Title ideas audience research

We surveyed 17 people and these are our results:

View Point: 8
Ripper: 0
The Pupils: 0
White Eyes: 0
Spectrum: 0
Violent Vision: 3
Tritanopia: 2
Oculus: 1
Eye Spy: 3

Through these results we have chosen View Point as our Thrillers title.

Title ideas for our thriller

The main focus of our Thriller is the eye, and we want our title to reflect this. These are our ideas:

View Point
Ripper
The Pupils
White Eyes
Spectrum
Violent Vision
Tritanopia
Oculus
Eye Spy

The Number 23

The Number 23 is a great thriller film which i really hope we can relate to in our thriller opening. It s about a man, Walter Sparrow, who becomes obsessed about a novel which he believes was written about him. His obsession increases, and as it dies, more and more similarities begin to arise.

From the statistics on youtube, it is clear that this video is most popular with :

Gender	Age
Female	13-17
Male	18-24
Male	25-34

Audience Research 3

The table below (http://sy10.ukfilmcouncil.ry.com/14.12.asp?search=14.25) shows we have chosen the right age group to focus on. They definitely watch more media than any other age range, excepting younger viewers.

Table 14.25 Frequency by age of cinema-goers watching DVDs and Blu-ray, going to the cinema and watching television, 2009

Age	7–14 %	15–24 %	25–34 %	35–44 %	45–54 %	55+ %	Total %
Watch DVD or Blu-ray once a month or more	87	83	77	79	71	59	76
Watch DVD or Blu-ray once a week or more	57	50	46	40	29	23	42
Go to cinema once a month or more	54	63	54	36	34	34	47
Go to cinema once a week or more	6	14	12	3	2	3	7
Watch TV 35 hours or more per week	13	23	22	19	16	23	19
Watch TV 15 hours or more per week	69	61	67	70	74	79	69

Audience Research 2

I think we should also target a male audience; partially because we are male ourselves, and it makes it easier because we know what we like! Also, from the statistical yearbook 2010 (http://sy10.ukfilmcouncil.ry.com/14.0.asp) I found that women tend to watch more of a romantic story type of film, and that males watched the more action thriller type of film.
The table below shows this. (http://sy10.ukfilmcouncil.ry.com/14.2.asp)

Greater male audience share	Male %	Female%
Terminator Salvation	72	28
Brüno	67	33
Planet 51 (UK)	67	33
Lesbian Vampire Killers (UK)	67	33
X-Men Origins: Wolverine	66	34
Avatar	65	35
The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus (UK)	64	36
Star Trek	62	38

There is also little difference in what percentage of men and women go to the cinema.
(http://sy10.ukfilmcouncil.ry.com/14.1.asp)

 

Table 14.1 Frequency of cinema visits by gender, 2009

	Male %	Female%	Overall%
Go to the cinema at least once per year (proportion of population 7+)	60	61	60
Go to the cinema at least once a month (proportion of population 7+)	19	17	18

Ideas for Props

Props

There are many key props that we could use that could symbolise so many things. An obvious one is the use of a gun. This shows the audience that maybe something dangerous is about to happen and a key part in the film is about to take place. However even though it is an obvious prop and is used in so many thrillers I still think it would still be a good prop to use as this would convey our message about the assassin setting out to kill the victim.

This gun would be a good prop to use as it has a silencer, the silencer creates the impression to the audience that the kill is going to be done secretly without anyone knowing.

Through-out our opening scene the victim is on a computer printing pictures, the use of the computer prop and printer shows that the character is printing images off and looking at important information, this would make the audience think about what is going to happen in later on the film etc, and use of a close up shot on the images and computer shows the audience that it is an important part in the film. The computer symbolises that the images that are been printed off are very important, it also shows that the character is very involved in the film.   

This is the sort of close up shot we want to use when we show what the victim is doing on the computer. The image also shows a point of view, this shot shows what the character can see. Having the close up shot allows the audience to work out what the character is working on and it will draw the audience in. The image below on the right shows an over the shoulder shot of the computer screen this would also be a good shot to use as it helps place the audience in the characters setting.

Ideas for Costumes

Costumes

There are two main characters that are going to feature in our thriller opening, I think that both of the characters should wear smart dress, suits, ties etc, as it gives the characters an image of importance and wealth. I think it would be a good idea if the assassin in our film would wear a long coat, a suit, this gives a classic sort of image. To fit the same sort of wealth and importance theme I think the victim should also be wearing a suit, except not looking as smart as the assassin.

