Target Audience- (Questionnaire Analysis)

Below is my Target Audience Analysis using screenshots of answers on SurveyMonkey.com from the questionnaire we created:

QUESTION 1 :

“How old are you?” 

We had 9 people that were aged 10-20, 3 that were 21-30 and 1 that was aged 61+. The majority of the response came from the age range that we were hoping to hit so we knew straight away that the questions were going to help us establish certain aspects of our Thriller opening. I think it was good that we also got information from other age ranges as this helps us to understand what aspects they would like to see in a Thriller. This is important as although we have a target audience, our piece may attract other types of audience. It will interesting to see how this has an effect on the audience in relation to our representation of age in the film.

QUESTION 2 :

“Are you male or female?”

There were 7 males and 6 females. This was to be expected as there will be a male antagonist and a female protagonist. Both genders will be represented in our piece. This means everyone in the audience will have gender to relate to in our product.

QUESTION 3 :

“What is your favourite Thriller genre ?”

The most popular genres were horror and action with 3 votes. Then with 2 votes were psychological and crime with drama and political taking one vote each. Sci-fi wasn’t chosen at all and another person selected the other box. I believe that the most famous Thriller films eg. Silence of the Lambs, Psycho, Se7en, Jaws etc. are influential in this question as these films have stood out as the best in their genre. All of the films just mentioned are horror, action, crime or psychological Thrillers. This suggests that there haven’t been many popular Thrillers in the other genres. This question is limited due to the number of responses but these answers are still valid. I think that our Opening Thriller will be successful and well-liked by the audience on the basis of this question.

QUESTION 4 :

“What themes or aspects would you tend to see in a Thriller film?

(What camera angles, props, lighting, sound? etc.)”

This question was very open and was vulnerable to vague as well as detailed answers. However, the following list of aspects is what has been voiced in the answers:

·         Close up shots

·         Chase scenes (Fast moving footage)

·         Establishing shots

·         Themes of murder, crime, violence etc.

·         Guns, blood, knives, drugs

·         Darkness

·         Jump cuts

·         Build up music/intense music

·         Diegetic sound eg. Screams, dialogue

We asked these questions as we wanted to see if our target audience could identify key elements of Thriller films. This is followed up in the next question by relating them to the effect and impact of building suspense.

QUESTION 5 :

“What is the most effective way of building suspense in a film in your opinion?”

This question had a varied response. 4 people chose music as the most effective way to build suspense, 3 chose pacing and sound each, with 1 choosing camera angles. This again was an expected response. 2 people chose the other selection describing how they thought that lighting helps to do this to a great extent with the partner of music and the very bad situations the protagonists find themselves in. This question emphasised the necessity for a good music/soundtrack with pacing as the next best suspense builder. We hope to use these to build suspense in our Thriller and accomplish the same feelings and emotions.

QUESTION 6 :

“What was the last Thriller that you watched? Did you enjoy it?”

These were the following Thriller films mentioned:

·         Unbreakable

·         Pulp Fiction

·         Titanic

·         Now You See Me

·         The Haunting of Connecticut

·         Hanna

·         Silence of the Lambs

·         Snatch

·         Panic Room

·         The Women in Black

·         Lincoln

·         The Walking Dead (TV series)

 

This was a question that surprised us. We saw responses had mentioned films that we expected but we also were given films we didn’t think we would see. These would be films such as Titanic, Now You See Me, The Haunting of Connecticut, Hanna and the Walking Dead. We didn’t expect these because they are not regarded as pure Thriller films. They may have had some aspects of a Thriller film but are otherwise heavily influenced by their sub-genres. However, these films have been investigated and we can see why they have been chosen. All answers yes to “did you enjoy it”. This question helps us to identify and address our target audience as we can see what type of Thrillers they are watching and are enjoying. 

  

 In evaluation of the survey, I think that some of the questions were not structured well or did not ask specifically what we were looking for. This is purely down to us. The effect of this is that we received some vague and unhelpful answers. However, on the whole I believe the questionnaire has assisted us in selecting/identifying a target audience and I look forward to the production and evaluation stages.