The survey results show that psychological thrillers were the most popular subgenre among respondents. When asked about appealing aspects of thrillers, compelling characters and suspense were cited most often. Regarding important elements, plot, setting, props/costume, and special effects were seen as most crucial. The majority felt the story should unfold quickly. For openings, flashbacks were preferred over chase scenes or revealing much of the plot. Overall, characters, suspense, and revealing little of the mystery in openings seem to be high priorities for thriller audiences based on this analysis.

1. Thriller Movie Questionnaire (out of 30 participants)
Chosen Demographic – Male and Female
Age 15 +
Any Ethnic Origin
What Thriller sub-genre are you most drawn to?
Psychological thriller - 12
Horror thriller - 5
Action thriller - 2
Sci-Fi thriller - 1
Religious thriller e.g. The DaVinci Code - 2
Crime thriller - 4
Drama thriller - 1
Political thriller - 1
Spy thriller - 2
What do you like about the Thriller Genre?
Confusion - 3
Mystery - 4
Suspense - 6
Compelling Characters - 13
Hero vs. Villain – 4
Out of the choices, who is your favourite thriller director?
Martin Scorsese - 4
Alfred Hitchcock - 8
Steven Spielberg - 5
Quentin Tarantino - 2
David Fincher - 4
M. Night Shyamalan - 7
What makes Thrillers appeal to you?
Challenging Storyline - 9
Actors/Actresses - 3
Directors - 4
Interesting title - 6
Surprising Twists – 8
How important are props, costume and makeup in a film?
Very Important - 14
Important - 11
Fairly Important - 5
Unimportant – 0
What is the most important element in a Thriller?

2. Setting - 8
Acting - 3
Special Effects - 4
Props/Costume - 6
Plot - 9
For you what builds up suspense in a film?
Music - 6
Lighting - 6
Sound - 6
Camera Angles - 8
Pace - 4
Should the film have its story unfold fairly quickly or unfold slowly?
Quickly - 23
Slowly - 7
How do you think the opening of a Thriller should open?
Chase scene - 3
Everyday life - 6
Flash-back - 12
Flash-forward - 5
Present time - 4
In the opening of a Thriller, how much of the plot do you think should be revealed?
As much as possible - 3
As little as possible - 16
Not at all - 11
Analysis of Questionnaire Results

3. From the 30 participants surveyed, the 2 most preferred sub-genres were ‘Psychological
thriller’ (12) and ‘Horror thriller’ (5). This could give us an idea to perhaps have elements
of Horror in a Psychological thriller movie.
When asked about what people liked about Thrillers, 13 people had said they enjoyed the
‘Compelling Characters’ and 6 had said they enjoyed the ‘Suspense’ of a Thriller. Both
will be considered as they both play important roles in making a thriller movie good and
solid.
As for what people had found appealing to them, 9 people had said a ‘Challenging
Storyline’ and 8 people had said ‘Surprising Twists’. Also 6 people had said an
‘Interesting Title’ would appeal to them which is why it is important that we make our title
relevant to our story and its synopsis.
The importance of props, costume and makeup has proved to be very important as 25
people out of 30 had said it is of importance if not very important.
The results for this question were close as ‘Plot’ was chosen as the most important
element, followed by ‘Setting’, thereafter ‘Pops/Costume’, then ‘Special Effects’ and
lastly ‘Acting’. Our main priority therefore will be to succeed in creating a good plot,
choose a suitable setting and making good use of props and costume.
Most of the choices were chosen for the suspense factor question, as ‘Music’, ‘Lighting’
and ‘Sound’ all were chosen by 6 people each. The most suspense built up comes from
‘Camera Angles’ chosen by eight people and ‘Pace’ coming in last with 4 people choosing
it, although we will include all five elements in the making of our thriller as they are all
equally important in making a suspense filled film. In consideration of what the
participants of this survey had chosen the choice of ‘Camera Angles’ will be carefully
decided upon.
In terms of the storyline unfolding, 23 people had thought it should unfold quickly. This
may be because some people may not enjoy waiting for the film to unfold, especially
slowly. Although 7 people had said they would want the storyline to unfold slowly and
this maybe because they may enjoy paying attention to every little detail on the track of
the climax point of the film.
When asked about the opening of a Thriller, 13 people had said a thriller should open with
a ‘Flash-back’ as this may bring up questions about what will happen in the film. A flash-
back would always have something to do with what the film is actually about. A chase
scene (chosen by 4 people) may cause confusion over the genre of the film as it would be
the first thing the viewer would see of the film.
In terms of the opening of a Thriller, 16 people had said they think ‘as little as possible’ of
the plot should be revealed. 3 people had said ‘as much as possible’ should be revealed,
and 11 people had said ‘not at all’. From the results we would think about having as little
as possible of the plot revealed in the opening of the Thriller.