Our film is an independent thriller and a lot of our ideas and thriller conventions were influenced through other films. For example Essex Boys, which is also an independent film and Memento, which uses flashbacks and is a psychological thriller. The main sub-genre of our film is the British Gangster style. It also has aspects of a psychological thriller because it particularly includes mystery and suspense. We have aimed our film at audiences from age 16 to 24 who enjoy independent thriller films. From our research we found out that from all the people we asked, a range of them enjoyed independent films. The type of people that will appeal to our independent film are those who respond to individuality. The unusual storylines and different actors create mystery that hopefully appeals to our target audience. Our audience will get pleasure from our thriller because of it's independency, as they like to see themselves as independent. Other films that our audience enjoy are independent thrillers such as Dead Man's Shoes, which relates in many ways to our thriller opening and the fact that they will enjoy films like this means that certain aspects of our film will also bring pleasure to our audience. The locations we used in our filming included the use of city areas. We thought that this would appeal particularly to youths because it focuses mainly on a similar age group and relates to real life situations that could occur. Some of the locations, (the one on our poster in particular) represents a dark part of the city where drug dealing takes place. By including this image on our poster, we thought that it would appeal to our target audience, so that they can get an idea of how our film will grab their attention. In our thriller we also used locations such as a garage. This relates to the claustrophobic aspect of thrillers, and the spacing and lighting helps to build tension. We hoped that this would appeal to our audience because small spaces are commonly used as a place where action or violence takes place. The social group involved in our storyline represents a gang of young criminals. Our target audience may not be similar to this lifestyle but they should be able to identify with the main characters because of similar ages and the fact that the film is from Archie's (the main character) point of view. This will be able to help the audience put themselves into the situation and relate themselves to the storyline. In our poster it shows a shot of Archie dressed in a hoody and jeans which represents a lot of young people these days. We constructed a narrative of our film by specifically focusing on Archie, who is the main character. We thought that this would help our audience to follow the storyline and identify themselves with Archie. The flashbacks of the murder focus on that certain event within the story, so the narrative is created by telling the background story. In our poster we included the quote “Tense and Gripping”. We wrote this on our poster so that it would appeal in more ways to our target audience. This would attract a larger audience if they knew that it was the type of thriller that strongly grabbed their attention throughout the story. The genre of our film will help appeal to a larger audience. We hoped that the detective aspects of our opening will relate to many other things that the audience enjoy. It create a sense of order out of chaos, so therefore a wider audience could enjoy it.

Findings for Research Project

Marketing

How do you find out about the films you want to watch?

I asked 10 people both of my questionnaires, and the results showed that half of them find out about films by viewing trailers at cinemas. So therefore this is the most popular answer. The other ways that some of the interviewees learned about films was from Word of mouth, Internet Adverts and Magazines.  Which meant that from the group of people that I asked none of them heard about films from Posters, Radio, TV trailers more than any other. I also found that the people that heard about films through cinema trailers were on average younger than those that answered differently. This suggests that people of a younger age visit the cinema more often.

Which of these do you think is most effective?

For this question, most people again gave the answer of Cinema Trailers. For those that gave a reason said things such as: ‘They give the most information, and more of an insight to the film itself’ and ‘They show the best parts of the film to draw in the audience’.

Do you think your occupation or affects the films you watch? Or how many?

Most people said that there work did affect how many films they watch but not necessarily the type of films. All but one of the people that were in education suggested that the amount of work decreases the amount of films they watch.

Do you think your lifestyle affects the films you enjoy?

About half of the people said that there lifestyle doesn’t affect the films they enjoy at all.  Although most of the people I asked were probably from the same sort of culture and similar class. So their lifestyles probably weren’t all that different from one another. However I found that the ones that said it did affect them were the ones of an older age. Maybe this could be because they have had more experience of older films, or perhaps because they have young children.

Exhibition

How do you normally view films?

Half of the people I asked said that they usually view the films they watch on DVD.  Two people answered Cinema, and TV and one person answered Internet. Both the people that said they watched films in the cinema were both at college/sixth form. This suggests that this could be one of the reasons they go to the cinema more often, maybe because they are close to the city, or perhaps because it’s a good way to get together with school friends. The reasons for watching films on DVD varied. For example ‘If it’s on DVD you can watch it as many times as you want.’ And ‘it’s easy and possible at any time of the day.’

When do you usually watch films?

Most people said that they watched films in the evenings or weekends. This suggests that for anyone who is in education or employment, this is their only free time, as the person who was in no education or work put the answer ‘whenever’.

Research Project Questionnaires

Exhibition Questionnaire

How do you normally view films?

Cinema   TV   Internet   DVD

And why?

Do you prefer to watch a film by yourself or with others?

On your own     With others

If with others, who?

When do you usually watch films?

Weekends   evenings   while completing other tasks  whenever  Afternoons  Other

If other, when?

Research Project Questionnaires

Marketing Questionnaire

Age:

Gender:

Are you…

In School?  In college/Sixth Form?   At University?  Unemployed?  Part-time work?   Full-time work?  Other?

Do you think your occupation affects the films you watch? Or how many?

And why?

How do you find out about the films you want to watch?

Cinema Trailers   TV Trailers   Posters   Word of Mouth   Internet Advertisements   Radio   Magazines

Which do you think is most effective?

Do you think your lifestyle affects the films you enjoy?

Research Project into Film Audiences

For this project I would like to find out how there is a difference in marketing between independent films and mainstream films, and what type of marketing is most effective. Also I hope to find out more on the exhibition of films and what is most popular way of viewing films. I will attempt to find out more on this, by gathering data using questionnaires. The questionnaires will include both quantative so that I am able to count up the data and create graphs and charts to help with my results. I will also include qualitative in my questionnaires. This will allow the interviewees to write what they think, and also will help me to get an insight into people's personal opinions and views.

