The document summarizes research on existing murder mystery trailers and posters, including analysis of common visual elements. It also describes research conducted through questionnaires, interviews, and evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of each research method. The research findings will help inform the design and content of a murder mystery promotional poster.

1. RESEARCH
Abigail Long

2. Existing Product
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiPD9X43knU
The effect at the end of the trailer is extremely creative, going from a car explosion, to the fire being in a girl’s eyes, to it turning into a candle
on a birthday cake.Very well done.
Set in a college, on a girl’s birthday.The angles are extremely well done, following the girl throughout most of it while giving a few jarring shots
of the killer.The shot from above while the car exploded was extremely good.
The music is also well done, changing from an sort of upbeat tune to something more sinister, while still keeping it’s major components, and it
knows exactly when to go silent.The sound effects also mix greatly with the music, making it much more suspenseful.
The lighting is surprisingly light throughout most of the trailer, but it does go from light colors like gold/yellow/orange to dark
blues/blacks/greys when the killer is revealed, or whenever there is a murder scene.
The costumes are pretty good, giving college students believable outfits most of the time.The killer, however feels a little clique, with the mask
which looks more funny than creepy.
At the end of the trailer, a cake shows up and the title of the movie is shown as an icing, which works well, considering the name of the movie.
The trailer opens with the main character, and starts with it being pretty normal until the30 second mark.This tells me that I should open
my trailer with the main character and not start the action too soon, having a little emblem of what’s going on.

3. Existing Product Shows different
suspects looking
suspicious, which
makes them seem
like the murderer,
leaving the viewer
wondering who it
is.
Shows a silhouette, broken
up and made up of
suspects, which is very
creative and has a chilling
feel to it, as if these people
are all that is left of the
victim.
A sharp object is below the
silhouette, which is similar
to my idea, only with the
weapon actually in the
silhouette.
The silhouette is red,
which symbolises blood
and danger, and it has a
splatter effect around it,
which could also be
portrayed as blood, which
shows that the person has
been murdered or hurt.
Very simplistic. Not
much going on in the
background, or too
many bright colours,
which makes the red
stand out.
The font is bold and
has an effect which
makes it look like it’s
disintegrating.This
font will draw
watchers attention
to it.
The audience will want to watch it because
of the intrigue. By having a simplistic design,
you ensure that the audience won’t get much
view on what’s going on, which will make
them want to learn more.

4. Existing Product
An old looking
parchment, even
though it’s new
Fancy text to further
immerse people in
the event
Set at a manor,
which gives the
aura of
professionalism
and also comfort.
Invisible ink is a
bright blue, to
show a jarring
change from
regular colours of
pen.
The font is quite messy,
not nearly as
professional as a
computer generated
font.This gives the
sense of urgency and
warning.
Looks old, which gives
a sense of a classic
murder mystery
Blood strewn on the
page, giving the
effect of danger and
death
The text style differs
from a classic type
of font, to a fancy
one, and a messy
font.
Crime scene tape,
which wards away
evil and shows
that something
bad has happene.
Simplistic
design, not
being overly
dramatic to
keep an aura of
mystery.

5. Existing Product
The movie Came out
in theatre on the 24th
of March in 1939.
Silhouette of Sherlock
Holmes, which is a very
famous silhouette.A
deep blue with a lighter
blue outline instead of
the classic black, which
makes him look 3D.
The colours of the
poster are dark
greens and browns,
mixed together.This
gives off a creepy
vibe, telling the
audience something
is wrong and to
beware.
The font here is big, bold
and yellow, which draws
attention to it.The
effect added to the font
gives it a spooky sort of
feel, and the actual title
is quite disconcerting in
itself.
The dog here looks
demonic, with it’s
glowing red eyes,
which definitely
gives off the
presence that it is a
monster, rather than
a hound as the title
suggests. The poster makes the
audience want to
watch this by using
dark colours and
shadows, giving it a
scary and mysterious
look.

6. Research
Analysis
• What common features do the
researched products have?
• Dark colours
• Loud fonts
• Anonymity
• Shadows
• What aspects of the research will you
include within your on work?
Fonts
Colours
Structure
Format
Silhouette
Style
Mystery

7. QUESTIONNAIRE
ANALYSIS

8. Audience
research
• Observation: 4 categories were chosen and 6 were not chosen
• What this says about my audience: 60% of my audience prefer comedy
• How will your product appeal to this audience: Could have some comedic
parts

9. Audience
research
• Observation: The audience doesn’t want too much given away.
• What this says about my audience: 40% Of the audience want tension and
drama
• How will your product appeal to this audience: It’ll have suspense but it
won’t give anything away

10. Audience
research
• Observation:The audience likes colours and visuals
• What this says about my audience: 100% of the audience mentioned
colours or imagery/design
• How will your product appeal to this audience:Will have bright colours

11. Audience
research
• Observation: 3 categories were chosen
• What this says about my audience: 50% of my audience is female
• How will your product appeal to this audience: I won’t make the trailer
gender specific, as it’s nearly 50/50

12. Audience
research
• Observation: My audience has different opinions on promotional material.
• What this says about my audience: 70% of people think promotional
material is effective.
• How will your product appeal to this audience:Will make sure not to
overhype anything.

