Audiences and Institutions: The Woman in Black

Audience and Institutions 

I think that the primary audience for The Woman in Black would be predominately the young adult sector of society people aged from 15-21, the reason for this is because this generation are usually more interested in the horror, jump scare sub-genre that has become popular in youth culture these coming years. Also with Daniel Radcliffe the main character he is the face of the Harry Potter franchise also with a similar target audience, the second target audience being that of Harry Potter fans and also a more mature older audience due to the history behind the film. It being a novel by Susan Hill published in 1983 and then turned into a play in 1987 it is almost an homage to it and a generation who would be young at the time it was released would want to watch it back now. 

the live on stage adaption of the novel

The Woman In Black was marketed in various ways and platforms, due to the target audience the way it was advertised was a lot through media platforms trailers being on Yahoo, Empire, The Sun and Glamour magazines these websites vastly used by the younger generation when browsing online. The genre of the film meant the trailer would need to be broadcast during the same age appropriate times such as during late night television most likely after 5pm, the programming environment varied from Big Brother, Hollyoaks and channels such as Syfy, Channel 4 and taking it broader with horror channel, Five USA and ITV. 

Trailer shown on a teen gossip website.

The marketing materials were definitely appropriate for the film having been broadcasted to both the primary and secondary target audience 
The trailer for the film was first shown at a London Comic Con expo this is designed for fans of the TV, Film, Gaming and Anime culture this would directly appeal to the target audience who show interest purely in the quality and genre of the film. The trailer was also shown during Harry Potter and The Deathy Hallows Part 2, it was done this purely for the secondary audience who were Harry Potter fans and the protagonist being Daniel Radcliffe the face of Harry Potter. 
The campaign was pretty wide stretched the trailer being shown in April 2011 at Comic Con and again during Harry Potter in July that year and the films release being February of 2012, it gave time for it to be hyped up and advertised to the full extent with a Facebook page being made with interactive elements on the official websites for the younger audience. 

The website with all of the social networking above & games

The film had a relatively big release with it being shown in 412 UK screens which in comparison for the type of movie it was, is good. An example of another UK horror film is 28 days later which was released in only 318 screens but is now a cult classic and has a higher rating than The Woman In Black on IMDb even though it didn't have such a good opening weekend. The Woman In Black made £3,153,020 in it's opening weekend in the UK alone in the USA premiering in 2,855 screens made $20,874,072 which is good for a UK film this is mostly down to 'Harry Potter' being the subject of the advertising. The latest harry potter film premiered in 4,125 which is almost double and made $125,017,327 this tells us the reach that a Daniel Radcliffe centered film can gross at a box office, also became the UK's highest grossing theatrical horror film since the chart began.

The amount that was spent on The Woman in Black is roughly estimated budget of around $17,000,000 which is the all around production value of the project, this means it includes how much the film itself cost to make and any advertising campaigns that it had. The film had 3 weeks at the top of the charts in the UK generating a gross of $23.3 million and making $20,874,072 on the opening weekend in the US already profiting from its estimated budget for the film. It used Daniel Radcliffe's face and the fan base he already had as a main technique with gaining popularity to the film, it also helped in reviving the Hammer Film Productions studio and ended up being their most successful film within the last 20 years. The worldwide gross ended up growing to $128,956,290 showing that UK horror films can be a major success, it also led to other film companies wanting to produce paranormal horror films and boosting the sub genre.  


The main and evident reason this film grossed so much and was so successful was due to the main protagonist of the film, that being Daniel Radcliffe from the Harry Potter franchise. It was the first main film that he starred in after the final Harry Potter film so fans were rushing to go and see him in the next film. The advertising techniques using his face to be noticed, allowing the audience to be widened by the fact that you're seeing a familiar face, also taking part in interviews etc to attract a wider audience. Also the use of social media dramatically helped by allowing it to travel fast and to the main target audiences, that being teenagers and young adult fans who use social media the most.