After compiling our results from our questionnaire given out to 18 year old and over students like us we began the process of analysing the results to find out what our target audience thinks it will hopefully give us an insight in to what they want in a slasher horror.
1. What is your gender?
This simple first question may have seen pointless but it actually helped us find out what genre were most interested in not only taking part in a questionnaire but were interested in film and horror, thinking it would be male dominated, we were surprised to see a group of females taking part who in fact enjoyed the newer scream like horrors. 10 out of the 15 people questioned were male and so taking a high percentage of the results however as seen below 5 out of 15 were females who were interested in the genre.
2. What age group are you in?
12-16 [ ] 16-18 [ ] 18-24 [ ] 24-30 [ ]
The age group question gave us an idea of what we were basing our film ideas about. When dividing up the age groups even though including the age group of 12-16 it was interesting see that even though the slasher films were rated as 18’s the younger 15 year olds in the lower years were interested after watching many physiological horrors that were rated as 15’s. However two were questioned to gauge what gets younger people scared. The most common age group however was the 16-18 with many of our peers being made up from this. 8 out of 15 of the questionnaire group were from this bracket and were of course more up to date with the genre and sub-genre with many of them referencing the remakes for example the 2009 Friday the 13th, however had not seen the originals, having enjoyed these ones it gave me an idea that they wanted something a bit new, with a quick modern pace. The last 3 questionnaire results came from my older brother and one of our family friends in the 18-30 category, they had seen quite a few horrors and were eager to help out, making their ideas reliable and seem highly truthful. The last result was taken from the 30+ bracket and so had to be my dad, he also like the older bracket seemed helpful in answering the questionnaire, not liking the newer remakes and new slashers he decided to give me a history in his idea of his kind of horror, which I already knew, his love of the Halloween original was obvious and his ideas helped me because he has seen quite a few horrors and slashers in particular.
Once a week [ ] Once every 2 weeks [ ] Once a month [ ] Hardly ever [ ] other [ ]
This question offers the chance for us to see how often see how many people visit the cinema and what they like, at the minute with their being many offers being included for students and young people. So with no surprise it was obvious the 16-18 were the most common cinema goers with ¾ of them saying they went to cinema once a week or at least once a month. Whereas the older participants saw going to the cinema as an event and went so often when they felt like it, not for an activity. This indicates to us that the younger teens these days will more likely to be in the cinema and would see trailers.
Promiscuous Women/Woman [ ] Masked Killer [ ] Blood and Gore [ ]
Interestingly enough male and female attitudes to this differed with the obvious promiscuous women being in films being chosen by most males e.g. the blonde. Which to be fair is very common especially in slashers, however the results from most of the females showed that they would in fact expect lots of blood and gore, and again when looking at the stereotypes of horror this is commonplace. With the two obvious results we should consider their views; blood and gore might be hard to show however it is typical convention and is something we will try to input. The promiscuous woman is a good idea yet without ideas already we don’t think it would be suitable, yet we must consider it because it is a common convention.
Yes [ ] No [ ]
10 people answered this question ‘no’ whilst 5 answered ‘yes.’ These results show that the 3D element isn’t required in order for someone to enjoy a film. It shows that the audience is less concerned with special features but more with the film itself which favour us because it means people still like the simple elements of films and can be just as captivated through quality use of codes and conventions. This will benefit us as we intend on producing a non 3D film, in which follows the codes and conventions of the slasher sub genre of horror effectively.
Horror [ ] Comedy [ ] Thriller [ ]
8 people answered that horror was their favourite genre whereas 3 answered that thriller was their favoured leaving the remaining 5 participants saying comedy was their favourite genre. These results were positive for us as horror is our chosen genre in which we are working within and therefore through these results alone we can clearly see we have a clear target audience in which we can focus on.
