Evaluation question 4 continued
- 1. Evaluation – Question 4 Shutter Island is a psychological thriller, much like our thriller opening. Having looked at the trailer of Shutter Island and also watched the film, I know that its target audience would be very similar to that of ours and therefore I decided to analyse the types of people that went to go and watch Shutter Island (I have retrieved the information used in this essay from a handout given to us in class). From the statistics of Shutter Island, I have found that the audience was largely male (60% male and 40% female), this is because thrillers are often fast paced and action packed, and suit the traits that males tend to hold, therefore I am not surprised at this figure. Shutter Island did however attract a 40% female audience, there are a number of reasons why this could have been the case, but the main reason would have been the cast. Shutter Island stars Leonardo Dicaprio, a very attractive young actor, who has appeared in one of the greatest love stories of all time (Titanic), this is the main factor that drove women to go and watch this film. The age group that were most attracted to this psychological thriller were 15-34, which made up 58% of the audience. Younger people (Stereotypically male), enjoy fast paced films, with a lot of action and drive, Shutter Island and thrillers in general almost always meet this criteria and this means that thrillers are greatly aimed at the younger teenagers to early adulthood types of people. With regards to class, Shutter Island surprising attracted D and E classed people (Unemployed, casual workers, semi skilled/unskilled workers). Normally psychological thrillers attract more middle class people due to their thought provoking and often complex narratives, however Shutter Island attracted this audience due to its modern setting, this modernisation of a thriller makes it more relatable to the audience and to classes D and E acts as an aspiration of the type of lifestyle and job they would like. Leonardo Dicaprio (The protagonist), comes from a middle class family, but is not overly educated and ‘posh’, psychological thrillers often have a cast of a very highly regarded background and so to many are less relateable. By casting Leonardo the lower classes do not become intimidated by him as he has come from an often similar background increasing his realism and how relatable he is. This is a similar target audience that we were aiming to attract with our thriller opening.