Audience Profile

Audience Profile

The target audience decided for our thriller is young adults from ages 17-28 of any gender. This is due to the relation the audience will be able to have with the characters in the film, as the characters are young adults also - this is seen through costume and personality of characters. For example, our main character has an up to date sense of style through his costume which consists of slimmed jeans, hooded tops and brogue shoes. Furthermore, the characters confident but eerie personality may attract this audience and gain a liking for the character due to their confident and ‘cool’ personality.

Our film, being an independent piece, aims to attract a small specialty audience such as people that enjoy certain genres of music may enjoy this film more due to soundtrack, concept and costume. However, mainstream targets the audience of a large majority, such as young women. Our independent audience consists of alternative young adults aged 17-28 due to the soundtrack, concept and character. We will use alternative camera work to emphasise the independence of this film, along with the overall look and personality of the character and the alternative soundtrack - this will all appeal to this alternative young audience.

Research shows that in thriller films audiences prefer the sub-genre of psychological thriller. This works to our advantage as this is the sub genre we are basing our thriller film on. Furthermore, the preferred setting for thriller is in present time in an urban environment. This is due to present time enhancing the feeling of it being reality and audiences find this more exciting. In addition, the urban setting is due to the non stop life in cities creating a thrilling environment. Moreover, it has been proven that many prefer a slower storyline building up to a climax rather than action packed the entire way through. This is due to the fact that it lets the audience think for themselves and draw their own conclusions as to what is going on before anything is yet to happen. Many preferred motion based cinematography with the use of tracking and dolly shots because it gives the audience a sense of movement and feels as though you are in the scene, creating realism. However, still camera movement worked well with the audience also as it gives a clear view of the shot. When asked, many were not in favour of special effects in thriller films – this is said to make the film unrealistic and somewhat cheap. A simple editing base was favoured among the public overall. In addition, murder is a huge favourite amongst themes of thriller. Many preferred the psychological aspect of murder and found this to be more thrilling in a film as it is based on real life situations. Furthermore, mise-en-scene is an important factor in film because many things in the shot may symbolise something important towards the literature of the film.

Our thriller is able to target these audiences as many prefer psychological thrillers with a slow uptake – our thriller fits both of these aims. In addition our target audience, being young adults from 17-28, will be attracted to the character through look and personality. This is because of the up to date look our villain will hold over the audience, along with a confident personality which shows the audience he may be above them, creating intimidation towards the audience. Furthermore, they may take a liking to this character because of his alternative costume connoting a sense of ‘coolness’ to his personality and having this sense is an aspiration of many young people today. Likewise, the audience may be attracted by the alternative soundtrack due to it being a popular genre amongst this age group.