The document summarizes research on two existing thriller products - the video game The Taxidermist and the film The Silence of the Lambs. Both contain dark lighting, dull color palettes, and simplistic editing with a focus on makeup effects. They have suspenseful plots with twists. Questionnaires were also analyzed to understand what the target audience likes in thriller trailers, such as suspenseful music, some gore, unexpected endings, detailed costumes, and favorite thriller films. This research will help make a trailer that appeals to the audience by including these common thriller elements.

1. Research
Ellie Jones

2. Existing Product
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPPX_bmEVFE
Images
The plot of the game: The Taxidermist follows Madison as
she travels to visit Leland White, a taxidermist, to interview
in connection with the Origami Killer. Finding his house
empty, Madison breaks into the house and discovers an
upstairs area containing several female corpses, stuffed
and posed in various positions, including a freshly killed
cadaver in a bathroom in connection to Leland White's
Agalmatophilia fetish. After collecting information,
Madison hears Leland's car return. From here the player's
actions can lead to various endings – Madison can kill or be
caught and killed by Leland, she can manage to escape
from the house, or she can manage to call the police and
hide until they arrive. Whatever the ending, he is revealed
to not be the Origami Killer

3. Existing Product
Type of image: The game takes place in Leland White house who is a taxidermist, for my product I will try and recreate how his
house looks possibly including some fake stuffed animals so that the audience can see what his job is without it being said. The
camera is always focused on Maddison, it will follow her wherever she goes and with keep her in the frames, however when
something is found the camera will focus on that item or person, when it comes to making my trailer I will try and recreate the
angels that the camera does in the game. In this product there is very little effects, it’s just simple colour corrections, cutting clips
and text, however it does contain a lot of make up work that I will have to do in my product , for example; blood, bruises, eyebags,
cuts, scares etc.
Use of lighting: The overall lighting in the game is very dark and contains a lot of dark shades such as browns blacks etc, I want to
try and keep this colour scheme is my trailer as most thriller movies contain dark lighting and very dull colour schemes. The
costume in the game are also dull and nothing they wear really stand out, the characters always wear plain clothing with nothing
on them, I will be dressing my characters in more modern clothing as the ones they wear in the game are a little out of date and
my trail is set in the present, however I will try and keep the cloths as simplistic as possible. The props in the game contain
household objects such as a knife, .photographs, clothes and in the killers case stuffed animals however Madison will have a
phone on her at all times so she can record herself talking while she's investigates the house. The demo of the game is set in the
house and only the house however for my trailer I would like to contain three locations that include the killers house, streets that
lead to the killers house and an office where Madison works at. As I’m making a trailer I will need to include text for the actors
name, the title of the movie, the director etc; I want a very simple font style for this but I do want my title to have some kind of
unique font .that stands out and is unforgettable for the audience.
Audience appeal: I think my product will appeal to my audience as it will contain everything they are looking for in a thriller
trailer, the suspenseful music, dark lighting and dark use of colours, a gory storyline with a twist, blood and violence etc: I’m
hoping to appeal to people who enjoy the game as well, that’s why I’m trying to stick as close as possible to the storyline of the
game and the over look and feel of the game as well. I aim is for my trailer to be so good that people will want to watch a full
movie of it.

4. Existing Product
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5dA92wqmME
Image
The plot of the movie: Clarice Starling, an
FBI agent, seeks help from Hannibal Lecter, a
psychopathic serial killer and former
psychiatrist, in order to apprehend another
serial killer who has been claiming female
victims.

