Who would be your audience for your media product?

To identify my audience for my thriller opening I looked on the BBFC (British board of film classification) website. I checked on the website  to see what was suitable for my thriller opening, and to see if I have to remove anything from my media piece. I also looked at other thrillers to see who their target audience is. This helped as it gave me an idea of what I could classify my films as. We also sent out on questionnaire to help with our audience research, and interviewed 4 other pupils about our thriller. They would watch the film and then I would ask them questions:

Questionnaire for expectations of thriller genre:

1) Which gender are you?

Male?

Female?

2) What age group are you?

15-18?

19-30?

31+?

3) What type of sub genre of the thriller genre do you prefer?

Drama?

Sci-fi?

Crime?

Action?

Comedy?

Mystery?

4) Which is your favourite film out of the following..?

Psycho?

Donnie Darko?

The Happening?

Paranormal activity?

Saw?

Other _____________

5) What type of music do you think should be played in a thriller film?

Eerie?

Mysterious?

Up-beat?

Calm?

Classical?

6)Which location would best suit a thriller?

Woods?

Abandoned house?

Every day setting?

Shopping centre?

Other? ________

7) What factors do you think build up the atmosphere of a thriller film?

Special effects?

Sound effects?

Acting?

Realistic based plot?

Mise-en-scene?

Props?

8) Who would you watch a thriller film with?

Girlfriend/Boyfriend?

Family?

Friends?

Alone?

9) Who you expect to be the victim within a thriller?

Female?

Old person?

Hero/Heroine

Teenager?

Parent/Career?

Child?

10) How often on a regular basis would you watch a thriller?

Once a day?

Once a week?

Once every two weeks?

Once every month?

Once a year?

Never?

11) Have you had further post sixteen education?

Yes?

No?

12) How would you find out about media?

Magazine?

Telly?

Broadsheet?

Redtop?

Internet?

13) Do you enjoy reading books?

Yes?

No?

14) Do you have any hobbies? If so please specify

Yes? ________________

No?

15) If you had money going spare, would you consider buying a thriller film?

Yes?

No?

16) How would you find out about a new thriller film?

Radio?

Internet?

TV?

Cinema?

Newspaper?

from the research we gathered, we got valuable information that would help us in identifying our target audience. the research also influenced our thriller from the location we shot it to the characters we used and the music involved. we would have liked to have made the male the victim instead, but from our research we found that it would be more typical to use the female as the victim.

We decided to classify our film as suitable for 15 years or over, as it seemed to be the most appropriate for the opening. what clarifies this age certificate:

•             Drug taking is allowed to be shown although it cannot in anyway promote drug.

•             Strong threat and menace are permitted unless sadistic.

•             Dangerous behaviour shown should not dwell on detail. 

•             Nudity is allowed.

•             Violence can be quite strong.

•             Any theme in permitted although it must be suitable for a 15 year old. 

although our thriller opening didn't involve most of the above, we still thought it would be suitable for the film. we also chose this age classification as most of the people who gave us feedback where between the age of 15-18, this is most likely the age group which enjoys thrillers the most, but as it is 15+ our thriller would be viewed by a large audience.

The BBFC rating effected our target audience dramatically as we had to abide guidelines so that it would be suitable to be shown in the united kingdom. we also had to consider what we would have included in the rest of the film, such as violence and nudity.

The key demographic for my thriller are any male of female age 15+ from any ethical background, that enjoy the thriller genre.