Research : How can I make my thriller appealing to my audience?

The British Film Industry's (BFI) website has a Industry Statistical Yearbook which has many statistics regarding films. Essentially, the statistics range from genre and classification, to audiences and distribution. This website will aid me in finding out which thrillers appealed to the audience and how popular thrillers were in general. Essentially. I will be researching how gender, social group, genre and audiences all effect each other.

Genre
One can identify that thrillers were 7th out of 16 in the list of genres ranked by gross box office; this tells one that thrillers were fairly popular in 2011. What's more, one has noticed that the highest gross box office was at the age certificate 12A with £227.8 million - although this was not a thriller it conveys that a thriller film would be harder to market as it would have to be quite a child-friendly, subtle film to fit into this age bracket. The lowest age range for a thriller that made it into the top 10 in 2011 was Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy at an age certificate of 15; therefore making it the top released thriller film in 2011. Overall, this tells one that to make my thriller appealing to my audience I will have to make a clear age bracket for it to fit into so I can decide how 'dark' I can make it.

Gender
Significantly, the gender within the thriller genres are very intriguing; there is a clear pattern between men, women and the equal gender split. The Black Swan film had a higher percentage of female viewers (61%) to male viewers (39%) - this was ranked 8th in the top female viewing audience. This suggests to one that females prefer psychological thrillers on topics that are generally perceived as more feminine - like ballet. In contrast, the 127 Hours film had a higher percentage of male viewers (68%) to female viewers (32%). This conveys that males perhaps enjoy more of a gory thriller on a typically more male topic. One can identify that the film Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy appeals to a mixed ratio of males (52%) to females (48%). Perhaps this could be due to it being more of a mystery based film as opposed to fitting some conventions that appeal to a certain genre. So, my research on gender signifies to one that it's mostly down to the conventions and topics that the film portrays. If I was to make my thriller based around a female character and her vulnerability, it would possibly appeal more to females and vice versa. Thus, to make it appeal to both audiences I must get a balance of the right sort of characters so that it generally appeals to a wider range of people.

Audiences

Crucially, one has noticed that 77% of people view films on television; this is 71.5% greater than the downloaded/streamed proportion of films watched. This is significant due to the fact that my thriller will be released on Youtube and will therefore be one of the films that is available for the 277 million people to view online. This means that to appeal to my audience of online viewers I must include references that they will understand. Additionally, this also means that the length of my film will differ from that on television or in a cinema because an online viewer will want to view a shorter film so they can watch multiple ones.

Interestingly, figures show that more people aged between 15 and 24 watch films in the cinema than any other age category. This is a big indication that my film must appeal to this age range as they watch the most films. This is evident from 1997 to 2011 so this is a reoccurring pattern that will be most likely to be the same for 2012 also. Furthermore, one can note from the graph that 45+ used to be the least likely to watch a film in the cinema - however, this has gradually swapped to the 35-44 age category. One might suggest that this is due to the nature of people's lifestyles and the lack of time that people have to watch films. So, if I wanted to appeal to this age range perhaps a shorter online film would appeal to them more because it's more convenient to watch whenever they have time. Moreover, 46% of people aged between 15 and 24 saw the 127 Hours film in 2011. This was the highest ranking thriller for this age range; conveying to one that perhaps this age range favor more of a gore/suspense thriller.

Social Group
Social group in terms of films are split into the upper-class (AB) and the lower-class (DE). The film Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy ranked second in the AB category for thrillers with 47% of the film's total audience being the upper class. Conversely, DE films which are viewed by the lower class, are generally more about adversities that the lower class face - thus they are more suited to this audience because it is a topic that they are familiar with.

When researching on http://www.rottentomatoes.com - a leading film review website - one can find out further information as to how I can make my thriller appeal to my audience. One has found that 83% of people on this website liked 2011's top thriller film Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. Some people's reviews claimed "very close attention must be paid, but the rewards of doing so are considerable". Essentially, this indicates that the audience like the film to have hidden meaning and implicit plot lines running through it - so to appeal to my audience this is something I can consider for my film. Moreover, one reviewer said it was "a very gripping, brilliantly directed character driven genre film, with top class performances from a flawless ensemble cast". Clearly, this demonstrates that to make my thriller appeal to all audience types the cast must be "flawless"; this will effect the decisions I make in the casting process. Other reviewers claim that it has a "hushed and methodical approach" which further highlights that I must ensure to approach the film in a more implicit way to appeal to my audience. decisions