Reseach into Target Audience - Miss Miller

Research into Target Audience

Introduction

Research was carried out in order to discover what it is that people like in thriller films and help us decide what audience we are going to aim our thriller film opening sequence at. We decide that we needed to ask 40 people becasue it would make the results more reliable and we would get answers for a thriller film opening sequence that me and my group may not have thought of and it would allow us to decide what content an audience enjoys within a thriller film, still within a suitable age restriction for the opening sequence.

Questionnaire:

   Below is the questionnaire that me and my group chose, we chose these questions becasue they relate to thriller films which is the topic that we wanted to get answers about. The questions were chosen because we wanted to make sure that we got the right answers and information in order to decide what the audience of our opening sequence would enjoy but would also be okay for our target audience within reason. The questions that were asked were open and close questions, open questions were those where there could be an explanation of why and include a variety of different answers, and closed questions are the questions that 

   We chose questions such as gender, so that we can decipher who likes what and try to involve there ideas in the opening sequence so that everyone can watch it, as well as asking a question about age as this helps to decide what age group we really want to aim the opening sequence at and help us to decide on a good story line within reason. Other questions included what type of thriller films are enjoyed the best such as scary, jumpy, etc... and other questions that relate to thriller films such as victims being murdered and if they enjoy jumpy scenes. 

Vox Pops: Question evidence

  

   Vox Pops are video or voice questionnaires that are asked to the public so that they can be viewed again and provide evidence that the right questions were asked and that they relate to the subject/topic. In this instance I asked a number of people using vox pops videos in order to ask questions about thriller films that relate to the research into my target audience for the thriller opening sequence that I am planning.

Questionnaire Results

Below are the results of my questionnaire that i asked 40 people, I have presented the results in pie charts to show easily the results and the number of people that said what within the questionnaire. 

Question 1 was a question about gender. This question was a closed question as there is only two options available as an answer. I decided that it would be a good idea to ask a question about what gender of the person is that I asked because then I could see what gender may prefer what specifically in a thriller film. Maybe a male might prefer the antagonist to be hidden but females may not. Gender was a good question to ask to determine what people like what in thriller films and will help me to be able to relate within my opening sequence to the audience that I am targeting for. The results were that 60% (24 asked) of people that I asked where female and 40% (16 asked) of people that I asked were Male meaning that they may be biased results as I asked more females that males.

Question 2 is a question about age. This was an important question because the idea of the research into the target audience was also deciding what age certificate the opening sequence and thriller film would be aimed at. We found that 50% of the people that we asked were aged 16-18 which is the typical age that you would expect people to be watching thriller films and probably the target age for our opening sequence probably ageing it under BBFC requirements as '15'. We found that the age of which we asked the second most frequently was 13-15 years old. We asked 40 people how old they were in order to get the best result in order to decipher upon the target audience for our opening sequence. 

Question 3 was a question to determine what type of thrillers people enjoy within the thriller category and which ones people prefer. This question highlights what type of thrillers people enjoy within the thriller genre for example the options were Scary (20%), Psychological (65%), Criminal (10%) and Sci-Fi (5%). This question was a closed question for the audience to answer which meant that they had to choose one of the categories above. This may not have been very reliable because there is the fact that there was only the option of those 4. The question is related to thriller films and conventional to thriller films because there is the different genre of films such as scary or psychological thrillers and from our results it seems that people prefer psychological thriller films.

Question 4 was another closed question that was used to determine if the audiences prefer the antagonist in a film to be hidden. The antagonist is the main murderer/killer/enemy in a thriller film and when the identity of the main antagonist is hidden it creates suspense and mystery for the audience which is typical and conventional of thriller films. We have found from out results that 87.5% (35) of people said that they prefer it when the antagonist is hidden or has a hidden identity that the audience don't know about. Whereas we found that there were 12.5% (5) of people don't like it when the identity is hidden and that they like it when they know who the antagonist is and what his motives are however that isn't typical of thriller films.

Question 5 was a question that asked the audience of thriller films how they prefer a victim to be murdered. This may be an odd question however it is a useful question because weapons are conventional to thriller films. This was a open question becasue there is a number of different ways that an antagonist in a thriller film can be/murder. We choose 4 options that related to some answers that we were given to us. The options that I rounded up too include Weapon (62.5%), Fall or Falling (15%), Accident(s) (7.5%) or Suicide (15%). The most common category was Weapons, this obviously could be a number of things like Knives etc... and this was a good amount of people that chose weapons which is a good thing as weapons are conventional to thriller films.

Question 6 was a question about the setting of a thriller film. There are a number an variety of settings of thriller films. This question again we decided was good to be a open question, we decided again that this was more of a broad question and so we decided that it should be left open becasue there is a variety of options on the setting of a thriller. Some of the settings that I decided to include for the results graph based on other peoples answers, including; Abandoned (52.5%), Alleys or Roads (25%), Hidden Place e.g. Forest (15%), Mental Institutions (2.5%) and other (5%). The most common answer for this question was linked to the category of an abandoned area which could be a variety of things such as and abandoned building, hospital, house or an empty area. This is conventional of thriller films anyway as there is normally an abandoned setting ion a thriller film because it tends to create suspense and tension for the audience.

Question 7 was a question for us to find out what the audience's don't like or don't enjoy about thriller films. This was an open question for the people we asked because there again was a variety of options of what people may not like about thriller films. We sorted categories within this for the results included the categories Jumpy (27.5%), Scary (10%), Overdramatic (10%), Boring (2.5%), Other (50%). The most common answer was other as there was a whole lot and varieties of answers for the question. This question was good and helped us because we now know what people dislike about thriller films, and it helps us to decide what we should and shouldn't put in to our opening sequence and helps us decide on our target audience.

Question 8 was another closed question as there was only two options to choose from anyway. This was an important question as it was to ask the audience weather they prefer a Female or Male victim with thriller films. The results included 90% choosing Female and 10% choosing Male. This was the result that I expected as a female victim is the most conventional victim within a thriller film. It is unconventional for in a thriller film for there to be a Male victim. With there being a Female victim it creates suspense and tension for the audience and draws them into the film.

Question 9 was also another closed question that was about weather the audience enjoys jumpy scenes within thriller films. This is a closed question because there is only two options for the audience to answer or to choose. The options were Yes (92.5%) and No (7.5%). We found that from the people that we asked that most people enjoy jumpy scenes and that it wouldn't be a thriller film and there wouldn't be tension, suspense or surprise unless there was jumpy scenes.

 Question 10 was a another closed question and it was closed again because there was only two options to choose from for the audience to answer with. It was a question about plot twists and if the audience enjoy them. The results include Yes (62.5%) and No (37.5%) we have found that people do enjoy most plot twists as it makes the thriller film conventional.

 Conclusion:

  

   In conclusion creating the questionnaire and asking 40 people about thriller films has allowed us to decide on a target audience and what our audience may like to see from a thriller film. What they find conventional and what will make the audience be hooked and want to continue watching the thriller film.