Market Research

I interviewed a number of  my peers and aquantances via social networking to get there opinion on the Thriller genre, they said as follows-

Joe Weaver, Age 18, Avid Film Fan and small business owner wrote-

"I like something that is suspenseful without giving too much away until the end, as it keeps you interested and on the edge."

I took away the cliffhanging ending to my opening, ending it suspensefully and not giving anything way to the red herring apart from that it is a mysterious object.

 

Calum Sugett, 16, 6th Form Student wrote-

"Atmosphere and suspense are some important features of a thriller in my opinion. Traditional edge of your seat viewing and escalating horror make for a good thriller. However the most important feature of a thriller is keeping the audience guessing until the very end, and the aspect of mystery has been lost in formulaic sequences of many thrillers today. For that reason avant-garde and arthouse styles that push the boundaries and don’t follow the convention are the most thrilling."

This proved the basis for my thriller as I agreed whole heartedly with the element of mystery lost in modern thrillers, so using an arthouse/surrealist style I tried to create that sense of mystery, and combining it with strange, unnatural visuals, challenging a mainstream audience. Atmosphere was a large part of my film the mise-en-scene and sound lending to this and the overall arthouse style.

 

Joe Levett, 17, College Student,

"What I personally look for in thriller films are imaginative ways to create suspense and tension. another thing I look for in thrillers is the musical score or use of music in some way. I feel Music greatly affects the overall feeling in thriller films , it helps to portray emotions and is also a great tension building device. My favourite modern thriller would be Shutter Island because of how it plays with your head and how the film almost puts you in the role of the character."

Imagination and the role of the character were 2 aspects I really wanted to convey in my opening, putting you in the shoes of the character and putting you through the mystery and unsettling tension the character went through.

 

Anthony Bray, 43, business owner, wrote-

"Thriller is a genre that has been changed and conformed to modern audiences. The modern thriller usually caters to a large amount of people and represents realism not needing to move into realms of fantasy to exite the viewer. Films like "Layer Cake" are clear examples of this as they create an exiting modern film as good or even better than the tried practices of filmmaking of the past. Thriller has become a distinct genre with distinct conventions and they should be stuck to, to ensure the film is well liked across the board."

This is a clear conflicting view with my teenage market research. As a teenager myself I will be disregarding Anthonys review but respecting that it has great things to say and if I was going to make a film for the 30+ audience I would follow this statement to the letter, but my opening will conflict with 30+ viwers views on thriller, and attempt to create something new to suit my audeince.

 

The market research was highly informative and has allowed me to understand what direction my film should take, and that I am going about creating an opening for my age group the right way.