Questionnaire Findings

1) What gender are you?

Female [ ] Male [ ]

2) How old are you?

15 – 20 [ ] 21 – 35 [ ] 35 – 50 [ ] Other [ ]

3) What is your favourite sub-genre of thriller?

Action Thriller [ ] Conspiracy Thriller [ ] Horror Thriller [ ]

Psychological Thriller [ ] Spy Thriller [ ] Political Thriller [ ]

* 2/10 participants chose only action thrillers.

2/10 chose only horror thrillers.

4/10 chose only psychological thrillers.

2/10 picked various genres, 1 participant of those 2 selected every type of thriller genre.

This shows psychological thrillers as being the most popular.

4) Do you prefer to see a male or female lead role in a thriller?

Male [ ] Female [ ] Don’t mind [ ]

* 2/10 participants chose female lead role.

8/10 said they didn’t mind.

Though no one chose male lead role.

This shows that generally the sexes of the main character isn’t a key point in a thriller for the audience.

5) Do you think explosions, guns and violence is essential in a thriller?

Yes [ ] No [ ]

* 6/10 participants chose No.

4/10 chose Yes.

This shows that audiences can have varied opinions on the essential presence of explosions, guns and violence in a thriller. Even though 6/10 chose no to the importance of violence in thrillers, the question asked ‘do you think it is essential’ which could mean those 6 participants wouldn’t mind seeing it anyway.

6) Would you prefer to see a thriller that has a complex and mind boggling plot?

Yes [ ] No [ ] Don’t mind [ ]

* 3/10 participants said they didn’t mind.

7/10 said Yes to a complex and mind boggling plot.

Though none said No.

This shows that audiences generally prefer when a thriller gives you an intricate plot, so we should try to do the same with our film.

7) Do you have a favourite thriller film?

Yes [ ] No [ ]

8) If so, please name it below;

* 4/10 participants named their favourite thrillers, they named,

Hide and Seek

Halloween

Funny Games

The Butterfly Effect

These are all films with intricate plots and some kind of twist at the end. These results support the findings from question 6.

9) Would you like to see a strong, independent female protagonist as the main character in a thriller?

Yes [ ] No [ ] Don’t Mind [ ]

* 2/10 participants said they didn’t mind.

3/10 said Yes to a strong female lead role.

5/10 said No.

This was a shocking result as I thought most females would chose Yes. Though in actual fact, every one who chose No, was a female and 1 of the participants who chose Yes was a male.

10) Do you think it is important to have special effects and lots of soundtrack, such as ominous sounds, in a thriller to make it good?

Yes [ ] No [ ]

* 10/10 participants chose Yes for the effectiveness of the soundtrack.

This clearly shows how important the sounds and music in a thriller are to an audience. I will definitely keep these results in mind when e and my group are editing sounds for our own film.