Research into target audience - Miss Miller

Questionnaire

1.How old are you?

2.what gender are you?

3.Do you enjoy thrillers?

4.What is your favourite element of a thriller?

For instance death, suspense, tension, shock, surprise, chase scenes, weapons and why?

5. What type of thriller do you like?

Action, murder, stalking, psychological and why?

6. What type of setting do you like/ prefer?

7.Do you prefer thrillers which are relatable to your age group?

8. Do you think background music makes a thriller film more effective?

9. What type of weapons do you prefer?

E.g knife, gun, strength of the antagonist, or other.

10. Do you like the effects of having a hidden identity within a thriller film?


I created a questionnaire so to find out the overall opinion on the thriller genre as I shall be creating one myself. I wanted to discover the common likes and dislikes of the genre so I had some indication of where to go with my own. For instance it is rather common for thrillers to have a female victim, now if I was to ask people about what they thought of this in my questionnaire and many people said that they didn't like it maybe they thought that it was over done, then it would be something I would refrain from adding within my own film. The sole purpose of me taking out this questionnaire is so for me to gain research and therefore further knowledge on the genre so to make my film as best as it can be. I asked forty people to take out my questionnaire as it would provide me with a fairly large number of responses therefore gaining me some variety of answers so that I can see from a range what people really think of the genre. Naturally I didn't want to ask too little amount of people as that would mean that I would be lacking in results and therefore wouldn't have much information or much to go on when creating my own thriller film. This would be a problem as it could mean that I wouldn't a good enough understanding of what should belong in my thriller film hence it wouldn't be very successful. However I also didn't want to ask too many people as it would mean that I would have loads of responses to go through, having too many could become a waste of time considering as after you've asked a certain amount you've pretty much got the same information only repeating itself, spending too much time on over viewing responses could mean that I would be wasting precious time which I could be using to be actually working on the production of my film hence as you could see forty was a good fair amount.

We wanted to ask the ages of our participants for various different reasons first of all we wanted to back up our previous knowledge that thriller watchers generally fit into the age category of young adults. We also wanted to gain knowledge of what different age groups had a tendency to enjoy watching within the genre, even which particular format to a thriller they would often chose to watch. This will help us when deciding which age category to aim our sequence towards as well as what would be appropriate to put in our film baring in mind who would be watching. As this pie chart shows that the most of the people who enjoy watching thrillers are sixteen and over it means that we can add elements to our thriller such as strong language which would be to risky to be put in place if we were aiming the film at a younger audience. This also means that we should be aiming our opening sequence for a age certificate of a 15 as although most our views will in fact be older than fifteen the next rating up from a 15 is a 18 this would be alienating some potential viewers of thrillers from watching our film as they wouldn't be redeemed old enough to view it.

I investigated what members of the different genders like to see within thrillers, I wanted to see whether there were any major differences between what the two sexes like to view within the thriller genre. I also wanted to see if there was a major leap between the number of females and the number of males who enjoyed watching thrillers if so then I would see how this would help me aim my film to the majority of my audience. If there were any preferences I noticed that males tended to have over females then I would go for them as it would appear from my results that I will be having more male viewers for my thriller film than females.

This was just a basic question we wanted to ask to see generally how many people actually like thrillers this was done in an attempt to see how big our audience could potentially be.It also meant that we would listen more so to views on what is good to have in a thriller from people who were actually interested in the genre as they would have a better understanding of what is an entertaining convention of a thriller and it would be coming from someone with more of a passion for the genre hence they would be much more likely to care for my questions and want to do the genre justice. Where as if I was to ask someone who sort of watched thrillers and found a bit entertaining but wasn't overly into them then there views wouldn't be as well educated on the subject. 

I decided to ask my participants what their  favorite element of the genre was so I could see which answers were the most common and therefore focus more so on them than any less common choices. Hence meaning that I had more of a chance of impressing a larger audience as I would be displaying a wider range of elements which people liked to see within the genre. It is important to realise which aspects viewers tend to prefer so you can adapt your film to their interests therefore making it more entertaining for them hence gaining more of their interest and a better response. With a better response there is likely to be a better hype around your filming, including word of the mouth, people recommending the film to friends etc gaining the film a larger audience.  It is important to include different elements of the thriller genre within your thriller film so to make sure you have adapted your film correctly to a thriller film without these key elements you may not have fit your film accurately to a thriller and therefore would be disappointing viewers would were expecting a thriller and therefore hoping to be watching these key elements. For instance they will want to see key pieces of iconography such as weapons including guns and knifes foreshadowing the later deaths to come within the thriller as well as portraying how unstable and how unsafe it is to be around the owner who tends to be the antagonist within the genre.  

