Roxy Sega undertook a questionnaire to help determine expectations and preferences for an independent horror film. Most respondents were female, aged 11-20, and watch horror films regularly. Key findings included that knives are seen as the scariest weapon, respondents prefer watching horror films on TV or Netflix, and favored scenes include the opening and encounters with the killer. These findings will help with targeting the film's demographic, developing the synopsis and trailer, and designing the killer character to appeal to the primarily female audience.

1. Preliminary Data
Done by: Roxy Sega

2. Expectations
The reason behind me undertaking this questionnaire was so
that I would be able to determine the behaviour and
watching patterns in order to use this information and start
thinking about a release date for the trailer. the outcome of
this research will give me a wider understanding of what who
the target audience will be and also what are their
expectations from a independent horror movie. One of the
questions is designed to help me and my group determine the
most used and expected location where this movie will take
place. Lastly I hope that I will be able to determine the most
favourable character in order to know how many times
he/she would be on screen for in order to attract the
audience.

3. Are you male or female?
Male
Female

4. Looking at the data I have gathered from the
questionnaire which was posted on social media, I can
see that the female gender has taken a greater part
within the survey. This could point out that the horror
genre is appealing to both males and female. This
information if helpful because I can use it when
developing the synopsis, having in mind that audience
may be higher in the number of girls watching the
movie which could make this movie biased as it would
be more of a ‘women’s film’. The information gathered
may also be biased considering the people within my
group. This is because there have been 3 girls and only
one boy which may have reflected in the responses
that we have gathered as a group.

5. How old are you?
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
10 or
younger
11-20 21-30 31-40 41-50 51+
10 or younger
11-20
21-30
31-40
41-50
51+

6. This question is essential for my primary research. By
looking at the data gathered on this particular
question my group and I could see what age should
our movie be targeting but also what age certificate
should we aim at. The age group from which we
have received most of our responses were from 11-
20 year olds. This points out that we have
successfully targeted out market which means that
our movie will succeed within the chosen age. We
have had people answering our questionnaire from
all age range up to 50+, which shows that this movie
genre is watched by all ages, which could make it
interesting for us to make our movie because I
believe that it is a good idea for the movie to appeal
to the chosen audience but also to other ages.

7. Do you watch horror films?
Yes
No
61%
40%

8. Looking at the result from that question most
people that have answered do indeed watch
horror films. This information is useful for my
research because it would make the creation of
the movie easier. This is because it points out that
horror is still a watched genre and it hasn’t died
out like western movies. It also means that the
responses may not be fully relevant as there are
many different types of horror genre. Or there may
have been respondents that have said that they
watch horror movies when actually they don’t.

9. What is the scariest murder
weapon used in horror films?
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Saw Knife Hands Rope Other

10. This question has helped when developing my
synopsis. This is because I have faced some issues
when coming up with a weapon for the murder,
however when looking at the response I have
realised that most respondents find knifes scary
in a horror movie. Therefore I have decided to
use it in my own movie. I could have used other
weapons such as hands or a saw, yet I wasn’t
sure that the audience will find it scary or
traditional as most slasher movie have a knife as
a murder weapon.

11. How often do you go to the
cinema?
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
Weekly Monthly Quarterly Annually

12. The overall response to this question was that the
respondents go to the cinema on a quarterly basis.
Due to our target market being 11-20 year olds, they
tend to go to the cinema as a social activity.
Therefore it would make financial sense for the
movie to be released in the period when the
audience that we aiming the movie at, goes to the
cinema. This will also be used to put a date out for
when the movie should be released. We cannot
release it when other blockbuster horror movies
release theirs, because the competition would be
too high as we are producing a low budget slasher
film. A time when we can release the movie would
be around Valentines day as people would like to
have something different to watch, not just
rom.com.

13. Where do you watch horror films?
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
TV Cinema Netflix Downloads Other
TV
Cinema
Netflix
Downloads
Other

14. The most frequent answer that I have gathered from
the research is that most of the respondents like to
watch horror movies on the TV. This could point out
that if I would like to release my movie I would have
to make a deal with some of the companies such as
Netflix or Amazon, programmes which are used by
most people. Releasing my movie in the cinema
could be an option however there won’t be many
people going to watch it as they don’t like to. On the
other hand having an online release for my movie
can also be another option as the audience also like
to download their horror movie, however it could
have a negative effect as there could be people who
would get illegal copies of my movie.

15. What’s your favourite slasher film
location?
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
Woods Neighbourhood Haunted house Alleyway Other

16. Once again this question has turned out helpful
when planning the synopsis. This is because we
needed the opinion of people who watch this
genre and tell us what location they favour when
watching this type of movie. Therefore using this
information we have come up with the idea that
the movie should be set in the neighbourhood.
However we thought that we should balance out
the 3 highest answers which were: woods,
neighbourhood and haunted house. Taking this
into consideration we have decided that we will
have different murders taking place in these 3
different favoured locations.

17. What is your favourite scene in a
horror film?
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
Opening normal life scene First girl dies Killer and hero in direct
combat

18. Out of the three options that were given we have
received a high number of responses. However
for the movie trailer we have decided that we
will have as many shots as possiblee of the
equilibrium as that seems to the most favoured
scene within a horror movie. We have also
decided that we will not show who the first girl
who is going to die will be nor who the here will
be. This is so that it would create a bit of tension
for the viewer as the trailer would be a bit
secretive and he/she would have to watch it in
order to see what happens.

19. What are you expecting to see in a
horror/slasher film?
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Group of teenagers
Killer
Blood
Shadows
Trees
Neighbourhood
Scary forest
Smoke

20. Most people expect to see blood, killer, shadows
and group of teenagers. This is almost like a code
of what it is expected to be seen in a horror
movie. This is why I have decided that all of these
factors that have the highest number will be put
into the trailer and movie. I believe that by
adding this in my movie, it will point out the
genre of the movie but also it will draw the
audience attention towards the movie.

21. What is your favourite character in
a horror/slasher film
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
Killer
Final girl
First girl to die
Old wise
guy/woman Useless
professional
adults e.g.
police
Other

22. The most liked character within the movie is the
killer. This could probably be because of the
Barbara Creed’s theory on how men see women.
The second likes character is the benefactor. This
can also be because sometimes the benefactor
could turn out to be killer and the benefactor is
also secretive and is represented as suspicious to
the audience. Therefore the killer in our movie
plays the role of the benefactor who is seen well
by the community and gets along with everyone.

23. The Result
All the information I have gathered from this questionnaire
will be useful and helped me understand who my
demographic will be. The firs interesting factor from this
questionnaire is that we mostly had female respondents
and therefore the decision was that the audience we will
focus on will predominantly be female. Another interesting
result was that most of the respondents enjoyed the
beginning of the movie, therefore because we are doing a
trailer we have decided that we will include the establishing
shot within the trailer because we want to attract the
majority of the respondents who have enjoyed that scene.
The answer to the last question was also interesting
because the vast majority of the respondents were female
they prefer the killer character because of the tendency of
the killer being attractive at the end when being unveiled
and therefore the main character would have to be well
thought off in order to appeal to the female audience.