1. 30% seem to watch it
moderately often with only
20% each watching it either
very often or extremely
often. This tells me that
70% have an interest in
horror films in one way or
another. As the remaining
40% lack interest in horror
films, 20% at least have a
slight interest in them.
Overall, I have found that
people within the age
group of 18-20 year olds
have a sufficient amount of
interest in horror
films, more so than the
other age groups.
Ultimately, my initial target
being 15-32 seems
commendable as it seems
to resonate well with the
interest from the
questionnaire.
2. This question received a
variety of answers with
everyone saying a
different film. Most
people seem to like
their chosen horror film
due to the fact that they
have a degree of
suspense to it. One of
the responses said “I
like Phantasm because
has sci-fi elements and
an intriguing story”. This
tells me that sub-genres
within horror films play
a big part in providing
interest within the
individual.
3. As most seemed to have mentioned
“suspense” in their
answers, horror/thriller and
horror/suspense seems to be the
most reoccurring sub-genre a wide
range of people have an interest in.
60% receiving psychological horror
regarding their favourite horror movie
tells me that my target audience
values psychological elements in
horror movies; something that makes
them think and something that leads
to some sort of revelation. This is
further backed up by the fact that
thriller/suspense ranks in second
(alongside paranormal/supernatural)
Most people seem to disfavour
grouped cast in horror films as a
convention. 40% voting for it seems to
be a sufficient amount to stray away
from using groups in my movie. Not
only that, but it also would be very
complicated to cast a whole lot of
people into one short film.
4. The majority of the voters
seem to be influenced by
the “word-of-mouth”
method before they go out
and watch a horror film.
This shows how much they
value reviews from people
who they actually trust, as
opposed to reviewers and
bloggers online. Radio
adverts receiving 0 votes
shows how less of an
impact it has on influencing
my target audience group
to go out and watch a
horror film. TV adverts and
critic reviews rank in
second as one is visual and
another is dependent on
industry professionals.
5. Besides cinema, the majority
(35%) of the voters seem to use
online video services such as
YouTube and Vimeo to watch
horror films. As they are some of
the most popular video services
online, this shows that my target
audience prefers accessibility and
favours the fact that they can
easily watch what they want
online, easily. As these two
services are free, this tells me
that the majority of my audience
prefers not to pay for them.
However, 25% of them said they
wouldn’t mind accessing horror
films with online pay services
which shows that there is still
interest. Blogs and dedicated
websites come in at 3rd with 25%.
I will be making my short film
available in multiple platforms so
that my target audience will be
able to access it wherever and
however they want.
6. Grouped cast leads the votes
with 40% which shows that it
is a convention my target
audience finds most
overdone. This tells me that
using a grouped cast would be
a cliché and may not
individualize my film from the
rest. Iconography such as
knifes, chainsaws and other
usual weapons horror lovers
constantly see may also end
up being tiring for them which
is what approximately 25%
voted on. I will be avoiding
these two conventions as they
lead the majority of the votes
and I myself find that these
conventions do seem done-todeath which may bring my
film’s uniqueness down.
7. Suspense by far leading
with 65% of the votes
shows the intensity of
impact it has on my target
audience as far as engaging
them is concerned. This
tells me how vital it is for a
horror movie to have as
suspense is basically what
an effective storyline would
be based on. I’ve always
planned to include plenty
of suspense and thriller
elements in my film but this
shows me how vital it is to
grab my audience’s
attention and to actually
engage them in my film.
8. My audience seem to
favour happy endings over
sad (40% over 20%) which I
find quite interesting as I
thought they’d prefer
something more intriguing.
However, “mixture of both”
also has the same amount
of votes as “happy” which
shows that they aren’t too
bothered by how the
ending goes – I guess it
depends more on the
actual story as it would be
quite vague to just vote on
what kind of ending one
would prefer if they aren’t
really aware of the story or
the plot in the first place.
9. This is one of the only two open
questions that I included in the
survey and it is regarding
conventions that my audience
would want to see in my horror
film, personally. The responses
consisted of varying ideas and
some of them included the fact
that they thought having a cliffhanger in the end would be tiring
and lazy on the director’s part.
Meanwhile, some people
responded that they’d favour
locations that aren’t based in a
regular house like the majority of
horror films are – some suggested
the woods for example.
However, the majority responded
with the fact that they’d like
twists in the story which I think is
important since I don’t have any
in mine as of right now. I will be
improving upon this by thinking
of ways I could enhance what I’ve
already got which will hopefully
result in my audience responding
positively to my storyline.
