The Target Audience of RomComs

I have researched the target audience of RomComs, here are my findings:

http://www.bfi.org.uk/sites/bfi.org.uk/files/downloads/bfi-opening-our-eyes-2011-07.pdf
This graph is from the BFI (British Film Industry) and shows the results of a survey completed to show all preferred film type/genres of citizens in the UK.

This graph shows how popular each genre of film is in the UK, as you can see RomComs are the preferred film type of just 22% of men, but for a massive 55% of females RomComs are the preferred movie choice. The survey also shows that whilst for 39% of white people RomComs are the preferred choice, 54% of the ethnic minority group preferred RomComs.
This graph presents the fact that RomComs are more popular with women and with ethnic minorities.
It also shows that RomComs are the 8th most popular genre of film in the UK, with comedies being the favourite genre of 69% of UK citizens.

http://www.harrisinteractive.com/vault/Portrayal_Vs_Betrayal_2011.pdf
This table shows age and gender against genre of film.

As you can see according to this table RomComs are the 7th most popular genre of film, with the main audience being women aged under 35 with a total of 61%. The second most popular audience was women over 35 (at 47%), therefore it may be worthwhile have them as a secondary audience for my trailer.
Comedy is first, again with the main audience being women aged under 35 (at 78%). However, comedies are much more popular with men, having a 53% total of males under 35 (compared with a 16% total in RomComs), and a 63% total of males over 35 (compared with a 24% total in RomComs). This makes me think that to appeal more to a male audience I need to direct my trailer more in the direction of a comedy whilst still keeping to the ideals of a RomCom.
Taking this in to account I will direct my trailer to appeal more to women aged under 35, but over the age of 12 as most people who independently choose which film to watch are over the age of 12, having been given the independence to go out by themselves or with friends and having more money to be able to go to the cinema with and buy films.

http://www.bfi.org.uk/sites/bfi.org.uk/files/downloads/bfi-opening-our-eyes-2011-07.pdf
This Graph is from the BFI (British Film Industry) and shows the results of a survey completed to show the aspects important in the decision to view a particular film.

This shows what decisions people make to watch a film. 68% of UK citizens found that an interesting storyline was important, this was the most important thing to UK citizens, being the most popular answer. The genre of the film comes next (62% chose this) so my genre of film (RomCom) would be 8th most popular in the UK if people went by this decision only. Recommendations by family/friends was 3rd most important, meaning that if a family member or friend went to see the film and told others to go and see it as it was good, then those people (60%) would most likely go to see it.
Many other things were important to me in the survey results so without going in to detail I shall list the things which I will take in to account when creating my trailer:
An interesting storyline; Genre; Actors (making sure they can act well); Spectacular visual/audio experience; Music in the film.
 These things I feel are important as I can make sure that they are good when making my trailer. Other things, such as recommendations by friends/family I cannot really control, except to make my trailer well so that people would want to see it and thus recommend it.

