Research into target audience - Miss Miller

Research into target audience 

I have carried out this research so that I know and have a better understanding of the target audience that is suitable for the thriller sequence that we are going to create and who this sequence should be aimed at. We asked 40 different people so that we could have a wide range of variety of the different idea's contributed to a thriller genre that impacts on the audience. The results that we collected will be used to create our sequence as we now know what idea's linked to the thriller genre that people enjoy to see. Furthermore, we know have a good understanding of the age range that should be used for a target audience and who we are aiming our sequence to. To also contribute, we now know what techniques and idea's that the audience enjoy and what could impact them so  this would also increase the popularity of our sequence.

These were the questions that we used to ask a variety of different people and also the questions that were included in the vox plots. The questionnaire consist of 3 open questions and 7 closed questions.



We created pie charts for each individual question so that we can have a clear display for the different results in a clear image of the results, and have a clear understanding of what the audience is to expect and what information we could gather from this to include in our final production in which we will create.

From this pie chart, I have an understanding that the majority of the participants are aged between 16-25. This is relevant to the thriller sequence that we are going to create because this is the target audience that we are aiming for so this is key for our sequence. I will take on board that the age rating would be at a 15, so that we could use the conventions ideal for the this age rating so that it would be suitable and no potential harm could be done to the audience that are watching the film. In the sequence that I am going to create  I will use the conventions that would be suited to a 15 and a low 18 rated film so that there would be no problems when it comes to any harm to the audience. This is important for the audience as we want the sequence to be approiate and suited towards the targeted audience.

This pie chart displays to me that the majority of audiences are male. From this result I will take on board the conventions that male audiences prefer to watch and use more of them in my final production. In a thriller genre, female audiences may find certain moments unappealing and disgusting and would not be able to handle the element whereas male audiences will be able to handle them and take them in. This is key for our final production, as the result display that there are more male audiences we can use more conventions that female audience would find inappropriate and dis-approve which would then have a bigger impact on the audience as it makes the production more thrilling and keeps the audience satisfied. Furthermore we do not want there to be a sexiest contrast between the two genders.

The third question that we asked the audience was what thriller films they enjoy and why. 37% of the audience said that they like "The Shining" the most because it's more exciting and thrilling and impacts on the audience as it keeps them on the edge of their seat. As part of the production team, we would have to have a good understanding of the different thriller films that the audience like as this is vital because different films consist of different narrative and a contrast in all the films as the contain different conventions, such as music, camera shots and angles, iconography etc. I will watch clips from "The Shinning" and note the different conventions and effects towards the audience and use some of them in my final production as clearly these conventions and effects make the film more exciting and thrilling as this could have a bigger impact on the audiences that watch our final sequence.

The next question we asked was based on was types of sub genres the audience like to see. The most popular choice was sci-fi. This question was asked as there are different types of a particular genre, in this case thriller in which could determine and contribute towards the final narrative. Clearly, this sub genres has an impact on the audience and tends to be more popular than the other. Based on these results, we could include the use of sci-fi in our final production as that would be more popular towards our audiences and in which could keep them more entertained. Furthermore, sci-fi sub genres would tend to have a slightly more different narrative than other sub genres so this may be key in which what we need to include in our final production and this would keep the audience more appealed.




The next question was based on what the audience would expect to see in a typical thriller film. Thriller films always have more of an effect and impact if the audience see the unexpected and it gives more of a shock and surprise which are vital conventions. From the results, we state that the audience are expected to see death the most and expected to see a chase scene the least. From this conclusion we compromise not use a easily stated death as it would give a shock to the audience and have an impact on them. In our final production we need to deliver the unexpected so that they is a bigger impact on the audience and would keep them on edge. We will take on board that a chase scene and "other" is the least percentages in the results so we would try and use these in our results so that the audience are given a surprise as it would be unexpected.




The next question was based on what types of music would be typical and expected in a thriller film. More than half of the participants of the questionnaire said that they would expect eery music. The second highest choice was jumpy music. These were expected responses to the question as both of them are typical conventions towards a thriller genre as both of them create a thrilling effect towards the audiences and keep them more on edge. This is ideal for this particular genre.  From these results I will take on board the more popular answers, as these are what creates the effects that have an impact on the audience in a thriller genre. Furthermore these create more tension and suspense within the sequence and this is ideal for the film.



