An Audience Questionnaire

Before re-creating my storyboard to make sure that I am 100% happy with how my film will unfold I felt that it was necessary to do an audience questionnaire to see how an audience would want my thriller to work. After setting up a questionnaire on Survey Monkey I asked 30 people to answer my survey. In the end I asked friends and family on Facebook and on an internet forum that I am a part of. This will have skewed some of my results, however, it is not something that I can change due to the difficulty of getting a wide variety of people to answer.

Question 1: Are you male or female?

This question was solely used as a gauge for where I should potentially target my thriller. Overall, more men answered my questionnaire than females, however, as a lot were from this internet forum that is largely based on video games this was to be expected. There was only a difference of six people between the two genders and as such I will probably try and keep my film as accessible as possible to all genders.

Question 2: Which age bracket do you fall under?

This question was also used as a method to gauge a target audience. On the whole there was a vast majority in the 16-22 bracket, 60% higher than the second highest age bracket of 36-50 year olds. This was also to be expected, as the 16-22 age bracket is the most technologically able and as such are more likely to use Facebook and internet forums. This is a major bias in my results, but it is also one that would be impossible to avoid without asking far less people.

Question 3: Which of these titles do you prefer? Please select the one that you think would be the most suitable for a Thriller movie.

This question was used to decide the final title of my movie and I am glad that the highest scoring title was Midnight even though it only won with 36.7% of the votes. The other popular choice was Other, which resulted in a couple of stupid names like "Kittens the Return of Hairballs" but when asking people on an internet forum to answer a questionnaire, silly answers are to be expected. The only title to not get any votes is Moonlit XII and I guess this is because it does not have the same ring to tit that all of the other titles have.

Question 4: Do you prefer your films in colour or in black & white?

Initially I was planning to do the film in colour, however, I decided that I would ask the audience what they would prefer. This is because I want my film to be effective and if the audience had chosen black and white then that would have been the stylistic approach that I would take. Thankfully 66.7% of the people chose colour and this makes things so much simpler for me as I do not need to add in more colour filters than is necessary.

Question 5: How much dialogue would you want in the opening sequence of a Thriller movie?

The premise of this question was to decide whether or not I had put too much dialogue in my initial storyboard and with the very large majority of 86.7% of people it is clear that people want very little dialogue within the opening sequence. This means that I will definitely have to edit the amount of dialogue in my opening sequence to something that is much less.

Question 6: How many murders would it take to make the opening sequence overly complicated and confusing?

When creating my storyboard I realised that the number of murders taking place would have to be discussed to make sure that the opening sequence did not turn audiences off. In the end, 63.3% of the votes said that 4 + murders would make the opening too confusing and the majority said that 4 was the point when this would occur with 36.7% of the votes. The two other highest chosen options were 3 at 26.7% and 6 at 20%. This still seems rather inconclusive, but I this has made me decide to remove one of the murders from the opening sequence leaving three with only one being physically visible. This should make the sequence complex enough to keep the audience concentrated but not too complicated as to make the sequence confusing.

Question 7: What font type would you choose for the opening credits?

This question was probably a mistake as the highest chosen answer of a specialised font specifically for the film with 83.3% of the vote means that I have a lot of work on my hands as I need to find a font that is free but which also looks very effective and is still readable. This is a massive majority over the other options which only 5 people chose and this means that I have to listen to what my audience tell me and I have to find a suitable font.

Question 8: How much would you like to find out about the characters in the first 2 minutes and what would you like to know?
This question was one of two open ended questions on the survey, mainly because I sought to find out what audiences wanted to know in the first two minutes. The general consensus from the answers was that I should not reveal too much. There were some interesting answers that included "Well, it really depends on who the characters are. If there's some super duper secret the character has, I don't want it revealed in the first 2 minutes, but major quirks and stuff. Like, if the character has a catchphrase or something they do all the time (like a nervous tic, or... whatever) then that should be used in the first 2 minutes" and "First two minutes of a film should not focus on character, but the environment. It depends on if you want to start with the character. If you have a strong characer, use the environment to describe them. If the film lacks a strong protagonist, then focus on the surroundings instead, for tension" and also "It needs to get across the overall idea of the film." These all bring up very interesting points and as such, I will try to act upon them when I re-do my storyboard. The idea of utilising motifs was already a thought of mine and in an audience member bringing it up, it makes it all the more important to my production. I do like the idea of using the environment to describe the characters or to bring about tension and I shall make sure that this works within my opening for effect.

Question 9: How would you like the plot of the film to be explained within the opening sequence?

Revealing the plot within the opening sequence is something that is very important in hooking the audience. I have to make sure that I reveal enough to make the audience interested, but not too much so as to ruin the rest of the movie. The overall winner of this question was small but clever hints, which was awarded 76.7% of the votes. I did expect this as the answer and in a retrospective look at my initial storyboard, I reveal far too much about the plot and I need to try and be much more sly.

Question 10: Do you have any other opinions or tips that you can give me to help make my opening sequence the highest quality it can be?
This question was the only optional question on the entire survey as I only wanted tips that would help me to be successful and not to force people to force an answer when they had none. This resulted in a number of very helpful tips that I shall use to the best of my abilities.
"With a thriller movie, it's not about what you see. It's about what you don't see. Watch a thriller in the dark, no knowing where the killer is... that is scary."
"Try to keep the story under wraps in the opening. Keep it as enigmatic as you can until it's time for exposition."
"A variety of shots and camera techniques to show a high standard, possibly a cantered angle to show something is wrong. A clever use of the rule of thirds and lighting to keep the audience thinking and interested in the opening sequence."
This last answer is the one that I will listen to the most as it brings about a large number of techniques that I know will make my thriller successful and also a technique that I did not know existed but now that I do know I am certain that if I use it, it will make the overall presentation of my thriller so much more effective.