How can I make my thriller appealing to my audience?
According to the Statistical yearbook produced by the BFI in 2012 the Thriller genre is ranked 7 out of 16 in terms of box office gross. Therefore the thriller genre is a film genre which is a fairly profitable genre as it made £55.3 million in terms of box office gross but the genre's audience is niche; only 28 films were produced in 2011 whereas the genre comedy, 113 films were produced in 2011 thus indicating how the thriller genre almost has a niche audience in terms of consumption as evidenced by the number of films released.
In the UK and the Republic of Ireland the thriller genre is ranked 9 out of 16 genres in terms of film screenings at cinemas.
This signifies that thriller films shown as much as other films such as family . In 2011 a thriller film on average would be screened at 150 cinema's whereas the family genre was screened at around 450 cinema's; perhaps this is because thriller film's audience is more constricted in contrast to family film, thus your less likely to make as much money with screening thriller titles at a lot of cinemas than a family film which has a broad audience therefore the production company who have produced the film won't lose much money if they were to screen it to a mass audience.
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| Produced by the BFI |
Audience consumption
From the donut chart on the left hand corner, it is evident that audiences consume film the most on their television's with a 77.0% watching films on TV channels. In contrast only 3.4% of audiences consume film at the cinema. Due to many limitations it would be appropriate that if I were to release my thriller I would release it on the internet because of lack of resources and funding I would not be able to release it on television, DVD and mass sold, or screened at a cinema. On the other hand films that are downloaded or streamed via the internet are consumed by a larger audience than those who consume films at the cinema by an average 2 percent. This means I would be able to release my film on the internet for free and get an adequate audience to consume it.
The chart on the right ranks films in terms of an above average audience among the 15- 24 age group,
According to the chart on the right the most viewed film consumed by the 15-24 demographic was the inbetweeners movie in 2011. Only two thriller films were ranked in the list, 127 hours and Black swan both of which were ranked lowly. From this information one can establish that the comedy genre is consumed the most by 15-24 year olds whereas the thriller genre is apparent in the consumption of this audience but it is fairly small. Therefore If I were to produce my thriller film I would aim at a slightly older audience perhaps around 15 or 18. Most likely the 18 and above demographic as the most popular film on the list " the inbetweeners movie", target audience was the 15 year old and up. Since this film was very popular one could assume that the comedy genre is very popular among the 15 year old demographic therefore If I were to release my for this intended audience I fear that it may be drowned by the consumption of other comedies. Furthermore by focusing on an older audience I can include more themes that are featured in the thriller genre in greater and smarter detail, for instance death. However by closing off my audience to the 18 market my audience becomes niche.
The graph on the left hand side of the page documents age distribution of cinema-goers, between the years of 1997-2011. It is apparent that according to this graph people between the ages of 15 - 24 consume film in the cinema the most in the past years and probably with years to come as evidenced by the trend which has been set. This in fact justifies my plan to target a 15 - 24 year old demographic as they are the ones who consume the most film at the cinema therefore it would be only logical to cater for a mass audience, however earlier in this text I have established plans to release my film on the internet rather than in the cinema therefore this information may hold little relevance to my thriller development. On the other hand because this target demographic is also known for its large consumption of new media platforms such as the internet; by releasing my film online there is a chance that my film may be consumed by the same demographic additionally it would mean that my film would be expected to be as "cinematic" as possible to cater for this demographic who are used to seeing film with cinema like quality.
This graph on the right hand side collates the results of a survey researching the top performing films released in the UK and Republic of Ireland in 2010. The films have been split terms of the consumption of audience gender; the male and female audience. Films to take note of in this list are the two films The ghost and Green zone. Both Green zone and the ghost are thriller titles; according to this graph it would seem that men consume the thriller genre more than women with 62.5% percent of men as a whole have consumed these films whereas only 37.5% of women have consumed them altogether. From this research it would seem that I should cater towards the male demographic however the niche female audience should be accounted for as well as they are a fairly large demographic. Therefore it would be best that I cater for both audiences and take features that were used to appeal to the films demographics for instance the psychological aspects of The ghost which may have drawn in the female audience with the action elements of Green zone which may have drawn in the male demographic.
Social group
The graph on the left hand side documents the results of films with an above-average AB and DE audience share in 2011. According to this graph AB audiences consume the thriller genre more than the lower class DE audience with the thriller films tinker tailor spy and black swan appearing in the AB listing. Furthermore this graph also tells us that the wealthier AB demographic have a higher share in the consumption of the UK's top 20 films of 2011 than the DE's share with 31 percent of AB audiences consuming these films to 19 percent of DE audiences consuming them. From this one can establish that it would be more reasonable to target the AB audience as according to this graph they consume both film in general and thriller films more than DE audiences so by targeting them I receive a larger audience. However to do this I believe I must look at the features that made the thriller film Tinker, tailor, soldier, spy successful among this audience as it was second in ranking on the AB list; 47% of AB audiences went to see the film which is almost half of the AB population.
