Horror Films - Age Certification of 12a

I've researched into similar horror films on IMDb to find out the target market's opinion on the film. I have looked at films with the certification 12a to evaluate the outcome and success to influence the choice of my chosen target audience for the main brief.

As demonstrated above, TWiB was considered quite successful, earning over double the budget. However, it did not meet the expectations that the institution hoped to earn.

The average vote for TWiB was 6.4 out of 10, the majority of people voting it out of 7, which could indicate the popularity of films of the paranormal sub-genre. This gives us confidence that the main brief will appeal to the intended target audience. Overall, the highest number of votes ranged from 6- 8, showing that most of the target audience has similar views on the movie. From the user rating reports, the majority of voters was from the age group of people aged 18-29. 

Many of the reviews enjoyed the jump scares throughout the movie. Therefore, in the main, brief, we will try to incorporate jump scares. Some people liked simplicity of the film, without too much special effects so we decided that the mise en scene and props and costumes should be quite simple. As some of the reviews stated, the simplicity of the film left the audience to concentrate on the narrative. However, some negative reviews had similar comments, that the narrative was quite predictable and cliché. Therefore, in the main brief we will try to change some elements and add a plot twist so it is not so predictable.

TWiB and The Others both had the same budget for production. However, in comparison to TWiB, The Others was considered more of a success earning $96 million in profit which was almost double of what TWiB earned. However, on the opening weekend it did not earn as much as the budget.

Ratings for this film was quite high, proving the success and enjoyment of the film. The film was rated an average 7.6 out of 10 which was higher than TWiB, and the percentage of votes from 5 and under were all under 4%. The highest number of votes was 8, showing that the audience enjoyed a paranormal horror film.

The Others had much more positive reviews compared to TWiB but also had some similar comments. The audience has commented on the simplicity again which supports that the audience does not want an over complicated narrative and mise en scene. The Others had a lot of scenes which kept the audience waiting in anticipation so we hope to replicate that idea and create scenes which draw out the suspense. 

A few handful of reviews had quite contrasting reviews as they have stated that the narrative moved quite slowly. The audience also did not like the predictability. For the main brief, we will have some fast paced editing to keep the scene moving along. This will add to the suspense and hopefully would prevent the audience from getting bored.

Overall, I found it difficult to find many horror films with the certification of 12 or 12a. However, when comparing the two films The Others was quite a success than TWiB. As they are both the same age certification, I think it was mostly down to the narrative. Therefore, in the main brief, we will try to not make it so cliché.