Thriller Questionnaire (Question & Results) and Audience expections of a thriller

This a questionnaire that used :

 

Questionnaire

(Please circle your answers)

 

1.      Gender

Male                Female

2.      Age

Under 12         12 – 15            16 – 19            20 – 23            24 +

3.      Do you go to the cinema often?

Yes                  No

If 'No', Why?

............................................................................

4.      Do you like going to the cinema?

Yes                  No

If 'No', Why?

............................................................................

5.      What’s your favorite film genre and why?

.................................................................................................................................................

6.      What do you expect from a thriller film? (Multiple Choice)

Crime              Suspensions                 Investigation                Romance                   Comedy

Adventure         Death                           Drama                         Fast Paced                   Other

          

7.      Do you watch thriller films?

Yes                  No

If 'No', Why?

............................................................................

8.      What thriller sub-genre do you prefer to watch?

Conspiracy        Crime                          Disaster                       Psychological              Political

Spy                  Supernatural 

I asked 20 random people to do my questionnaire and this is the results I got from it:

Question 1

Most of the people I asked was males, 12 out of the 20 people were males. This shows nothing really just that I asked 4 more males than females. On the other hand, it could affect the result due to the fact ia sked more males than females could say this is what most males think, rather than what both gender think.

Question 2

Most of the people that I asked were between the ages of 16-19, due to the fact that I asked a lot of people in my college who happen to be in that age ranges that were most popular. Like question 1, this shows nothing and it only shows the ages of people I asked. On the other hand, the result could not generalilse all the ages which means that it could be bias of people in one particula age group. 

Question 3

This question the results were 50/50, 10 people saying they do go cinema often, and the other half saying they don't as much. The group that circled the answer 'no', most of them said to me when I asked them why, that they do go cinema but they don't go as often as they would like too due to a time factor. 

Question 4

Most of the people that filled out my questionnaire (85%) said they enjoy/like going to the cinema. When asked why. Most of them said it’s because of that going out feeling and the fact that the cinema screen is nothing like the T.V they have at home. The 15% that circled the answer no said it's because they find the process of going 'long' and at times a waste of money.

Question 5

Everyone that took my questionnaire knew what the word 'Genre' meant. Most of the people (65%) said that the genre of action is their favorite genre, and their reasons for this was because it make you laugh and it creates ideas (enigmas) in their heads of what happens next. The next genre they said that they find their favorite is comedy, due to the fact it makes them laugh. When ask what type of comedy they like most of them, if not all said they like Rom-Com.

Question 6

Crime (30%), suspense (25%), death (20%) and fast paced (15%) were the four top answers in my questionnaire. When I asked why people expected these things, most of them said that because you just expected either someone killing or doing a bad thing and someone is trying to find out who this person is or trying to find this person who they know.

Question 7

Most of the people who did my question (95%) said they do watch thriller films. The person that said no, the reason why they said that was because they don't find it interesting and they felt they are boring and predictable.

Question 8

At first, due to the fact that some of the people that I asked were not Media students, so I had to explain to them what a sub-genre is and give examples of them such as political thriller and gave an example of a film (The Interpreter (2005). After I did that, most of them (35% each) said crime and supernatural thrillers.

DVD/Poster Analysis

This is an analysis of a front cover of the DVD The Unborn (2009)

still frame analysis

In this still frame from the crime-thriller film named Colombiana (2011) which is about a female protagonist, Cataleya Restrepo (played by Zoe Saldana) who her parents were killed in front of her seeks out revenge from her parents killers. In this image, there are many aspects of the image that can be mentioned on.

In this shot, the protagonist, Cataleya is the only person in the shot and even though she is positioned on the left side of the image, she still shows her dominance in the shot and shows she is the main character. The shot used a mid-shot which shows half of her body, and that is effective because the audience are able to see half of her body and we are able to see the gum she is using. Also it always the audience to see the different side of the women which is countertypes the original stereotypical women. We can tell that she isn’t a typical stereotypical woman because of the clothes that she is wearing and the fact that she has a gun in her hand which isn’t normal for a woman to have in her hand.  Plus, the fact that she isn’t screaming as she is holding a gun but by the firing of it you can tell that she is quite but when she needs to she would make a lot of noise.  In addition to that, the serious stiff expression on her face shows the audience that she isn’t there to look pretty but she is there to do her job and get her job done as good as possible. The Lighting is natural and because of that you can see the light of the firing of the gun which allows this to be the focus on what she is doing. Also the fact that the background has no lighting could show how dark she could be or feel about the job that she is doing.

Main Task - Group Members

The names shown below are part of group 1, which was picked by my media teacher Laura Hoopwood. These group members are part of the main film task.

- Seun Jonah

- Denzel 

- John

- Kelsey

The main task will be a thriller opening (no longer than 2 minutes).

