The Woman in Black (James Watkins - 2012)

1. Who do you think the primary and secondary audience is for the Women in black?

The primary audience for the women in black would be Males and Females under the age of 20 who are fans of the Harry Potter franchise. Due to the casting in the women in black (Daniel Radcliffe as the main protagonist) the target audience for the Harry Potter franchise would be appealed by this film due to it being the first standalone film that Daniel Radcliffe has starred in since the franchise. This is why in all marketing material you see Daniel showcased everywhere to try and reach the audience they intended it for. The secondary audience for the women in black would be the audience category BC1 which is middle class aged 20-45. This is because the women in black was originally a book and if they had read the book they would then likely want to see the film interpretation of the novel.


2. How was the Women in black marketed?

The main way that the women in black was marketed was through the use of Daniel Radcliffe. On every poster, TV spot, Bus poster, billboard etc his face was plastered everywhere. This is because of the attempt to appeal to the primary audience, which was the fans of the Harry Potter franchise so they pushed and attempted to showcase him as much as possible. As well as releasing the standard ads on billboards, bus stops and bus banners they also released the trailer on YouTube, TV and Daniel Radcliffe himself released video entries to YouTube trying to encourage his fans to see the film as it was his first 'serious film role' since Harry Potter. The film itself created social media accounts across platforms such as twitter, facebook etc to try and raise awareness of the films presence.
Below is an example of one of the TV trailers that was released and then re-uploaded to YouTube.



3. Do you think the marketing materials for the film were appropriate? why?

I believe that the women in black was marketed appropriately because if it had been done differently it wouldn't have perhaps had the success and impact that it did. Daniel Radcliffe was the source of the primary audience so eliminating him from the equation in the marketing sector could have damaged sales and made the film not even generate profit. The women in black is actually quite a gritty and gruesome horror film in terms of some scenes represented in the film, it also has very heart-stopping jumpscares. What terrified audience members is that it was marketed as a 12a film. However, many thought this was far too low of a rating and should have been raised higher. However, the film company knew if they made it a 15 then they would lose lots of audience members in theatre sales because many 12-15 year olds are big fans of the Harry Potter franchise. However, according to the BBFC the film had 134 complaints regarding its threat of supernatural and violence in regards to a 12a.

4. What kind of release did the film have?

The film had a big release in the United States on the 5th of February 2012. On its opening weekend it made $20,500,000 and was shown on 2,885 screens across 46 countries. A week later it was released in the UK and was shown on 412 screens. This means that not only did the women in black have a large UK presence but also worldwide it became a successful film, this could largely be due to the casting and the fact Daniel Radcliffe and Harry Potter have an international presence, therefore the audience would be more inclined to go and see the film.

5. How much did the women in black cost to make? (Production budget) and what was the industry impact of the woman in black?

In total the Production budget to make The Woman in Black was estimated at $15 Million. The film however achieved a box office record which was the most successful horror film in British history. At the charts, the film was at the top in the UK for 3 weeks and after those 3 weeks the film ended up with $47,729,196 from when it was first released.

6. Why do you think the film was successful?

I feel that the film itself had a good narrative and as a standalone horror film without Daniel Radcliffe would have still been successful due to there not being many Horror films set in the Victorian era and that have children as the primary victims due to the adults actions. However, i feel that the film was primarily successful due to its casting. Daniel Radcliffe had just finished his final Harry Potter film, with fans set on nostalgia and sentiment they wanted to see him in another film so regardless of whether they like horror films or not, a lot of Daniel Radcliffe fans would have gone to have seen this film from the Harry Potter franchise and therefore would have made Daniel a large reason as to why the film was successful.