This document provides a summary of research the filmmaker conducted for their found footage horror film project. The secondary research looked at age, gender, and social demographics for horror movie audiences from the British Film Institute. It found that the 15-24 age group most prefers horror and graphic mature films. Horror audiences have a relatively even gender split. Lower middle class audiences (C1) have the largest share of the horror audience. The primary research was conducted through an online survey. It found that the 18-24 age group was most attracted to found footage horror. Both genders seemed to enjoy horror equally based on the survey results. Certain age groups disliked found footage more while the 18-24 group liked

1. FMP
RESEARCH
TAHMID AHMED

2. AUDIENCE
RESEARCH
SECONDARY
Age
The British Film Institute have made a statistical yearbook for a movies
demographic age groups in 2017. They have shown that the horror
movie The Conjuring 2 is the most popular with the 15-24 age group
having a 67%. This age group prefer to watch more graphical mature
movies such as Suicide Squad, Deadpool and Grimsby. My film
seems to fit around this age group since my film will have some
violence and mild gore.
Gender
The BFI have also found that The Conjuring 2 have a gender
demographic with male at 51% and female at 49%. This shows that
horrors don’t have a very significant difference however action seem
to have a very significant. In fact BFI shows that males seem to prefer
action, adventure and fiction which are the strongest attributes within
horror and found footage. This leads me to believe that I may need to
slightly focus on the male demographic.
Social Grades
From the Stephen Follows site it is found that horror almost has a fairly
even demographic. It seems that overall the lower middle class (C1)
seem to overpower most genres. With them being more significant with
action and adventure. A and B seem the be the only classes lacking
within horror yet much more relevant with mystery. This means I may
have to focus mostly on class C1 while keeping A and B in mind since
I will have mystery within my flm

3. AUDIENCE
RESEARCH
PRIMARY
Asking about the age is one of the more important questions to find a
target audience. My intentions was for me to understand how each
age group answers my survey, however with the results being unfair
makes it impossible to gather. The lack of diverse responses makes
the 18-24 age group most popular. Since with it being posted upon
Reddit titled “student found footage horror survey” shows that this
age range Is more attracted to the genre. This supports my
secondary research as I found that the 15-24 age group are more
interested in horror according to the BFI. The results confirm that my
film will be focused around the 18-24 age range as they seem to
enjoy the genre that I have set for my film.
My intentions for this question was to find out the similarities and
differences between each genders responses. Finding this out would
help me fulfil my goal to make my film satisfy my initial target
audience of both genders. Similar to the first question. The results
came out unfair as I received 11 male responses while only having 3
females. This doesn't backup my secondary research as BFI found
that horror movies have a very even gender demographic with the
males being only slightly higher so I will still try to appeal to both
genders.
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One of the reasons I asked this question was to find out which
groups dislike found footage horror films and which don’t. 36% of
men and 33% of females dislike the genre which is fairly even and
doesn’t significantly change my target audience. The 35-44 and 25-
34 age groups seem to dislike the genre whilst 27% of the 18-24
age groups like the genre making my target audience more clear. I
then gave an option for the people that answered “yes” to tell me
their favorite film within that genre. This will be helpful for me to
choose existing products to research. I will most definitely be
researching ‘The Blair Witch Project’ with it sheer popularity within
my survey. With it only being men that have commented ‘The Blair
Witch Project’. I have decided to also research ‘The Grave
Encounters’ since it is a females comment. This will stick to plan of
targeting both genders.
4 5
Graphic content can be hard to measure during the making of the
film as you aren't properly visualizing it on screen. Knowing peoples
opinion on the matter helps me limit myself giving better control on
my story without anything becoming too uncomfortable to watch.
The results clearly show that the majority 78.57% prefer graphic
content which in my opinion Is fairly low key. Since percentages
aren't clear enough, I asked what their reason was for the answer.
Many of the ‘no’ respondents state that they like much more subtle
and insinuated violence. Most of the ‘yes’ respondents state that it
gives a sense of realism. This leaves me the conclusion to make my
graphic content more subtle keeping with a realistic and controlled
tone rather then being too ludicrous.
This final question is appropriate the plot of my story since I am
unsure on I want my antagonist to be. This final question would have
helped me solve this problem however as you can see the
responses are 50/50. This is has given me the idea to try an
incorporate both aspects to my antagonist. For example my
antagonist could be a con artist using tricks to insinuate fictional
traits. I could have both non fiction and fictional antagonists. Overall
I will try my best to incorporate both to ensure that I can please my
target audience.

