The Woman in Black, Directed by James Watkins (2012)

1. How do you think the primary and secondary target audience is for the women in black?

The primary audience for 'The Woman in Black' is predominately males and females who are under 25, this is shown by the certificate of the film being a 12A. This implies that their intended target audience is young, competing again horror film regulations.  However, because of the star Daniel Radcliff, they wanted young people to be involved in the success of the film. The primary target audience is also those who enjoy and are interested in paranormal and supernatural sub-genres of horrors. The secondary target audience is those over 25, mainly the middle class. This is because of the novel which the film is based upon, this allows the secondary audience to be a middle class/mature audience. The film is also shown in theatres as a play which would attract a middle class audience, this allows people to see whether they would be interested in the film with their interest in the book or play. The distributors can target these factors allowing them to become a target audience for the film’s success.

2. How was the 'Woman in Black' marketed?

The Woman in Black was marketed so that it could maximise its sales and make it an intriguing film. There were many ways in which this films marketing was successful; the use of teasers, social media, promotion, campaigns and merchandise. Starting the marketing, teasers allowed the film to confirm the main character in the film (Daniel Radcliffe) this was a massive winner for the film’s success as all ages were able to recognise the character from 'Harry Potter'. The teaser trailer and poster gives people an insight to what the film contains, allowing us to understand there is a haunting woman which causes misery. Huge amounts of time were invested into pr

esenting their main character, this was to show the audience that he could be a 'mature' character. After the teaser campaign comes the main campaign. This includes many materials such as posters, radio adverts, social media, trailers as well as large magazine and newspaper coverage. This broad range is evidence for their wide range of target audience, allowing all ages to be aware of the film’s release and content. The younger audiences would see more of the social media aspect which was a massive factor to its success. Pages for the film and Radcliffe promoting the film’s release on his own page allowed all his original fans to see the new upcoming film which he was going to be present in. The older audience however, would be interested in newspapers and magazines. The main focus of the marketing however was Radcliffe and his face was plastered in every feature of marketing, he appeared in many TV shows advertising the film and talking about his experience filming. He invested large amounts of time doing Q&A's and promotional videos. Due to this 'The Woman in Blacks' success was through its large amount of promotion and publicity.

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

'The Woman in Blacks' certificate of 12A was an arguable discussion. The film’s release was in February 2012, many people had complained after watching the film and seeing the content. The BBFC considered the film to be a broadening certificate of 12A to 15. However, the BBFC defended the films certificate after having 134 complaints with peoples concern of its 'tone and 'theme'. However, the film certificate remained and the vast majority agreed with the 12A rating.

The film’s success I believe was mainly through its marketing materials, the use of teasers allowed many people to be interested and invested in the film even before main material was released. The interest in the film was huge, and their range of marketing materials allowed the success to happen. They were able to reach their large audience. Using Radcliffe as a main focus helped them draw the large audience in which they were keen to invest upon. I believe because the film was targeted to such a young target audience whereas other horrors of the same sub-genre are not allowed the film to have such interest. However, I believe that some parts of the film are not suitable for the certificate level.

4. What kind of release did the film have?

The film was released in the United States on the 5th of February 2012 on its opening weekend it was shown on 2,885 screens and made approx. $20,874,000. A week later on the 12th of February it was released in the United Kingdom on 412 screens and made approx. £3,153,000. When 'The Women in Black' was at its widest release it was shown in 2,856 theatres and was shown across 46 different countries in total. This was a large release of a horror film considering many horrors released that year had made significantly less during their opening weekend. Sinister has only made $18,000,000 later on that year. The films premier at the London Royal festival saw thousands turn up to see the cast on the red carpet, by June 2012 the film had made approx. $127,730,000 making it the highest-grossing British horror film in 20 years.

5. How much did the 'Women in Black' cost to make? and what was the industry impact of the 'Woman in Black'?

The production budget of the film was estimated around $17,000,000 meaning that after the films first weekend release in the US it made $2,000,000 profit alone. The earning of over $20 million on the opening weekend of the US release made it the biggest US opening for a Hammer film in all of Hammer history. It charted 2nd in Box office, earning only $1 million less that NO.1. This caused many film makers to take the film marketing and distribution process to try and make their upcoming horrors just as successful.

6. Why do you think the film was successful?

I believe the main reason for the 'Woman in Blacks' success was due to the casting of Daniel 

Radcliffe, the main attraction to the film. His investment in Harry Potter caused Daniel to have a wide fan group. They were keen to see their favourite character in another film, soon after the ending of Harry Potter. This role allowed Radcliffe to be a mature character, clever and brave shown very much like Harry Potter. He was the main focus of all the teasers and main campaigns. He also put in many hours himself in the promotion of the film allowing people to understand his character and how much he enjoyed in the making of the film. The certificate of 12A allowed his fan base to be able to go watch the film and opened it to a wider audience.

The amount of promotion was the final reason why I believe the film was successful. The distributors promoted the film through; social media, billboards, TV and radio. Before the release of the film, the knowledge of it was so successful that its opening release was a huge victory.