Who is our target audience?

Based on the content of our thriller opening, and the fact that it is a thriller, we have decided that our primary target audience would be female adults aged 18 to 24 as we have used a strong, female protagonist, similar to more recent thriller films. As the female protagonist is not an object of male desire but an object of female aspiration, it would thoroughly appeal to women.

 However, we have also discussed the idea that many thrillers can be enjoyed by people of all ages. Therefore, we believe that we also have a secondary target audience of all people above the age of our primary target audience, and also males as the idea of a strong, independent female protagonist may also appeal to them. Despite discussing the idea that individuals of all ages can enjoy thriller films, we also decided that perhaps this could exclude elderly people above 80, as they may not enjoy the use of quick cuts and obtrusive editing as this would alarm them. However, this would depend on the personality of the individual and also their state of health.

We have researched further into the target audiences of other thriller films, and concluded that thrillers can be aimed at many different audiences depending on the thriller itself and the sub-genre.

For example
Silence of the Lambs can be considered by many as one of the best thrillers of recent times, and is rated an 18 as it contains explicit content. Also, as there may be scenes of violence, it can be argued that the target audience of this film would be males. However, due to the fact that children in the UK are brought up to be independent and strong-willed, this film may also aim to target females as well as males as they may have adapted many more supposedly masculine traits following the ever-increasing equality and status between men and women in recent years.

Se7en is another example of a thriller, but this time a crime thriller, meaning that the target audience may again be slightly different. It may contain less, more or an equal amount of explicit content, yet it would be considered by many to have an older target audience. This would be because it is a crime thriller, meaning that viewers must have an understanding of laws as well as the ability to follow the story line and attempt to work out the enigma created. However, some may argue that this only has partly to do with age, and also includes factors such as the intelligence and personality of the audience. For example, a less educated individual may find it harder to follow a complicated story line, whereas a well-educated individual may not only be able to follow the story line, but find it intoxicating.