4. Summary
The Blaire Witch Project is a 1999 supernatural horror film written,
directed and edited by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez. The
narrative follows three student film makers Heather Donahue,
Joshua Leonard, Michael C. Williams (played by the same names).
They go into the Maryland forest to document a local Blair Witch
legend however they get lost and mysteriously go missing leaving
only there footage behind.
Reason for choice
The Blaire Witch Project is very similar to my project since it consist
of a documentary crew also getting attacked by a supernatural
force within a forest. Much like the Blair witch project my project
will be styled as found footage. I am hoping to find out how they
capture intense scenes without physically showing the Blair witch
herself.
EXISTING PRODUCTS
BLAIR WITCH PROJECT

5. EXISTING PRODUCTS
How they implicate the witch
With the low budget and plot about the characters being attacked by a witch, the creators would have
to find a way to capture a supernatural and horrific tone without using neither practical nor CG effects
to create the witch. They were able to solve this problem with very impressive techniques to imply the
beings presence.
Acting
Since they styled it as found footage the actors portrayed themselves very realistically rather than
being contrived like in many films. This already helps to make a dark tone since reality is seen more
boring and less poetic dramatic like most films. This initially makes the characters unpredictable
making it hard to find faults to break the immersion. The hand held shots makes for good excuse to not
being able to see the witch as the characters behavior makes up for the scariness. The level of tension
getting higher with the characters sanity throughout the film hints to being able to see the witch at the
end leaving the audience on edge throughout. These skills will work perfectly within my film since my
camera is actor operated which will help me capture tension without showing my antagonist. I will also
have to find a cast that will be able to improvise and act natural.
Props
Props are probably the most significant area of capturing the witch since it is the only visual
representation of what the witch does. This is more prominent when the group stumble across strange
looking twig sculptures hanged on trees. This helps create a picture to what the witch would like such
as hands to make intricate sculptures. The odd sharp crooked looking sculptures have evil
connotations which somewhat would reflect how the witch would look.
BLAIR WITCH PROJECT
Sound
In a particular scene they use sound as a key element to enforce the idea of a supernatural force. The
characters decide to sleep in there camps they subtly hear children laughing outside the camp. This is
clearly an unnerving experience since the characters were lost alone in a forest for two nights. The fact
that the audience can hear something other then the characters adds a sense of unnatural tension
especially with it being a child's voice. This also gives more thrill since nothing majorly exciting has
happened prior. The most effective technique to how they captured such creepy vibe is the way they
utilized the volume. Since it is found footage the sounds started very quiet forcing the audience to listen
carefully after seeing the characters paranoid behavior. The sounds start to get more unnatural and
louder creating a powerful rise of tension for the audience and the characters. The sense of terror when
the tent starts vigorously shaking was amplified by the rise of tension.

6. Summary
Breaking trail is a wildlife series within Brave Wilderness channel. The
series is presented by wildlife expert and TV/YouTube personality
Nathaniel Peterson also known as “Coyote”. Coyote and his crew have
an objective to find certain creatures in order to show off and educate
the audience. This consists of them travelling within heavily inhabited
wild lands such as forests, deserts, caves etc.
Reason for choice
My film will be a found footage documentary and with the documentary
part being very similar to the Breaking Trails series. I want to be able to
mimic the professional aspects of Breaking Trails which I considered
very typical of a wildlife show. This will essentially help make my fake
documentary look real giving more impact to the horror twist.
EXISTING PRODUCTS
BREAKING TRAIL

