Audience research for my slasher trailer.

1. Audience Research -
Quantitative Data
By Shuruthi Kamalendran

2. Through the use of the web we
conducted a questionnaire on a
website called ‘Question Pro’ that
consisted of ten questions which were
multiple choice. We sent the
questionnaire around by posting on
social media sites such as ‘Facebook’
and ‘WhatsApp’ and got the response
of 51 participates.

3. What Gender are you?
Male Female
From the 51 participants
that did out questionnaire,
an equal number of males
and females responded.
This shows that our
demographic should be
targeted at both males and
females also to not specify,
or target one gender.

4. 0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Under 16 17-19 20-22 23 or over
How old are you?
Looking at this graph, the majority who
did our questionnaire were 17-19 year
olds, and the lowest were 20-22 year olds.
This gives us an idea for what age rate
should be appropriate for our film.
Though picking the ‘15’ age rating would
gives us a wider range of audience it
would force us to stick to certain
regulations that we could get away with in
the ‘18’ category. Since the majority is
close to the ‘18’ age range(compared to
the under 16’s being second to last), we
will most likely pick that as the age rating
for our slasher film trailer.

5. What is your favourite sub-genre of horror?
Slasher Gothic Supernatural Psychological Other
By asking what their favourite
sub-genre is, we get the gist on
displaying certain aspects of the
subgenre in our trailer. Because
the majority picked ‘Slasher’ we
learn that it is popular amongst
young adults, following closely
behind is supernatural, this is due
to recent films that have been
based on supernatural
occurrences e.g. ‘paranormal
activity’ the other sub genres
such as gothic and psychological
are probably not as popular due
the lack of these genres
appearing in recent films that
have shown in the last decade.

6. 0 2 4 6 8 10
Scream
Teeth
Texas chainsaw massacre
Halloween
Final destination
Prom Night
I know what you did last summer
Friday 13th
Other
What is your favourite slasher film? Knowing what is the
most known and
likeable slasher film
could help us with
adding Easter eggs in
our trailer, or using
significant scenes that
are well known, and
easily recognisable.
Also adding some
minor ideas that have
popped up in the
most popular film.

7. 0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
Neighbourhood Forest School Abandoned
house
Other
Where do you think the best location for a horror film is?
Asking this question helped us
decide on what location would be
scary enough to base most our
trailer in. Most people said a
‘neighbourhood’ since that’s
where most horror films are set
and is also familiar. Also a
neighbourhood is the last place
to think that there's a killer
around, compared to the
‘abandoned house’, the
neighbourhood is an unexpected
place to start a murdering spree,
making it easier to clearly show
that we have disrupted the
equilibrium.

8. Cinema
Streaming
DVD'S
Netflix
Other
How do you access films?
Cinema Streaming DVD'S Netflix Other
Most people watch films online due to the
revolution of the internet. There are easier
access to films over the internet than our
parents generation. Also films that are free
through illegal downloads are popular
amongst the younger generation.
Streaming on Netflix is seen to be much
cheaper than buying a DVD, for five pound
a month it gives you the choice of loads of
different films that are considered cheaper
than DVDS because of the uprising of the
internet and its widgets such as Netflix the
least that was picked were DVD’S.

9. 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Ghostface- Scream
Michael Myers- Halloween
Freddie Krugeur- Nightmare on Elm
Street
Richard Fenton- Prom Night
Carrie- Carrie
Jason- Friday 13th
Other
Who is your favourite horror film villain?
Having an idea of which horror film
villain was the favourite gives us
inspiration on how our villain could be
like. Incorporating similar features. The
least favourite horror film villain
happens to be a female character,
‘Carrie’ this tells us that most people
would prefer or identify the villain to
usually be male.

10. 0
5
10
15
20
25
Summer Winter Autumn Spring
When would you go and see a slasher film?Winter was the most
picked season. I think the
reason could be due to the
fact that winter is often
quite dull, it gets dark
quicker too. Also
Halloween is around the
end of autumn. Most
people during the winter
would not hangout
outside and there's not
much to do, since it is
cold, so it generally gives
them a reason to go watch
a film since the cinema is
cosy and indoor.