5. Existing Product
Type of image: Silence of the lambs contains many different locations, however most of the film is set in the
cannibals prison cell and the murders house. The camera angels in the movie are very simplistic, it’ mainly just
close up’s, mailshots and the odd close up’s. The film came out in 1991 so their isn’t any complicated special
effects, it’s just cut’s from scene to scene or between certain frames and it’s also mainly colour correcting as
well.
Use of lighting: The film contains a lot of dark lighting as the scenes happen at night. The characters in the film wear what the
audience would expect them to wear for example; the cannibal wears and all white suit as a type psycho would wear, the killer is
wearing old ripped cloths , and the detective is dressed subtle but smartly to show she is serious about her job. As the film is a
crime thriller a lot of the props are used as evidence so the detectives can find the killer, however the killers props in his house are
unusual and probably something the audience wouldn’t of expected such as wigs, make up, jewellery and most importantly a
well. The colours are very dull like you would expect in a crime/ thriller film, however in some locations of the film the colour
scheme does change, for example in the cannibals cell it’s very dark and the colours are very dull but when the cannibal is moved
to the museum the colours are very bight and vibrant with reds and golds.
Audience appeal: The film over all is unsettling and is full of twists and turn as a thriller film is supposed to be, the reason I think
audiences love it so much is that everything fit’s perfectly together, the lighting contrasted with the setting of the scene from the
meaning’s of certain props and costume designs in the film that gives the characters personalities and the storyline a twist. When
I make my trailer I want to try and replica the lighting this movie has and the simplistic editing effects it has also, I don’t want any
crazy transitions or difficult effects, I want the editing side of thing to be simple so the movie feels more realistic just like the
silence of the lambs does.

6. Research Analysis
• What common features do the researched
products have?
Both products have dark and dull lighting and also have a very dull colour
pallet, they both have simplistic editing effects but very detailed make up
effects, they have dark storylines and plot twists in them that some people
wouldn’t of been able to predict and they also us very similar characters.
• What aspects of the research will you include
within your on work?
I want to include all of these features if I can into my trailer as this is what the
audience seem to love the most, if I’m able to contain these elements into my
production I should hopefully have a successful trailer.

7. Questionnaire Analysis

8. Audience research for music

9. Audience research for music
What this says about my audience: This tells me that my audience likes to be
on the edge of their seats as suspenseful music is quite loud, it makes the
audience’s heartbeat raise even making them a little bit scared or panicked.
How will your product appeal to this audience: I will make sure to create a
piece of music that is suspenseful enough for my audience that will make
them feel this feeling as it is what they want. I want it to feel similar to other
thriller trailer soundtracks so that the audience can get that feel of a thriller
and can tell that it’s a thriller trailer just by listening to the music of the trailer.

10. Audience research for gore

11. Audience research for gore
What this says about my audience: The graph shows that my audience
would prefer a little gore to be shown in the trailer but not a lot, this shows
that my audience can handle simple wounds such as small cuts, slight blood
to be shown and small things such as bruises and grazes.
How will your product appeal to this audience: To appeal to my audience I
will have to be very careful about what I show on scene, trailers normally
don’t show anything too gory however occasionally they do, but as my
audience said they didn’t want much gore I will keep it very limited. My
trailer only has one scene in that does contain gore in it however their isn’t
many shot’s in that scene.

12. Audience research for the plot

13. Audience research for the plot
What this says about my audience: It tells me that my audience want’s an
unexpecting ending in a thrill film, something that shocks them, something
they wouldn’t be able to predict to happen.
How will your product appeal to this audience: For my trailer I don’t want to
spoil to much as that’s what trailers do so they don’t ruin the actual film,
however I will show clips before the plot is revealed to tease the audience.
This will frustrate the audience making them question what is going to
happen next.

14. Audience research for costume

15. Audience research for costume
What this says about my audience: I was surprised by the amount of people
that responded with a detailed costume, I expected people to not be
bothered about how the characters are dressed. This tells me that my
audience does care about how the characters are dressed.
How will your product appeal to this audience: Because my audience care so
much about how my characters are dressed I will make sure that every detail
in their costumes is précised and match the characters traits and
personalities.

16. Audience research for Thriller films

17. Audience research for thriller films
What this says about my audience: This question wasn’t really that important
however it gave me and understanding of what peoples favourite films are
and made me think about what makes those thriller films special to them.
How will your product appeal to this audience: By understanding what my
audiences favourite films are I get an understanding of what they like about
that film and how I can put those elements in my own production so that they
also enjoy my work.

18. Audience research for trailer scenes

19. Audience research for trailer scenes
What this says about my audience: I have gathered that my audience want’s
to see a thriller trailer that tells a clear story so that they know what the film
is about and they can see what the storyline is or at least get an idea of what
the storyline is.
How will your product appeal to this audience: I will make sure my thriller
trailer shows a clear story of what the movie is about, however I will do it in a
way where it doesn’t spoil to much and still makes people want to watch it
without anything being ruined to much.

