Research into target audience - Miss Miller

Research into target audience

A target audience is a group people that a specific product is made for or is aimed at. Films have to have a target audience so that they know what age group they are aimed at to now what to add that would be suitable and engaging to the particular target audience. Research was carried out to put together plans and ideas to what the majority of the audience like to see in a thriller sequence. We asked 40 people the questionnaire so that we got a variety of answers so we know what most of the audience like to see and we also have a range of answers not limited to certain answers certain people like to see in a thriller film. The researches we carried out gave us in-depth qualitative data to work with and help us more when planning our own opening thriller sequence. We will use our results to see what the most liked things was and try to include most of the things the audience enjoy to see in a thriller in our very own opening thriller sequence. 

The pie chart on the right is  the results we received by the 40 people we asked about  their gender. The chart tells us that out of the 40 people asked 65% of them were male which is equivalent to 26 people and 35% of them were female which is equivalent to 14 people. This means that I need to include more violence into my opening thriller sequence to favour the needs of my predominant male audience. My thriller should be aimed more towards the male gender with bloody and violent scenes as my survey told me more boys enjoy watching thriller films than girls.

The pie chart on the left shows us the ages of the 40 people I asked a questionnaire to about their thriller film preferences. 12% of them which is equivalent to 5 people were the age of 12 to 14, 20% of them which is equivalent to 8 people were the age of 15 to 18, 25% of them which is equivalent to 10 people and 43% which is equivalent to 17 people were above the age of 26. This means that the most frequent age of the 40 people we asked the questionnaire to were 26 years of age and over which means we need to bear in mind that the answers for the other questions would be mostly in the mind of a person aged 26+ so they would prefer more full on scenes with more thrills and more violence compared to the other people in the other age groups answering the questions also. This age group is more conventional to thrillers as they prefer more thrilling scenes such as scenes from the films; Saw, Annabelle and the Conjuring. Therefore, I need to add shots and scenes with violence and loads of thrills to match the needs of the target audience and engage them in the film more. This will need to go on throughout the whole of the film to thrill the audience more and keep them on edge with the suspense being built through the scary scenes. Therefore, my opening thriller sequence will be aimed at the older years as they will enjoy it more and this means that i can include more violence and thrills that they would enjoy which would lead to my thriller sequence being more successful.  

The pie chart on the right shows us the favourite thriller films of the 40 people questioned. 8% of the people chose The Conjuring as their favourite thriller film which is equivalent to 3 people, 29% of the people chose Saw as their favourite which equals to 12 people, 23% chose Scream which is equivalent to 9 people, 24% of the people chose Final Destination which equals to 10 people and lastly 16% chose Annabelle which is equivalent to 6 people. Looking at these results i am going to take on board that the two favourite thriller films for the people answering this questionnaire were; Saw and Final Destination. Both of these films contain a lot of tenseful scenes that build up a lot of suspense which entices the audience into watching the rest of the film. Both these successful scenes also contain many jumpy and gory scenes which according to the questionnaire people like to see in a thriller film. This means that the scary, gory and jumpy scenes will need to be going on throughout the film and not just for a certain part of it. This scenes going on throughout the film will engage the audience more and make them want to watch the whole film as they would be trying to work out what will happen next. Therefore, i will use the idea of the same type of scenes in my own thriller opening sequence to make my audience enjoy my sequence and enjoy it more. Through the results on this pie chart it helped me finalise that i will not make my thriller cliche or psychological like The Conjuring or Annabelle as the audience do not enjoy watching it as it is very cliche to the thriller genre. I found out that i need to constantly build up suspense and tension throughout my thriller to make the audience feel as they can't wait to find out what happens next as thats what Final Destination had done and that film was the second highest percentage of my audiences favourite thriller films. My narrative will contain a lot of blood as the film Saw did because my audience enjoy watching it in their thrillers and it will help towards making my sequence more successful. I will be using blood at the point of the victim death in my thriller.

The pie chart on the left show us the favourite weapon used in thriller films for the 40 people questioned. 45% of people chose a knife as their favourite weapon which is equivalent to 18 people, 12% chose a gun which equals to 5 people, 32% chose a saw which is equivalent to 13 people, 8% chose a axe which equals to 3 people and 3% of the people chose other weapons which is equivalent to 1 person. Looking at these results i am going to take on board that the two favourite weapons are; knife and saw. Both these weapons are similar as they are sharp and cause a gory death. This makes them conventional to the thriller genre as it would mean the death scene would be more bloody and gruesome. The successful thriller film, Scream, contains a knife as the main weapon for all the deaths committed which the audience all like and think is the best weapon to use. Therefore, this is why i will use one of these weapons in my own opening thriller sequence to engage the audience by making them feel scared and more thrilled by a death with one of these two weapons. I helped finalise this idea through my research as it helped me decide which weapon to use and told me which weapon the audience would prefer to see which would lead to them being engaged more. The fact that the knife was the highest rated weapon means that if i use that weapon in my thriller the audience will be more intrigued to wanting to watch my film and the knife will be seen in the antagonist hand when he is trying to kill the victim. 

