Target Audience and Film Rating

Within the psychological thriller genre the typical elements that are displayed often contain more adult themes. For example tense action sequences, emotional trauma and mature moral story lines are often prominent. Characters also often battle their own minds which is an element that we are introducing into our own production. Another popular theme for this genre of film is the concept of a character being threatened with death, being forced to deal with the deaths of others, or faking their own deaths. The typical audience for many psychological thrillers are of 18 years of age or older, often because they include strong violence and psychological elements that may be considered too disturbing for younger audiences. 
Our production will also be containing more mature elements and themes as our main character experiences emotional trauma within the opening of the film, and the audience visually experiences the deterioration of this girl. There will also be hints of violence and death. These aspects may be considered to be inappropriate for younger audiences however the characters that we are presenting in our film are around 16 years of age. Therefore by giving our film a rating of 15, we can be inclusive of audiences that will relate to our characters and whilst still being able to include many of the traditional elements of a psychological thriller film. 
Our targeted audience will be young adults; primarily between 15 - 20 years old as the characters in our film will be relatable to this age group. By sticking to this age group we will have to ensure that the content is not too explicit. Psychological thrillers often follow a narrative in which the protagonist has to overcome personal emotional distress, in order to conquer a bigger issue and there is also usually an element of mystery incorporated into the film. In order to appeal to our target audience we will have to make sure that this narrative is included in our opening so that it is both appealing and enticing.  
By giving our film an age rating of 15 according to the British Board of Film, we will be able to include, strong violence and strong language. 

We hope to make our film appropriate for both genders within the age ranges of 15 and 20. To make sure that our film is suitable for this age range and both sexes we designed a questionnaire in which we asked 6 people inside of our target audience a series of questions. 

From these results I can conclude that the overall plot of our film will sit comfortably with this audience, as the story does not include much strong language if any and the idea of false reality (which this film is based around), appears popular with this audience. Also the thriller genre seemed to be fairly popular. However when we refine the smaller details of the of the plot I will take into account that explicit violence and very strong language should not be included as they may offend and deter our targeted audience.