10 questions on the horror genre and horror films

1. Victoria Hornagold

2. Question 1
From my responders, 75% were female and 25% were male. This
means that there may be a slight imbalance or inaccuracy to bear
in mind (as I am not aiming for 75% of my audience to be female,
and ideally would want an equal split). However, as the majority
of horror films are normally directed towards the male gender (as
confirmed with Laura Mulvey’s ‘male gaze’ theory’), this may help
me learn more about the opinions of female’s which often gets
overlooked in this genre.
Question 2
91.67% of those who answered my questionnaire were
aged between 15 and 17, and the remaining 8.33%
were all 18 to 20. This is helpful as the target audience
for nearly all horror films, including mine, is the older
teenagers and those in their younger twenties; their
responses should give a good indication to the
preferences of the demographic I am making my trailer
for.

3. Question 3
This question allowed me to find out how much people enjoy horror films, but
equally find out how many are not a fan of the genre. This reveals that the
most common frequency to watch horror films was every month, while 25%
claimed they never do, 16.67% do yearly, and 8.33% watched them daily. This
shows the there is a wide range in how passionate people about them. In
order to appeal to that 25% who never watch them, I could potentially tone
down the horror elements of my trailer, however, this then risks losing those
who do love the genre as they know it now.
Question 4
The results of this question will allow me to find out about the most
popular horror sub-genre of my audience. The most popular, with
36.36% of the votes was Thriller, closely followed by Ghost (22.7%),
and the Sci-Fi and Romance Horror sub-genre both received 18.18%.
Thriller and Ghost are two genres that differ least from the primary
‘horror’ itself, proving that my audience enjoy the more ‘traditional’
elements of horror. From this response, I will also not include Parodic
or Slasher themes in my trailer, as these do not seem to appeal to my
audience.

4. Question 5
The most popular way people like to watch horror films is with a
group friends, while the second most popular with 33.33% is with
a few friends. 16.67% favoured being alone, and the least
common answer was among strangers. This reveals that most
(75%) of my audience prefer being surrounded by at least a small
amount of people they know, which is the response I expected as
people commonly like some reassurance or company when being
unnerved.
Question 6
The results to this question allowed me to find out the most popular way to consume
horror films, and in doing so help me market and advertise it accordingly. It revealed
that the most common answer was ‘at the cinema’, with ‘on the television’ being the
second most popular way to watch them, and the laptop/computer and on a
smartphone/iPad receiving an equal 16.67% each. The other remaining 25% stated
that they never watch horror films, and so by them not giving one of the specified
answers it means those I did receive are even more accurate as they only relate to
the demographic I am interested in (who actually do watch horror). Despite the
recent decrease in cinema popularity amongst the last decade, this shows that most
people do still prefer to watch them as soon as they are released on the ‘big screen’,
and that as the media device gets smaller in size, the less people like to watch them
on.

5. Question 7
I also wanted to look into what exactly entices people into watching
horror films. These answers revealed that 33.33% of my demographic
think the cast does convince them a lot, with the most popular answer
being ‘a little’ with 41.67%, and just 16.67% answered that it did not
convince them at all. As a combined 75% felt the cast did have at least
a little effect on them, I may feature the name of well-known actors in
my trailer in an attempt to make them more likely to watch the film.
Question 8
33.33% said that the produce/director of a film does not help
convince them to watch a film, and another 33.33% said that it
hardly did. While 16.67% revealed it had a lot of influence over
them, and the remaining 16.67% said it helped convince them a
little. This may be because not a lot of people recognise or
remember the work of those who they do not explicitly see on
the screen, and so including them may not be the most efficient
use of time in a trailer.

6. Question 9
This question allowed me to find out what type of advertising
influences my audience most, and so hopefully I will be able to use
this and advertise my film in the most effective way. Cinema trailers
were revealed to have the most influence, while YouTube adverts
had 25% of the vote. No-one felt that magazine/newspaper articles
had any type of influence over them, while television adverts and
posters got 16.67%. This could be a reflection of how print media
has become less prominent, especially among the younger
demographic which this questionnaire is mainly aimed at, and also
supports question 6 which showed that cinema is still extremely
popular and an effective way to communicate to your audience.
Question 10
The most popular elements of horror are the ‘plot twists’,
followed by 33.33% choosing ‘the suspense’ and the remaining
16.66% of the votes split between ‘connection with the
characters’ and ‘jump scares’. By finding out what people like
most about the films, I can include plot twists and suspense in
my trailer to hopefully encourage them to watch the whole
thing (as they should enjoy the short few minutes they did see.)