Knowing your Audience

It is through a connection with an audience that successful art is defined. If a tree falls in the woods and noone is there to hear it, did it make a sound?. similarly if an art piece is created but has no audience, did it ever exist?

The first step to capturing an audience is to understand them, understand a particular piece will speak to them and what feelings I as an artist wish to evoke from them.

My decision to create a pirate themed piece was to work with my spec work as well as a personal 2 year project for my first game which evidently is a pirate themed team based naval combat game.

Whist a pirate theme speaks to a broad audience there are certain aspects that will need to be followed to hit those targets. Children for example are fascinated by pirates however more in tune with the mystical and magical side rather than the rape, pillage and plunder side. A perfect example of artworks that hit the mark for a younger audience is the film franchise 'Pirates of the Caribbean'.

Forgetting the dark violent historical nature of pirates in lieu of a more magical fantasy theme. the film uses the many tales of pirate curses and folklore monsters to create an experience more targeted to a younger audience. With this in mind I have added the green lanterns during the night cycle of my shot to give the ship a ghostly mystical feel.

Another key audience for pirates is a more mature bracket those that are intrigued by the violence, the disease and the history behind pirates an example that hits this particular audience is the tv series 'Black Sails'.

With the shows focus more on the violence and hard life style of pirates as well as a more true to history story the series manages to drive home the harsh conditions of life in that era and thus hits a more mature audience. Being that Yagan is such a public place with necessary restrictions to screen content this demographic is harder to hit than the younger audience my hope is that the damage to the ship in the scene will allow the more mature audience to imagine the battle that has come before.

Pirate themes combine both the history and fantasy and thus opens itself to a wide audience quite easily as children we all played pirates at some stage. As kids pirate themed media sparks our imaginations and as adults gives us a sense of nostalgia for our youth in which the playground was our ship, our friends were our crew and our adventures were endless.

APA Referencing

Roy, A. (2021, September 18). Pirates of The Caribbean Moves in Order. The Teal Mango. https://www.thetealmango.com/entertainment/all-pirates-of-the-caribbean-moves-in-order/

Woodes Rogers | Black Sails Wiki | Fandom. (n.d.). Black Sails Wiki. https://black-sails.fandom.com/wiki/Woodes_Rogers