The answers to this question varied quite a bit with the different participants varying their answers between the editing features and the use of sound. A lot of people commented on how they were engaged through fast paced editing which captivates them and creates excitement and attention. Others commented on how the use of sound is very significant in attracting them to watch a movie as it’s a powerful feature within a movie so audiences are going to acknowledge it during a trailer. Some people commented on how the characters themselves attracted them to the movie in the way they were presented through mis-en-scene elements such as costume, make up and their general appearance. If a character is presented in a powerful way, it is going to intrigue the target audience to want to find out more information about them. Through analysing the comments about what grabs the target audiences attention to a trailer I am able to construct the film trailer which these features in mind and can implement them effectively, keeping the original features for a slasher film trailer whilst also adding different ideas in which are new and going to further entice the target audience to the film.
Yes [ ] No [ ]
The results to this question were fairly even although 9 people answered ‘yes’ and the remaining 6 answered ‘no.’ This shows that through the setting of a film the audience are able to gain an understanding of the film itself and it can determine whether the film is of any interest to them. This is particular useful in our situation as in horror movies the setting tends to be very original such as the forest or an abandoned house. Therefore to use these settings in an effective technique as horror film lovers can immediately relate to the genre through the setting and that factor alone might have already enticed some members of the target audience to want to watch the film. It provides a clear base or starting point by using a conventional setting for a particular genre, as the media practioner can develop their ideas on a conventional setting following the codes and conventions of the particular sub genre more effectively and also through their own innovation implement some of their own individual ideas which can be used to throw the audience slightly and further intrigue them to the film trailer.
9. If the answer to question 8 (Have you ever gone to see a film purely because of the set out of the trailer?) was yes, what film was it?
10 people answered no to this question, but 5 answered yes. Gagan, said that he had gone to watch the remake of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, because there was good suspense in the trailer. He said that because he knew the outline of the plot, but not the whole story from watching the trailer, he wanted to find out what happens in the end, so therefore decided to go and watch it. I also asked if he thought it was worth going to cinema after he saw the trailer, to which he told he that it was worth it.
10. Out of the films listed below, what would you most want to watch?
Scream [ ] Halloween [ ] Friday 13th [ ] Nightmare on Elm Street Texas
This question was pretty open with people’s opinions being at the heart of it, however the favoured choices would enable us to understand what style they liked, and would help us use the conventions in those films. The most popular choice was Halloween and Friday the 13th, this was not a surprise with many respects to the other classics, Halloween’s original status as a slasher first and its iconic soundtrack as well as many remakes Halloween seemed a fair choice. With 7 people choosing the 1978 classic, we was left with 4 people choosing Friday the 13th interestingly with us this was a favourite with the 3 of us actually viewing both the original and the remake, we were most interested in the story and its location, and was probably something our questionnaire participants might have picked up upon. Scream was the most popular next with 3 females choosing this as mentioned in question 1; they enjoyed the clever and witty killings that involved quite a few female characters e.g. Sidney
There was a mixed reaction to this question, however, around 50% of the people said that they found masked killers the scariest part. This was an important thing to find out for us, as we were contemplating using a masked killer in our trailer/film. Other people suggested that the blood and guts part was what they feared seeing the most, but admitted that they couldn’t look away. A final suggestion for scaryness was the music that was used in the background. They also commented that it created a huge amount of suspense.
12. If you were to make your own trailer for a slasher film, what would be your ideal location?
Haunted House [ ] Woods/Forest [ ] Suburban Area [ ] High Schools [ ]
Not surprisingly, 7 people suggested that the haunted house was the best idea to base the trailer/film. I asked them why they thought this, and they all just simply agreed that it would add to the suspense and eeriness of the trailer. 5 people suggested Woods/Forest, 1 suggested Suburban Area and 2 suggested High Schools. After discussion, we agreed that a haunted house would be a hard place to try and find, so we looked into the Forest idea. We had been looking a lot at Friday 13th, so we thought this would go down well, and we would be able to base our trailer better at this setting, as we have done research into Friday 13th.
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