Investigating Sub-genres

Before the 10 participants of my questionnaire answered the question of their favoured sub-genre, I showed them examples of 5 different sub-genres to see which one the preferred. I also defined each of the sub-genres with a short description.

Crime Thriller: These films feature combined aspects of crime film and thriller film. They are based around successful or failed crimes and focus mainly on the criminal(s). However, there is often an important police/detective/inspector character. Murders, chases and robberies are common topic utilised in this sub-genre.

Examples: Se7en, Reservoir Dogs, Inside Man, Kalifornia

Action Thriller:

Action Thrillers are fast paced and sometimes prove to be a race against the clock. They contain a lot of violence, guns and use of special effects to create explosions etc.

Examples: Bourne Ultimatum, Bad Boys, The Transporter, James Bond

Gangster Thriller:

Gangster Thrillers usually include aspects of Action and Crime. They involve money, guns and vivid violence.

Example: Lucky Number Slevin

Film Noir:

Film Noirs are classically known to be black and white hollywood crime thrillers. The film noir period stretched from the early 1940's to the late 1950's. However, aspects of them are often utilised in contemporary thrillers.

Examples: Kiss Me Deadly, The Third Man, Citizen Kane, The Glass Key

Horror Thriller:

Horror Thrillers usually involve the character(s) being put in

danger but unrealistic creatures. Generally, their goal is to

destroy the creature in order to protect themselves and others.

They often incorporate elements of science fiction and fantasy also.

Examples: Children of Men, Cabin Fever, The Amityville Horror, Blade

Audience Research

Proposal:

I am going to look into the audience's age and lifestyle

and find out about the relationship between them and how they consume films (and where) and how they hear about films (and what makes them want to see it)

I will create a questionnaire and analyse the results to find out how the use of audience segmentation can help us see how exhibition and marketing effects the audience. Also, how differences in the needs and wants of the target audience effects the way the product is marketed and exhibited to suit them.

Questionnaire:

Here are some pictures of the questionnaire and the results.

Analysis:

After looking at the results of my questionnaire it is clear that age and lifestyle determine how films are consumed and marketed.

Young people usually go to the cinema or watch DVD's. They are targeted differently to adults when marketed because they are a modern generation. Merchandise is used to win over really young children because they always want the latest thing out and adverts promoting this merchandise will cause children to craze their parents for such items. Tv and trailers appeal to all age ranges really as the majority of people watch television for several hours a day or week. I have found that music and supermarket choice were less influential when marketing for children, however fashion, culture and music seem to be taken into a lot of consideration when advertising for young men, young women and adults. This could be through things like the type of marketing or features that they include to grab the target audience's attention. For example: the soundtrack used on a trailer.

Young adults seen to have the largest intake of marketing types. 16-20 year olds have heard about films through a large selection of marketing methods, however the most successful appears to be the use of trailers. Magazines are another successful way to market films to the young adults apposed to newspapers and reviews which are likely to catch the attention of an older audience.

By asking people their favourite/ preferred supermarket to shop in, I can try to loosely determine their "class"- this is something else that might inform marketing choices. This would be done by catagorising the methods of marketing but futhermore, the catagories within the methods of marketing. For example: Magazines- what kind of magazine a certain film will be advertised in.

Social groups would influence the genre of film that people favoured. Genre wasn't something i looked at when creating my questionnaire, so the inclusion of social groups did not make much of an impact on the results.

All in all, from looking at my questionnaire, i have found that different age groups consume films in different ways and find certain marketing techniques more effective than others, meaning that audience must be segmented in order to meet the needs and wants of every group. The wide range of marketing options are there to cater for different individuals; age and lifestyle are definitely factors that influence this. However, there is a lot more to think about when it comes to audience. Exhibition runs in the same way, by segregating groups to market and exhibit films to. There is also a clear overlap in some group: marketing: exhibiting methods because there is always going to be people that do not fit the stereotype of the group and therefore a 12 year old could watch a film in the same way as a 32 year old and they could both find the same marketing method the most effective.

Thriller Film Audience Research

What I want to find out:
The audience expectations of independent/ mainstream films
Which age group prefers the thriller genre
Which sub-genre of thriller do people prefer
Do the audience prefer a male or female lead
What locations are most thrilling to the target market

What costumes would you expect to see in the film noir genre?

How I am going to find out:
Questionnaire/ Research

Questionnaire

Questionnaire

Questionnaire

Show images of various locations and get people to choose which one they find most thrilling

Show images of various costumes and get people to choose which one/s they think fit the film noir genre best

What I expect to find out:
The differences between the two types of film and what the expectations for an independent film are
Adults prefer thriller films- most likely to be young adults (age 16-30)
Action/ Thrillers, Crime/ Thrillers and Horror/ Thrillers are most popular
I suspect that a male lead will be favoured because the majority of films use a man as the main character, however a female lead will probably be popular amongst women
The audience will probably choose locations that have been utilised a lot in various thriller films

Classic costumes like trilby hats, long coats, high heels will be the most common answer from the audience as that is what is seen in old film noir thrillers

Independent Film:

It is a film produced mostly outside of a major film studio; they are produced with a low budget and unfamiliar actors and heavily rely on word of mouth and awards for their success. They are usually exhibited and distributed on limited release but their main appeal is the quirky unusual way in which they are filmed and the narrative of the film.

Examples: Cube, Texas Chain Saw Massacre, The Blair Witch Project, Lost in Translation, Mememto, Clerks, Donnie Darko, The Usual Suspects, Reservoir Dogs

Mainstream Film:

It is a commercial film made by a major film company with a high budget. They are distributed to cinemas across the world and rely on famous actors to boost viewings. The narrative is often predictable and a big feature used in mainstream is special effects.

Examples: Die Hard, Transformers, American Pie, Avatar, Twilight, Pirates of The Caribbean, King King, Indiana Jones, Toy Story, Harry Potter

Questionnaire and Results:

From looking a the results of my Thriller audience research, I have found that "mainstream" films are more popular than "independent". This result was expected because "mainstream" is what most people are used and they feature famous actors. Their hight budget and use of special effects wins over the audience also.

Crime and Action were the most popular sub-genre followed by film noir; action and crime are both utilised quite a lot in thriller films and are very fast paced when done "mainstream", meaning that they keep the audience engaged. The crime sub-genre generally has tension-filled moments throughout as well.

The results from the questionnaire show that the audience prefer a male lead rather than a female lead. This shows misogynous behaviour and perhaps a superior view of men; this sexist view would have, however, been sub-consciously created by the audience. This is because they would have witnessed a large majority of male leading roles for years.

When researching into Thriller films, I looked at locations quite a lot. The questionnaire shows that a wet, damp, dark street and basement were found to be the most thrilling. This is quite an interesting set of results because they contrast; a basement is isolated and streets are very open. However, they are both dark and have places for people to lurk behind. Shadows can be created in both and the two locations have been utilised in various Thriller films.

The majority of people that took part in my questionnaire circled the right costumes foe a Film Noir. This is good because it reassures me that the sub-genre can be easily recognised and that the audience has an understanding of it. It also makes planning for my Thriller opening easier because I can now look at my target audience's opinions and views and take them into consideration.