7. EXISTING PRODUCTS
BREAKING TRAIL
Coyote Peterson
In order to ensure a believable documentary my actor needs to be able to look and sound like a
charismatic, knowledgeable and enthusiastic presenter. This is why Coyote Peterson is a perfect
candidate to research and for my actor to reference from. Coyotes seems to keep a very consistent
positive yet natural and relatable attitude. This along with his wide expressions shows that he is keeping
the audience in mind. This is proved with many rhetorical questions as well as referencing questions
from his fans. He even puts himself in an audiences shoes by reassuring everything by answering made
up questions that the audience might be thinking. His target audience are children so he plays with his
tone of voice to emphasize words. He rarely speaks off topic since he makes sure he is being
informative. My character also needs to look the part and Coyote has an outfit being both iconic and
fitting for his role. He mostly wears basic outdoor hiking trousers, top and bag but the most famous attire
is his hat. This would work perfectly for my film since it will make my character much more believable.
Intro
I will have to make a graphical intro since most wildlife documentaries have some kind of title sequence
making their name memorable. I wouldn't want to fully imitate the Breaking trails opening title however
since my documentary plot is about solving wildlife mysteries, certain aspects from the opening would
be very fitting. This is relevant to the animated footsteps and leaves since they have an adventurous
iconography. Using these aspects can surely set the mood for my film convincing the audiences that my
film is a real documentary giving more impact on the twist. After the title card a montage plays with
coyote exploring the wild while he explains the series plot with narration. This is an easy way to let the
audience take in the setting while giving light exposition. Combining these aspects will help emphasize
the cliché.
Crew
The crew members Mark Vines (camera man) and Mario Aldecoa (sound guy) seem too have a spotlight
of their own. They seem to ask curious questions during Coyotes animal talks, acting like an audience
so that coyote doesn’t miss anything. The number of crew is perfect for my film since I would be able to
focus on deeply developing three characters rather then having too many excess C-list characters. The
constant fun communication with each of the members can help make the relationships more clear while
giving character development.

8. EXISTING PRODUCTS
GRAVE ENCOUNTERS
Summary
Grave Encounters is a 2011 supernatural horror film written and
directed by Colin Minihan and Stuart Otis. The narrative consist of
found footage of an old supernatural reality TV program following a
crew who lock themselves in a psychiatric hospital in search of
paranormal activity. After five episodes of airing this becomes there
final.
Reason for choice
The show has fairly similar aspects to my film as it consists of a crew
running a professional TV series. The crew even have filming
equipment that serve as good horror techniques. This movie is also
referenced as peoples favorite found footage film so using techniques
from this film will be effective to my target audience.

9. EXISTING PRODUCTS
GRAVE ENCOUNTERS
How they parody a TV show
Since the plot resolves around found footage of a reality TV series, the editing and acting seem to almost
parody the common tropes American TV had at the time. For instants they open there show with a
montage of long faded cuts, overuse of sharp sound effects, inverted images while playing a cliché
narrative giving exposition for show. This along with the performance not only mimics many ghost hunter
esc shows but many general American shows such as Hotel Hell and Storage Wars. They also poke fun
of the fact on how fake reality TV can be as shown with the behind the scenes bribing and psychic con
artist. This all combines to make a charismatic premise while also ridiculing mainstream media. Since I
have a similar plot, it would make sense to take inspiration from this style. Adapting this with mainstream
wildlife shows would surely set the tone for my audience.
Use of filming equipment
Along with the reality TV theme they have special equipment in order to sell the paranormal hunting
gimmick. The way they use this equipment makes the film more cinematic as well as tactics to scare the
audience. Once the crew arrive to the hospital, they begin with setting up camera around the area. This
serves as a clever long shot while the hand held shots serves as the medium and close shots. The
hospitals lack of lights means that all the cameras have to be in night vision. Night vision seems to give a
disturbing essence with the lack of colour and the fear of seeing what is in the dark. They even use
radios which sometimes shrieks acting as ambient sounds. For my film my wildlife crew can set up
capture cameras being very fitting with the story as well as acting as long shots. The fact that capture
cams only capture movement is can be a good horror gimmick.
Digital effects
There are many effects in grave encounters such as warping faces, giant hands but most commonly and
simple are the digital effects. The simple effect is beneficial as it acts as it can be used as hidden cuts.
With found footage means many long takes making it difficult to shoot however with match cuts such as
whipping the camera or in this case using digital effects can save a lot of time. This can let my actors
refresh their memory as well making it easier for me to direct cut by cut. With the camera seemingly
acting up can be effective at disturbing the audience. Since they can trust the camera itself, they will
surely be on edge.