Top Grossing Movies of 2012

Rank	Movie	Release Date	Distributor	Genre	MPAA	2012 Gross	Tickets Sold
1	Marvel's The Avengers	5/4/2012	Walt Disney	Adventure	PG-13	$623,279,547	78,301,450
2	The Dark Knight Rises	7/20/2012	Warner Bros.	Action	PG-13	$448,139,099	56,298,881
3	The Hunger Games	3/23/2012	Lionsgate	Thriller/Suspense	PG-13	$408,010,692	51,257,624
4	Skyfall	11/8/2012	Sony Pictures	Action	PG-13	$293,729,570	36,900,699
5	The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2	11/16/2012	Lionsgate	Drama	PG-13	$287,756,286	36,150,287
6	The Amazing Spider-Man	7/3/2012	Sony Pictures	Adventure	PG-13	$262,030,663	32,918,425
7	The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey	12/14/2012	Warner Bros.	Adventure	PG-13	$246,289,507	30,940,892
8	Brave	6/22/2012	Walt Disney	Adventure	PG	$237,236,938	29,803,635
9	Ted	6/29/2012	Universal	Comedy	R	$218,665,740	27,470,570
10	Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted	6/8/2012	Paramount Pictures	Adventure	PG	$216,391,482	27,184,859
11	Dr. Seuss' The Lorax	3/2/2012	Universal	Adventure	PG	$214,030,500	26,888,253
12	Men in Black 3	5/25/2012	Sony Pictures	Adventure	PG-13	$179,020,854	22,490,057
13	Wreck-It Ralph	11/2/2012	Walt Disney	Adventure	PG	$177,319,916	22,276,371
14	Ice Age: Continental Drift	7/13/2012	20th Century Fox	Adventure	PG	$161,168,962	20,247,357
15	Snow White and the Huntsman	6/1/2012	Universal	Adventure	PG-13	$155,136,755	19,489,542
16	Hotel Transylvania	9/28/2012	Sony Pictures	Comedy	PG	$145,706,677	18,304,858
17	Taken 2	10/5/2012	20th Century Fox	Thriller/Suspense	PG-13	$139,076,968	17,471,980
18	Lincoln	11/16/2012	Walt Disney	Drama	PG-13	$138,675,219	17,421,509
19	21 Jump Street	3/16/2012	Sony Pictures	Comedy	R	$138,447,667	17,392,922
20	Prometheus	6/8/2012	20th Century Fox	Horror	R	$126,477,084	15,889,080
21	Safe House	2/10/2012	Universal	Thriller/Suspense	R	$126,181,630	15,851,963
22	The Vow	2/10/2012	Sony Pictures	Drama	PG-13	$125,014,030	15,705,280
23	Magic Mike	6/29/2012	Warner Bros.	Comedy	R	$113,721,571	14,286,629
24	The Bourne Legacy	8/10/2012	Universal	Thriller/Suspense	PG-13	$113,203,870	14,221,591
25	Argo	10/12/2012	Warner Bros.	Thriller/Suspense	R	$109,317,698	13,733,379
26	Journey 2: The Mysterious Island	2/10/2012	Warner Bros.	Adventure	PG	$103,860,290	13,047,775
27	Rise of the Guardians	11/21/2012	Paramount Pictures	Adventure	PG	$94,552,084	11,878,402
28	Flight	11/2/2012	Paramount Pictures	Drama	R	$92,234,057	11,587,193
29	Think Like a Man	4/20/2012	Sony Pictures	Romantic Comedy	PG-13	$91,547,205	11,500,905
30	Life of Pi	11/21/2012	20th Century Fox	Drama	PG	$88,226,096	11,083,680

Taken from http://www.the-numbers.com/market/2012/top-grossing-movies

This table shows the top 30 highest grossing movies of 2012, with the romantic comedy film 'Think Like a Man' coming in at 29. This is quite low in the chart, however, the genre of comedy, which RomComs are a sub-genre of (as well as romances), came in at number 9 with 'Ted' hitting the top 10 highest grossing films of 2012.
This could show that if I focus more on making the film funny and a little less on the romantic side then more people might go to see it. Because of this I will endeavour to make my trailer more funny thus appealing to more people.

To conclude I have found that the target audience of RomComs (and thus my target audience) is women between the ages of 12 and 35. However, to appeal more to men as a secondary audience I will increase the comedic side of my trailer as this genre was most popular with men, this will give me higher views as I found that both men and women enjoyed comedies.

Story Decision

I have decided to use my 2nd story idea, however, I may tweak the storyline slightly as my project progresses.

I believe that this is the most realistic of all my story-lines to create using my very small budget and fits in best with the genre conventions of RomComs. I want it to be an indie produced film, (as my small budget will not allow me to produce a mainstream RomCom.) so it will have certain elements that are supposed to be bad.
Here's how it fits in with my summation of RomComs:

1. Boy meets girl (or girl meets boy) - Girl goes to heaven and is allocated a boy angel 'buddy' who shows her around
2. They hate each other (or at least don't get along) - She hates him, he hates her
3. They both start to realise their love for each other - They fall in love but don't properly realise it
4. One of them moves away/starts a relationship etc (something that moves them apart) - She comes back to life and is pulled out of heaven
5. The protagonist's friends/parents/sibling (or whoever else they hang around with) asks them why they aren't with the other person. - God, to both the boy and the girl (as the doctor/therapist), helps each of them to realise they loved the other.
6. That same person helps the protagonist to realise that they are in love (However, steps 5 and 6 the protagonist can do on their own) - As above.
7. Protagonist goes and wins the heart of the other person. - The boy begins to send the girl gifts to help her find him, she eventually realises it is him and goes to him, breaking through the dimension boundary. He becomes human so they can be together.
8. It's a happy ending for everyone (except, perhaps, for the person who the loved person was in a relationship with, and if there was a bad guy keeping them apart then they would probably be punished) - 1 year later they are at their wedding.