Target Audience

The target audience of any film is the group of people who are most likely to watch it, be they middle aged women, teenage boys or elderly hermaphrodites, all groups find different things appealing.
There are certain conventions which all thrillers adhere to, these are:

• A crime at the core of the narrative (often murder, serial killing etc, but not necessarily).
  
• A complex narrative structure, with false paths, clues and resolutions.
  
• A narrative pattern of establishing enigmas which the viewer expects to be resolved.
  
• A protagonist who is systematically dis-empowered and drawn into a complex web of intrigue by the antagonist.
  
• Extraordinary events happening in ordinary situations.
  
• Themes of identity.
  
• Themes of mirroring.
  
• Themes of voyeurism.
• Protagonist with a ‘flaw’ which is exploited by the antagonist. Much like a jacobian tragedy, the 'flaw' will ultimately lead to the protagonist's downfall.
• There is often a scene near the end of the film in which the protagonist is in peril. This is either resolved or in some cases of Film Noir or tragedy, the hero will die in the process of defeating the antagonist.
  
• Mise en scene which echoes/ mirrors the protagonist’s plight.
  

All of these themes and conventions contribute to making a thriller, but many thrillers can be included in sub-genres, as subtle differences are often to be found between every film. This further distinction finds a more acute target audience, because some may enjoy an action thriller but be bored by a political thriller, while others may enjoy a political thriller but despise Film Noir.
These sub-genres include:

Action Thriller

Crime Thriller

Film Noir

Gangster thriller

Gothic thriller

Historical thriller

Horror

Mystery

Neo-Noir

Political thriller

Psychological thriller

Romantic thriller

Sci-Fi thriller

Spy Thriller

Each Sub-genre will have it's own specific audience, some more niche than others, so it is important to know who these people are in order to plan and publicise your film so that it will reach a larger and more receptive audience.

To start with we must find the target audience for thrillers, I will do this primarily with a simple questionnaire and internet research.

Questionnaire:

Gender:

Age:

Favourite Film Genre:

Rom-Com         Thriller         Comedy/Spoof            Western            Sci-fi           War

Results:

I gave the questionnaire to 20 people of various age and gender, and found that my primary target audience for Thrillers is men and women between 16 and 30, with 80% of those that chose thriller being in this age group.

Some of the younger audience may be dissuaded by an 18 certificate as they will not be allowed into cinemas to watch it, so it is important that, unless the film truly demands it, the sex and language of the film is minimised in order for it to gain a 15 certificate.

However, as our film is being made in the modern day, expectations are very different to those of such films as Psycho, which was an 18 when it came out, but now would barely merit a 12 rating. Therefore, certain things can still be included.

Recently, the success of such films as The Bourne Identity, The Sixth Sense and cult classic Donnie Darko have shown a burgeoning interest in the psychological thriller. These films are interesting because they get inside the mind of the protagonist, and usually strike up an alarming intimacy between character and audience. The study of the hero's mind makes up much of the mystery of the film, and the plot becomes usually just a device for the study to take place. They usually end with some sort of realisation or epiphany from the protagonist.