I asked this question for similar reasons to the one above, with the knowledge of what kind of thrillers the general audience prefers I am able to set my thriller to certain categories and really fit it to what most people want to watch therefore making it more successful. I will be asking these types of questions so to be able to help me make my film more conventional to a thriller, for instance I could take an aspect of a thriller which wasn't very popular or made very aware of by the general public and put it in my film although this would still be conventional to a thriller it would be better to use something that viewers are much or aware of and familiar with hence the conventions will be much more noticeable and will become more clearly suited to the correct genre. Knowing which types of thrillers are most common among my potential audience can help me to create and therefore build my entire film around it. For instance as shown above on my pie chart many thriller watchers enjoy to watch action types of thrillers hence from this I am able to build upon the idea of having an action thriller and make my film around this so to suit the idea. 

Thriller films are often based around the lives of a group of teens or one single young woman settling into life, so we wanted to discover whether people liked the general set up of the age range of thriller characters or whether or not they would rather see a different age group. As you can tell from my pie chart most thriller watchers prefer to watch thrillers which are relatable towards their age group which would mean teenagers through to young adults. This is an important thing to know as it means I know which age ranged to based my main character within as well as any other characters whom may be needed which can fit to that age category. This is a massively important thing to know about my film as it means that I can be informed of how to base the set yet again but this also informs me that most of my audience like to watch thrillers where there can relate to certain elements this enables me to make the decision to keep my film more realistic rather than using supernatural monsters and demons etc as well as the story line itself. Maybe I could talk to my group members about having a relatable message behind our narrative. 

For my narrative I am considering using a hidden identity, so I wanted to learn the opinions of the concept, if  a lot of people decided that they didn't particularly like it then I wouldn't use a hidden identity within my narrative as it wouldn't be something that a lot of audience members wanted to see. As you can see from my results the majority liked to see a hidden identity within the genre I received feedback such as "it keeps you guessing which keeps you more interested in the film" and many other things of the sort. Out of the participants who didn't say yes more said that they weren't sure rather than no it was actually a rather small percentage who said that they didn't like the concept of a hidden identity which shows me that it would be a good thing to include within my narrative this shall help me go forward with the planning of my narrative and allows me the confidence that I am following along the right lines with it. 

Weapons are very conventional to a thriller film, hence it was important for me to get it right and with such a wide range it could easily become quite a difficult decision to cast, not only do I need to select a weapon which is liked via audience members but I also need to make sure it is fitting to my film as well as the character which shall be armed with it. Often weapons are a large part of how characters are viewed hence it is important that I get it right for instance 'Ghostface' from the scream series is known for mainly using a knife when killing victims no matter who is behind the mask at which time. Often a weapon can say a lot about who is obtaining it for instance a knife is a much more hands on weapon than a gun which you can use and shot from a distance and still kill your victim for some this is seen as a much more cowardly way of killing. With a knife you have to get up right and personal with your victim you have to physically force the knife inside of them this isn't something that many people can physically see themselves being capable of.  If an antagonist was to have a different weapon one that was original to them then it could become their trademark bringing more attention to said character and therefore placing more of a hype around the film. Often this little elements to a film are what is so loved by films cult followings. 

This question will help me decide how much music I will put into my film for thriller effect it also teaches me how much the general public understand about thrillers as I know how much the music really does alter a film. However they do not seem to be so aware of this which shows how as they are simply just watching the film and focusing on the narrative that many of them are unaware of the little tricks put in place to keep their attention. This informs me that I may not have to be as careful when trying not to edit my film etc ruining it for the audience thinking that they will be likely to pick up on these things and it will ruin the experience for them as it appears that for many views these elements simply go over their head. 

From this question I will have a better idea what types of settings are most popular among the general audience therefore helping me to make a decision as to which setting/settings I should used within my own film. After all if I was to chose a place which audience members find irritating such as a circus or feel that they have seen to often within the genre such as a haunted house they will be likely to be put off from watching the film because of it. Naturally I don't want to cut off or alienate potential viewers from watching or enjoying the film so I want to keep it open and wide enough for more to enjoy so I will opt to use places of which I know sit well with the audience. 

I carried out research within my group so to find out the general public's view on thrillers, for instance what it is they like about thrillers or what they may dislike about thrillers, we wanted to find out the ages of our participants so to gain a general idea of what different age groups tend to like and dislike. 

Vox pox:

I filmed vox pox's on some of the people I took my questionnaire out on so that I am able to provide evidence of this part of my research. 

This research was most beneficial as it has displayed information to me about what most people like to see within the thriller genre. It has also taught me about the general public's understanding of the genre. From my research I have been able to set upon many things for instance I have decided that I want to display a female victim within my female for sure and I also want her to be of a relatable age for most of my viewers so I am currently considering that she should be around fifteen years old making her on her last year of secondary school. If I was to make another film I would effeminately take out this form of research again as it has help me to create new ideas as well as adding further confidence to my existing ideas and helped me to eliminate others.