- The document summarizes the results of a survey about horror movie preferences. It surveyed 30 people, with an equal number of males and females.
- Most respondents were between ages 13-18 or 19-24. Supernatural and slasher films were the most popular genres. Trailers, television, and cinema were favored viewing methods.
- Darkness, sound effects, and isolated settings were most appealing in horror movies. Respondents also preferred male leads and for the villain to survive, unlike typical preferences. Based on the results, the document creator will make a slasher horror trailer targeted at younger audiences.
A KING’S HEART THE STORY OF TSAR BORIS III (Drama) (Feature Film Project in D...
Questionnaire evaluation[2]
1. Gender Differences
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
Male female
Gender
QuantityofIndividuals
Surveyed
tity of individuals
13-18
19-24
25-30
31-36
37-42
43+
Quantity of individuals
13-18
19-24
25-30
31-36
37-42
43+
Evaluating Results from Horror Questionnaire
Venetia Sharma.
Question 1 -After completing the draft of
my questionnaire, I ensured that I
surveyed an equal amount of both male
and female individuals. This would enable
me to distinguish between gender choices.
I chose to survey 15 individuals of each
gender as I felt that, although it may not be
a large sample group, it is big enough to
generate results which can be
differentiated -in order to obtain
conclusions regarding the most appealing
horror movie aspects to everyone.
Question 2- This pie chart represents the contrasting age differences I
encountered whilst surveying the public. A very large proportion of these
were between the ages of 13-18. This has led me to the decision that there is
a high probability that my group trailer will be targeted at a teenage
audience. Additionally, the next largest percentage was 19-24, which is still
a relatively young target group. The middle aged groups (37-42 and 43+)
were the less targeted groups suggesting that my group trailer will not be
aimed at a younger audience. I believe this is beneficial as the contemporary
generation of this time period seem to be much heavily influenced by the
new convention of horror movies. For example the introduction of 3D
movies such as Saw was more widely spoken about by teenagers and
younger adults.
Question 3- When I approached the public, I first asked them if they were interested in horror movies. This allowed me to
recognise if they were a suitable candidate to answer this questionnaire which is fully horror based. Therefore, the results
for this question were 100% yes’s.
Favourite Film From The Following
0
2
4
6
8
10
Scream
TheOmen
Paranormal
Activity1
DragMeto
Hell
Film Title
Numberofindividuals
whovotedforeachfilm
Public vote
Question 4- I chose this question to gain an
insight in to the type of film that intrigues the
audiences. I chose films of differing genres
such as slasher movies, religious movies and
supernatural movies. Furthermore, these
movies were released during different years,
so some of them (scream for example) are not
as modernised as other films- in a sense that
they have not been able to benefit from
improvements in technology as Paranormal
Activity did. This enabled me to establish the
type of iconography, effects and storyline
which could be incorporated into my group
trailer.
2. Favourite subgenre of horror movies.
Slasher
Religious
Possession
Supernatural
Sci-fi
Zombie
Monster
Once a week 3
Twice a week 4
Twice a
month 13
Hardly ever 10
Favourite subgenre of horror movies.
Slasher
Religious
Possession
Supernatural
Sci-fi
Zombie
Monster
Question 6- I generated the highest percentage for
supernatural and slasher movies. This emphasises the teenage
mentality as slasher movies are usually targeted at teenagers.
Scenes from supernatural movies will be more difficult to
shoot due to the lack of technical support; however, as this
was the most popular option, my group and I will try and
incorporate supernatural aspects into our trailer. The least
popular subgenre obtained was a tie between science-fiction,
zombie and monster movies.
Question 7- As this was an open question; I did not receive the enthusiasm I was expecting. The majority of people
suggested that the thrill that horror films cause to the mind was an important factor which attracted them to horror movies.
Other explained that the storyline of certain horror films such as the original version of Halloween and Friday the 13th
were
very appealing. Furthermore, another popular response was the psychological aspects associated with horror films that
“stirs feelings” in the viewers stomach.
Others explained that special effects and editing were the attributes to horror films that appealed to them the most.
Although the lengths of these responses were not all detailed, they still provided important opinions and advice which has
been helpful in shaping the style of my group horror trailer.
Question 8- The most popular favourite horror movies listed included Friday the 13th
(original version), Paranormal
activity, Saw, What lies beneath, American Werewolf, The Omen, The Happening, Drag Me to Hell, Chucky, 28 Days
Later and Halloween. Paranormal Activity was extremely popular as it was mentioned as a favourite film on over half of
the questionnaires. Individuals justified this response by referring to the realism portrayed in this movie and the fact that
the storyline was revolved around a couple. I believe that people felt that they could relate to this movie as it was shot as a
real life documentary.
0
5
10
15
20
25
Number of Votes
Paradigms
The Most Poplular Horror Movie Paradigms
Darkness
Killing weapons
Death
Isloated Settings
Revenge
Sound effects
Question 9- Darkness, sound effects and isolated
settings were the most popular chosen paradigms for
a successful horror movie. My group trailer will
implement some, if not all of these to maximise
attraction from the target audience. I found the
question and answers to be very helpful as it has
provided essential knowledge as to what the public
are after in a horror movie. However, an issue that
may be raised would be surrounding the difficulties
associated with shooting in darkness. Isolated settings
would not be difficult to locate, which is a benefit to
us. By including key paradigms into our trailer, we
would secure a golden rule for a successful horror
movie such as “make them jump.”
Question 5- I asked the public this question to gain an insight into the amount of time they
spend watching horror movies. I believe this is important because it enables parallels to be
made between the horror movie knowledge individuals possess which is an important
aiding mechanism as it helps to mould ideas for my group trailer.