From conducting research on rottentomatoes.com, the film has been met with positive reviews achieving 83% on the tomatometer and 65% of audiences liking it, with reviewers saying "Tinker Tailor requires close watching, but viewers are rewarded with a moody, layered and involving thriller". From this one can understand why this film may appeal to audience as it involves its viewers with a deep mystery and gets them asking for me. Perhaps this should be taken in consideration of my thriller film, more specifically this would mean I would have to create a strong hook in my opening therefore involving my audience in my narrative. Additionally a reviewer on the site claimed "The film has intrigues, shootings, infidelities and clues -- lots of clues -- which we ponder, along with the poker-faced Smiley, played with Oscar-nominated perfection by Gary Oldman." From this one can gather one of the main selling points of the film was its mystery and the many clues it gave to its audiences which caused them to think about the narrative; so to cater to my audience it would be appropriate that my narrative features a strong mystery filled with onscreen clues that challenge the viewers mind. Another reviewer said that the film had "Outstanding performances and fascinating visual design are somewhat marred by a slow pace and a dry narrative." This quote explains one of the films flaws; pacing issues, so to cater for my audience I must find a way to create tension and mystery at a reasonable pace. Additionally the quote does explain how its actors delivered a strong performance and also how the visuals helped the film become appealing therefore 3 mains points i should focus from looking at this quote are interesting visuals, good casting- to have strong actors and also a good pace of narrative.
This graph on the right hand side collates the results of a survey researching the top performing films released in the UK and Republic of Ireland in 2010. The films have been split terms of the consumption of audience gender; the male and female audience. Films to take note of in this list are the two films The ghost and Green zone. Both Green zone and the ghost are thriller titles; according to this graph it would seem that men consume the thriller genre more than women with 62.5% percent of men as a whole have consumed these films whereas only 37.5% of women have consumed them altogether. From this research it would seem that I should cater towards the male demographic however the niche female audience should be accounted for as well as they are a fairly large demographic. Therefore it would be best that I cater for both audiences and take features that were used to appeal to the films demographics for instance the psychological aspects of The ghost which may have drawn in the female audience with the action elements of Green zone which may have drawn in the male demographic.
Social groupThe graph on the left hand side documents the results of films with an above-average AB and DE audience share in 2011. According to this graph AB audiences consume the thriller genre more than the lower class DE audience with the thriller films tinker tailor spy and black swan appearing in the AB listing. Furthermore this graph also tells us that the wealthier AB demographic have a higher share in the consumption of the UK's top 20 films of 2011 than the DE's share with 31 percent of AB audiences consuming these films to 19 percent of DE audiences consuming them. From this one can establish that it would be more reasonable to target the AB audience as according to this graph they consume both film in general and thriller films more than DE audiences so by targeting them I receive a larger audience. However to do this I believe I must look at the features that made the thriller film Tinker, tailor, soldier, spy successful among this audience as it was second in ranking on the AB list; 47% of AB audiences went to see the film which is almost half of the AB population.
From conducting research on rottentomatoes.com, the film has been met with positive reviews achieving 83% on the tomatometer and 65% of audiences liking it, with reviewers saying "Tinker Tailor requires close watching, but viewers are rewarded with a moody, layered and involving thriller". From this one can understand why this film may appeal to audience as it involves its viewers with a deep mystery and gets them asking for me. Perhaps this should be taken in consideration of my thriller film, more specifically this would mean I would have to create a strong hook in my opening therefore involving my audience in my narrative. Additionally a reviewer on the site claimed "The film has intrigues, shootings, infidelities and clues -- lots of clues -- which we ponder, along with the poker-faced Smiley, played with Oscar-nominated perfection by Gary Oldman." From this one can gather one of the main selling points of the film was its mystery and the many clues it gave to its audiences which caused them to think about the narrative; so to cater to my audience it would be appropriate that my narrative features a strong mystery filled with onscreen clues that challenge the viewers mind. Another reviewer said that the film had "Outstanding performances and fascinating visual design are somewhat marred by a slow pace and a dry narrative." This quote explains one of the films flaws; pacing issues, so to cater for my audience I must find a way to create tension and mystery at a reasonable pace. Additionally the quote does explain how its actors delivered a strong performance and also how the visuals helped the film become appealing therefore 3 mains points i should focus from looking at this quote are interesting visuals, good casting- to have strong actors and also a good pace of narrative.
Excellent work Chris. The analysis is in depth and you have answered the question "how can I make my thriller appeal to my audience?" throughout. Well done!
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