Target Audience: Coming of Age Films

Coming of age films are a genre which focus on the psychological and moral growth of the protagonist from youth to adulthood. Of course during this transition, there are steps along the way, and coming of age movies usually highlights significant events that induce this transition. This definition clearly fits our movie, therefore it is a coming of age film. 

The traditional convention of coming of age films, usually consists of a main character who is most likely male, in there mid-teens and the story normally revolves around this character and its is often told in the form of a flash-back. 

Films of this particular genre are normally targeted at a teenage audience, however they include explicit and controversial themes. This therefore makes them appealing to adults too as they deal with the first encounters with problems and dilemmas that are familiar to adults.  The strong material therefore causes this genre of movies to receive a strong age certification. I feel that our film appeals to anyone who is above 15, because anyone above 15 can relate to the characters of our movie and put themselves (or their younger selves) into the characters shoes. I believe that the minimum age should be 15 as it contains strong violence.

Examples

I think our genre appeals to our audience because it is a very social film to see. Although this kind of genre appeals to the teenagers because its coming of age, our movie also explores into the life of a musician/band, this idea was successful amongst teenagers in the past. Examples of coming of age movies which had been influenced by music in the past are Notorious, 2009 (resembles the life and the rise to fame of the rapper Notorious B.I.G during the late 80's and early 90's period) and 8 Mile, 2002 (close relations to the rise and life of the rapper Eminem).

We are therefore mixing two successful genres which have already been proved to go quite well together.

To summarise our approach to the target audience:

1. We think this will be a successful genre because other popular films have been made recently in this genre. This site lists 15 popular coming of age films:

http://www.flavorwire.com/300587/15-unforgettable-summertime-coming-of-age-movies


It also gives this reason for them being popular: "We generally seem to enjoy these stories (even the terrible ones — thank you, TBS) because they evoke recognizable parts of ourselves, either making us extremely nostalgic or thankful for the periods we’ll never have to revisit. And they can help those of us still trying to grow up feel not so alone."

2. It should appeal to audiences of teenagers and above, teenagers because they can relate to the characters and older because they remeber what it is like to be a teenager.

3. Here is another IMDb list, this time of popular films based around bands:

http://www.imdb.com/list/WstOLJt5zdA/

So we have a double appeal in our film.

4. We have male and female main characters so should appeal to both genders.