I got the image on the left from Gettyimages. The man in the suit is the type of clothing I want the assassin to wear. It is a classic image and the sort of costume has been used in a lot of thrillers with criminals. As it is a well known image for a criminal, I think it will help the audience follow the film with more ease.

Thriller Themes and Ideas

CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE

These two spider diagrams helps give us an idea of what themes are in thrillers also what the importance of the opening five minutes of a thriller are. Using these diagrams we can look at what we should include in our thriller opening.

Conclusion of Questionnaire

Conclusion from Online Questionnaire

To find out about what sort of audiences watch thrillers and what they enjoy about them we posted an online questionnaire. This questionnaire gave us an idea of what we should look to do in our thriller opening. We asked 5 questions which we thought were relevant and would help us. Five different people completed the questionnaire.

The first question was, ‘What are your favourite thriller films?’, we asked this question as we thought it would help us have an idea of what type of thrillers people enjoy the most. The response this question was..

1. Blair Witch, Paranormal Activity, Inception, Batman Begins, Terminator, Bourne Ultimatum, Taken, Sixth Sense, The Shining, Rear Window, Jaws.
2. Dark Knight
3. Rear Window
4. Inception, The Godfather, Dark Knight
5. Inception, Alien

The results show us that we should include a dark feel in our opening scene. As well as including physiological features. The answers help show us this as Inception and Dark Knight have appeared more than others in our questionnaire. As inception is a physiological thriller we think we should include this in our feature, as well as including a sinister feel from Dark Knight.

For our second question we asked what people enjoy about thrillers as we knew this would help tell us what people look for in a thriller and what we should do for our opening scene. The question was ‘What do you enjoy about thrillers?’

1. Fast pace, twisting storyline, suspense
2. The mystery
3. Twists in the plot
4. Good story and acting, stunts
5. Plot twists, cliff hangers

These answers tell us that we should include twisting plots in the story. As well as including suspense and a cliff hanger at the end of our feature. Also we know this from our own knowledge of thriller films.

For question 3 we asked people ‘what was the last film they watched?’ this would give us an idea of what types of thrillers people watch, whether they’re modern thrillers or old classics.

1. Bourne Ultimatum
2. The day after tomorrow
3. Inception
4. Inception
5. Inception

These answers tell us that people go to see thriller films at the cinema as Inception is not out on home release yet. It also tells us how the people don’t often watch the classic old thriller films again, as all of these films are modern.

For our next question we asked ‘What people look for in a thriller?’ as this would help us immensely in telling us what is popular in thriller films.

1. I like fast paced films with matching soundtrack, action, good characters, good vs evil.
2. Mystery and intensity
3. Good story-telling, slightly disturbing mood
4. Believable story
5. Plot twists, cliffhangers

All five of these responses tell us different things that we could include in our thriller. It shows us that there is a range of possible thriller themes that we could use, and that we will have to think carefully about what theme to use.

Our fifth and final question asked ‘which of these is your main interest in a thriller film?’ the options were, technology, special effects or online. The response for this question was very straight forward, 100% of people opted to choose Technology.

From this questionnaire we can conclude that not everyone enjoys the same type of thriller however everyone prefers technology based thrillers. If we were to do this questionnaire I think we should have asked what was the age of the person filling out the questionnaire, as this would have helped us immensely in what age group to aim at.

Individual Film Thrillers Research

The Omen (2006) version

The Omen (also known as The Omen: 666) is a remake of Richard Donner's The Omen that was made in 1976. Directed by John Moore and written by David Seltzer, the film stars famous actors and actresses such as Liev Schreiber, Julia Stiles and Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick. It was released worldwide on June 6, 2006.

The Omen would have been produced to appeal to a niche audience like most thrillers. After looking at reviews and ratings on http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0466909/ratings, it is clear to conclude that mostly males watched the thriller.

This ratings report tells us many things, such as the majority of voters in this rating were males ages 18-29 as we would expect. However this does tell us many females watched the film and the majority of females were also aged 18-29. This implies that the main age group of the audience for the film was in the age group 18-29.

I also looked at the ratings and statistics on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dxEtoTXZE0 these statistics show that the main age group for the film was 18-34, which is in the same area of the ratings I found on www.imdb.com However in contrast, on the youtube ratings claim that the film was most popular with females aged 13-17.

CLICK ON IMAGE TO ENGLARGE

Questionaire

1. 

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Q1

1. What are your favourite thriller film?

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Q2

2. What do you enjoy about thriller films?

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Q3

3. What was the last thriller film you watched?

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Q4

4. What do you look for in a thriller film?

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Q5

5. Which of these is of your main interests in a thriller film?

Technology

Special effects

Online

One Hour Photo

One Hour Photo

One Hour Photo is film that was produced in 2002; it was written and directed by Mark Romanek.

