Thriller Film Audience Research DRAFT

I have questioned 31 people, of mixed genders, different ages, different social classes, and different religions to make my results as accurate and fair as can be.

From looking at my results, i have concluded that old thriller films from the period before the 1970s are the most popular. This is due to many reasons i.e the storyline, setting, lighting, soundtrack, cast, props, garments, cult factors, culture and many more. I also prefer films before the 1970s, a few examples are, "The Third Man, "Psycho", "Cause for Alarm", and "Freaks".

I have also concluded that the most liked thriller actor is Robert DeNiro, who is apart of many thriller films such as, "Taxi Driver", "The deer hunter", "Once Upon a Time in America", "The godfather part II" and "Cape fear".

The overall favourite location for a thriller is a urban city area, this is very common in many thrillers such as, "Jackie Brown", "Angel Heart", "Shuttle" and many more.

In general the favourite sub-genre was crime thriller. This sub-genre is very common, in films such as "Angel Heart", "Panic Room", Before The Devil Knows Your Dead","Bodyguard","The Departed" and many more.On Wikipedia there are over 199 pages of listing of crime thriller films.

The results are very useful for new thriller films as they show favourite settings, actors, eras, and sub-genres are most liked. However one question I think would have been useful is "What type of film do you prefer- Independent Films or Hollywood Films? ". I think this question would have been useful to show what type of film making is enjoyed more.

However i managed to tick many of the factors of a thriller film of i.e. - the cast, the location, the era, and the sub-genre.

For my film making i am using a unknown cast which in my questionnaire scored 2 out of 31. I am using a urban city area which scored 17 out of 31 (the highest). I'm setting it in the 1930s which scored 3 out of 31 and my sub-genre is crime-noir thriller which scored 16 out of 31 (the highest). The questionnaire was very helpful in showing what time of thriller films the audience on a whole prefer.

To regards to improving my findings i would have added a few more questions such as "What is your favourite type of lighting in a thriller?" with the optional answers of noir, bright and surreal, natural daylight, natural night time, also "What is your favourite "baddie" in a thriller?" with the optional answers of assassins/hit-men, psychotic killers, criminals, femme fatale, cops, or drug addicts. With these questions added, the ideal cast and storyline could be made along with the preferred lighting, era, location etc.

My questionnaires is very helpful on nearly all the aspects of a thriller film.

Results on Thriller Film Audience research

For my primary research I questioned 31 people using a tally chart, asking, "What is your favourite location of a thriller film?" 17 people answered urban city areas. 12 answered countryside. 2 answered abroad/island and no one answered other.


Here is the results:

I then asked these 31 people, "What is your favourite thriller actor?" 19 people answered Robert DeNiro. 7 people answered Robert Pattinson, 3 people answered Jack Nicholson and 2 people answered unknown actors.

Here is the results:

Next i asked, "What is your favourite time period for a thriller film?" 20 people answered present. 6 people answered future and five people answered past one being 1980s, one being 1990s and 3 being before 1970s.

Here is the results:

Lastly, i asked "What is your favourite sub-genre of a thriller?" 16 people answered Crime thriller. 4 people answered sci-fi thriller. 3 people answered comedy thriller. 6 people psychological thriller. 2 people answered romance thriller.

Here is the results:

Thriller Film Audience Research DRAFT

In my research into thriller film audiences i am going to question a number of people to find out what makes a good thriller film, and what characteristics audiences prefer such as locations, cast, time period, and sub-genre.

I am expecting to find out that on the whole audiences like typical killer storylines- crime thriller, set in isolated urban areas with a cast that involves stars such as Robert DeNiro, and set in the eighties or present.

I will produce a results table and analyse the final results to see if my predictions were correct or inaccurate.