Planning - initial target audience

Thriller horror target audience

As thriller films stereotypically include elements of tension, suspense and create adrenaline in the audience, these need to be present in our film in order to fulfil their audience pleasure and appeal to target audience. This is similar for our chosen sub genre of horror and so we aim to include these conventions in our own film opening. For a thriller film, generally the target audience are young adults of both genders, perhaps between 15 - 25. This is because people of this age stereotypically enjoy the adrenaline that the genre brings, as well as the feeling of tension and suspense; also the nature of thriller films often include a lot of violence that people of a young age may find disturbing, so an age rating is issued to protect them. 

For our film opening we have decided to conform to the stereotypical target audience and set our target audience as people between 15-25. Our film will appeal to both genders because despite the protagonist being a female which will appeal more to the female audience as they can relate; the antagonist is a male, so will appeal to the male target audience. Quite a few other thriller hybrid films have an age certificate of 15, which is why we have chosen 15 to be the youngest end of the target audience spectrum - our film will contain elements of horror so it will help to protect non viewers. 

In order to appeal to our primary target audience, we need to incorporate the stereotypical conventions of thriller such as suspense, tension and excitement into our film opening in order to provide audience pleasure and make our film successful.