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Audience
Justification
for my Supernatural Thriller
Yasmin Watkins

 Through initial research
into the top 100 films, it
could be argued that there
is in fact, not an audience
for thriller subgenres that I
have been planning to
create a trailer for.
 This is because, as
Appendix 1 shows, the top
15 films are predominantly
action or fantasy, and
appeal to the Universal
and 12A BBFC rating.

 However, after creating a
table which separates these
films by their umbrella genre, I
added an extra row to see
how many of these films were
also considered to be thrillers
according to
the IMDb website.
 Therefore, this shows that despite the majority of those that are considered
thrillers being predominantly superhero and 'blockbuster' 'known-for' films,
The Woman In Black stands out as a horror film.
 This can be counter-argued because of the high-profile press surrounding
Daniel Radcliffe starring in the film since his Harry Potter franchise.
 However, this wasn't the only key selling-point of the film, as I have already
researched, which suggests that there is an audience or 'niche' for this type
of film.

 Furthermore, films can be consumed
by an audience in more ways than
paying to see it in the cinema, such as
piracy, online 'catch-up', video-on-
demand, film on television, Blu-Ray,
DVD release, LoveFilm and Netflix
databases. Thus, a film can still thrive
on other platforms that just solely in
cinema.
 The BFI's UK and Film
Council Research and
Statistics Unit stated that
'a total of 2,218 films were
shown on the five main
network channels in 2009,
virtually unchanged from
2008 (2,221 films)'.

 This graph, taken from the NRS (National Readership Survey) and CAA (Civil
Aviation Authority), shows that 15-24 year olds have continually trended to make
up the highest percentage of visiting the Cinema since 1993 - 2005. This directly
relates to my chosen target audience, as a result of researching into the typical
target audience for thriller films.
 This demographic relates to the personality traits of 15 to 24 year olds, who
conventionally seek the 'thrill factor', which in turn, entertains them. The typical
viewer may more likely be male, because they tend to seek action within films, in
comparison to female viewers, who can be argued to typically prefer genres such
as comedy and romance because of its lighter entertainment.

Research into the Thriller film genre:
 From 1995 to 2012 the Thriller genre was ranked fifth on the top
grossing genre chart
 The total gross of the Thriller genre by 2012 was $15,495,734,985
 The Thriller genre is more popular than the horror genre.
 Therefore, the thriller genre can be argued to be a vast umbrella-genre,
that is typically combined with another to create a hybrid one. Thrillers
are regularly combined with action films, which create an interesting
plot line, and differs from the typical special effects and heavy violence
conventionally seen to appeal to the male demographic of viewers.
 Its target audience are made up of the 15-24 age demographic, with a
slightly unbalanced gender ratio with more males likely to watch the
film than females.

BBFC Rating – 12A
We decided to make our film a 12A because we wanted to have a wider
audience for us to appeal to, which would in turn create a bigger box office
revenue. This is because those 12 years and older would have a disposable
income, which they would spend on recreational activities like the cinema.
Therefore, I looked at the BBFC’s website to make sure that our film would
would be able to abide by their age certificate guidelines.
After looking back at our plotline, we saw that our film would only feature
‘moderate physical and psychological threat’ during the climax of the final
film, thus it is suitable by the BBFC guidelines to be given this certificate.