Research into Target Audience - Miss Miller

Researching into target audience, is where you ask the members of public what they would like or expect in something. In my case i asked 40 people using a questionnaire about what they would expect in a thriller and why, the results will help me gather ideas and inspirations on what my target audience would like and want to include in my own thriller opening sequence. In this post ill be evaluating all my results from my questionnaire and vox pops; interviews with members of the public  , then I'll consider which answers ill include in my thriller opening. 

Firstly, I asked my study group what gender they are, my results for this was that there were more boys than girls. This piece of information, informs me that boys are most likely to watch thrillers than girls. My results could be no accurate nor reliable as both kinds of genders may have a different perspectives of what they would expect in a thriller.

I then asked my study group what age they were, as thriller age certificates a either a 15 or an 18 depending on the content, i wanted to find out what age would be more suitable for my thriller. In this post i found out that the majority of people were 15-17 yrs old, this was helpful as this age group are more likely to watch thrillers than 12-14 yr old.

I asked my study group what type of thrillers they usually watch so i can get a clear idea on which sub-genre to use in my own thriller opening. In my results, 50% said that their favourite type of genre is a Horror/thriller film. This suggests that people like to be afraid when watching a film as horror/thrillers usually include chase scenes, gore and killing. In my narrative I've considered the feedback from my group and decided to follow the horror/thriller aspects to create suspense,surprise and shock within the audience e.g Antagonist killing a girl. 

After I asked what type of weapon they would expect in a thriller, and the majority of my study group said a knife. This was slightly expected as knifes are conventional to a thriller as it shows that the antagonist is in control and has every intentions and power to kill. I believe that the reason why only 5% said an Axe because the access to axe's are minimal as you would expect someone who lives in the country to have an axe as there is loads of trees there. In addition, I decided not to use a weapon in my narrative because i want the audience to think how the antagonist killed her, leaving them suspicious on who the killer is. 

Setting is very crucial in thriller films, as its what helps set the mood/atmosphere in the audience. In thrillers, the setting is usually in a isolated place so that the protagonist finds it hard to call for help. I asked what setting people would expect in a thriller, the results i came up with were that 30% said Road/street, Forest or House was the setting they would expect. Only a small percent said a warehouse, I believe this is because warehouses are quite big places but a lot of people work there so it would be conventional to a thriller as thrillers have isolated places. However, I think i would use either the three dominate answers in my own thriller as they are all places where there is less people around, so it'll be conventional to a thriller. 

This question was quite important as I asked my study group what their typical antagonist(killer) would be. Antagonist is the villain of the film, and in the results I collected most people (40%) said that the killer would have a unknown identity; someone that the characters and audience don't know. In second place with 25% people said that a relative was the typical killer in a thriller, I think if the killer was related to the protagonist it would create more effect as the person knows them making the audience question why the antagonist would kill them. In my own thriller opening I decided that the killer should have an unknown identity as this would create enigma in the audience making them want to carry on watching to find out who they are. 

In this question i asked who was their typical victim and why, the majority (63%) said that females were the typical victims. This is because females are seen as vulnerable,weak characters in films and also stuck up making them an easy target to kill as the antagonist may hate them. I think that the reason why a child to a victim was less picked because if there was something to happen to a child it could be quite disturbing and sad to watch as the victim is young. In my thriller opening I've decided to use a female as the protagonist because it is conventional to a thriller and the audience would emphasise more to women than men because they're less strong. 

Lighting is important in thriller films as it connotes what the mood/atmosphere is in the scene. I asked my study group what type of lighting they would expect in a thriller, 73% said Low-key lighting which was expected to be the highest as low-key lighting creates dark shadows, and makes enigma in the audience. If a thriller was to be in a high-key lighting, it wouldn't be as shocking because you would see who's in the scene easily and what they're about to do. Whereas in dark lighting, it creates suspense and tension because you cannot see clearly whats going to happen. I will use low-key lighting in my thriller as it will make the scene look more mysterious and scary creating suspense,shock and surprise which is conventional to a thriller. 

A huge amount of people said that they would like the actors to be around the same age as them. The reason why most people said yes was because they felt that they could relate to the characters and build a relationship with them making them pay more attention on the film. Furthermore, if the actors were similar age than the audience it would be make the audience put themselves in their shoes making them react to the actions they do. I will make sure my characters a roughly the same age as my age certificate which is a 15 so that the audience can relate to them and engage more with the film. 

Without any sounds in a thriller it wouldn't be as effective. Sound is often used to provoke the shock elements of thrillers, so this is why sound is very important. When i asked what types of sounds my study group would here i got a range of different answers. To be honest i think the sounds that are included depends on what type of thriller you are making e.g sounds of footsteps could be in either crime or horror thrillers as they include the most chase scenes. The results i collected were not far apart from each other but in the lead with 19% was noises of people ' screaming ', i believe that is is conventional to a thriller as the protagonist usually do scream to call out for help. However in second place with the highest was silence with a percentage of 17% , I believe silence creates a huge impact for the audience as it makes them nervous as they would expect to hear or see something happen but they don't. When creating my own thriller, I will definitely consider using these top 2 answers because they both have a huge impact on the audience and make the thriller more interesting and understandable to carry on watching. 

After the questionnaires I filmed three Vox Pops as proof for my questionnaire results. Vox Pox is simply the act of filming an interview with members of the public through a media device. I think this was helpful as it gave me an insight of what people were really thinking when answering my questions face to face, also because this was a source of primary data the participants could elaborate more on their answers making my research more valid and reliable to refer to.Furthermore, the Vox Pops I created allowed me to gain more of an insight of what I would like to include in my opening sequence, as the answers were similar e.g low-key lighting was said by all three participants, so I'm going to make sure I have low-key lighting to create a dark eerie atmosphere. Also all three participants in my Vox Pops were aged 15-17 which made me decide what age certificate to use, which is a 15 as the majority who were aged this were likely to watch thriller films. In my questionnaire i had a range of open questions (where the participant can elaborate more) and closed questions (Set answers usually yes or no, or they're are options to choose from).

In summary, I believe that this post helped me with collecting ideas on what to include in my thriller as i asked the members of public their opinions on what they would expect in a thriller and what they would enjoy. This post was very useful as it helped me create my own individual narrative as it gave me guidelines on what elements I should include to make my thriller opening conventional and successful. Moreover, it gave me a clear insight on what the public like and also gave me an idea on what age certificate i should make my thriller as some things may be unsuitable for the audience. With this analysis I have evaluated all the research I have made and have chosen my target audience to be teenagers upwards(15+), this is because I think children under the age of 15 would find some themes quite frightening and disturbing which would not be appropriate for them.Overall I am happy with the results I gathered with my questionnaires as the participants were honest and helpful helping me develop on my narrative.