This document discusses research conducted to identify the target audience for a media product. Surveys, interviews, and focus groups were used to gather information. The target audience was identified as 16-34 year old males and females, especially those unemployed or in further education, as research showed they prefer thriller films. Face-to-face interviews provided insight into improving thrillers for different demographics. Based on the research, one character was changed to a female lead to appeal more to both male and female audiences. The surveys and focus groups helped determine thriller film tropes the target audience enjoys and confirmed a preference for male leads.

1. Who would be the target audience for your media product
Our target audience is 16-34 male and females, specifically those who are unemployed or in
further education, we came to this conclusion after looking at the current market for a
potential target audience this research said that most 16-34 year olds are fond of thriller
films more than other ages. We then conducted different audience research methods to
establish a strong target audience for our media product.
When we were looking into our potential target audience we conducted different audience
research methods such as, questionnaires/surveys, focus groups and face to face interviews,
these methods of obtaining results would help make our production better for the target
audience.
The face to face interviews consisted of 2 members of staff at a local school and a year 13
student, the 1 member of staff had a good understanding of thriller films and how he liked
them and was very familiar with thriller films and even named thriller films that he quite
enjoyed. The female member of staff didn’t know many thriller films but gave a lot into how
they could be improved so they are more favourable for a female demographic. As for the
year 13 student he has studied A level Media before and this means that he was able to
speak more about how the conventions of thriller films could be included and how to use
mise-en-scene to make the film better. He also spoke about how the film would be a
success.
The only real issue with this is because of the fact that there is 2 male characters and we
have a male and female character in the sequence so after further audience research we
decided to change 1 character to a female lead.
The survey was created and uploaded from survey monkey from here me and Kieron where
able to upload the survey to social media for people to fill in for our results. From these
anonymous results it is clear that the target audience are fond of thriller films, and are clear
on what makes a good thriller filmsuch as suspense, anticipation and uncertainty. They had
clear knowledge of thriller film locations this was useful because the most selected answers
were, a school, forest, motel and theatre. The survey results were also helpful because after
we looked at several thriller films and after the survey results it was clear that having a male
lead would make the film better as it is stereotypical to have a male lead in a thriller film,
this would make it more interesting for the audience and they would feel better about
watching the film. With the most favoured thriller filmbeing “The Dark Knight” as this has a
strong male lead who is known for killing and bringing people to justice.
With the focus groups, 2 had to be recorded because without realising we ended up having
an all-female focus group so to make it fair we had an additional all male focus group. At the
point of recording the focus groups is when we changed the one male character to a female
character. From the female focus group which consisted of 4 member of staff and 2 sixth
form students, from this they thought that Vanessa would be strong with trying to live a
normal life after her parents have died and they say this would get more females interested
in the film as thriller films are dominated by male characters. They also suggested having a
bit of mystery to the character and this would make the characters stand out more and

2. make it more interesting for the audience. Then in the all-male focus group I interviewed
they thought that more films should have a female lead as it is not common and this would
make them more interested in watching the film. They also would expect a change in the
character from weak to strong. They also made suggestions on the appearance saying they
need to be good looking and very healthy to attract the male audience which is a stereotype
of women that they always need to be more attractive in a production.