How can I make my thriller appealing to my audience? - Primary Research

In order to conduct primary research for my piece, I compiled a survey on surveymonkey.com. I decided to advertise the survey on facebook and twitter, and also sent it to my stepfather and my mother, who then forwarded the link to some friends and colleagues.
Below is a list of the questions I asked people to conduct research.

1. What age are you?
2. How often, on average, do you watch films that would fall in the thriller genre?
3. On which platform do you predominantly view films?
4. Which of these elements do you enjoy in a film?
5. Please rate these elements in order of how important they are to a film.
6. Do you prefer to be able to relate to a film?
7. Do you pay much attention to the opening sequence of a film? Why? Why not?
8. Does the title of a film bear any significance when you are choosing a film to watch?
9. How much violence do you prefer in a film?
10. How often do you review films, for example on websites (such as Rotten Tomatoes or IMDB) or in newspapers?

In total I had 40 responses which I think was a well sized group of people. The first question on my survey aimed to find out the ages of these people, and the results are shown in the graph below.
I found that most of the people who completed the survey were 17 or under but this was probably due to the medium through which I advertised my survey. I also had a reasonable amount of 18-24 year olds, which I was pleased to see as it meant that over half of the people who took my survey were in my target age range. It was interesting for me to also have a lot of people from other age ranges, as it gave me an idea of what people from other age groups were interested in and upon looking at my results later on in the survey, I found that it might be worth looking for other methods of hosting my film. These would be less social network reliant mediums.
The second question asked how often they watched films that would fall into the thriller genre.

The results showed me that thriller films are not so popular among some, namely through the fact that 7 people did not watch thriller films at all. However, most people did watch them, and over half of people watched thriller films, at what I would consider, regularly.
I believe, as a result, that thriller films are a popular genre among most people and hence there is definitely a market for my film.
The next question was asking what platform people predominantly watched films on. As I found in my secondary research, a lot of people used television in order to view them. I found, however, that most people used DVD's or Blu-Ray, which may reflect the age groups surveyed - the younger generation are most likely to want to watch films that are not shown on TV pre-watershed, for example, and hence they may rent movies from the library or buy them. The cinema was relatively popular too, despite the figures from the BFI in regards to the popularity of cinema being only around 3%. Obviously I cannot get my film into cinemas, or on national television, but in the long term, if I chose to create the film, I could create DVDs of it and sell them myself. I would predominantly use the internet to stream my film however. This was not one of the popular options in my survey but due to budget limitations, I would evidently have to use this. Also, it is important to bear in mind that I asked which one people mainly watched films on - this does not mean that people do not watch films online at all, but just not as much as mediums such as the DVD.

The next question was not limited and it asked which of the elements listed people enjoyed in a film. It was not limited in the sense that people could choose multiple options instead of sticking to just one. I found that mystery, suspense and tension were very popular elements. Psychological elements were clearly enjoyed too, which is good because that it one of the main elements in the film. I found that murder and religion were not incredibly popular, but I also think that my film is a little niche. These are two elements that I wanted to include in my film and they are still going to be in it, because I wanted to challenge conventions and not do something cliche, which is why I have combined these elements in order to come up with something which I feel is quite original and hence should be enjoyable.
In retrospect, having the element named simply "religion" may have been a weakness, and I should have made it much less broad, with something like "cults" instead.

The next question had eight elements, including Character Development and Location, and five rating options which could then be applied to each one. This chart shows how popular each element was with each person. As we can see, a lot of people thought that soundtrack was important, to various degrees. Most people thought it was quite important, although a lot of people thought that it was an essential part of the film. Location had a rather equal divide in terms of these ratings, although most people though it was important. The next element showed me how much care I should put into the editing of my film, as over 90% of people thought that it was important. A lot of people thought that it was an essential part of the film. Character development was also considered to be very important, and it was predominantly rated as being essential. This is good news for me as it was definitely going to be a crucial part of my piece, due to the emotional trauma which my protagonist has been through.
I found that people did not really care about there being a mix of genders in a film, but I have a mix despite this. I thought it would be deemed to be more important than it actually came across, but I suppose this is personal opinion and obviously my sample is not as wide as that of the BFI.
A complicated plot is also not something that audiences looked for. It came across as being unimportant to most of the people I surveyed which is understandable as sometimes it can make a film uncomfortable to watch if it is difficult to understand. The plot to my film is not complicated, thankfully; I asked after this element though because I wanted to see if I needed to improve my plot as I felt that in some ways, it might be considered a little basic. However, this is probably not a problem in retrospect of these results.
The costume of characters was considered to be more important than not, which is good for me as I have put thought into what my characters will wear in the opening sequence in order to put across a certain message.

