Thriller Survey: Responses

Primary

Thriller Survey Link:

Do Survey here!
Forum that it has been posted on...

http://www.city-data.com/forum/search.php?searchid=357539


Responses (Quantitative)

1) Male or Female?

Male - 5
Female - 6

2) Favourite genre?

Thriller - 3
Action - 2
Comedy - 3
Fantasy - 2
Romance - 0
Musical - 0
Horror - 0
Other - 1

6) Which elements make a good thriller?

Both male and female characters - 1
Suspense - 8
Plot Twist - 7
Action sequences - 2
Other - 1 ("All of the above")

7) Rank the following thrillers in order of preference. (1 = Favourite, 7 = Least Favourite)

Average Rating:
Shutter Island - 1 and 3
Psycho - 1 & 2
Pulp Fiction - 1 & 4
Taken - 5
Leon - 6
Alien - 4
North By Northwest - 7

8) Which of the following thriller directors do you consider you favourite?

Alfred Hitchcock - 3
Roman Polanski - 0
David Fincher - 0
Quentin Tarantino - 2
Christopher Nolan - 2
Martin Scorsese - 0
Steven Spielberg - 4
Other - 0

9) How often do you watch Thriller Films at the cinema?

Never - 3
Occasionally - 8
Often - 0

Responses (Qualitative)

3) What is it about that genre that you like? (if you selected "other" please specify the genre you have in mind)

When asked this question people said features such as 'plot twists', 'mystery', 'magic' and 'the killing'. A few said they like thrillers because they 'holds [your] attention more than the others' and 'keeps you interested throughout the film'. 

4) Do you enjoy thriller films? If so, what is your favourite thriller film?

Two people said their favourite thriller was 'Pulp Fiction'. Others said 'Sixth Sense', 'Ghost', 'The Hills have Eyes', 'Any James Bond/Oceans/Italian Job/Cape Fear/Jaws/Shutter'. 

5) What don't you like about Thriller Films?

When this was asked the frequent answer was 'being too scary', followed by 'too violent' and 'too much gore'. From these responses we can conclude that people don't like thrillers that contain too many elements of a horror film.  


10) What was the last thriller film you saw at the cinema?

When asked, the majority of people named recent releases - such as Taken 2, Hanna, The Village, and Shutter Island. This suggests that the people who took our survey might be frequent cinema goers, and keep up to date with the latest releases. The fact that Taken 2 appears more than once among the responses suggests it was a particularly popular release.

Analysis of Results

Question 1

From the chart above, we can see that it was close between the number of female and male participants. However, there were more females taking part in the survey, which might have had some effect on the overall results. We can assume this because we know from our previous audience research that females and males have varying tastes in films.

Question 2

The above chart shows that, overall, thriller and comedy films were the most popular among our participants. The fact that some of our participants selected thrillers as their favourite genre of film suggests that they are fans of the genre, and will subsequently have some knowledge of thrillers. This means that their answers will benefit us more in our research.

Question 3

The responses to this question imply that the majority of participant enjoy thrillers with suspenseful plots; they enjoy story-lines that keep the audience guessing and hold the audiences interest from the beginning. This is also reflected in the replies to a later question on favourite thriller films, where psychological thrillers have been chosen by some of our participants.

Question 4

Although the answers to this question varied, we could determine that our participants predominantly enjoyed thrillers with a twist in the plot (such as Sixth Sense), as well as films that are very suspenseful (such as Jaws and Taken). There were also a number of films that lean towards horror mentioned in the responses (Shutter and The Hills Have Eyes were two of the responses that contain more elements of horror than thriller), which was a surprise seeing as later in the survey we discovered that most of the participants didn't enjoy thrillers that crossed over into the horror genre.

Question 5

Among the facetious responses we received there were some specific criticisms of modern thriller films - namely that they can become very complicated, sometimes very predictable, occasionally too violent and often appear to lean too much towards horror. A number of people who took part in our survey said that they found some modern thrillers too "scary", and some "too gory", suggesting perhaps that they prefer psychological thrillers as opposed to crime or action thrillers.


Question 6

The majority of people answered this question with "suspense" and "plot twists", reaffirming the ideas above regarding the audience preferring intelligent thriller films, with carefully constructed plots. Only two people suggested that they thought action sequences were an important element of a thriller, again confirming that those who partook in our survey do not enjoy action thrillers as much as psychological ones.

Question 7

Our survey participants ranked, on average, Shutter Island, Pulp Fiction and Psycho as number one. North by Northwest was ranked last - although due to the assumed average age of our participants we presume that this is because they have not yet seen the film, and so ranked films they had seen above it. Despite this, we can gather from the responses that psychological thrillers were generally ranked higher than action thrillers (Shutter Island was ranked higher than Taken), and thrillers that contain elements of horror ranked higher than sci-fi thrillers (Psycho ranked higher on average than Alien).