The next question to be asked was what a good narrative for a thriller film would be. From these results we can conclude that the most popular narrative would be a "psychopath on the loose". This is ideal and well contributed towards our final production as now we know what audience would like to see within our sequence and what would keep them intrigued. In addition the second most popular narrative was a possessed child and "other". These could contribute towards our sequence as we know that also the idea of a possessed child would be ideal for a thriller film and keep the audience captivated. We will take on board these results by using either the most popular or second most popular narrative and including them into our final sequence. Furthermore we could also create a combination of the two narratives together which would keep the audience more interested.



The next questions was what iconography weapons the audience prefer to be used within the film. The most popular answer was knife which was 45% of the votes. The second most popular option was the use of a gun. From these results we could determine that a use of a knife is a typical convention of a thriller genre and obviously keeps the audience more attracted to the film. We will take on board the use of iconography by trying to include the use of a knife or either a gun so that the audience are more attracted to the sequence and would have a bigger impact on them as they would be keen to know who the weapon is to be used on which would then build up suspense through the sequence, then finally when the weapon is use, the conventions of surprise and shock would be present in this moment and would be ideal for this type of genre.





In this question, we asked the participants what a typical setting in a thriller genre would be. The majority of the participants answered  that the forest would be the most common. From this we can indicate that a forest would build up more suspense and tension as there are no nearby resources  so would make the characters more vulnerable and would have a great impact on the audience. We will take this result on board and use the idea of having a forest setting in our final sequence as it build up more suspense and it is more dangerous for activities to occur within. Furthermore, this makes the setting conventional towards the thriller genre which is what we need as we need to link every aspect to the thriller genre. We want to captivate our audience by making them feel eery that something bad is going to occur, so when the moment occurs this would create surprise which is a key convention for a thriller genre.


The next question to be asked was what gender the audience expected the killer (antagonist). This was asked as in a thriller genre, is is part of the production teams role to deliver the unexpected to the audience. So, this question was asked so that we could see what is the most likely gender of the killer to be or whether it would even be human. The majority of the participants suggested that the killer/antagonist is more likely to be male than a female or other. The results display that 67% assume the killer would be male. The least popular option was the killer to be "other" so a killer that may not be human e.g monster, possessed doll. From these results we will take on board that the least popular option was "other" so try and include a species that is neither genders so that audience receive the unexpected. Furthermore we could also combine this with the second least popular option of the female killer. This is because, in most thriller films the female is more likely to be the victim so in our sequence we can add a twist so that this makes the audience more shocked and surprised which is two key elements in  a thriller genre.

To gather evidence for our questionnaire and gain reliability, we created vox plots. Vox plots are
interviews with the members of public either via radio or television. We created our vox plots by filming members of the public and asking them our questions from our questionnaire. There are three people in our group, so we decided to film 3 vox plots each so that combined we have a total of 9 vox plots between the group. This means that we would have a variety of different people that would have different views and opinions. These will be our sources that we refer back to to gain ideas for our final production so that we know what the audience would like to see and how we could give them a shock and surprise:

To conclude, I found the different opinions useful in this research. This was because we asked 40 people different questions based on thriller genres so by this we get a variety of what people want and expect in a thriller genre. This is vital when we refer back to our target audience as we need to make sure that all different types of audiences are just as interested and eager towards our production. We want to create a sequence that all audiences would enjoy and keep them on the edge of their seat. So, by this I found this research as I got an opportunity to gather information from a variety of people so that my final production is more likely to please all audiences. I will incorporate these results in to my sequence, as now I have the basic idea of what the audience would like to see and what they would typically expect. So using these results, I will deliver them what they want to see within a thriller film and give them the unexpected so that they receive that shock that a thriller film should have. If I was to carry out this research again, I would ask the participants less open questions and give them less choices as this would give me more personal answers with regards to the question. This would give me a better understanding of what they want in the film and again give me the opportunity to give them the unexpected.