Mainstream, upmarket and art films

This hypothesis has been supported throughout the research process and the subsequent analysis of the audience survey is no exception.

42 of the 157 respondents can be said to belong to the upmarket segment; this segment avoids mainstream cinemas like Palads, CinemaXX and Imperial – if respondents frequenting Imperial are not excluded, the number is increased to 66. Since Imperial shows productions that can appeal to both upmarket and mainstream segments such as the Millennium Trilogy²², one could include this cinema in both groups. In the table below however, it is noted that the Imperial audience distorts the results in the direction of the mainstream segment which is why they are excluded in the following analysis to get a clearer picture of the upmarket audience.

Cross-over cinemas like Metropol and Falkoner are also frequented by respectively 38 and 21% of the upmarket respondents.

Figure 9: Mainstream and upmarket segments and the influence of reviews

22 Stieg Larssons Millenium Trilogy

H5: Upmarket and art films are more affected by reviews than are mainstream films.

Master thesis, Cand.Soc. in Management of Creative Business Processes

46 of the 157 survey respondents can be defined as belonging to the mainstream segment – in this segment not one of the upmarket cinemas were among the three most frequented cinemas, but one in ten visits the crossover cinema Metropol and three in ten visits Falkoner Cinema.

The remaining 45 respondents in the survey belong to a crossover segment that enjoys both mainstream productions and productions for an upmarket audience. Due to practical reasons based on the properties of the program used to analyze the survey, this group will not be further examined.

10.5.1 The upmarket audience

Not surprisingly none of the upmarket respondents are below 25 years old, and 95% of the respondents have an academic degree. More than two out of three is female and nearly half of the upmarket respondents are high users. Though partner or friends is the preferred companion, almost one fourth often goes to the cinema alone. Not surprisingly the upmarket segment is mainly culturally motivated; over 70% expects an aesthetic experience and half of the upmarket audience wants the film experience to be intellectually challenging.

Drama, art films, documentary and social realistic films are the preferred genre for the upmarket audience and mainstream genres like comedy and action are less popular compared to the mainstream segment in particular and the total survey population in general.

The most important film characteristics for the upmarket audience are genre, director and the plot; especially the director is much more important for these audiences compared to the total survey population.

The most important source of inspiration is publicity in written media and recommendations from friends and family as well as publicity in radio and television. The upmarket audience are more affected - than the total survey population – by reviews in all media except for the Internet.

10.5.2 The mainstream audience

The mainstream audience is generally younger than the upmarket audience and almost 40% is younger than 25. The gender distribution is equal and compared to the upmarket audience only half of this segment holds a short or long academic degree. The mainstream audience also has a lower occurrence of high users compared to the upmarket audience as well as to the total survey population (39% vs. 45% and 44%).

Master thesis, Cand.Soc. in Management of Creative Business Processes

The mainstream segment is mainly socially motivated; only 17% are looking for an aesthetic experience or an intellectual challenge. Comedy, thriller, action and animation are the most popular genres and when it comes to film characteristics plot, genre and actors are important factors in the film choice process.

Recommendations from friends and family are by far the most important source of inspiration; 47% regards it as very important compared to only 29% among the upmarket segment. Whereas half of the upmarket audience assigned publicity in written media high weight, only 22% of the mainstream audience shares this opinion. This is reflected in a lower interest in daily papers – all daily papers except Ekstra Bladet, BT and free papers – are read less by this audience. The upmarket audience reads more daily papers especially Politiken, Information and Weekendavisen are very popular among this segment; this is the daily papers mentioned by Kim Foss as being the most important for Grand’s audience (Appendix E).

In general, reviews in all media are less important for the mainstream audience.

For an overview of the difference between the upmarket and mainstream audience see table D in appendix A.

10.5.3 Reviews influence on upmarket and mainstream audiences

The upmarket audience regards reviews in all media to be of higher importance than the mainstream audience – except when it comes to the internet. This is reflected in the lower use of debate forums and user ratings compared to the mainstream audience. In all other respects, the upmarket audience is more affected by reviews than the total survey population and the mainstream audience is less affected; the importance of user ratings and debate forums for the latter are at the same level as the total survey population.

H5 has been supported throughout this study and the survey analysis is no exception. To emphasize the point, the 34 respondents very fond of art films has been isolated and the picture becomes even clearer. Half is affected by advertising material with stars and quotes from reviewers; three out of four is influenced by the collective opinion of reviewers and 70%

by single reviewers. But user ratings and debate forums are not unimportant for these respondents; 27% employ user ratings when choosing a film and 9% debate forums.

In conclusion, H5 has been supported by the survey analysis.

Master thesis, Cand.Soc. in Management of Creative Business Processes