11. What weapon would you like to see in a slasher film
Knife Gun Machete Chainsaw Axe Baseball bat Other
The most picked answers are all with
sharp blades eg. Knife, axe, machete.
In slasher films the weapon usually is
something that has a blade.

12. 0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
Parents Friends Significant others Siblings Alone Other
Who do you watch horror films with? This graph displays that
most people would
watch a horror film with
their friends than their
parents. Horror films
are not family films
hence why parents
were picked the least.

13. Audience Research -
Secondary Data

14. A secondary source which assisted our
research helped further our initial idea,
was the BBFC website. The website
entails several documents in pdf files
with useful information on recent/past
performances in the box office.

15. This piece of data
that I received from
the BFI website
shows the top 20
for box office
results for UK
independent films.
By looking at the
top five, the horror
genre is not doing
well against other
independent films
though in the
overall top 20 you
do not see a horror
based independent
film even as a
contender. This
shows that there is
a gap in the market
for horror
independent films
probably because
most horror films
are made by bigger
companies that
invest in more
money on digital
technology such as
cgi and other
special effects.
Another piece of data
I obtained gave me a
better idea about the
horror genre and
whether it is a
popular genre. This
table shows the films
released in the UK, by
genre ranked by the
box office. The horror
genre is not in the top
five but yet in the top
ten, World War Z is its
best performing title
which suggests that
my film would find it
hard to compete due
to World War Z
having the budget of
$190 million.
Overall, despite the low budget there is not as much competition for the slasher genre (the sub
genre of horror) in terms of the box office. Although I must take into consideration that over
time, digital technology has advanced making audience members expect for more out of a
horror film which is challenging to attain if my film is low budgeted although the less
competition could mean more recognition it would get. World War Z did very well in the box
office for the horror genre, due to this I will be using aspects of the World War Z trailer and
incorporate it in my own to fit my film in terms of setting, location and characters.

16. This graphs shows the proportion of the box
office for all film types also it helps compare the
different types of film (UK independent films, UK
films, All films). It shows the horror genre in
terms of it being independent is quite low, it is
one of the lowest at the percentage of 0.3. This
reinforces the idea that the horror genre are now
forced to be made my larger companies since
smaller independent companies find it difficult
with the lack of technology. UK Films and All films
are roughly in par with the percentage which tells
me that overall the horror genre is not as popular,
especially as a UK independent film. As I said
before there could be a gap in the market which
gives a slight advantage to my film however in
terms of competing against other genres such as
comedy, and Biopics it would be tough since the
graph shows those two genres being popular.

17. Audience Profile

18. Here is a link to another page to show the types of
things my audience is associated with:
http://my-audienceprofile-blog.tumblr.com/
Most of our survey participants were students due to this
the majority of students would have parents/carers that
decent in the ABC1 demographic categories as the C1 and
C2 social grade. So their parents would either have a job
which is supervisory or clerical, junior managerial,
administrative, professional or as skilled manual workers.
Since the categories, A, B and C1 tend to add more to the
economy we make products that is targeted at these groups
of people.
According to Young and Rubicam’s characterisation model
there are seven types of people in the world, this model
splits the different types on consumers . The three types of
consumer we saw that as reflected from our survey were
aspirers, reformers and explorers. Aspires are seen to be
superficial and materialistic, their core need in life is status.
The explorer tend to be young my nature and always
seeking for discovery, most teenagers often have the need
to find themselves as well as their world therefore most
teenagers fall under the explorer category. However, unlike
Explorers, they will not buy things just
because they are new. Each characterisation has certain
needs such as discovery, individuality and status, linking to
Maslow's Hierarchy of needs as our consumer have esteem
needs which is something that would encourage ones
esteem and also self actualisation, a need of being able to
achieve ones potential. Everything in terms of my film will
be taken in consideration, as its aimed at all sorts of
students from both genders that already have an interest in
the horror genre.