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.
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Good this is a well written commentary on your investigation and you are relating the research to your own production. It is important that you have clear understanding of the audiences expectations of mainstream/independent thrillers. You need to know which you are making and what your audience expect.
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