20. Audience research for poster

21. Audience research for poster
What this says about my audience: There was a tie between two of the three
options, the main character and an object that describes the storyline, this
tells me that my audience want to know who the main character is and what
they look like, it also tells me they want to know more about the film before
they watch it.
How will your product appeal to this audience: For my poster I was think
about having the main character opening a door to these female mannequins,
that way the audience gets what they want, the main character and object
that tells the story or gives a clue to what the story is.

22. Audience research for hating a thriller
trailer

23. Audience research for hating a thriller
trailer
What this says about my audience: My audience tells me that they hate
when a trailer tells too much about the movie as it spoils it for them, they feel
like they give away to much about the movie so they feel the need to not
watch it as they already have enough detail about the film.
How will your product appeal to this audience: For these reason I will try and
tell a story with my trailer but I will also keep the scenes short and try and not
show to much as I don’t want to spoil it. I feel like it will be easy to do as my
audience also loves cliff-hangers and it is a major key part in thriller trailers,
to achieve these I will have to show less clips meaning will be able to do what
my audience wants.

24. Audience research for poster vs trailer

25. Audience research for poster vs trailer
What this says about my audience: All of my audience has told me that the trailer is
more important to them then the movie poster. This could be because they get more
of an understanding of what the movie is like and get to see clips of it for themselves,
as a poster doesn’t show much of what happens in the movie however it does
represent certain elements in a film.
How will your product appeal to this audience: With this information I know to put
more detail into my trailer then my poster as that’s what my audience finds more
appealing and it’s also what stands out to them the most and makes them want to
watch the film. However I have to keep in mind that I can’t show to much in the trailer
as that what my audience hates the most in a thriller trailer and probably in trailers
overall.

26. Audience research for liked elements
in a trailer

27. Audience research for liked elements
in a trailer
What this says about my audience: I asked my audience what elements they like the
most about a thriller trailer, the two most common answers were the soundtrack and
the cliff-hangers, this is great as these are the two key elements of a thrill
movie/trailer.
How will your product appeal to this audience: My thriller trailer will contain both of
these two key elements as it’s what my audience want’s and it’s also what a successful
thriller trailer contains. I will do this by creating my own soundtrack for my trailer that
is suspenseful and fit’s with my trailer as well. As for the cliff-hanger I will show clips
that lead up to my main plot that will give the audience a cliff-hanger leaving them
questioning what will happen next, this will lead to them wanting to watch the film
themselves.

28. Interviews

29. Interview 1
My first interviewee is a 40 year old white woman who is middle class, I asked
her what she loved the most about a thriller trailer and why, she responded
with…
“My favourite thing about a thriller trailer is the suspense in them, I like the
build up of suspense to lead to some kind of cliff hanger in a trailer. I like this
because it makes me want to watch the film as I want to know what happens
next, I want to know what the cliff-hanger is.”
This tells me that even middle aged women enjoy the same stuff teenagers
enjoy in a thriller trailer.

30. Interview 2
My second interviewee is a 17 year old Asian boy who is also middle class, I
asked him what he HATED the most about a thriller trailer and why, he
responded with…
“I feel like trailers in general show way to much of the film that they have
made and it doesn’t leave the audience with much to question or figure out, I
feel like a trailer does need to show at least an important part to a trailer or a
certain build up to a trailer however when a trailer shows to much I feel like
there is no need to watch the film as I’ve already seen it.”
With this information I know what not to do with my trailer, this will help me
improve my trailer and hopefully make it better.

31. Bibliography

32. Bibliography
1. Survey monkey, I used this to gather information about my audience so I
could get a better understanding about what my audience wants.
2. Gameplays, I watched a full gameplay for heavy rain so I could hear what
the players had to say about the game to getter a better understand of
what they love so much about the storyline.
3. IMDB, This is what I used for silence of the lambs my second analysis, I
did this so I could get a better understanding of the characters details
such as costumes and props.