QUESTIONNAIRE ANALYSIS

By Pippa Phelps

QUESTION 1& 2
Question 1- Do you like Thriller films? We asked our 20 target audience (14- 25
year olds) if they enjoyed thriller films, 17 out of the 20 people we asked said they
enjoyed Thriller movies saying they were intriguing and exciting whereas the other 3
said they didnt enjoy them because they made them feel scared and uncomfortable. As
the mass majority said they enjoyed them we knew that our Thriller would be a success.

Question 2- What do you want in a main character? Our options were a troubled
main character e.g. a psychopath or schizophrenic, someone in a twisted relationship,
someone with a criminal background and other (please specify). We gathered our results
and found out that most people (9 out of 20) wanted someone in a twisted relationship, 6
people wanted a troubled main character where as the last 5 wanted someone with a
criminal background. We knew that having someone in a twisted relationship would be
our best option to create a thriller opening that most people would enjoy.

QUESTION 3&4
Question 3-

Our question 3 was What themes do you like in a thriller movie?

having death, revenge, a dysfunctional relationship and other (please specify) as the
final option. From the people we asked 10 out of 20 people said they wanted a
dysfunctional relationships and from the preivious answer about a twisted relationship we
knew that this was probably what our opening would be on. 4 out of the 20 said they
wanted revenge as the theme and the final 6 said they wanted death to be the theme of
this thriller.

Question 4- Who would you like the main character to be? male, female or both
16 out of the 20 said they wanted both, 3 said they wanted a male lead and only 1 said
they wanted a female to be the lead. Thankfully we realised that having a couple in a
weird relationship was a very good idea and with the majority vote weighing toawrds it we
knew it would be a good idea.

QUESTION 5&6
Question 5- Our 5th question was How old would you want the main character(s) to
be? and our options were 9-14, 15-19 or 20+. Weirdly but conveniently 50% said 9-14
year olds and the other 50% said they 15-19 so we decided to make it really creepy by
having a 9 year old as the victim and a 17 or 18 year to be the creepy character. We
thought we would use these ages because the idea for our story being a young girl
getting stalked by an older male or female.

Question 6- Whats the most important part of a thriller movie? and having the
options of the storyline, whos in it, a twist of events or other. The majority vote said the
story where 14/20 said they thought the storyline was the most important, they also said
that the least important would be whos in it so this backs up the idea of having an
unknown actor or actress.

QUESTION 7&8
Question 7- We asked What builds suspense for you? and having our options as
the story itself, music, lighting, camera angles or other 14 said they thought the story
itself, 3 said the music and the other 3 said the lighting made them become on edge. We
decided to make sure our story line would be extra weird and thrilling so people are
always on the edge and want to know what is happening next instead of just seeing the
opening scene and just think oh.

Question 8- Who out of the following are you favourite directors? We asked if they
prefered Steven Spielberg, David Fincher, Quentin Tarentino or Wes Craven 12 said they
prefered David Fincher who did the opening of Se7en, 5 said Quentin Tarentino who
created Inglorious Bastards and the final 3 said they liked the Steven Spielberg the
created of Jaws. We originally had the idea of creating a David Fincher inspired opening
anyway so the results of our questionnaire backed up our first idea.

QUESTION 9& 10
Question 9- We asked When would you want the story to be revealed? The
options were straight away, in the middle so you can form a conclusion or at the end. 17
said they wanted it to be in the middle so they can form their own conclusion or let them
guess when or who the killer is, 2 people said at the end to end it as a relief or even a
cliffhanger but only 1 person said they wanted it at the start- during the opening titles. We
asked people why they wouldnt want it at the start and they said it could ruin the story.

Question 10- We asked What do you expect in a thriller movie? with the options of
suspense, a good storyline or something that puts you on the edge of you seat 15 said
they wanted something put puts you on the edge of your seat where youre always like
oh my god! and 3 said a good storyline and the finally 2 said suspense but they said as
well that it should naturally have suspense with it anyway.

QUESTION 11&12
Question 11- Our 11th question was What do you prefer? with the options of a plot
twist, one you have to think about, a mix of the two or other. 13 out of the 20 people said
they wanted a plot twist followed by 6 people preferring a plot where you have to think
about it yourself. The last person said they like the idea of having a plot twist that you
have to think about yourself. We decided to go with the idea of a plot twist but since it is
only a 3 minute opening we thought having it in the last 20/30 seconds to leave the
audience in suspense.

Question 12- Question 12 was Where would you like this thriller to take place?please pick two. With the options being a forrest, lake, school or an everyday place.
Weirdly exactly 50% of our audience said they wanted a forrest and the other half said
they liked a lake both picking these two in their two options. We decided to go with these
ideas because we knew locations and it would fit with their story.

QUESTION 13&14
Question 13- How much dialogue would you like in this opening title sequence? Lotsfull of convosation about the story, a little- few words back and forth or none. 14 out of 20
people said they didnt want any dialogue because they said it killed the suspence. 4 people
wanted a full on convosation about the story and the last 2 wanted a few words here and
there. We decided to go with the majority vote which backed up the idea of having a David
Fincher inspired opening title because he uses the use of silence and just music to create the
gripping effect.

Question 14- Question 14 was Who would you want the main character to be played
by? and the options where a well known actor or actress, an up and coming star or someone
little that no one knows to create more mystery. We noticed that it got a huge mix of results9 out of 20 said they wanted an unknown star for one of the main characters to create more
suspence and mystery. 6 said they wanted a well known actor but we decided not to go for
that because we knew it would be a huge task in getting someone like Tom Hardy to get in
our film. The final 5 said they wanted an up and coming star but finally we went with the
majority and went with an unknown person.

QUESTION 15&16
Question 15- Our second to last question was What do you NOT like to be in a thriller
film?- please pick two. Our options were bad acting and weak character, unimaginative
storyline, a sudden change of the story line or other (please specify.) 17 people said they
hated bad acting so we knew we had to make sure our choice of character was perfect and
they could do what we require when filming. Another two said they didnt like an unimaginative
storyline so we decided to create a storyline that could actually happen in the world. The final
one clicked on the other option and said music that doesnt fit the genre- this was a tricky one
because we knew we had to find or create a piece of music that gives the audience chills so it
fits with our genre.

Question 16- Our final question was Give an example of a thriller opening you enjoy or
think is good? 16 people said they loved the legendary opening from David Finchers opening
Se7en. We orginally wanted to do an opening like Se7en and getting this feedback has
clarified our decision. 1 person said they enjoyed the Saving Private Ryan opening and they
was breath taking and the final person said they loved the opening to Girl with the Dragon
Tattoo because they said it was very unique and individual.