The film is about an employee of a one-hour photo lab becomes obsessed with a young suburban family. The role of the employee is played by Robin Williams; he is a famous actor that has worked in many films before. Having a famous and well known actor such as Robin, helps draw in an audience, as may be people have a personal liking to him and enjoy his work.

Story Line

Middle aged Sy Parrish works as a technician at a one hour photo lab located in a SavMart store in a suburban mall. Sy is a lonely man, never having had any friends. He knows much about his customers through the photographs they have developed. But he knows more about the Yorkin family - specifically Nina Yorkin and her adolescent son Jake Yorkin, the two in the family who drop off and pick up the family's photofinishing - than anyone else, the family about who he is obsessed. Nina's husband, Will Yorkin, is incidental to his obsession since Sy has only seen him in photographs. Sy's obsession includes fantasizing about being their favorite "Uncle Sy". He has even been making an extra set of prints for himself of all of their photographs since Jake was a newborn. After an incident at work and after Sy finds out more about the family through a set of photographs, he decides to right the injustices he sees in the only way he knows how. His actions demonstrate his true mental state.

The Cast

The main cast crew involve, Robin Williams, Connie Nielsen, Michael Vartan, Dylan Smith, Erin Daniels, Paul H. Kim, and also Gary Cole. Having a well known cast list definitely helps attract an audience, as it tells you that the film has a high possibility of being a decent film.

An employee of a one-hour photo lab becomes obsessed with a young suburban family.

This is the DVD cover for the film, it doesnt look like a horror, and doesn't convey as scary image to the audience. This would leave the audience a suprise and they would be curious of what is going to happen in the film.

Target audience for a Thriller film

We have researched many different thriller films and thriller websites using trailers, such as youtube. We found out that the majority of people statistically who watch thriller films are males ranging from 18 to 64 year olds. For example the film trailer for 'No country for old men' gave us the statistics that 25 to 64 year olds watch thriller films.  In addition to this we found that 13 to 17 year old females also viewed the trailers we researched.
This shows that there are more male viewers of thriller films than there are female. This also shows that there is a wider range of female viewers even though they are less in number.

 

Audience Research 1

Audience 1

To find out about our audience type, I looked on the UK Film Council website: http://www.ukfilmcouncil.org.uk/audiences. The information about the audience includes age, gender, social group, ethnicity and region.

I looked on the statistical yearbook 2010 (http://sy10.ukfilmcouncil.ry.com/14.0.asp) and found this information:
• In 2009, 60% of the UK population said they went to the cinema at least once a year, the same percentage as 2008.
• 18% went to the cinema once a month or more.
• The cinema audience for the top 20 films in 2009 was predominantly young, with the 7–34 age group (40% of the population) making up 64% of the audience.
• Minority ethnic groups were equally or over-represented in the film audience, except for viewing pay-per-view films where they were under-represented.
• Disabled people were under-represented in the film audience.
• Total ‘film viewing occasions’ numbered over 4.5 billion, which means an average of 81 film viewings per person in 2009.
From this I think the age range we should target should be 15-34; anyone younger would go and see children’s films and in that yearbook information I found that they went to see films like Bolt. The older age range had a more varied viewing, with the top viewed films being Bruno and Avatar. However, in the top 10, were films such as X-Men Wolverine, which has some thriller elements, and The Twilight Saga; New Moon.

Questionnaire For Thrillers

Questionnaire for Thrillers

What are your main interests?(such as hobbies)

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Do you enjoy thriller films?

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What is your all time favourite thriller film?

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What do you like about this film?

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What do you look for in a thriller?(eg. Fighting? Scary scenes?)

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'CEMS', for 'Severn'

‘CEMS of Seven’

Sounds:

In the opening seconds of the first scene there is non-digetic sounds, non-digetic sounds are the sounds not in the scene, such as sirens in the background. Also there is continuous talking and conversations, these sounds emphasise there is people in the background.

There are also many digetic sounds, digetic sounds are sounds that are in the scene, such as talking. The rain in the scene is known as parallels sounds, this helps emphasise the poor weather, also it creates a sort of scary and thrilling scene.

When the credits start, music is played in the background, this music is very energetic and upbeat, it also creates scary and freaky images, this helps set the scene for the audience and it helps draw the audience in.

Editing:

There are jump cuts from scene to scene; jump cuts are an abrupt switch from one scene to another which may be used deliberately to make a dramatic point. For the opening credits the institution edited images into the background, these images are freaky,- they fit into the crime/horror genre.

