The document discusses audience research conducted to inform the development of a thriller film opening targeted at 16-25 year olds. A survey of 20 people in this age group found that crime and disaster were the most popular thriller subgenres. It was determined that an opening focusing on crime would be most realistic. The survey also found that the film "Taken" was the favorite, so shots and ideas were drawn from this. The conclusion is that the opening was aimed at 16-25 year olds by featuring relatable elements like social media and a storyline about teenagers being followed in London.

1. Question 4: Who would be the audience for your
media product?
Previous to actually shooting our film opening, as part of our pre-production, we did some research
into our target audience and the different genres they preferred. From the outset we have wanted
to aim our film to the younger generation, with a specific of audience of 16-25 year olds. We did this
because our film was of the thriller genre, which is most popular with that age group. We feel that
when we did our audience research, this was confirmed, and we felt sure that our thriller film
needed to be aimed at that age group.
We asked 20 16-25 year olds to fill out a questionnaire, regarding different sub genres of thriller
films, and the specific aspects of a thriller film, so we had some guidance when planning and
storyboarding our rough cut. We then made these results into graphs, to make it easier for both us
and you to see what the outcome of our audience research was.
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Numberofpeople(outof20)
Sub-genre
What sub-genre of Thriller is your
favourite?
Series1
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
SAW
Bourne Ultimatum
Shutter Island
Physco
Da Vinci Code
Matrix
Taken
Number of people (out of 20)
Film
What is your favouriteThriller film?
Using our audience research, we
can see that the two most popular
sub-genres of thrillers are Crime
and Disaster. When looking at this
result we concluded it was
unrealistic with our budgeting and
resources to make a convincing,
believable two minute opening of
a disaster movie, so we therefore
decided to focus on making the
opening to a crime film, but with
aspects of mystery to support our
initial ideas of narrative.
We asked our target age group
what their favourite thriller film
was to be able to get inspiration,
and ideas of successful and
popular narratives and shots. It
is clear by this chart that ‘Taken’
was the group’s favourite thriller
film, so we then watched the
opening to this film along with
specific parts, to see how we
could recreate similar shots. It is
from watching this film that we
got the idea of abduction and
the protagonist being followed
by the antagonist.

2. In conclusion, from looking at these 3 main questions, we focused on creating a crime/mystery
thriller targeted at the age group of 16-25 year olds, both sexes. This is one of the main reasons why
both the protagonist and the antagonist are teenagers, as we thought this would attract and satisfy
our main target audience, as they would be able to relate, and feel part of the film.
When watching our opening now, we think it is clear that this is the age group that we have targeted
our film at, as it is set in London, which is a place popular with the youth. It also includes shots of a
‘Facebook’ page and a mobile phone, which are aspects of social media that the age group of 16-25
year olds would be most familiar with. It is also relatable to the youth, as the issue of teenagers
getting followed is something we see every day in real life. Therefore, we feel that we are not only
making a film for the entertainment of teenagers and young adults, but that we are sending out a
message to this age group about security and awareness in somewhere as busy as London.
What do you like your thrillers to
include?
murder
abduction
tragedy
horror
crime
mystery
revenge
We asked our target audience
what they liked to see in their
thriller films to see if we could
combine some to make an
original narrative, with unique
shots that challenged the
conventions of a thriller. We
focused on abduction, which
we already had in mind, as
well as murder and crime as
ideas. However, it is only an
opening so we could feature
these ideas heavily.