Primary Research

For my audience research, I have used a secondary source to find out statistical figures. These figures have come from the British Filming Institute (BFI) website. Also, percentages on audience satisfaction have come from the Rotten Tomatoes website, rating a numerous amount of different thriller genre films.

Though for my thriller film to be successful I need to collect some primary based data. For this I have conducted and created a survey on an online website, 'Survey Monkey'. Here, I have composed ten questions about the thriller genre. I aim to ask both genres, all around the age of 16 so that my results are reliable.

Below is the link to my survey
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/8PNB8JS

Questionnaire response

When analysing my questionnaire responses, some questions were revealed to contain mixed responses where as a small majority favoured one particular audience answer. My audience were all of the same age range being either 15 or 16 years old.

For my first question I asked my audience to specify their gender so that I have an idea of preferences by either gender. This may allow me to create a pattern within my results.

When looking at  my results above in a graphical format, this shows that all my audience were in agreement that both male and female characters should be included within my thriller. I feel this result came about due to the majority of films including multi gendered characters.

Next, the question asked was; 'Which characters portray a thriller best?'. Here I am accounting for the actions of both the antagonist and protagonist. For this, I gained a variety of different answers, with a male psycho and female victim coming out top on pole. I think this result was gained due to most thrillers consisting of this concept and the fact of the male gender being generally much stronger than the female.

When asked; 'Should the assassin be...' the majority of my audience answered with, your normal everyday person. In opposition none of my audience answered with a past criminal. I think this was the result because this convention would build anxiety and suspense due to the mysterious characteristics of the antagonist.

My next question was; ' what sub genre to a thriller do you prefer?' For this question I gave my audience three options to choose from. Out of these, two battled close to appear on top. Though, the favourable of my pole was a psychological sub genre. Psychological thrillers are popular due to the suspended anxiety and tension that the genre creates upon the audience within the mind.

Looking at my next question displayed in a graph, it is clearly visible that the preferred location for my thriller to be taken out is within an unknown location. By this I mean a location unidentifiable by the audience. This means that mystery would be suspended upon the audience due to consolidation.

For my seventh question I choose to ask a multiple choice question. Here, I offered a choice of 6 possibilities to the question; 'What elements do you like within a thriller film?'. From this only half proved to be popular with my teenage audience. Top came mystery, jointly followed by suspense and death showing that horror could possibly be a popular sub genre.

My next question targeted my audience more specifically; 'What is your favourite thriller film?' For this, I gave a list of possibilities to avoid the question of having to define the thriller genre. From this, the thriller, Inception was most popular. Following this question I asked my audience to explain why. Answers such as, 'It plays with your mind' and because 'It creates tension and suspense' were given to back up this favourable film. This was closely followed by the 2010 Dark Knight.

Finally my last question was; 'Which use of sound do you think creates more suspense?' Here I aimed for the literacy device of sound to see what makes my audience more anxious. It was revealed that twisted children's nursery rhymes did the job best. I think this is because nursery rhymes are related to young children who are of pure innocence, so having them twisted shows disturbance.

G321 Audience research

Genre:

When looking in to the audience opinion on the thriller genre, the popularity of thrillers in the British marketplace are established. A statistical yearbook from the British Film Industry can prove this by taking typical conventions for each genre, gauging relative audience popularity. When summing up my findings, statics reveal that the thriller genre ranked 7th in box office returns in 2011, falling within the top half of all genres. The total box office return in this year, pulled in the sum of £55.3 million. With film releases in the United Kingdom in 2011, the thriller genre has had 28 releases being released at an average number of 150 point sites. This puts the thriller genre 9th in this certain area, being within the second half of all 16 genre releases.

Audience: 

In the year 2011, the total size of the film audience in the United Kingdom was estimated to be a humongous 5.1 billion. From this categories are split to account television as 77% of the total audience, followed by DVD and like media as 14.2%, downloading and streaming via all sources at 5.5% and the lowest, cinema at only 4%.

Considering the age distribution, of cinema goers throughout the years 1997 to 2011,  the proportion of people over the age of 45 going to the cinema increased gradually at the expense of the younger generations. Though recently, since 2009, the statics for the cinema goers age ranged between 15 - 24 has decreased although figures for all other age categories have increased when going to the cinema.

When looking at different age groups and their preference in film, the genre of which fluxuates. Animations are of a particular appeal to a 7 - 14 audience, especially the films; 'Horrid Henry' and 'The Smurfs' ranking in 42% of the genres total audience. Comedies, such as 'The Inbetweeners Movie' appealed to the 15 - 24 age group, pulling in a massive 67%. Films with an above average audience of 25 - 34 age group preferred the film 'Captain America: The First Avenger' than any other. Parents and carers in the 35 - 44 audience meant shares within the animation genre increased when 25% of the audience viewed the film; 'Tangled'. Penultimately, the age group ranging from 45 - 54 were attracted by the film; 'Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows'. Finally, the eldest audience, 55 and over appealed strongly to; 'Jane Eyre'.

There is also a difference in the films viewed when looking at opposing social groups. These groups are devised by wealth, having the AB social group being wealthier than that of the DE audience. The segment targeting of the AB audience in 2011 had a 50% total audience viewing the film; 'One Day'. This opposes the choice of the DE audience seeing the comedy, 'Johnny English Reborn'.
Gender again is represented in the same fashion. The thriller film, 'The Black Swan' had a higher percentage of female viewers (61%) to male viewers (39%). This therefore indicates that female viewers prefer thrillers with a psychological sub genre. Not only this but, i suggest females like this film due to the continuous theme of ballet, something less appealing to the male gender. In contrast the film, '127 Hours' had a high percentage of male viewers (68%) opposed to the measly 32% of female audiences. This suggests that males prefer a thriller with perhaps a more gory side, tilting more towards the horror genre. The film 'Tinker, Sailor, Solider, Spy' appeals evenly to both genres. A reason for this may included the mystery based convention which it conveys, opposing to a specific gender based convention or theme unlike the above categorise into.

When looking at an opposing website, Rotten Tomatoes, this shows the appeal of different thrillers to film critics.
North by Northwest 100%
Psycho 97%
Pulp Fiction 95%
No Country for Old Men 95%
The Dark Knight 94%
Looper 93%
Inception 86%
Leon 79%
The Grey 79%
Shutter Island 69%

From my list above I have chosen the film, Inception to show contrasting views which have been given from film critics about approaches on the thriller film.




Stuart Klawans: The Nation - 'What is the point of having an imagination, I ask you, if the only thing that can be imagined is mayhem, perpetrated without regard for even the appearance of human life?'

Jason Best: Movie Talk - 'A brain-twister to be sure. But the fact that the plot demands attention only adds to the exhilaration. This is a story about dreams that requires the audience to stay awake.'