Questionnaire

This is the questionnaire we handed out to groups of ten 16-19 year olds, and ten 25-35 year olds, males and females, in order to conduct research for which type of thriller we should make.

Audience Profile

The audience for our thriller film would be young adults, of the student age, 16-25. This is because of the younger cast members, and the gripping storyline. It would be certified as a 15 due to the reference to identity theft, and the violence present in the opening scene. We can conduct from our surveys would attract both genders from our audience as the majority surveyed would rather have the female lead role, which we have included. Our film is likely to appeal to students due to the action in the opening scene, yet could also appeal to those higher up on the demographic model and to older viewers, due to the reference to classic films like Alfred Hitchcock's 'Psycho'. Other films that may appeal to our audience could be those like 'Jackie Brown' - Quentin Tarantino, and several of his other films. This is because our film was inspired by his directing, with the use of location and femme-fatales.
Our film would attract an audience who enjoy tv programmes, such as The Bill, with the reference to identity theft and a murder. Our film could continue into being a Crime type thriller, a film proved to be favoured by some from our surveys.

The Mass Manipulation Model

-The idea that the media might be a powerful social and political force momentum in the 1920's and 30's. (Shown in the political propaganda of Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany semed able to seduce and persude citizens in ways not possible prior to mass media.)
-Audiences seen as a mass of individuals that could be persuaded and influenced ("The Hidden Persuaders" book (1957) attempted to uncover some subliminal advertising techniques.)
-Media has been accused of corrupting young audiences. (1950's rock and roll, mysogynism, glorifying of guns and gangs through rap and hiphop.)
-Action from the BBFC. (This was particularly evident when the murder of James Bulger was linked to "Childs Play 3").
-Bendure and Walters. (The 'Bobo doll' experiments suggest children might imitate violent behaviour after being exposed to it. However this was criticised for not reflecting normal viewing conditions, also now children can distinguish between real and stimulated violence.)
-Drug Metaphors. (Marie Winn's book "The Plug In Drug" (1997), suggests that children watch television in a 'trance' having a 'glazed, vacous look'.

The relevance of the Mass Manipulation Model is limited in today's age of advanced media technology. Audiences are now more active rather than passive and more 'media savvy'. Audiences are aware of media manipulation and have more choice and control over how they consume media. However we should still not underestimate the power of media!

Push & Pull Media

There are a number of ways in which media can be advertised.
These include,
-Trailers in cinemas.
-Trailers on television.
-Billboards.
-Film Reviews.
-Websites.
-Newspaper Advertisements.
-Positive word of mouth.
-Interviews with actors.
-Personal appearances by actors.
-Press Junctions.
-Tekevision Programmes.
-Adverts on social networking sites.
-Merchandising (e.g Mcdonalds).

Some of these adverts can seem as though they have been 'pushed' onto an audience, so some audiences create a sort of 'pull' in the media.
This is done by audiences
- Visiting websites.
- Choosing to watch a certain televison programme.
- Buying film magazines/reading reviews.
- Browsing in a store.
- Browsing online.
- Browsing films on film subscription sites.

Research into which Thriller Genre is preferred

From the graphs below, it can be concluded that with younger audiences, choice of thriller genre is varied, for instance females aged 16-18 enjoy Crime Thrillers, whilst the males do not, also a higher proportion of males aged 16-18 prefer Psychological Thrillers then females. The graphs also show that as males and females age, their favor in thriller genres even out, and more or less bcome the same proportions for each gender.