The pie chart on the right shows us what the 40 people would expect to see in a thriller film. 57% of the 40 people questioned chose death as what they expect to see the most in a thriller film and that is equivalent to 23 people, 10% chose masked antagonist which equals to 4 people, 18% chose low key lighting which is equivalent to 7 people, 10% chose unknown location which equals to 5 people and 5% chose point of view shot which is equivalent to 2 people. This means that the main convention of a thriller film to my audience is death. This will therefore definitely be included to make the film better for the to watch and feel more of a thriller film and not another genre. All these conventions are used in many of the successful thriller films however most of them are all used in the majority of the film, Scream. These conventions made the film Scream more enjoyable and thrilling for the audience to watch therefore i will use these inspirations in my own opening thriller sequence to try make it as successful. Looking at these results i am going to take on board that death is the main expectations in a thriller genre however in my own opening thriller sequence i am going to use all the answers given by the people in the questionnaire because they are the main conventions of a thriller and they are all linked to ether so my audience will enjoy the experience of watching the sequence more as they would be more engaged. 

The pie chart on the left shows is whether or not the 40 people questioned expect to see a female or male victim. 92% of the 40 people which is equivalent to 37 people chose a female victim while 8% of the 40 people chose a male victim which is equivalent to 3 people. This means that the audience are expecting to see a female victim as they are more stereotypically likely to get in a situation were they will not be able to survive or keep themselves as safe as a male victim would. Looking at the results i am going to take on board nearly all of the people expect to see a female victim in a thriller film. Many thriller films such as; Scream, The Conjuring and Annabelle all have a female victim instead of a male victim because female victims are not as powerful and self-protective as male victims. Therefore, in my opening thriller sequence i am going to have a female victim as it engages the audience more making them feel more scared and sympathetic as female victims are made to look more weak and vulnerable which makes the audience feel more thrilled that something bad is going to happen to them. I will make sure by the end of  my opening sequence my victim will die so enigma will be created to the audience making them wonder why the killer wanted to kill her in the first place. It will be shown at the end of the sequence to keep the audience watching the whole of the sequence and not to just see the death and then turn off the TV.

The pie chart on the right shows were, the people being questioned, expect a thriller film to be set, 47% out of the 40 people which is equivalent to 19 people chose a house, 23% chose a forest which equals to 9 people, 20% chose basement which is equivalent to 8 people and 10% chose a graveyard which equals to 4 people. This shows that our audience are expecting to see a thriller film set in a house rather than somewhere like a graveyard as it is more realistic and believable which would also make the audience build a relationship with the characters. Looking at the results i see that a thriller set in a house is expected the most by far compared to the other settings. The setting was also used in the opening thriller sequence of the film Halloween which was very successful and engaged the audience from beginning to the end. Therefore, i decided to use a house as the setting of my own opening thriller sequence as it is expected by most people and this setting is the most realistic which would engage the audience more and build a stronger relationship with the characters as they would feel more scared for them when they see life threatening situations occurring in a normal environment that is known to them as being safe and comforting. I also decided to set my thriller in a house because it shows the victim as being an easy target as they will be isolated and alone, awash from anything that could help her get to safety and survive. This will make the audience more intrigued as the isolated house will foreshadow death of the victim to the audience which will engage them and get them on edge waiting for it to happen. You will see that the sequence is set in an isolated house at the beginning of it when it shows that settings and surroundings being isolated.

The pie chart on the left shows if the people being questioned prefer gory or jumpy scenes more. 55% of the 40 people questioned prefer jumpy scenes which is equivalent to 22 people and 45% chose gory scenes which equals to 18 people. This means that the audience prefer to feel the suspense, shock and tension throughout the film. The Looking at these results i see they are very close so when i make my own thriller sequence i will use both jumpy and gory scenes to engage the audience more and make their experience of watching the sequence more enjoyable and thrilling for them. This will engage my target audience more building up even more suspense. Jumpy scenes are definitely going to be used when the killer unexpectedly appears behind the victim. This would lead the audience to the unknown and scare them more making my thriller more successful and fun to watch.

The last pie chart on the right shows whether or not the 40 people questioned actually enjoy being thriller. 97% of the 40 people asked prefer to be thrilled and enjoy it which is equivalent to 39 people and 3% which equals to 1 person does not enjoy being thrilled. Looking at these results it shows us that nearly every single person that answered the questionnaire prefer to be thrilled. Therefore, in my own opening thriller sequence i am going to use conventions to thrill my audience more which will entice them more into watching the rest of the film more. 

Vox pops are interviews with people of the public by video recording (television) or radio. I filmed some vox pops of people who took the questionnaire. The reason i made them was to prove that my questionnaire is true and reliable. This type of gathering research gives me qualitative data which is descriptive data and means i have depths of peoples feelings and preferences. This would help me mrs as it would give me more of an understanding and insight on what the audience would like me to include in my sequence in order for it to be successful. Vox pops also evidence whether or not i asked people questions and allow them to expand their answer and give longer ones instead of limited, closed short answers on a paper.  

This research helped me when planning my opening sequence as the questionnaire that took place was useful and informed me of the preferences in thriller films by a majority of the public. This helped me as now i know what the public find good about thriller films so i can add more of it into my own opening of a thriller sequence. I will incorporate results of my vox pops and my questionnaire into my opening thriller sequence such as; knives being used for the cause of death, a house being a location of the scene and adding both jumpy and gory scenes as the public all said that is what they expect and would like to see in a thriller film to engage them more. I am going to set my target audience as 26+ as that is what the most frequent age of the people who answered my questionnaire was therefore, i will be able to use more; violence, blood and jump scenes to engage the audience more. If i carried out another research investigation, i would ask the public more open questions which would lead me to getting more detailed answers which would lead to better ideas when i am going to create my very own opening thriller sequence.