Research Into Target Audience - Miss Miller

My research was carried out in the form of a questionnaire, I done this so that I know what I should include in my own thriller opening sequence also, so that I know what attracts the audience and what will keep them engaged. Additionally, I asked 40 people so that we have a wider range of answers to help me with creating my own thriller sequence but also so that the results are more accurate. I will use my results to help in the creation of my sequence to include what the audience want to see within a thriller.

My Questionnaire

Firstly, we asked what gender the person was, my results for this are equal between the amount of males and females we asked. Me and my group done this on purpose so that I had a fair and accurate answers to my questionnaire. This is because females may have different ideas as to what they would expect or want to see in a thriller film, as they might want to see a happy outcomes and see less violence throughout the film. Compared to males who might want to see more blood and death. Therefore, by asking the same amount of people from each gender we can make our thriller opening sequence suitable for both genders and not just one. 

The next question we asked was 'how old are you?', we asked this because thriller age certificates are usually either 15 or 18 depending on the content. Therefore, we wanted to find out what age certificate would be suitable for my thriller and what age has a wider target audience. By asking this question we found out that most people were ages between 15-17 years old, which helpful as this age group are more likely to watch thrillers than 12-14 year old. Furthermore, we will make out thriller, age certificate 15. So we will follow the BBFC guidelines as to what we can include violence and other convention themes such as blood and gore, which you could find in a thriller film. 

We asked this next question to find out whether the people answering my questionnaire watch thrillers or not as if they did there results might be biased towards there favourite thriller film. On the other hand, if they don't watch thriller films they might not of been able to answer the questions properly, which could of effected my questionnaire results. Therefore, this question was important in finding out how many people watch thriller films.

We also asked what thrillers were peoples favourites out of a list me and my group chose. We asked this so that we could see what type of theme they prefer and what type of narrative they like the film to be based on. From asking this question we can see that 'other' was the most popular choice, this is because there is a wide range of thriller films and we had only listed four. However, out of the four we had listed 'scream' was the most popular this could be because it is a conventional thriller containing a masked antagonist so that it has a hidden identity but also the antagonist uses a knife as it weapon and has mainly female victims. Although, all films we have chosen have antagonists with hidden identities, 'woman in black' was the second most popular. This could be because the victims are children, which causes tension as well as shock for the audience keeping them interested and engaged in the film. This question helped my group and I decided on how we wanted to show the antagonist and that we wanted him to be mysterious by not giving much away to the audience about what his true identity is. 

We then asked and open question about what type of weapon they prefer the antagonist to use and why. Most people we asked said that they would prefer to see a knife being used. They then answered that they would prefer a knife to a gun or saw as it is a more realistic weapon. Me and my group expected this as knifes are conventional to the thriller genre as it not only shows that the antagonist is in control over the victim but that they intend to kill. Also, a knife is a everyday item in comparison to a gun or saw so it builds the suspense for the audience as it makes them fear more for the victim as they can relate to the victims situation more. This is why we will use a knife as the weapon in our opening sequence.

We then asked if 'you prefer the antagonist to have a hidden identity'. My group asked this so that we could see whether the audience like having and antagonist, which is unpredictable and unknown or whether they like to see and know who the person is throughout the film. Although, 30% of people said no, the majority of people (70%) said yes, that they would prefer to have an unknown antagonist. Therefore, me and my group will have a antagonist with a hidden identity, by wearing a mask at all times when he is shown on camera. This creates more mystery and suspense for the audience, keeping g them more interested and engaged in the thriller.

After asking about what type of antagonist they would like to see we asked about whether they prefer a male or female victim in thriller films. However, this time we also asked why, so that we could get there feedback on there answers. Most people said they preferred to have a female victim over a male victim. This is because they said that a female victim is more easy to relate to and is portrayed as being weak, innocent and defenceless, in comparison to a male victim who is usually portrayed as being strong and able to defend himself. My group and i have therefore decided to stick with the stereotypical female victim as we can then present the character as being a easy target for the antagonist, as well as being weak and innocent. This then follows the thriller genres codes and conventions. 

Next we asked about what type of setting they would like the film to be based in and why. The setting is very crucial in thriller films, as its what helps set the mood and atmosphere for the audience. The stereotypical setting in a thriller film is a isolated location as the victim then find it more difficult to call for help or escape. My results showed that out of a forest, abandoned house, graveyard and hospital, most being would prefer to see the film set is a abandoned house. When they answered the 'why' bit of this question they said that they have chose the abandoned house because it is a isolated location and they also mentioned that if it was to be set around a forest as well it would build on the suspense as the location would then become more isolated. This is conventional to the thriller genre, and so me and my group will use an isolated location such as an abandoned house for the setting of our sequence.

Me and my group also asked whether they would like to see and enigma (mystery) through out the film, this could link in with the antagonist having a hidden identity or why the antagonist has chose that particular victim. Moreover, 90% of people said that they would like the thriller to include an enigma. Therefore, me and my group have decided we will include one in our sequence. Our main enigma in our thriller sequence is going tone the about the antagonist and who he is and neither the victim or the audience will know. This enigma is conventional to the thriller genre and it creates suspense for the audience, as a result it keeps them interested and engaged in the film.

The final question on our questionnaire, was what element they are most likely expect to see when watching a thriller. The most popular answer was tension followed by suspense with only 1% less. These two elements are very similar to one another, but they are both equally as important into making the thriller interesting as well as conventional. Also, to keeping the audience engaged, wanting to find out more and carry on watching. We will include tension and suspense within our sequence, by keeping the audience questioning what is going to happen next. For example, when our antagonist is gown holding a knife this will cause tension and suspense, because the audience will not know what his intentions are or what his is going to do next.

After the questionnaires I then filmed three vox pops, this was for proof of my questionnaire results and to show the whole questioning process. A vox pop is simply the act of filming an interview with someone of the public through a media device. By filming three vox pops it helped to see what people were really thinking also, it allowed the participant to extend more on the why section for the open questions. This primary data then meant that my research was more valid and reliable for me to analyse. Furthermore, by creating these vox pops it allowed me to know what the audience would like to see in my thriller sequence and so I can make sure i include what they say to make the film more interesting and more suited to my target audience. 

My research into target audience was helpful for planning mine and my groups opening sequence as it has helped us on deciding what we should include in the sequence based on peoples answers from the questionnaire. For example, it has helped us to decide on using a female victim and to use a masked antagonist so his identity is hidden from the audience as well as from the victim. Also, we now know that we will make our thriller age certificate 15 as this means that we can still include many similar thriller aspects than if it was a 18 and we will have a larger tater audience because more people will be able to watch it. Moreover, it has helped us understand what types of codes and conventions the audience would want to see in the thriller and so we don't just include what is expected as it might be stereotypical to the genre. If me and my group was to carry out our research again, I would change some of the questions asked. I would do this so that the audience would have to answer the questions in more depth. Additionally, I would make some questions relating to my narrative to find out whether it is a good and interesting narrative or not.