Genre Analysis (Comedy) - BFI Statistical Yearbook

BFI Statistical Yearbook – Genre Information

In order to amass quantitative data on the Comedy genre, we have referred to the BFI’s 2014 Statistical Yearbook as it is far beyond the scope of any survey that we could ever hope to conduct. In the BFI’s own words, ‘The Statistical Yearbook presents in one place all the available statistics on UK film and the UK film industry.’

Analysis

As is clear from the survey, the Comedy genre (our genre) was one of the most successful genres in 2014: 

• The Comedy genre grossed more money than any other genre (£198.3 million), which amounts to 18.4% of all money grossed at the box office.

• There were more Comedy films made than any other type of film with the exception of Drama films: 135 Comedy films were released, which amounts to 19% of the total number of films released in 2014.

• On average, Comedy films were shown in 132 cinemas across the country.

• The Inbetweeners 2 was the top performing Comedy film of 2014.

• Five of the ten highest grossing ‘15’ classified films were Comedies.

• The Inbetweeners 2 was popular with both males and females: 53% of those who saw the film were male, whilst 47% were female.

Significance

Comedy films are undoubtedly very popular with the British public; there is clearly a lot of demand for Comedies. However, we need to bear in mind that the majority of the most successful Comedy films of 2014 were comparatively more ‘mainstream’ than the film we intend to produce. The Inbetweeners 2 was the most successful Comedy of 2014; however, the film we intend on making falls into the sub-genre of ‘Dark Comedy’ and is more of a niche film; as such, we will have to really consider how we are going to cater for our target audience. 

The fact that the most successful Comedy of 2014 was given a ‘15’ certificate, and that five of the top ten ‘15’ classified films were Comedies, is potentially useful information; it serves to support our provisional decision to target our film at people aged 15-24 years old. However, we were somewhat surprised that The Inbetweeners 2 was almost equally popular with female viewers; given that males tend to be over-represented in the Comedy genre, we initially thought that the film would have garnered a significantly greater number of male viewers. As such, it is important that our film appeals to both genders; however, we need to be mindful of achieving this without appealing to crude stereotypes.


The Registrar General's Social Scale
The Registrar General’s Social Scale is the way the British Government defines the populace through their occupation:

A benefit of the Registrar General’s Social Scale is that it can help companies to target audiences. However, the scale has been criticised for being both crude and rigid.

BFI Statistical Yearbook: Films with Above Average Shares of Audience Members from Specific Groups of the Registrar General's Social Scale:

Significance

Out of all the films that feature in this portion of the survey, the production we have in mind has most in common with The Wolf of Wall Street, which was the most popular film amongst members of the audience from the C1 category. With this in mind, broadly speaking, we believe our film would be targeted at Bs and C1s.