3. Poplular Methods of Watching Horror Movies
0
5
10
15
20
Cinema Pirate
DVDs
Original
DVDs
Internet Television
Method
numberofvotes
Question 10- The cinema and television were the
most popular responses regarding methods of
engaging with horror movies. This suggests that the
responders’ like to gain a maximum experience and
thrill when engaging with horror movies. However,
8/30 people answered that they watched horror
movies on pirate DVDs. This immediately reduces
the effectiveness of a horror movie. As 13-30
individuals responded to the internet being a means of
watching horror movies, I could link my group trailer
to the internet which would hopefully attract my
target audience.
Number of people who
do watch trailers.
Number of people who
do not watch trailers
Number of people who
do watch trailers.
Number of people who
do not watch trailers
Question 11- 24/30 of the people surveyed, explained that they did watch horror movie trailers. This is beneficial to us as a
group, as our product is not a horror movie but the trailer.
Question 12- Chainsaw Massacre; Drag me to hell, Shutter
and Paranormal Activity were some of the most persuasive
horror trailers seen by the responders. Reasons for this
included the editing shown, the suspense created and the
sound effects. Todarov’s narrative theory can be related to
the suspense being created as it does not reveal the
conclusion of a horror movie which causes the audience to
become distressed in the sense that they are eager to find out
what happens next.
Different ways of advertising horror movies
0
5
10
15
20
Posters
Internet
Billboards
Newspapers/
Magazines
Television
Commercials
methods
publicvote
Number of votes
Question 13- The responses to this question obtained very
helpful results. To begin with, the most popular methods of
haring about the release of a new horror movie included TV
commercials, posters and the internet. This has led to the
suggestion to create a poster which highlights the significance
of our group trailer. These posters could be displayed in
various places to attract the audience. Additionally, the in my
group and I can use viral marketing to advertise our trailer on
the internet on YouTube and social networking sites such as
twitter and facebook. Avery small fraction of my sample chose
newspapers/magazines as a method of becoming aware about
the release of a new horror movie. This could be due to the fact
that a minority of my sample were middle aged/ older; this age
group are more likely to read newspapers.
4. knife
Axe
Chainsaw
Poisonous gas
saw
Yes No
20 10
Question 14- 8/30 individuals from the sample chosen, answered that they had downloaded horror movies from the
internet. They explained that their experiences were less efficient as the special effects and editing was not as thrilling
as it would have been had they seen the film at the cinema. However, some answered that watching the movie online
was a cheap and easy method which decreased classification restrictions.
Specal effects
plot
setting
characterisation
sound effects
props
Question 15- The most popular horror movie attributes were special
effects, setting and plot. This has given me an outline of what the
audience’s expectations are when watching horror movie trailers. I
believe that these three attributes are very important as they would
engage the audience’s attention.
The plot would provide the audience with a basic outline of what the
horror movie is about. This is effective as it enables a wider audience
range.
Question 16-17: 20/30 people in the sample group answered
that they trailers did encourage them to watch the full movie.
This is a very large proportion of individuals which shows that
trailers heavily influence the audience. Some of the
elaborations included the idea that trailers are filled with
suspense which leads to a great eagerness to watch the movie.
Those that answered “no” explained that some trailers they had
seen were extremely frightening for them, which put them off
watching movies. Additionally, others argued that trailers
release too much of the story line to an extent that it becomes
predictable.
Specal effects
plot
setting
characterisation
sound effects
props
Popluar lead character for trailer
13
13.5
14
14.5
15
15.5
16
16.5
male female
Chracter's gender
Numberofvotes
Question 18-
According to my results, male lead roles seem to
be very appealing to both the male and female
audiences. Some of the females exclaimed that if
“the man was good looking,” they would prefer to
watch him fo throughout the trailer rather than an
unattractive individual. The results reject theorists
such as Clover who suggests that female lead
roles dominated by internal male misogynistic
thoughts. As the results are quite close the lead
character in our trailer can equally be of any
gender.
knife
Axe
Chainsaw
Poisonous gas
saw
Question 19- The most popular and common weapon that
was chosen was a knife. This would be more likely to be
used in our trailer as it can be obtained easily unlike a
chainsaw. Knives are an effective weapon of killing in
horror films because they cause a slow and painful death.
5. Villain's fate decisions
13
13.5
14
14.5
15
15.5
16
16.5
Die Survive
number of individuals
Question 20- A majority of my sample voted for the villain to
survive. I found this quite unusual as generally everybody wants
the “baddie” to die. However, this has many benefits. Firstly, the
suspense and thrill is heightened. Additionally, it leads to
suggestion of a sequel being made.
After discussing my results with my group, and analyzing their results, we all came to the conclusion that our trailer
will be a typical slasher type horror movie targeted at a younger audience. We chose this genre as it was the most
popular response from each of our questionnaires. This will enable us to maximize our viewer population.
6. Villain's fate decisions
13
13.5
14
14.5
15
15.5
16
16.5
Die Survive
number of individuals
Question 20- A majority of my sample voted for the villain to
survive. I found this quite unusual as generally everybody wants
the “baddie” to die. However, this has many benefits. Firstly, the
suspense and thrill is heightened. Additionally, it leads to
suggestion of a sequel being made.
After discussing my results with my group, and analyzing their results, we all came to the conclusion that our trailer
will be a typical slasher type horror movie targeted at a younger audience. We chose this genre as it was the most
popular response from each of our questionnaires. This will enable us to maximize our viewer population.