Below is the initial brainstorm ideas, the group came up with.

existing films production companies research

Paramount Pictures Corporation is one of the largest producers and distributors of films in the globe. Paramount has a range of multi-divisions in all areas such digital, home entertainment, network and cable television distribution, studio operations and consumer products and recreation as well has having on the world’s best film studio's and movie makers in the world had has a great reputation for producing thriller films that have won many awards.

Paramount Pictures Corporation all started back in 1912, when Adolph Zukor got American distribution rights to Sarah Bernhardt's four-reel film. The success of the opening of the film Queen Elizabeth on July 12th, 1912 was the first full length drama shown in the US and that made Zukor join the group of Famous Player Film Company. This group began to produces movies in New York, and made films such as The Prisoner of Zenda and The Count of Monte Cristo, and one year later Zukor invested in a film distribution company that goes by then name of Paramount Pictures. On June 28th 1916 was the day that Paramount history changed. The Jesse L. Lasky Company, which was producing films in Hollywood, merged with Famous Players to form the Famous Players-Lasky Corporation. The corporation consolidated its production and distribution divisions, and audiences began seeing the iconic "Paramount Pictures" label.

With this new merge, it generated enough money to create a new Hollywood studio and cost $1 million and from that they received the very first Academy Award for Best Picture from the member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. During the years, Paramount create some of the most iconic movies in American film history and that includes Romeo & Juliet (1968) which won two Academy Awards; True Grit (1969); The Godfather (1972) which won three Academy Awards and is considered the film that elevated the gangster drama genre; and Chinatown (1974). As well as that they have produced other great movies such as Star Trek (1978, 1982, 1984, 1986, 1989); Airplane! (1980, 1982); Friday the 13th (1980, 1981, 1982, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1989) which was some the most iconic thriller films made; Indiana Jones - Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981, 1984); and Beverly Hills Cops (1984, 1987).

In 1986, Paramount got a 22% share of the domestic box-office revenue which made them twice as welathy as thier closest competitor. In stiduo had five of the years's ten top-grossing films: Top Gun, Crocodile Dundee, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, The Gloden Child and Freeis Buller's Day. The worldwide sensation Frorest Gump (1994) wins 6 Academy Awards (with 13 total nominations), inicluding Best Director (Robert Zemeckis), and Best Actor (Tom Hanks). The historical drama, Braveheart (1995), directed by and starring Mel Giibson wins a total of 5 Academy Awards, inclusing Best Picture and Best Director.

Now Paramount is one the most popular production companies and they are still going strong today. They are great at the making of thriller films and in recent times they are now producing films such Mission Impossible, Eagle Eye, Paranormal Activity, The Ring, Rules of Engagement, Red Eye, What lies Beneath and many more great films.

Youtube Programs that give an insight into thrillers

The name of the video i watched was called "Trubys Screenwriting - How to Write the Thriller Genre #2" and I watched it on youtube. The link below is the clip:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqcQWJ6uO48 

The video was all about the different techniques you can use in terms of writing a plot or screenwriting a thriller genre.

The first technique was how you connect love to the thriller plot and there are two ways in which you can do it:

The first way is that you make the protagonist have a decsion to make which is faith vs scepticism (thier faith in love). The choice is that the hero has and it is ususally a women in a thriller:

She could make the leap of faith in love and believe in total love but risk being murdered because the lover may or may not be a killer. A perfect example of this is the film What Lies Beneath (2000) is a film where the husband of the woman wants to kill her due to the fact that she found out that he has killed a girl who he has had an affair with . The other way is the she could fail to make the leap of faith and protect herself but the thing about this is that she would lose the great love of her life. A good example of the is Salt (2010) where to keep her identity the woman's  lover was killed infront of her which sparked her hatred of everyone.What this first technique does is give love a life and death that is a stakes and thriller audience really likes it.

the second technique is there are to lines that you need to think about when making a thriller these line are the personal line and the crime line. In this second technique you have to show the heros unique need would be sloved in the act uncovering the crime which means that you connect the heros personal line with the crime line.

An example of this is the film Taken (2008) due to the fact that it is personal because they have kidnapped his daughter and crime because kidnapping someone is illegal.

Pearl and Dean Research

This is the research into our target audience of three particular films. I went in the film salt in more detail. As the Thriller genre is the one my group need to focus on for the main task.

Price: B+

Estimated box office: £10,000,000

Genre(s): Thriller

Director(s): Phillip Noyce

Film Cast:  Angelina Jolie, Liev Schreiber, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Daniel Olbrychski and August Diehl

Certificate: 12A

Distributor:  Sony Pictures Intl.

Brief plot or narrative: In the final scene of the movie, Salt has to flee from the U.S government and the CIA because no one can believe her that she actually saved the President and stopped the Nukes. But what about the President? He was there. He saw Ted Winter kill all his staff and threaten him, surely he could say that Salt was not responsible.

This film is similar to my groups thriller film due to the fact is it someone changing their identity and the fact that he is obviously running from something in the start of the film.  The difference is that instead of him having this hidden talent and secret from the start of the film, he gains help from someone that he doesn’t know and that give him the power and help that he needs.