Research into Target Audience

Introduction:

A target audience is something that you aim it at, for example if you have a thriller film and violence your target audience will be over the age of 12, so the film rating will be a 12. Overall a target audience is a group of people that a product is aimed at and made for, when a media product is being planned you always have to consider the audience. Research is carried out as it's to see what the audience like to see in a thriller film with my results, I will take into consideration what the audience would prefer to see in a thriller opening sequence, by asking a variety of people you get a different range of results and different opinions of what people think would be best in a thriller film.

With this pie chart it's showing us where the audience would prefer to see a thriller film set. With the results we got it showed us 47% would prefer it in a house as it's an enclosed conventional setting to a thriller. 23% would prefer it to be in a forest as it's a mystery to the audience, as they are unaware of why the setting is in a derelict area. Then there's the Basement which was 20% and the graveyard which was 10% this two are conventional in a thriller as it's in an unknown setting which hardly anyone goes to unless your on your own. A graveyard is conventional as in thriller films it's normally a popular setting that is used as it's seen as spooky. Which is odd to my results as only 10% would want to see this as a setting for the thriller film. Whereas a house is the most popular; people may prefer to see this as in Ouija for example they were in a confided space with no escaping.


Within my research people have said that they would expect to see thee victim dying as it's the most popular in all thriller films, from this pie chart it showed me that the audience would always like to see someone die, as it creates tension and suspense throughout. Not many people said they would expect to see everyone die as it's not conventional and is too cliche. Lastly 22% of the audience would prefer to see the antagonist dying which is second from favourite, in thrillers both antagonist and victim die which is what I would take into consideration in my opening sequence.

Within this data it shows us that 97% of the audience prefer to be scared/thrilled. In thriller films it's conventional to a have a thriller opening / film that will scare you which is why we have these results. However 3% of the audience don't enjoy being thrilled; these are the ones that might not enjoy thrillers and being scared as much as other people. Within my thriller opening sequence I will take into consideration that It can't be too thrilling for the audience as not everyone enjoys being scared.




Jump scenes and gory scenes are both conventional in a thriller genre; however within my research 55% of the audience prefer jumpy scenes and 45% of the audience prefer gory scenes; Therefore within my opening sequence I will take into consideration that the audience would like to see jumpy scenes. Moreover the results I have been given because thrillers are based on jumpy scenes and creating enigmas etc, however gory scenes are more for thrillers. So within my sequence I will ensure there is more jumpy scenes than gory scenes, but add mild parts of gory scenes in my opening sequence.

The most popular film was Saw as it contains gore which will make the audience feel more engaged as you don't know what is going to happen next in the sequence. The second most popular thriller film was Final Destination and this tells me that the audience like being kept in suspense as Final Destination constantly builds up suspense This will help me with my Opening sequence as I will be using elements from these films as they were voted for most popular,  this will make the audience feel more engaged in my sequence, however The conjuring and Annabelle was voted the lowest for a favourite thriller film, therefore I wouldn't be adding that many elements like I am for Final Destination and Saw. 

From this pie chart it shows me that the ages that are most popular to watch thriller films is 26+ this was 43%, which shows the audience that these ages prefer thrillers. Thriller films are for the ages preferably above the age of 15, however with this research it has shown me that not that many younger ages like to see thrillers as much as older people do, this could be because of how long thrillers have been going on, older people have seen generations of thrillers and are used to the effect it leaves on the audience. 

Most people would prefer to see a knife being used in a thriller film as it's one of the most conventional thriller weapons, 45% of the audience said they would prefer to see a knife being used in a thriller sequence, in films such as scream a knife was one of the key iconography that was used, within my previous research such as the favourite thriller film, scream was one of the most popular. From this I would use the elements from scream such as the knife as it't the most popular from the audience point of view. A saw was voted second favourite with a percentage of 32% then a gun which was 12% an Axe 8%. Only 3% had said other, the research has shown me that a Knife and a Saw is the most popular in a 

thriller. 

In a thriller opening sequence the audience would prefer to see a death happening as it's what makes a thriller conventional, the death normally happens to a victim swell; 57% of the audience have said this. Low key lighting is one of the most popular options in this pie chart as it's also a conventional element in a thriller this was 18%. A masked antagonist was the third most popular which was 10%. An unknown location was also 10%, lastly a point of view was 5%. Within my thriller opening sequence I will ensure that I will include a death happening and Low key lighting. 

Within this research It has shown me that a female victim is the most popular to be shown in a thriller opening sequence,as female victims are more vulnerable which makes the audience feel sympathetic towards the victim more as females are always portrayed as the weaker gender. 92% of the audience have agreed that they would prefer to see a female victim rather than a male victim, only 8% said they would prefer to see a male victim. 

These results show that 65% of the audience are a male,which shows us that males are the ones who enjoy thrillers one than females do. For my opening sequence I would be able to contain more gory scenes and violent scenes as males prefer to see a horrific films rather than females. 

I created these vox pops because when your asking someone a question you get the answer what first comes to their head which is more effective as they don't have time to copy what others say and just say it from their own knowledge. Vox pops are effective as they give a straight accurate answer as to what they would excpect to see in a thriller film. 

Overall this research has helped me have a clearer outlook on what the audience would prefer to see in a thriller opening sequence. It will help me consider what I will need to include to suit my target audiences expectations in what they would prefer to see in a thriller opening sequence.  With the pie charts it's made it clearer to my group and myself what we would need to include to make a successful thriller opening. The vox pops have also made it clearer to me what I would need to include in my thriller sequence as your asking the audience face to face and you get an honest open answer which will be shown to audiences that also enjoy thriller films.