Research Into Thriller Audiences And Certifications.

Thriller films can appeal to a wide range of audiences, I believe this is mainly because of the vast amount of sub-genres contained in the Thriller genre. Also, it would be nigh on impossible to pin the "average" audience member to a certain type of genre/sub-genre as everyone has their own unique opinion on different genres. Instead of looking for what the "average" viewer watches, companies use 'Profiling' to get an idea on how to classify the individuals that watch their films.

There are three main types of 'profiling';

Social Profiling:

This type of profiling is used to classify the individual and put them into grades. These grades are formed by looking at their careers and money that they make etc. These grades consist of six different grades;

• A: Higher managerial professions/ well paid professionals are classed under 'A' Examples of 'A' individuals would be Judges or Surgeons.

• B:  Middle Management/ Fairly well paid pros are classed under 'B' examples of  'B' individuals would be Teachers or Lawyers.

• C1: Skilled non-manual/lower middle class- Supervisory ‘White collars’ Nurses, Bank Clerks.

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

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

• E:  Lower level/ Pensioners and Casual workers.

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.


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.

Demographic Profiling is categorised as;

• Age
• Gender
• Race
• Location
• Family Life Cycle
• Sexuality

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.

Companies usually focus the most on the "Age" demographic, this ties in with the BBFC's film classifications and guidlines. The BBFC has 6 film classifications;



- U stands for universal, and can be viewed by all ages. There would be no use of severe profanities in a "U" classified film, generally the worst language used would be "damn". Also, there would be little to no violence and no references to narcotics. The vast majority of "U" cert films are childrens films.

-PG stands for parental guidance. this means parents may need to check the films before showing it to their children. if its an action film it might have some violent scenes. If its a romantic film, it might have some sexual scenes or very brief nudity. it might also contain some mild swear words.

- 12 and 12A films are alike in the content shown in their films. 12 is restricted to those who are over the age of twelve whereas 12a, acting like PG, allows those below the age of twelve to view the films with their parents.The 12 certificate is just for DVDs and Blu-rays. 12A is used during a movies run in theatres only. Swearing will be to a minimal in these films aswell as nudity, violence and drug use.

 -15 movies are much stronger in what they contain compared to 12 and 12a.

they usually contain; strong violence, frequent strong language, portrayals of sexual activity,strong verbal references to sex, nudity, brief scenes of sexual violence or verbal references to sexual violence and discriminatory language or behaviour drug taking. This can happen all throughout the film which breaks it from 12 and is obviously not suitable for that age band.

-18 films contain very strong themes which make them suitable for adults.

they are similar to 15 rated films but tend to take these themes to an extreme. They usually contain; very strong violence, frequent strong language. strong portrayals of sexual activity, scenes of sexual violence, strong horror, strong blood and gore and discriminatory language and behaviour.

Most thriller films are classified as 15 or 18. For our groups opening sequence we will be aiming for the 12-15 band. we don't want ti step into the 18 boundary. Also, our target audiences will be young adults of both genders.