Exam Question - Videogames

Component 1 - Section B (industry and audience)
Assassins Creed 3: Liberation

How does this product attract/target its audiences? How does it construct an audience? [12]

Knee Jerk Reaction:
Both mass and niche audiences
First black female protagonist, further attracts a new target audience(female demographic)
Ubisoft released game, huge fanbase, large successful company
Accessible on Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, the most popular software at the time (2012), as well as handheld console, targeting 'on the go' consumer
Uses themes of violence and adventure (action codes and dramatic cinematography in trailer) to attract typical audience of assassins creed players. 
Franchise - has a loyal fanbase, that will come back as they are familiar with the line o products.
Henry Jenkins Fandom - online communities, fan-made content, constructing new more active audience
18+ certificate, attractive as you can do things that you cant in reality, eg, kill people

Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5RxYUw4DFY
Built up, tense Non diegetic music
Dramatic cinematography
Cameras purposely angled in the perspective of a player, as if you already are playing the game
Slow motion effects
Themes of violence and adventure


Brief Introduction for 12 marker:
Assassins Creed 3: Liberation was released by Ubisoft in 2012 rated with a 18+ age certificate. Both mass and niche audiences are targeted in this product.

Argument:
Often in videogames women are heavily underrepresented as partial characters, who are typically sexualised and objectified. In this product however, the first assassins creed black female protagonist takes the lead role, attractive a new and wider target audience of a female demographic, and therefore attracting a more niche audience of new players.

On the other hand, the game was released by the large successful company Ubisoft, who have a huge, loyal fanbase. These fans trust the production by this corporation and will therefore be attracted by their typical use of themes of violence and adventure within the marketing of their product. This is presented in areas such as the action codes and dramatic cinematography in the trailer for the 2012 game. The audio visual advertisement also uses built up and tense non diegetic music, along with camera angles in the perspective of a player, as though viewers are already playing the game. This will attract a larger active group of action and adventure game players as it uses the typically attractive conventions of this game genre.

Henry Jenkins fandom theory reveals a different more active audience type who participate in the creation of media related to the product. Assassins Creed 3: Liberation constructs a motivated audience who produce their own media, such as reviews, and gameplay videos via Youtube, which are then circulated within the committed community.