Question 8

Steven Spielberg was selected as the favourite thriller director of our participants, with Alfred Hitchcock coming in second. It came as a surprise that neither Roman Polanksi nor David Fincher were voted by anyone, despite being established and successful thriller directors. Martin Scorsese was also not selected by anyone, whereas Quentin Tarantino and Christopher Nolan were both voted by two participants each, meaning they both ranked third in the list of favourite directors. The fact that Steven Spielberg was voted favourite by those who completed our survey suggests that they enjoy films that are more family orientated. This could explain why they appear to dislike horror, graphic violence or gritty action in thriller films.

Question 9

73% said they occasionally go to the cinema to see a thriller film, whereas the remaining percentage never go to the cinema to see a thriller film. This means that from our results at least 73% of our responses are reilable because they have some idea on what a thriller film is. This also provides evidence that those people we collected responses from are relevant to what we are trying to find out.         

Question 10

From this question the majority of people had seen more recent thrillers. So we can conclude that they keep up to date with the latest films. Publicity of films via trailers/advertising are a key element on how the population are acknowledged of the newest films.
Conclusion

We can conclude, having analyzed all of our responses, that the majority of our participants prefer thriller films that contain intricate plots, plenty of suspense, little violence, few elements of horror, and are, to some extent, family orientated. However, many of the responses given seemed to contradict one another, which also suggests that peoples preferences where thrillers are concerned depend on specific films and directors.

How can I make my thriller appealing to my audience

(Joint Work with Abigail Fish)

Genre Research Statistics from 2010 - Secondary research

Genre:

In 2010 the highest grossing genre of film was Fantasy, followed by Science-fiction, Animation and then Romance. Thrillers were the ninth highest grossing films that year, averaging over £13,000 box office takings per site. The box office gross reached 19.3 million for thriller films in 2010. Fantasy was the highest grossing genre of film, because of the huge success of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1". This shows that audiences are drawn to films which contain elements of fantasy, and also reaffirms the popularity of the Harry Potter series. 

From the graph above we can see that the majority of independent films have a 15 certificate rating. 15 certificate independent films also grossed the highest. Approximately 56.6% of UK films have a rating of 12A. This is because, generally, 12A (family orientated) films appeal to a wider audience and therefore make more money.     

The above table shows the highest ranking films/film genres in terms of gross box office. 20 thrillers were released in the UK in 2010, grossing at 19.3 million pounds. The thriller genre ranked 11th in the whole table (which contains 15 genres altogether), suggesting that either the genre has not been particularly popular recently, or perhaps that the films released under the thriller genre in 2010 were not as well-received as other films. 

Audience Research statistics from 2010

From statistics in 2010, the average age group to attend the cinema was 15-34 years old. 30% were from the 15-24 age group and the other 20% were from the 25-34 age group. The lowest age group with 8% attending the cinema were 45-54 year olds. The increase in attendance from the 15-24 year old age group could be attributed to this age group socialising more, and going out more often. 18% of cinema goers are in the age group of 7-14 year olds. This is because young children need to be accompanied by an adult and don't tend to go alone or with friends, especially at the ages 7-13.          

Gender Audience Research:

61% of cinema goers who went at least once a year were male and 62% were female. More males go to the cinema at least once a month than females, and an average of 19% overall go to the cinema at least once a month. 

The tables above show which films released in 2010 had a predominantly female or male audience. The third table shows the films for which audience gender was not significant. More females seem to have attended 'girly' films which involve romance. Where as males attended films which contained action, violence and a bit of comedy.    

It is a surprise to see that 80% of people watch films on TV then owning them on DVD. 4% go to the cinema which is once again very surprising but the prices are probably a deterrent especially due to the current economic climate. 

One of the top thriller films is The Ghost in 2010 with 12 releases and 8.33% total box office, ranked 5th in UK Independent films.  

Thriller needs to:

Appeal to both genders
Invite Thriller lovers
Action, Fantasy and Romance = Wide audience range

Rotten Tomatoes    (Own research)

The Dark Knight Rises received a positive reception. This is due to the 3rd of a trilogy and of course batman fans will want to see it. Batman does appeal to more males in general and the once again basic plot line (stereotypical superhero) which could be the cause to why the percentage on the "tomatometer" is lower than for Looper. The target audience rules out females with some exceptions due. I think the focus is of Batman being well known and it being the 3rd in a trilogy makes the film more of a "big deal" than other thrillers.

Looper has the highest meter rating due to a better plot line than Batman. The comments by critics are positive and gives you all the good points about the film. Less audience liked it, maybe due to the genre and the gender clash. More males maybe liked it, like in Batman which lowered the audience. 

The ratings aren't as high but this could be caused by the plot line of characters. It focuses around a teenage girl which would lower the appeal for males. Even though some people are in denial, more of a male cast is more successful. The plot line also is predictable which would lower the reviews.