The document summarizes the results of a questionnaire conducted to understand the preferences of the target audience for a horror/slasher film trailer. It found that the audience was mostly male teenagers who preferred comedy and Friday the 13th films. They found being alone, spiders, ghosts and death most frightening. The majority also said that trailers encourage watching full movies and that woods and homes are the scariest locations, along with knives and axes as scary weapons. This information will help tailor the trailer to appeal to this audience.

1. Audience Survey
To help me to create a trailer appropriate for
my target audience, I would need to find out
what it is that my audience wants. In order to
find out what the public is interested in, I
created a questionnaire. In this
questionnaire, I devised a series of 10
questions in which I thought would help me
decide on important features to include
within my film trailer. This questionnaire also
includes both qualitative and quantitative
data and is a primary form of research. I
collected this information from social media
sites via the internet.

2. 0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
Male Female
Male
Female
The first question I asked my audience was what their
gender was. The result of this was fairly close with slightly
more male than females participating. To respond to this, I
will aim for my film trailer to target both genders.
What is Your Gender?

3. I then asked the age group of my audience. The groups
were as followed: 12-14, 15-17, 18-25 and 25+. Most of
those who took part in my questionnaire were between
the ages of 15-17. These results reflected the age of
those who are on my social media site ‘Facebook’. This
helped me to find out what the demographic of my trailer
would be aimed at. Since I will be aiming at teenagers, I
would need to consider using the correct codes and
conventions for this target audience. This includes the
language, mise en scene, typography and so on. I would
also need to make sure that this movie fits in for the
correct certificate for my demographic.
12 - 14.
15 - 17
18 - 25
25+
What is Your Age Group?

4. 0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
Horror
Romance
Comedy
Action
Adventure
War
Fantasy
Gangster
Sci-Fi
The next question I went on to ask was what their favourite
film genre was. The majority of the audience chose
comedy as their favourite. However followed closely behind
was horror. This is helpful for me as I could include aspects
of comedy within my movie thus appealing to my
audience’s preference.
What is Your Favourite Genre
Film?

5. 8
22
6
8
12
4
Scream
Friday the 13th
Saw
Halloween
Paranormal activity
Childs play
Scream Friday the 13th Saw
Halloween Paranormal activity Childs play
I asked my audience from the list of movies provided
below, which they would class as the best. From the
list, I included Scream, Friday
13th, Saw, Halloween, Paranormal activity and Childs
play. The favourite chosen by the audience was Friday
13th. Again this is very useful for me as I could include
intertextual references from that movie so that I could
appeal to my audience. An example of this could be
Camp Crystal Lake.
Which is Your Favourite?

6. Death
Spiders
Ghosts
Dogs
Demons
Being
alone
Parents
Next, I asked an open-ended question on what do you
find frightening. I felt that this was an important
question to ask the audience as due to the fact that I
was constructing a horror/slasher trailer, I could
incorporate their fears within my film. The most popular
answers that were given were ‘being alone’, ‘insects
such as spiders’ ‘spirits of the dead such as ghosts and
demons’ and ‘death’. Including these fears within my
film could create a form of thrill to the audience and
hopefully make it a popular and successful movie.
What Do You Find
Frightening?

7. Male hero
Female hero
Another question that I asked my audience was whether they
prefer to see a male or female hero in a movie. The majority
of the audience voted for a male hero. The result of this was
predominately a male hero. This was another open-ended
question as I went onto asking them ‘why’ they chose that
answer. The most frequent answers given were that they are
more powerful and something that they are more familiar
with. Although this is the case with most film genres, within
horror/slasher a typical convention is that there will be a final
girl which is also viewed as the hero. I will be applying this
convention within my film.
Do You Prefer a Male or
Female Hero?

8. When I asked my audience where they usually see advertisements
of movie, the most popular methods were ‘TV Commercials, the
internet and billboards’. Again, this is another very important
question as it would be helpful when distributing and exhibition of
my film. As the internet was a popular method, using viral marketing
to advertise my trailer would help to attract an audience. The best
places to distribute this would be on social networking sites such as
Facebook, Youtube and Twitter as this would be popular for the
target demographic of my trailer. The lowest percentage of the
results were newspapers, this could be due to the fact that not many
of those from this demographic read newspapers. This could also
be due to the effects of media fragmentation and so I could
compensate for this by including a website for my movie. This could
promote synergy and also it is something that could be accessible
anytime and anywhere from hubs such as mobile phones.
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TV Commericals
Posters
Billboards
Internet
Newspapers
Magazines
Where Do You Usually
See Advertisements?

9. Yes
No
An interesting question I thought to ask my audience was
‘do movie trailers encourage you to watch a full movie’?
90% of the audience said ‘yes’. This is a very useful
question as for my film trailer, I would have to ensure that
it is something that would appeal to my audience and
also grab their attention. The trailer would need to
include interesting bits of the movie accompanied by an
eerie voice over. However, it will be important that I do
not give away all the best bits of the movie in the trailer.
Attaching merits such as star ratings, award nominations
and reviews will also be something to consider as that
would help to attract an audience, especially due to that
fact that this is a low budget niche film.
Do Trailers Encourage You
To Watch A Full Movie?

10. 0 10 20 30
Alley way
Space
Basement
Abandoned warehouse
Woods
House Alley way
Space
Basement
Abandoned
warehouse
Woods
House
Another question I asked the audience that would help benefit me
when constructing my trailer was ‘what location do you find most
frightening’. I provided them a list of locations which included alley
ways, space, basement, abandoned warehouse, woods and your
own home. The reason why this would benefit me is that the most
popular locations that the audience chose would be where I could
set the location of my film. Typically, horror/slasher films are set in
woods and in a person’s home. These were also the two most
popular locations that the audience chose. Again, I will apply this to
my film trailer to bring thrill, fear and excitement to the audience
when watching the film.
What Location Do You
Find Most Frightening?

11. 16
9
20
5
4
6
Knife Gun Axe Shovel Garden
sheers
Natural
disaster
Knife Gun Axe
Shovel Garden sheers Natural disaster
In addition to asking what location do my audience find
most frightening I ended the questionnaire by asking
the target demographic what their favourite killer
weapon is. The list included
knife, gun, axe, shovel, garden sheers and natural
disasters. This again would be beneficial as the
monster in my horror/slasher film could use a weapon
that was voted popular by the audience. The two most
popular choices were the use of a knife and axe.
Incorporating this within my trailer could help to appeal
to my audience.
What is Your Favourite
Killer Weapon?

12. Audience Profile