I next asked whether or not people preferred to be able to relate to a film. I provided a comment box so that people could add more detailed answers, although some chose not to do this.
Overall, people did not always like to relate to a film, although 25% of my audience always liked to relate. After looking at my qualitative feedback, I can see that it was a case of being able to feel more sympathy for characters for most people. However, most people stated that although in lighthearted films they enjoyed being able to relate, they often found that when watching films with horrific elements and violence, they preferred to not be able to empathise, for obvious reasons. Some also said that they found it did not really matter - "I enjoy James Bond films, but have no desire to be a spy!" and as a result I think my plot should go down well with most people as it is not necessarily something many can empathise with.
Those who stated they did not enjoy being able to relate to films claimed that they used films as a form of escapism and hence they preferred more unrealistic situations.
The next question was purely qualitative and asked whether they paid much attention to the opening sequence to a film. The general answer to this was yes. Some said that if it was fast paced and eye catching, they gave it full attention, but if it was mainly credits then they would hesitate to give it much thought. One person stated that they found it to be the most important part of the film. Some found that it set the tone and pace for the film, but others said that they tended to invest more attention in the opening if there was eye catching images or interesting music.

Next, I asked about the significance of the title of a film. I had rather mixed reviews here, but most people said that it did matter to them. Some people said that they conducted research on websites such as IMDB to find out what the film is about, so the title is not too important to them. People also said that an interesting, even ambiguous title will attract their attention. Something long and which makes explicit reference to the content of the film tended to put people off, yet unusual phrases or words attracted people to the film. People enjoyed imaginative titles, but if they were too simple, such as a verb or adjective, they tended to avoid it.

The next question asked about the level of violence which people preferred in a film. As can be seen in the chart, most people enjoyed some violence in films but due to the gap between this and "a lot of violence", it seems that the people I surveyed would be more suited to watching a film that was rated a 15. Those which fall under "some violence" would most likely be this rating, whereas the other would be an 18 respectively. 15 is the rating which I would like to attach to my film, mainly because anything higher is going to condense the audience of the film considerably.

The following question was the last, and it asked how often they reviewed films online, on sites such as Rotten Tomatoes and IMDB. I asked this because I wanted to validate the opinions I found throughout my thriller research. As shown in the graph, 75% of the people surveyed never reviewed the films they watched. This shows to me that the opinions of a lot of people go unheard in terms of their enjoyment of films.
Ultimately, I have learned that my audience is a mix of ages, and that I should definitely not restrict my film to only a few age groups. Not all of the people I surveyed watched thriller films, be it because of their age or because of the elements that each individual enjoyed in a film. Most people enjoyed an element of mystery in these types of films, which is obviously not a theme that is exclusive to thriller films. It is something that I hope to include in my own film opening, be it through the way in which I show images, edit scenes or the way in which the soundtrack runs alongside visuals.
I found that many people did not particularly care for a complicated plot, which suggests to me that most people prefer to watch films to relax, as opposed to having to invest a huge amount of attention into them throughout the entire duration of the film. This is understandable, considering that around 18% of the people I asked did not actually watch films from the more attention-grabbing thriller genre.
A lot of people did not really mind whether or not there was a mix of genders in the film. This research could have been backed up with evidence if I had asked the gender of my audience, but overall there was a sense that it was not really something which my audience minded about. Films like the Hurt Locker, who famously had an all male cast, were still a success despite a clear gender bias.
I also found that many people didn't review films after watching them, which is not only a shame as it means that their opinions are rarely found, but it also throws off a lot of research, including that of the BFI and the reviews I found on Rotten Tomatoes and IMDB. People who review will most likely be people above my target age range of 15-24, and those who have a strong interest in filmography. As good as it is to receive feedback from those "in the know", I think that it would have been beneficial for these people who do not review to do so occasionally.
In order to make my thriller appealing to my audience, I should try to incorporate as many of the things I have learned from this audience research into my piece as I can.
For instance, the title needs to be attention grabbing and ambiguous. Something dull or which makes it explicitly clear what the film is about, like "Run" or "Thief" (as one of my audience suggested), tend to dissuade audiences away. Films with titles like this are atypically horrors too. As a result, I will need to ensure that my title creates a sense of mystery for the viewer, and also make sure that it does not sound like a horror film, because this could easily put a large contingent of people off viewing it.
I need to ensure that while their are some relatable elements in my film, there should not be too much of this because this can upset some audience members. There probably would not be too many relatable parts in my opening, but if I was to continue with the whole thing then I would want to ensure that whilst I created something that people could empathise with, it allowed people to still escape the everyday.
I also think that, in order to appeal to as many people as possible, I should probably limit the amount of violence shown. I think that it generally makes a film that much scarier when the violence is hinted, because it toys on the mind of the viewer and they are envisaging what is going on themselves, which is usually a much more thrilling experience. There is no violence in the opening sequence; only a bloodied knife. This, I believe, should create a tense atmosphere, and should hopefully set off the inquisitive mind of the viewer.
I also found that Editing and Character Development was something which people deemed to be very important, and hence I will want to make sure that the editing is done in a way which meets a high standard - and also creates the tension and mystery which the audience clearly enjoy, regardless of the types of films which they prefer.
Character development was always something I was sure would be done well. It is obviously a huge part of films like this - characters simply cannot afford to be one dimensional when there is so much at stake in terms of their situation.

In conclusion, I will ensure that the editing is of a high quality, that the title is something that appeals to a wide variety of people, that the entire sequence is eye catching and fast paced, and that the soundtrack sits well alongside all the visuals.