Thriller Movie Questionnaire (out of 30 participants)
Chosen Demographic – Male and Female
Age 15 +
Any Ethnic Origin
Q1. What Thriller sub-genre are you most drawn to?
Psychological thriller - 12
Horror thriller - 5
Action thriller - 2
Sci-Fi thriller - 1
Religious thriller e.g. The DaVinci Code - 2
Crime thriller - 4
Drama thriller - 1
Political thriller - 1
Spy thriller - 2
Q2. What do you like about the Thriller Genre?
Confusion - 3
Mystery - 4
Suspense - 6
Compelling Characters - 13
Hero vs. Villain - 4
Q3. Out of the choices, who is your favourite thriller director?
Martin Scorsese - 4
Alfred Hitchcock - 8
Steven Spielberg - 5
Quentin Tarantino - 2
David Fincher - 4
M. Night Shyamalan - 7
Q4. What makes Thrillers appeal to you?
Challenging Storyline - 9
Actors/Actresses - 3
Directors - 4
Interesting title - 6
Surprising Twists - 8
Q5. How important are props, costume and makeup in a film?
Very Important - 14
Important - 11
Fairly Important - 5
Unimportant - 0
Q6. What is the most important element in a Thriller?
Setting - 8
Acting - 3
Special Effects - 4
Props/Costume - 6
Plot - 9
Q7. For you what builds up suspense in a film?
Music - 6
Lighting - 6
Sound - 6
Camera Angles - 8
Pace - 4
Q8. Should the film have its story unfold fairly quickly or unfold slowly?
Quickly - 23
Slowly - 7
Q9. How do you think the opening of a Thriller should open?
Chase scene - 3
Everyday life - 6
Flash-back - 12
Flash-forward - 5
Present time - 4
Q10. In the opening of a Thriller, how much of the plot do you think should be revealed?
As much as possible - 3
As little as possible - 16
Not at all - 11
Analysis of Questionnaire Results
From the 30 participants surveyed, the 2 most preferred sub-genres were ‘Psychological thriller’ (12) and ‘Horror thriller’ (5). This could give us an idea to perhaps have elements of Horror in a Psychological thriller movie.
When asked about what people liked about Thrillers, 13 people had said they enjoyed the ‘Compelling Characters’ and 6 had said they enjoyed the ‘Suspense’ of a Thriller. Both will be considered as they both play important roles in making a thriller movie good and solid.
As for what people had found appealing to them, 9 people had said a ‘Challenging Storyline’ and 8 people had said ‘Surprising Twists’. Also 6 people had said an ‘Interesting Title’ would appeal to them which is why it is important that we make our title relevant to our story and its synopsis.
The importance of props, costume and makeup has proved to be very important as 25 people out of 30 had said it is of importance if not very important.
The results for this question were close as ‘Plot’ was chosen as the most important element, followed by ‘Setting’, thereafter ‘Pops/Costume’, then ‘Special Effects’ and lastly ‘Acting’. Our main priority therefore will be to succeed in creating a good plot, choose a suitable setting and making good use of props and costume.
Most of the choices were chosen for the suspense factor question, as ‘Music’, ‘Lighting’ and ‘Sound’ all were chosen by 6 people each. The most suspense built up comes from ‘Camera Angles’ chosen by eight people and ‘Pace’ coming in last with 4 people choosing it, although we will include all five elements in the making of our thriller as they are all equally important in making a suspense filled film. In consideration of what the participants of this survey had chosen the choice of ‘Camera Angles’ will be carefully decided upon.
In terms of the storyline unfolding, 23 people had thought it should unfold quickly. This may be because some people may not enjoy waiting for the film to unfold, especially slowly. Although 7 people had said they would want the storyline to unfold slowly and this maybe because they may enjoy paying attention to every little detail on the track of the climax point of the film.
When asked about the opening of a Thriller, 13 people had said a thriller should open with a ‘Flash-back’ as this may bring up questions about what will happen in the film. A flash-back would always have something to do with what the film is actually about. A chase scene (chosen by 4 people) may cause confusion over the genre of the film as it would be the first thing the viewer would see of the film.
In terms of the opening of a Thriller, 16 people had said they think ‘as little as possible’ of the plot should be revealed. 3 people had said ‘as much as possible’ should be revealed, and 11 people had said ‘not at all’. From the results we would think about having as little as possible of the plot revealed in the opening of the Thriller.
