The document summarizes the results of a questionnaire about horror movie preferences. It finds that psychological and comedy horror are the most popular subgenres. Most participants felt more sympathy for a victim of similar age and enjoyed when trailers include jump scares. Sound design and creating tension were also seen as important. The most popular settings were houses and woods. Inserts in trailers were sometimes read.

1. Horror Trailer
Questionnaire
Results
Created on Survey Monkey

2. I asked the public whether they liked watching horror movies. I did this so
that it helps me to know how popular this genre of film is and also whether
the people who were answering my questionnaire were the relevant people
to answer it. For example, if the majority of people said they didn’t like
watching horror movies, then my questionnaire would be pointless because
then most of the answers will probably have been made up.

3. I then asked the participants what
their favourite sub-genre of horror
movie was. I found out that
psychological and comedy horror were
the most popular, meaning that when
it comes to creating our horror movie
trailer, we would preferably fit it into
one of these categories.
I also created a box saying
‘other, please specify’ where
the audience had the choice
to write down any type of
sub-genre which I did not
include. From the results, it
seems that a couple of people
didn’t really have a preference
of a sub-genre of horror and
one person also said their
favourite is a paranormal
horror movie. From these
results, it concludes that the
most popular are comedy
horror and psychological.

4. The next question I asked the participants, was if they feel more sympathy towards a
victim who is of similar age to them. I felt that this was a relevant question to ask
because, we want our trailer to be as appealing as possible and if the audience get more
scared and drawn into the film if the victim is of similar age, then it is important for us to
take that into consideration. The results showed that it was very close between the two
responses, yet it does show that overall, generally people do feel more sympathy towards
a victim if they are of similar age, yet it is not of vital importance. I also feel that the
audience will be able to relate to the victim more if they are of similar age, so maybe it is
a little bit important to have them of a similar age to my target audience.

5. My next question was if the public like it when a horror movie trailer makes
them jump. The vast majority of participants said that they like it when a
horror movie trailer makes them jump. This emphasises how important the
tension and suspense is to make a trailer successful. If the participants state
that it is important for them for a trailer to make them jump, then this
means that when it comes to making our trailer we will have to add in some
jumpy sections and different cuts to make it as appealing for the audience
as possible.

6. In my next question, I aimed to find out how important the use of sound was in a
horror movie trailer and whether it had an important impact. The results showed
a positive correlation and it was clear to see that the majority of participants
found the impact of sound highly important. Therefore this means that when
making our trailer we need to ensure that the sound is effective, so that the
audience are drawn in.

7. I then wanted to know what
the participants thought
would be the most important
features of a horror movie
trailer. I wanted to know this
so that when it comes to
making our trailer, I make sure
that I include the things which
the audience want to see in a
trailer and what they find
important.
The results show that the participants feel that it is important to include a lot of tension
and suspense in the horror movie trailer and it is very clear to see that this is more
important than anything else. This means that when it comes to making the trailer, so
that the audience are attracted to our trailer, we should include a vast amount of things
to create tension and suspense, so that the audience want to watch more.

8. I then felt that it was
important to ask the
participants where their
favourite place is to have the
horror movie set. I felt that
this would help me when
deciding what location to use
for our horror movie trailer.
The results show that one of
the most favourite places for a
trailer to be set is in a house.
This could be because of the
fact that a house creates
realism. Also, the woods were
an important location for a
horror movie to be set. I will
take all of this into account
when making our trailer. I also
included another ‘other
please specify’ section for
participants to write their own
location if needed.

9. Finally, I asked the participants what they thought about the inserts that are included
in a horror movie trailer. I wanted to know whether the audience were interested and
took notice of them when watching the trailer, to give me an idea of how many to
include in my trailer and how important they are. I found out from the results that
the results were quite mixed and that the majority of people sometimes read the
inserts when watching the trailer. This shows that I should definitely include some
because the results were mixed and I feel that it is important for them to be there so
that the audience have a choice whether to read them or not.