Thriller Questionnaire Analysis - Audience research

Thriller Questionnaire Analysis

We asked people aged 16 - 24 to fill out our thriller questionnaire to gain audience research on what our target audience likes/dislikes about thriller films and what we should include in our opening sequence for a thriller film. We gained 21 responses from our target audience.

Question 1: What type of thriller do you enjoy the most?

The first question we asked is about the audiences favourite sub genre of thriller so we could target our audience more. The options included; Action, Crime, Psychological, Suspenseful and Horror thriller. There was also an option where the respondent could write their own choice of sub genre. The top answers were suspenseful thriller and action thriller. Therefore, we will make our thriller film have a subgenre of suspense and action.

Question 2: Where would you like a thriller film to be set?

We asked our target audience, what setting they would like the most when watching a thriller film. The choices were; City, Urban area, Forest, Town, Room/Building and other. Majority of the respondents, said they would like the film to be set in a forest. Therefore, we have decided to set our opening sequence in a forest which will create a mysterious and creepy atmosphere to convey the genre of thriller.

Question 3: Which is your favourite thriller film?

The third question we asked was about the audiences favourite thriller film. We asked this so that we could take inspiration from our target audiences favourite thriller to make it appeal to them more. The choices included; Taken, Get out, Seven, Halloween and other. The top answers included Taken, Get out and Halloween. Two other people said their favourite thriller film is Happy Death Day and The Conjuring. From these results, we will include some of the aspects used in these films. For example, we will make the storyline similar to Taken and include scenes of death, which will be inspired from majority of the films listed such as Happy Death Day.

Question 4: Would you like there to be a lot of action at the beginning of the thriller or would you prefer it to be calm?

The response we got was 50/50. Half of our respondents said they would like there to be a lot of action in the opening sequence whilst the other half said they would like it to be calm and normal. From these results, we will include a mixture of calm and action in the opening sequence. 

Question 5: What gender would you want the protagonist to be?

We asked our target audience what protagonist's gender should be in the thriller film. 14/21 of our respondents said female whilst the rest said male. Therefore, we will make our main protagonist be of a female gender as it will please majority of our audience. However, we will also have a male protagonist who will be the father of the female protagonist (but he will not be in the opening sequence). This allows our thriller film to relate to both a female and male audience.                                                 

Question 6: What theme would you like to be included in the thriller film?

The themes that the respondents could pick from were; Romance, Death, Mystery, Kidnapping, Revenge and Other. The top answers were kidnapping, mystery and death. From these results, we will make the opening sequence include the theme of kidnapping, mystery and death. This benefits us as our idea already includes these themes. Therefore, by gathering these responses we are more confident that our idea will satisfy our target audience.

Question 7: What type of music would you like there to be in the opening of the film?

The options for the type of music to be included in our opening sequence from which the respondents could pick from included; Upbeat, Scary, Calm and Suspenseful. The top answers were scary and suspenseful. So we will include scary/suspenseful music in our opening sequence of our thriller film as the audience will feel on edge and perhaps more engaged.

Question 8: What type of lighting do you prefer in a thriller film?

We asked our audience what type of lighting they like in thriller films. Based on this we will use the type of lighting that our target audience likes the most. The options included; High key lighting, Low key lighting, Natural lighting and lighting that uses colours such as red and blue. Most of our respondents said they like low key lighting (54%) and natural lighting (31%). From these results, our opening sequence for our thriller film will include low key lighting as well as natural lighting.

Question 9: What type of camera shots do you like to see in a thriller film?

Asking our audience about camera shots they like the most will help us when creating our opening sequence as we will use camera shots that the audience likes the most. The options were; Close ups, Establishing shots, Mid shots, Over the shoulder shots and other. The top answers were mid shots and over the shoulder shots. Therefore we will try to use these shots more than the others when creating our opening sequence for the thriller film.

Q10: What elements could be included in a thriller film that relates to a young audience?

We asked our target audience of 16-24 year olds about how we could make the film relate more to them. The options included; Social media, School/University, Hobbies and Other (where the respondent could suggest another option). We got around the same number on each option. From this, we will try to include some of these elements in our film.