The document discusses how the filmmaker addressed their target audience when creating a thriller film opening. They conducted primary audience research through an online survey to understand preferences of age, gender, favorite genres and films. They also did secondary research analyzing popular thriller films. To attract the audience, they incorporated elements from successful thrillers into their opening, such as music, shot styles, and representations of the characters. Feedback from a first screening helped them further refine the opening to better engage their target thriller film audience.

1. “HOW DID YOU ATTRACT/ADDRESS
YOUR AUDIENCE?”
Question 5

2. HOW I DID IT
 Primary audience research
 Secondary audience research
 Soundtrack (via YouTube)
 Casting
 Shot choice
 Social Media

3. PRIMARY RESEARCH
 My primary audience research was done through
the use of an online survey on surveymonkey.com
 This allowed me to directly ask questions to real
people
 I asked them 10 questions (see next slide)
 I tried to ask a wide age range but most were
teenagers
 This is probably because most of my Twitter
followers (the main place where I posted a link to
the survey) are of that age range

4. PRIMARY RESEARCH
 My 10 questions were:
 1) What age range do you belong to?
 2) What is your gender?
 3) What are your favourite film genres?
 4) How often do you watch films?
 5) Where/how do you watch movies?
 6) What makes you want to watch a film?
 7) What age certificate films do you watch the most?
 8) What is your favourite thriller film of all time?
 9) Favourite actor of all time?
 10) Do you have a preference of gender for the lead actor in a
film?

5. SOUNDTRACK - YOUTUBE
 I composed a number of samples of potential
soundtrack on the GarageBand app on my iPad
 I uploaded these to YouTube and „tweeted‟ the
URLs to my Twitter followers
 Failed to get sufficient responses but those that did
respond seemed to like the same one the most

6. „SE7EN‟ OPENING SEQUENCE WAS A BIG INFLUENCE DUE TO THE CHANGE IN
PITCH OF SOUNDS THAT I USED IN MY OWN ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK FOR MY
THRILLER OPENING.

7. SECONDARY AUDIENCE RESEARCH
 I used the British Film Industry's 'Industry Statistical
Yearbook' to get an idea of statistics of British films
and how well they are sold to the global audience.
 As well as this, the yearbook provides information
about popularity of certain films and gives an insight
in to what features made them so popular.
 By analysing this, I was able to gain a greater
understanding of how popular other genres were as
well as Thriller films.

8. The picture below shows that at least 2 Thriller films were in the “Top 10 UK
qualifying films worldwide” in 2012. Those 2 films are 'The Dark Knight Rises'
(2nd) and 'The Woman in Black' (10th). On the 'Rotten Tomatoes' website, 'The
Woman in Black' was rated at 66%, with one review saying "Traditional to a
fault, The Woman in Black foregoes gore for chills -- although it may not provide
enough of them for viewers attuned to more modern, high-stakes horror."
However, 'The Dark Knight Rises' received an overall rating of 88%.

9. THE DARK KNIGHT RISES – INFLUENCED OUR CHOICE TO
DEVELOP/CHALLENGE CERTAIN CONVENTIONS OF THRILLER FILMS
(RELATING TO CLOTHING AND REPRESENTATION OF THE
CHARACTERS)

10. CASTING
 My primary audience research informed me that
whilst there is generally no preferred gender of a
leading character, there are more people that prefer
a male lead character as opposed to a female lead
character.

11. CASTING
 Under 20% of my potential viewers (the online
survey participants) prefer a female lead character.
 This, however, was quite an open-ended question
because it does not state a specific genre.

12. HANNIBAL – OUR INFLUENCE FOR THE
MURDERER‟S BUILD

13. JOHN DOE – OUR INFLUENCE FOR THE
MURDERER‟S CONFIDENCE AND INTELLIGENCE

14. SHOT CHOICE
 I used a large number of close-ups and panning
shots in my opening. This is conventional to Thriller
films, therefore I addressed my target audience by
sticking to the conventions.

15. „FRAILTY‟ IS A PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLER FILM THAT
USES REMOTE/QUIET LOCATIONS TO SHOW THE
ISOLATION OF A CHARACTER.

16. FIRST SCREENING FEEDBACK
 Our first screening contained no soundtrack due to
issues with copyright and difficulties in creating a
suitable alternative to That’s Life by Frank Sinatra –
song we were set on using.
 The audience were fairly critical of the lighting
problems. In response, we used effects on Final
Cut Express to dim/brighten certain clips.
 This helped us to target our audience better
because the feedback provided information as to
what our target audience may not like about our
Thriller Opening.