Audience

The genre of Thriller is aimed at people who seek excitement and thrills whilst watching a film. The main audience of this genre want there to be no dull moments in a film but instead want to be kept on the edge of their seats. The majority of Thrillers are aimed at the ages of about 12 and older, younger then this might not quite get what is going on, become scared at some parts or even find it boring. Also, almost every Thriller film has an age rating of above 12 years.

However, although most films aim their films at a specific audience that they have in mind, there is no such thing as ‘The audience’. There are various types of audiences full of different individuals and without even meaning to, some films could attract an unexpected audience. For example, a low paid plumber could enjoy watching political thrillers or a very high class, wealthy judge could enjoy watching a low-budget science fiction thriller.

There are three types of profiling which we can think of in terms of audience. These are social profiling, demographic profiling and psychographic profiling which all think of audience in different ways.

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Social profiling:

This type of profiling in terms of film audiences classifies people and puts them into grades. These grades are formed by looking at audiences careers and money that they make etc. These grades consist of six different grades;

A-Higher managerial /upper middle class- Well paid professionals (judge’s, surgeons etc.)

B-Middle management/middle class– Fairly well paid professionals (lawyers, teachers, doctors etc.)

C1-Skilled non-manual/lower middle class- Supervisory ‘White collars’ (Nurses, bank clerks etc.)

C2-Skilled worker/skilled working class- ‘Blue collars’ (electricians, plumbers etc.)

D-Working class- Semi and unskilled manual (driver, postman etc.)

E-Lower level- Lowest paid grade (pensioners, casual workers, unemployed, students etc.)

These grades are often grouped into ABC1 and C2DE and is a way at looking at what kind of audiences films are aiming towards and have received. However, this type of profiling doesn’t treat people as individuals but instead as groups and so when looking at audiences may miss out a small audience of unlikely individuals.
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Demographic profiling:

Demographic profiling is a way of categorising different types of audiences. This type of profiling gives a much wider ranges of audiences compared to social profiling as the groups that people are set out in are made up of many categories. For example, the following categories are often used when it comes to demographic profiling for audiences for films;

·        Age

·        Race

·        Gender

·        Location

·        Sexuality

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Psychographic profiling:

Psychographic profiling is building up example profiles to represent types of people who make up a target audience for a film. It is basically answering questions on behalf of your target audience. The answers given to the questions will be used as an insight into what different audiences like and could give ideas about what to incorporate in the opening sequence being filmed. Questions such as the following are asked;

·        What are their names, age and gender?

·        What are their interests, habits or hobbies?

·        Who influences them?

·        Religious and political beliefs?

·        What worries them?

·        Where do they access their news from?

·        How do they dress?

·        Also many more questions depending on what the makers of the film want to know.

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When I am planning and shooting the opening sequence to my thriller with my group, we will need to keep in mind the points above and think about what kind of audiences to aim it towards. I shall use all three of the profiling techniques to try and make my main target audience as clear as possible. Although we may have one main target audience and use aspects from the information gathered by the profiling techniques, we can also think about aiming towards more then that one audience. The target audience will affect content in many ways; it could decide on what kind of characters there will be, whether it is a sub genre and what kind of sub genre, the plot and many more aspects of the sequence. However, we have to consider that fact that it is an opening scene and has to seem like one so some points cant be used, we also need to make it clear that it is a thriller film and not get carried away with the mixed genre if it is a sub genre.

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BBFC classification guidelines:

U:

The U symbol stands for Universal. A U film should be suitable for audiences aged four years and over. However, it is impossible to know what might upset an individual child especially when they are so young- they won’t be sure what they would or wouldn’t like to see in a film. There is no major bad language in U films but there may be, very occasionally, minor bad language such as “damn”.  A U film may include brief fight scenes or moments where characters are placed in danger. However, moments of emotional stress or threat will be quickly resolved and the outcome will be reassuring. There may be brief scary scenes and moments where the characters are placed in danger, however, these scenes will be balanced by reassuring elements, and there won’t be any shots of any character being seriously harmed. There will be no gore or serious violence. Although some characters may carry weapons such as the antagonist but will never be emphasised.

PG:

PG stands for parental guidance. This means that it is able to be viewed by everyone but some scenes may be unsuitable for children. A PG should not affect a person of around eight years or older but parents of younger children should consider whether some scenes may upset them. Some films are given a PG certificate but have not been made with a young audience in mind. However, the certificate means that any issues in the work are appropriate for the majority of this age group and nothing should upset a child of eight or over. No theme is prohibited at PG, as long as it is treated in a manner appropriate to the category. PG works can explore challenging issues such as domestic violence, bereavement or racism. This means that violent scenes can be shot but not in too much detail and not to an extent that could upset children of the age of eight or over. There should be no detail of violence in a PG work, so while there might be some blood, we would not see how the injury was inflicted in strong detail.

                                         12 and 12A:

12A means that anyone aged 12 or over can go and see the film unaccompanied. The A stands for 'accompanied' and 'advisory'. Children younger than 12 are able to see the film if they are accompanied by an adult, who must watch the film with them. The overall tone of a film or DVD, and the way it makes the audience feel may affect the classification. The BBFC's Guidelines state that there may be strong language (eg 'f***') at 12 or 12A, but it must not be frequent. Aggressive uses of strong language may result in a film being put in the 15 category. Moderate violence is allowed in these categories but not in much detail- there must be no emphasis on injuries or blood. Dangerous behaviour (for example hanging, suicide and self-harming) may be present in 12 or 12A works but will not dwell on detail which could be copied or present those activities as pain or harm free.

 15:

 No-one under 15 is allowed to see a 15 film at the cinema or buy/rent a ‘15’ rated DVD.  15 rated works are not suitable for children under 15 years of age. 15 films are stronger in terms of what is contained in the films compared to 12 and 12A films. These films may contain strong portrayals of violence, frequent strong language, portrayal of sexual activity and nudity and even drug abuse portrayals. Although there may be very strong scenes of violence, it is very unlikely for there to be gory images of this and should not dwell on infliction of pain or injury.

  

18:

Films rated 18 are for adults. No-one under 18 is allowed to see an 18 film at the cinema or buy/rent an 18 rated DVD. No 18 rated works are suitable for children. No theme is prohibited at 18. Adults are free to pick their own entertainment within the law, so it is possible some themes tackled at 18 may be offensive even to some adult viewers. 18 films are for adults and can contain strong portrayals such as: very strong violence, frequent strong language (eg 'f***') and/or very strong language (eg ‘c***’), strong portrayals of sexual activity, strong horror or strong blood and gore. For 18 films, violence can be strong and be portrayed with strong detail. There may even be dwelling on the infliction of pain or injury, or scenes of strong sadistic or sexual violence. Even the strongest gory images are permitted at this category.

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For our coursework of shooting the opening sequence to a thriller film, I think that it is best for us to keep the film at either a 12 or 15 age rating. I believe this because at both of these age ratings, the amount of issues that we might need to portray are allowed. Also, if we were to use an 18 rated film, we may get carried away with some aspects being filmed and change the genre of Thriller to another accidentally. Also, we are close to this age rating ourselves and i believe that we will understand what to incorporate into our opening sequence.