an escape from reality, also known as entertainment and diversion, and others on the down low as almost a dirty secret that not many people know about. She can spend around £250 a year on things related to the franchise. Furthermore, on the NRS scale, she would classify as a low B or a high C1 as she is in working class but has a higher wage compared to most people in the job as she is in a larger role in her workplace. On the 4C’s scale she would classify as a succeeder as she only really likes to spend on the best and biggest things from the brands that she purchases with Star Wars.
- 4. Survey - Question 1 The first question of the survey was to establish the gender of the people that were taking my survey. The vast majority of them were male with a total of 14 out of 15 taking the survey which could show that they are most intrigued by the title making them want to do it. This might be a less accurate representation of the audience due to the fact that there are less women that have taken the survey.
- 5. Survey – Question 2 For this question I simply asked the age range of the individual that took the survey. Most of the people that did take the survey are of a younger age, however there were some responses from an older audience. This could show that the diversity of the audience that want to take this survey as there are some people that have been around since the older trilogy and there are some that may have grown up with the newer trilogy or the prequels.
- 6. Survey – Question 3 For this question, I asked roughly what income their family and them made all together to try and get a rough idea of what social class they were in and what they were on the ABC1 scale. The vast majority of people were roughly in the working class which is a C1, however there were some people that were in a B class or A class which means that really any person watches Star Wars and they don’t care about what class they are in.
- 7. Survey – Question 4 In the next question, I asked them a yes/no question, which was if they had watched The Force Awakens before. The vast majority had watched The Force Awakens with a total of 80% of people watching it. This shows that the film is quite well known amongst audiences and that most people will have seen the film before as it is a very famous franchise amongst the Media and Film franchise. However, 20% did answer no which means that some people have either heard of it and not watched it because it doesn’t interest them or they genuinely haven’t heard of it.
- 8. Survey – Question 5 This next question in the survey, I asked the people which character appeal to them most in the franchise. The most picked option that was decided was Han Solo which could show that many people think that characters that are from the old trilogies but have returned are preferred over the newer characters which were less popular picks. Furthermore, Rey was chosen by the female survey taker which could mean that she identifies with her more because of her gender and the fact that she is a strong female lead. Same with the males as the majority of them chose male characters.
- 9. Survey – Question 6 For this question, I asked them if they had seen any of the previous Star Wars films and everyone in the survey had watched the previous film which means that the older trilogies are very well known and famous in the media franchise and watching them is part of the culture.
- 10. Survey – Question 7 In this question, I asked the people if either of their parents had watched Star Wars. 93.33% of people that took the survey answered that at least one of the parents in their family had watched Star Wars. This could mean that the parents of the takers could have shown them the film or told them about the film. This therefore incorporates the Two Step Flow audience theory.
- 11. Survey – Question 8 For this question, I asked them a question to do with the Uses and Gratifications Theory and how that works. I asked them what reason they watch Star Wars out of the four ‘uses and gratifications’. 93.33% answered that they watched Star Wars for entertainment and diversion which means that they wanted to immerse themselves in the world of Star Wars. Furthermore, the other 6.67% answered that they watched Star Wars to form personal relationships with the characters. The other two options were not picked for this however, I think it is due to different shows having different reasons to watch them for.
- 12. Survey - Question 9 In this question I asked if they spend any money on Star Wars merchandise and if so how much. Some people said that they don’t spend any money on the franchise but however, there were a few responses that stated that they would spend money here and there but they don’t like to spend too much on it. The max price that was given was around £200 a month on Star Wars stuff, which a lot of money. This could potentially mean that the taker is higher up on the ABC1 scale.
- 13. Survey – Question 10 For the final question, I asked the people whether they prefer the older trilogies over the newer trilogies. There were a few options that people chose but the most answered one that was given was that people prefer the older trilogies over the newer ones and there were a few that liked both equally. This shows that people may like the nostalgia and all of the things that go with the older trilogies and the fact that they are the originals and the classics.