Institutions and audiences research

Institutions

20th Century Fox

• film corporation which is one of the six major film studios.
• founded in 1904 in New York City by William fox, a 25 year old Jewish Hungarian immigrant.
• subsidiary of News Corporation which is/was owned by Rupert Murdoch.
• Produced some very successful films, e.g. Avatar, Star Wars, Speed and The Chronicles of Narnia.
• Mostly create comedy and family films as these are more profitable, such as Alvin and The Chipmunks. However, they also create horror films, such as "From Hell".
• They also create thrillers, such as new release "A Good Day to Die Hard".

Warner Bros.

• founded in 1923
• American producer of film, television and music entertainment.
• a subsidiary of Time Warner
• has many of its own subsidiaries, such as Warner Bros. Studios, Warner Bros. Pictures, Warner Bros. Animation and Warner Home Video.
• produced many recent films, such as "Beautiful Creatures" and "The Hangover Part 111" as well as well-known films, such as "The Dark Knight Rises" and "Red Dust". 
• it is a fully-integrated, broad-based, entertainment company and a global leader in the creation, production, distribution, licensing and marketing of all forms of entertainment and their related businesses.
• Warner Bros. either fully finance or co-finance the films it produces and maintains worldwide distribution rights.
• Monetizes its distribution and marketing operations by distributing films that are totally financed and produced by third parties.

Hammer Films

• a film production company based in the UK, founded in 1934.
• a hugely successful run of Gothic monster movies cemented the company's reputation as "Hammer House of Horror".
• although it focuses mainly on horror films, it also has a varied history, including noir, action-adventure movies, psychological thrillers and historical epics.
• worldwide smash "The Woman in Black" was produced by Hammer Films, and is now up for 2 Empire awards.
• This company is noticeably smaller in comparison to the above American companies, and tends to produce more individual films while the American institutions (Warner Bros. and 21st Century Fox) tend to produce more mainstream films.

Audiences

As the audience of any film is perhaps the most important aspect that will constitute the film's success, it is vital that I research the target audience of thriller films and relate it to my own film. This will be essential in ensuring that my film is successful in entertaining and enticing the audience.

Audiences of thrillers are not simply a certain age group, or gender, but also a certain type of personality. Those who watch thrillers tend to be:

•  individuals who could be considered "risk takers" 
• those who are educated (as there is usually an enigma which the individual works out independently while watching the film)
• people who enjoy suspense and tension within films

As we have decided that our thriller film would be primarily be aimed at a target audience of females aged between 18 and 24, we conducted interviews of people in this demographic. This would enable us to gain an insight into what our film should include and offer the audience in order for our film opening to be effective.

Hannah Duffin - 19 year old female