Case Study: Orphan

Orphan is a 2009 American psychological horror/thriller film and directed by Jaume Collect-Serra.


Summary:
The film centers around a husband and wife who has recently lost their baby who adopted a 9 year old Russian girl, Esther, at the St. Marina Orphanage, they immediately fall in love with the well-educated orphan. Their young son, Daniel, is hostile to his new sister; but their deaf daughter, little Max, is enchanted with her - at first. Eventually, Kate begins to feel that Esther is manipulative and possibly even psychologically disturbed. John refuses to listen to his wife's misgivings, and the wounds in their marriage reopen. Kate calls Sister Abigail at the orphanage, and the nun informs her that Esther has a troubled and mysterious history. Kate delves further into Esther's past and discovers she is not all she pretends to be. (wikipedia.com) 

Institutional Information: 
Orphan had a budget of 20 million. On opening weekend it peaked at £570,146 and grossing over £41, 573, 740 being a box office success. It was produced by Joel Sliver, Susan Downey, Jennifer Davisson Killoran and Leonardo DiCaprio. Having a celebrity as one of the producers brings pulling power, and more star marketing which is good for the movie because he has an established audience. Warner Brothers was the production company, and it was released in 2009 with a c
ertificate of 15. (www.imdb.com)   


Structure:
Orphan follows the five act structure, with an open ending (we do see her die but we don't see a body so its left with the possibility of a squeal). In my opinion Orphan is a unconventional horror movie but with some conventional aspects for example: the mise - en - scene in the film is very typical for example: the isolated house, the dark forest and scary lake. This is the traditional setting for a scary movie, also having the child being the villain or evil has been done before in previous films e.g.  children of the corn, the ring and the omen.  Children, being the villains in horror movies are a popular choice because they are pure and innocent . However, they had some alternative challenging points from the narrative e.g - Finding her at an orphanage (which did spark some negative reviews) this is not typically done. That being said the concept of the narrative was slightly hyper real.  

Controversy:  
The movie 'Orphan' was due to come out in July but before that their marketing campaign had got a lot of back clash from the adoption community. The internet was filled with outrage because it gave a negative view of adults wanting to adopt a child. People commented underneath the article Particularly offensive, say advocate: "It must be hard to love an adopted child as much as your own."> Click Here To Read Article  .Warner Brothers company spokesman apologized saying 'We made a mistake', - which is very rare.

Audience: 
Orphan appeals to a global audience. I would say that the target audience would be 15 and 25 so a range between late teens to young adults.  And a social - economic group of people within C2 and E (middle and working class).
I feel that the audience would be an active consumer because people did leave comments and did react to the trailer because they thought that things where inappropriate. 
The audience could be classed in the psycho - graphic group of  'mainstreamers' because 'Orphan' does follow the conventional horror/thriller formula of films.