I also want to find out about the audiences of films. I would like to find out how people's difference in gender, age, culture or class may effect what kind of films they enjoy. This may help me to find out what kind of things to include in my thriller, to help attract the audience I am aiming for. To do this I will probably create another questionnaire, if not an interview. I think that collecting data from other people will be the best way to find out what I need to know about the audience's for different types of films.

Audience Research Results

Where do you normally watch films?  

As you can see from this graph most people watch films at Vue which is the cinema in the city centre so it is easier for people to get to. Cinema City is the other cinema in the city centre but it is out of the main city. Also it shows a different selection of films such as independent and a few specific mainstream films. People might not go here as they haven’t heard of the films because there aren’t any TV advertisements. There is only a fraction of people that actually go to Cinema City. A lot of people watch films on the television which are just a random selection of mainstream films, and occasionally independent. 

Do you usually watch mainstream or independent films?

As you can see from these results only 1 person just watches independent films who was a 50-year-old lady. The rest were 16 or 17 year olds. This shows that most people aged 16-17 watch mainstream films and about half of them watch independent films as well. This is good to know as we were planning our thriller to be independent and to know that our target audience age will also watch independent films as well as mainstream. We will definitely make our thriller opening scene independent because we don’t have the mainstream equipment or money. Also from this graph it shows that maybe older people would enjoy our opening to a thriller, as it will be independent.

What do you like about mainstream films?

The main reason why people like mainstream films is because of the special effects, actors and the locations, having high budget they are able to do this. During our opening scene we will not be using famous locations as it is an independent film and they do not include them, mainly because of money but also it gives it a sense of reality for some viewers as they can imagine it happening in their own town. All of the people that said they enjoy special features in mainstream films were mainly male apart from one and all teenagers that are 16 or 17.

 

What do you like about independent films?

A majority of the people we asked said that they like the storylines because they are different and realistic. Another main reason why people like independent films is because of the actors as they are not ones you see everyday, which gives the sense of mystery. Whereas in mainstream films if you see an actor in more then one film you are likely to associate them with a different character.

 

Improved Questionnaire

1. Male or Female:

2. Age:

3. Do you usually watch Indepedent or mainstream films?

    Independent        Mainstream      Both       Neither   

4. Which words best describe these characters?

Gangster
Hero
Dodgy

Untrustworthy
Funny
Alcoholics

Formal

Romantic

Deceptive

5. Which location would you expect to be Independent and mainstream?

6. Where do you normally watch films?

Television    Internet    Vue    Odeon    Cinema City  

7. What do you like about Independent films?

  8. What do you like about mainstream films?

What music do you think would suit the opening to a thriller best?

Water Circles
http://www.audionetworkplc.com/production-music/water-circles_35022.aspx

City Lights
http://www.audionetworkplc.com/production-music/city-lights_38083.aspx

Tell It To The Marines (Unsigned Band)




Fire Comet
http://www.audionetworkplc.com/production-music/fire-comet_22546.aspx


What music do you think would suit the opening to a thriller best? Or more than one? Or none of these?

1. I think that Flareguns - Tell It To The Marines and Fire Comet would both be good songs to use for the opening of a thriller.

2. I think that water circles would be a good choice.

3. I like the sound of flareguns, but I don't know if the vocals would go. Also I think Fire Comet is a sound that could suit the feeling of your opening.

4. City lights, as it sounds quite mysterious and threatening.

What do teenagers find scary?

Blood and gore

violence

Being followed

Drug dealing

If these were scenes from a film, which would you find the scariest?

When asking people this questionnaire, these were the results we collect:

1: Being followed
2: Blood and Gore

3. Being followed

4.Violence

What types of thrillers do teenager prefer?

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels



Sin City



Casino Royale




Which film do you find most appealing and why?

1: I found Sin City most appealing because I like the black and white colour scheme that the creator has used, also the use of random bright colours to make elements more important and stand out.

2: I think the film I found most appealing was Casino Royale as it has lots of action scenes which I enjoy and also it has Daniel Craig in who is a good actor as I have see from different films he is in.

3. Casino Royale, because I prefer the storyline.

4. They all appeal to me, and as I haven't seen Lock, Stock and Two smoking barrels I would be interested in watching it, as it seems like a crime thriller that could also make you laugh.

Questionnaire for audience expectations of Independent/mainstream film

1. Male or Female:

2. Age:

3. Do you usually watch Indepedent or mainstream films?

    Independent        Mainstream      Both       Neither   

4. What do you think of these characters?

5. Which location would you expect to be Independent and mainstream?

6. Where do you normally watch films?

Television    Internet    Vue    Odeon    Cinema City  

7. What do you like about Independent films?

  8. What do you like about mainstream films?

Thriller Film Audience Research

What I want to find out:

- The audience's expectation's of independant/mainstream film
- What type of thrillers teenagers prefer
- What music is scary/tense
- What teenagers are scared of
- What storyline would appeal to them


How I am going to find out:

- Questionaire
- Interviews with film clips/posters
- Interviews with music clips
- Interviews with pictures/fim clips or questionaire.
- Give examples of story lines to find out what they prefer


What I expect to find out:

- I might expect to find out that people around the certificate age of 15 haven't seen many independent films, therefore don't have much expectations. I would think that for mainstream films, they would expect to see good actors, locations, and special affects.
- they might enjoy action, british gangster thriller? Although I would expect girls and boys views to be different.
- Jumpy or tense music
- I would expect real life situations and villans to be something that might scare the audience
- I think everyone will have different opinions on what storyline they prefer, but again I think that anything realistic would appeal to them.