Audience

Audience

The thriller genre has a variety of sub-genres, which means that when making the film its important to take in to account what kind of audience you are aiming for, wether they are young, old, male or female e.t.c . 

When deciding on what audience would be suitable for their film producers and directors must decide if the content in the film age appropriate for the viewers of certain countries for example in the U.K films would have to look at guidelines set by the BBFC ( British Board of Film Classification ). The guidelines are as follows: 

  - All ages admitted, there is nothing unsuitable for children.

 - All ages admitted, but certain scenes may be unsuitable for young children. May contain mild language and sex/drugs references. May contain moderate violence if justified by context.

 -  Viewers under the age of 12 can't watch the film unless they are accompanied by an adult. Films under this category can contain mature themes, discrimination, soft drugs, infrequent strong language and moderate violence, sex references and nudity. Because of this, depending on the content of the film no under under the age is recommended to watch the film if for example it contains sex reference or soft drugs. 

 - Viewers must be at least 15 years of age to watch the film. Films under this category can contain adult themes, hard drugs, frequent strong language and limited use of very strong language, strong violence and strong sex references, and nudity without graphic detail.

 - Must be at least 18 years old to watch the film thats 18 rated. Films under this category do not have limitation on the bad language that is used and so may contain hard drugs usage, and explicit sex references along with detailed sexual activity are also allowed.

So when selecting a target audience its important to take in to consideration what can be put in the film for the target age group.

Another aspect that must be taken into consideration is the social profiling of the audience which looks at the class status of the audience.as it  follows:

A- Higher managerial, well paid professions such as judges and surgeons  

B- Middle management, fairly well paid professions such as teachers, lawyers, and doctors 

C1- Skilled, non manual professions in other words 'white collar' professions for example bank clerks, nurses, and junior management

C2- Skilled worker or 'blue collar' such as plumbers and electricians

D- Semi and unskilled manual professionals such as postmen and drivers 

E- Lower level- casual workers for example students, pensioners and the unemployed 

There are multiple thriller sub-genres whose audiences vary depending on which one for example:

- Psychological Thrillers - These are film that emphasises the psychology of its characters and their unstable emotional states which can for example make the characters behaviour unpredictable, which can viewers feel more tension. An example is the film " Black Swan " ,where viewers are more likely to be female and majority being 18 years of age and older but not say that some may be aged 16 - 17. Also when looking at the social profiling its mainly targeted at class ' B' but can also have a good appeal to classes ' C1' and ' A' 

Action Thrillers - These are films that contain car chases, gun shoot outs and gangs but action thrillers often work on the concept of a race against time, or one hero against all the odds to save the day. An example is the " Die Hard " series, where majority of viewers are going to be men because of all the action thats involve and to be aged at 15 and over because of the strong violence and language. When looking at the social profiling this would, mainly appeal to classes ' E - C2'