13. Audience
research
• Observation: Only a small percentage of people do not enjoy murder
mysteries
• What this says about my audience: 70% of my audience enjoy murder mystery films
• How will your product appeal to this audience: I’ll make it tense and full of
suspense, not telling anyone who the murderer is.

14. Audience
research
• Observation: The audience doesn’t like it when the murderer is easily given away
• What this says about my audience: 30% of the audience thinks that music can
give away the murderer
• How will your product appeal to this audience: I’ll be original and not
use any musical queues that might give the murderer away

15. Audience
research
• Observation: The audience is interested in posters
• What this says about my audience: 70% of the audience like trailers, with 60%
of them also liking posters
• How will your product appeal to this audience:The promotional material I
make will be a poster

16. Audience
research
• Observation: The results are varied
• What this says about my audience:The audience mostly suspects a stranger,
but they may suspect other people as well
• How will your product appeal to this audience: I’ll choose someone that
nobody would suspect, making the reveal more shocking.

17. Audience
research
• Observation: Most people thought the survey was good
• What this says about my audience: 40% percent think the survey could use
improvement
• How will your product appeal to this audience: Next time I make a survey vary
the questions more

18. INTERVIEWS

19. Interview 1 • Question 1) Do you like Murder mystery
movies?
• Yes
• Question 2)What stereotypes do you think are
overused in horror trailers?
• When they run upstairs instead of getting out
of the house.
• Question 3)What colours interest you in a
poster and which ones would work for a
murder mystery movie?
• Dark blues, blacks and Greys.
• Question 4)What types of promotional
material work for you?
• Trailers.
• Question 5)Are there any things you think
should be avoided when making a Murder
mystery movie?
• Don’t make it too complicated, where you can’t
understand the plot.

20. Interview 1
• Observation:The audience
likes murder mystery
• What this says about my
audience:They have strong
opinions about the genre.
• How will your product
appeal to this audience:Will
take their views into account
when making my projects.

21. Interview 2
• Question 1) Do you like Murder mystery
movies?
• No
• Question 2) What stereotypes do you
think are overused in horror trailers?
• The dumb blonde
• Question 3) What colours interest you in a
poster and which ones would work for a
murder mystery movie?
• Eye catching colours like blue, red and
white
• Question 4)What types of promotional
material work for you?
• T-Shirts
• Question 5) Are there any things you think
should be avoided when making a Murder
mystery movie?
• The clique of cluedo

22. Interview 2
• Observation: My audience
doesn’t like murder mystery
movies
• What this says about my
audience:They aren’t
interested in the genre much
• How will your product
appeal to this audience: It
will be a unique experience.

23. Audience
Profile
Category Demographic Content to appeal to this audience
Age Range
15-50 • Humour for the younger audience, unrealistic.
• Have aspects for adults to enjoy.
• Varied ages of actors.
Gender
Female, Male • Will have content enjoyable for all genders.
Psychographic
Needs driven • Won’t be too serious, very light hearted and very easy to
watch and follow along.
Social Status
C2 • They have the resources to view the content, and might be
interested in the settings and scenarios.

24. RESEARCH
EVALUATION

25. Research
Evaluation
• Give an overview of how you conducted your
research. Discuss the strengths and
weaknesses of each method
– Product Research
– Strengths: Can get good ideas for your own project.
– Weaknesses: Can waste time finding good material
that’s based around your project.
– Questionnaires
– Strengths: Learn what an audience likes and what it
dislikes
– Weaknesses: Might not get enough responses and
be unable to make an accurate guess at what the
audience would want most.
– Interviews
– Strengths: Can get more corporeal views, easier to
do.
– Because there aren’t a lot of people, you could miss
an important aspect of the demographic.

26. Research
Evaluation
– What sort of a response did you get?
– Mainly positive, most people seem to
like Murder mysteries and had a lot of
good advice to give, which will help me
when making my project.
– How did you distribute your survey?
Give an advantage and a disadvantage
– I emailed the survey to 10 people of the
group and collected data from it
afterwards.
– Strengths:A lot of varied reviews and
responses
– Weaknesses: Difficult getting the
amount of responses needed.