Audience Research: The Sixth Sense

The film, 'The Sixth Sense' is a 1999 American psychological thriller film. It is written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. The film tells the story of Cole Sear, a troubled, isolated boy who is able to see and talk to the dead, and an equally troubled child psychologist who tries to help him. The film established Shyamalan as a writer and director, and introduced the cinema public to his traits, most notably for his affinity for his surprise endings. The film was nominated for six academy awards, including  Best Picture.

The Sixth Sense is certificated as a 15 therefore indicating that the film was targeting ages 15+. However, from watching the film myself, I believe that the film could be also targeting the late 20's, early 40's. This is because the film deals with themes such as death but in a sensitive manner and are not all about gore and violence which you would expect people of a younger persuasions to watch. -As violence or gory scenes are not shown throughout 'The Sixth Sense' but are replaced with subtle signs of forthcoming danger. The film targets the working class as they like to watch movies which keep them on the edge and with high levels of excitement as the plot thickens. In 1999, 'The Sixth Sense' attracted a lot of females as the film featured "Star Power". The main character of the film was Bruce Willis, a heartthrob in the 1990's. Females were attracted to the film because he was starring in it and they knew the film would be worth seeing as he is known as a good actor.

The marketing of the film included the release of trailers, radio and posters. Due to the fact that the film was produced in the late 1990's, there wasn't a lot of great technology out but in the year of 1999, Web 2.0 was created which enabled the audience to interact with different social activities online. The audience was able to watch the trailer for the film online and get involved with the cast and crew.