First planning for my final film

Throughout all the research I have gathered into film especially within the thriller genre. I have discovered there is more depth to the genre than first thought, because of its many sub genres it gives a wide variety of film, from chilling horrors to highly emotive story telling. To give example of the two extremes would be The Purge and The Imitation game.

First Ideas

• A story line that does not give much away 
• Mystery based thriller, tension based
• Suited to deep thinkers those who like to be puzzled and made to think beyond the storyline  
• Target audience teenagers

The sub genre of psychological thriller is a personal favourite, because it is based heavily upon the mind rather than physical acts characters commit. Typically the protagonist becomes involved in a situation that is negative, threatening, upsetting, or disturbing, and will affect their whole psychological state, leading them to portray a unique abnormal character.
I have decided that this speaks volumes to me as its pure emotion makes the audience sympathise with the character and I believe this is one of the most intriguing and powerful effects film can have on a viewer. Because of the wide experience I have had watching this specific genre of film I know how to take inspiration and adapt creating something of my own and hoping to still have the same effect on viewers. 

My love for thriller films

   

Pictured here are just a few example thriller films I love and enjoy to watch. I would say that thriller has been my favourite genre from my early to mid teens. I was first introduced into this genre by films such as Silence of the Lambs, Seven and Taxi Driver. The whole aspect of these films amazed me and the psychological twisted acting by Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the lambs fascinated me.  I also love how the majority of films in this genre consist of complicated, intense story lines that puzzles you, makes you think deeply and can fully immerse you into the temporary reality of that world. They often trick the audience with shocking climax's or a huge twist ending.   

The shots I have chosen are some that have impact on me the most, I find them highly dramatic and perfect for a chilling atmosphere.  

The third picture is one of my favourite impacting shots, taken from silence of the lambs, this high angle birds eye shot allows us to view the full carnage of the scene caused by this character Hannibal Lecter. Although high angle shots are more commonly associated with a threatening intimidating vibe over a vulnerable character, this effect creates the opposite effect. 

With closed eyes, face looking up and blood all over his body his stance as though looking up to the heavens in relief of praise, looks peaceful and content after the murder he had commited. His body language is perfect for showing he has no remorse within this twisted psychotic atmosphere.    

I have found that Thriller films can be heavily based on mystery, this could be that the whole story line is complex and does not give a lot away, or it can be found within a character who is reserved and hard to read with a back story. This has been used in film for all sorts of characters and I think this aspect is an important feature, that I wish to include in my short film. 

Questionnaire and Audience Profiling

Audience profiling is essential when creating a new media product, from magazines and newspapers to websites and films. The most important factors to look for in this process are, age, gender, culture, race, and sexuality. To complete this I will need to ask the public, this can be done in various ways, questionnaire, interview, survey, video interview, gender ratios and many more.



How old are you?

15-30   31-50    50+


Around how many films do you watch a month?

1         2         3        4          5         more





What genre most interests you? 

Romance     Science Fiction         Action         Thriller       Other



Do you ever watch short films?


Yes                                 No


 If yes, where do you find them and how do you view them?



This is one of the example questionnaires I will be giving out, in order to gain an understanding of my audience profile. It will not only give me an idea of how popular my genre is, but who watches them. And also in terms of age, gender, personality types, is there a stereotypy or do a wide range of people tend to watch films in general especially short films?                                                                 By building a complete audience profile I have a better understanding of how to attract them and give the film true thriller features, and what my audience expect to see.

Results from first Questionnaire 

These first results collected were interesting and helped me begin to understand age difference and preference. 

From this I can gather that younger generations tend to watch the most films as both the 15-30 years old participants said they watch more than 5 films a month, this may be down to deeper interest or simply because they have more time to enjoy them, even so it is something to keep in mind for the audience I approach to. It also interested me that the two younger participants said action and thriller genre appealed to them the most, this is positive for me and relates to my thriller theme.

When directing a question to short films I was very unsure and eager to find the results, and was pleasantly surprised that 2 out of the 3 do watch short films, this as from the 15-30 range as well as the 50+ creating a much wider audience. I am most familiar with short films on via YouTube and have looked through short of the week during my research and planning which was very useful.