 These are the images in the background of the credits, they help set the scene and create a scary and mystical effect for the audience.

5 Films, Opening credits-Benji Baxter

The Negotiator

The first few minutes of Negotiator and the opening credits have a powerful influence on the audience. Having continuous photo shots relevant to the film in the background of the credits helps draw the audience in and it would also make the audience curious of what would happen in the film, it would make the vast majority of the audience think about the story line. The first credit we see says ‘Regency Enterprises presents’ this immediately tells the audience that the film has been distributed by the companies Fox and Warner Brothers, as these institutions ‘parent’ Regency Enterprises.

The film was produced using synergy; synergy is where two or more agents join together, in this case, Mandeville Films and New Regency joined together. Throughout the credits, music is played this could help draw in an audience as they may have a personal liking to the song. In the opening credits famous actors such as Samuel L Jackson and Kevin Spacey are the first names to come up, this implies that they are the main characters also they are well known, this would help grab the attention of the audience. The last credit is ‘directed by F Gary Gray’, Gray is well known for directing famous films and also famous music videos. for example 'Friday' released in 1995.

This is the film cover of Negotiator, it lists all of the institutions involved in the production.

 

Catch me if you can

The first few seconds of the opening credits it tells us that it is Dream Works Pictures presents the film. Dream Works is very famous institution that is known worldwide. The credits also tell us how it is a Kemp Company and Splendid pictures also a Parkes/Macdonald production, this shows that synergy was used in the production of the film. Steven Spielberg is the, or one of most well known directors in the world. He is an American director that has directed films such Shindlers list and Saving Private Ryan. Steven Spielbergs name is repeated three times throughout these credits, this use of repetition helps put across the point that he is the director and it aims to draw the audience in.  Also in the credits the famous actors in the film such Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks are blended into the 1960 style pictures.

In the credits is says ‘Based upon the book by Frank W. Abagnale‘ this would help attract in the audience as some people may have read the book and may want to see the film as well.

The music in the opening credits of the film is very inter-connected with the cartoons, they are both very 1960s style with usage of props such as type writers. The music fits in with the film as it is evocative of American life in the 60s. The music is written by the famous artist ‘John Williams’ this would definitely attract an audience as he is a well known musician, as people would be guaranteed a good sound track.

Right at the end of the credits it says ‘Based on a True Story’ this would make some of the audience relate to the film and also some people may have a particular liking to films based on true stories.

  This is the soundtrack of catch me if you can, the music is by John Williams, producing a sound track will help create an even larger profit.

Kung Fu Panda

The film was also a Dream Works production. In the credits it tells us this twice, this really gets the point across. The cartoon in the back ground of the opening credits shows an elite panda performing many Kung Fu moves, this creates the impression that the Panda is going to be a professional at martial arts. However in film the panda is totally the opposite. This creates a twist for the audience and makes the film more interesting. There is non-digetic sounds in the credits such as a narrator and background music. The narrator tells an exaggerated story line, using words such as ‘awsomeness’ this would help persuade the audience to carry on watching.

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This is the opening for the Kung Fu Panda, it is called the Opening dream. It shows the exaggerated story line etc.

This Is England

The opening credits of ‘This is England’ are incredibly powerful. Non-digetic sounds such as the music in the background is relevant to the film as it was produced in the 1960’s when the film was set. Some films such as the ‘Negotiator’ have pictures that are from the film, however ‘This is England’ opted to use authentic images and video clips from real events from the era, 1960s. This sets the scene for the audience, it shows everyone what the times were like in that era. The images are incredibly powerful such as racist images and riot videos.

The first credits of the film says ‘In association with Big Arty Productions’ this is a British company that make British films, however the institution has not made many mainstream films. Even though the institution has not made many famous films before, being a British film appeals to the British audience immensely. When the video clips are being shown, the casts’ names are blended into the bottom right hand corner; this gives the audience an idea of who is starring in the film.

These are images that are used in the opening credits of the film, these images show events that were happening in the 1960's such as Margret Thatcher and Ronald Reagon. Also skin heads, as the film is all about skin heads and MODs.

Blade II

The music is in the background of the credits is very energetic and upbeat it creates a scene for the audience and draws the audience in. The credits open with ‘New Line Cinema presents’ this makes the film look more professional and it would build up an atmosphere for the audience.

There is a non-digetic narrator who is actually the main character in the film, he gives a brief story line and gives the audience a brief idea of what is about to happen in the film

The images in the background of the credits are very scary and non-fictional. This sets the scene for the audience.