The questionnaire results show that the target audience for a horror film is mainly male teenagers aged 16-20 who live in Woodford and Barkingside in Redbridge. They prefer to watch horror films in cinemas or through online streaming. The most effective scary elements are sound and music. Common preferences included films like The Conjuring 2 that use locations like asylums and include jump scares. Based on these findings, the group will create a supernatural or psychological short film for this target audience.
1. Questionnaire Results
Unit 2, 3, 22
Task 4
Farben Nikon Ahamed - George Kabasubabo-Koni - Alex Dwyer- Benjamin Goldstone
2. Purpose aims and methodology
The questionnaire has been created to conduct audience research to reach their tastes and
needs so that our product can satisfy their preferences. We went out to local areas in
redbridge to ask people questions about horror film in general to collect opinions of our an
audience and this is being done to create a better connection with our audience. By creating
it we were able to find out what our target audience likes and dislikes so based on their
opinions we can create a better product.
This presentation states all the data collected through the questionnaire and the group has
chosen to use a questionnaire as a research method because it’s the easiest way to collect
primary quantitative data that then will be re worked on graphs as well.
This research shows thoughts and opinions of people in Redbridge and
the data collected clearly tells us about what they usually see and like
watching in a horror film
3. Audience profiling
Age - Gender
Our results show that our main target audience is males aged between 16-20. This might be
because horror movies appeal to teens and young adults who get enjoyment from them. They
might also consume more compared to the under sixteen because they are more likely to
have a disposable income from a small job to spend on watching movies which means that
they don’t have to worry about house rent, electricity and other bills as they are having a
comfortable life where they can spend money somewhere else but the essential.
4. Area of Residence -employment status
The results from these two graphs show that many of our potential audience are full time
students or full time employed which matches the results of the age pie graph. Showing that
the main age group have not much financial trouble and have a disposable income they can
use on movies. The main town of residence in redbridge was woodford and barkingside this
means that our main marketing campaign focus should be in these two areas having adverts
put on busses that go past these areas and other advertisement placed on bus stops or even
in actual cinemas.
5. Audience media consumption habits
Our results show us that people’s prefered method of consumption is in the cinema then their
homes using online streaming. This suggests that our audience likes to be fully immersed in
the film with the image on a big screen, it also tells us that the audience wants to watch the
film as soon as it's released which is commonly at the cinema. The second largest group in the
pie graph is the online streaming which is for people who prefer spending their time on
watching film at home with friends/family or by themselves as they may not have a car to go
to the cinema (which is mostly going to include teenagers). The shot film is more likely to be
released on the internet as it is not long enough to be put in a cinema and that people are less
likely to want to watch a short 7 minute film in a cinema.
6. Audience media consumption habits
The results gathered from consumption habits show us that
the majority of the people who watch horror films, watch
them by themselves or with close friends, very few watch
them with their partner or with familiars, this may be due to
the genre of film which is horror. People do so probably
because being by themselves or with close friends the
tension may increase as by yourself there should be more
momentum, atmosphere and personal thoughts whereas
with friends you can share your fear and all feel part of the
film which usually involves a group of friends or familiars in
which they can personify with. Family members and
partners are the least chosen option because this genre does
not suit that type of group of people as the environment and
atmosphere would be enjoyable if the genre of the film
would have been romance or adventure for example.
7. Audience Personal Preferences
From this graph we can see that the majority of the audience finds sound to be the scariest element
in horror films, this is due to the fact that in horror movies sound is a really important presence
throughout the whole film which means that there is constant use of sound to create pace, meaning
and fear among the audience, as the producers want them to feel terrorised. If the sound used in the
horror is diegetic for example, this means that both the characters and the audience can hear the
sounds that occur in the film, this adds realism (verisimilitude) to the movie for the audience and
puts the audience in the character's position (empathise) which could be an element that makes the
viewer scared even more. Based on this information we will focus and give more importance on the
music and sound when making our own production, because it was overwhelmingly the most
important thing for the audience.
8. Audience Personal Preferences (Part 2)
The least scariest location that the audience chose was the tall grass field. When you look at
a tall grass field what usually comes to mind is nature which is represented by the grass and
the fact that grass is tall, it shows that nature is not disturbed. Farming also comes to mind
and looking at the field, it can also represent life which doesn’t really fit the conventions of
horror. The scariest place chosen instead was the asylum, this is probably because it is a
conventional location that often times gets used and chosen even by famous producers
because it gives the film more mystery and isolation to
the viewers as the asylum is usually an abandoned
place where supernatural
activities occur in which viewers can
appeal more to it.
9. Audience Personal Preferences (Part 3)
In general, based on the gathered results, a lot of the tallies went towards films such as The
Conjuring 2 (2016) and Saw “2004). This may be due to the fact that these films were released
in the 21st century meaning that it is or was very likely that our target audience of today’s
generation may’ve seen and chosen these more “modernised” horror films compared to 30 to
40 year olds who may have seen or voted on older horror movies they saw when they were
younger.The audience preference for how they like their horror film to be shot is with lots of
jump scares. With this knowledge we will try to include jump scares into the short film to
please our audience. The smallest category was the found footage style which we will not do.
10. Conclusion and Proposal
Based on the results we gathered, our film is going to be aimed at an audience
composed by mainly teenager males who live in Woodford, Barkingside and other areas
in Redbridge, they are also full time students or full time workers which means that
they either have some disposable income to spend on extra hobbies such as films or
simply their parents give them the money and this is because the area where primary
research has been conducted are all areas where there are a lot of schools and young
people which are the ones we are targeting. Based on their favourite genre and the way
they consume the media product instead we are going to create a film that will be either
supernatural or psychological.
As an overall the questionnaire gave us a really clear idea on what
people would like to see and want from a horror movie, therefore
we will include as much as possible the features
they like the most.