The document summarizes the results of a questionnaire given to their target audience of 15-25 year olds about their preferences for psychological horror films. Key findings include that the audience spends £6-10 per month on films, prefers to view trailers and films on a computer, and likes modern psychological horrors like The Woman in Black. The conclusions propose creating a film set in a modern house with a serious tone, and using close-ups, POV shots, and quick cuts in filming based on audience preferences.
2. Introduction
• The purpose of our questionnaire was to find the preferences
and opinions of our target audience, which was 15 to 25 year
olds of both genders, for the release of a new psychological
horror. We have targeted this age group because they are
most likely to attend the cinema and be interested in this kind
of horror film.
• Here, we have presented our findings visually by presenting
our results onto graphs. We have split our results into
categories so that we can understand our audience better
which will help to influence our decisions when making our
trailer.
• By considering our audience feedback, we will know how to
attract our target audience when we create our media
products.
3. Audience Profile.
• Here we can see that our audience is both male and female
with an average age of 16 to 25 and are mostly from Harlow
so this would be a key place to advertise our films as this is
where our target audience is most likely to be.
• They are likely to be a full time student but also be part time
employed. This could suggest that they have some financial
income so they may be more likely to spend money on films.
Male
50%
Female
50%
Gender
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
Under
16
16 - 20 21 - 25 26 - 30 31 - 35 36 - 40 41 - 49 50 +
Age
Full
Time
20%
Part
Time
20%
Part
Time
Employ
ed and
stude…
Employment Status
0
5
10
15
Town of Residence
4. Film Consumption
Money
spent
on film
consu
mptio
n per
month
0%
Nothing
10%
£1 - £5
30%£6 - £10
50%
£11
-
£15
10%
Money Spent on Film
Consumption per
month
None
35%
1 to 3
65%
Cinema Visits per
Month
0
2
4
6
8
10
None 1 to 3 4 to 6 7 to 10 11+
Digital Downloads per month
• These results show that our target audience are most likely to spend between
£6 and £10 on film consumption per month however some only spend £1 to £5
on film consumption per month.
• We have also found that our target audience are likely to attend the cinema up
to three times per month so this suggests that if we were to distribute our
horror film to cinemas our audience would be likely to see it.
• Our results also show that our audience are keen on digitally downloading films
1 to 3 times per month so this could be another key factor to distributing our
film successfully as due to the majority of our audience being students, the film
is cheaper and easier to access on the internet.
5. Film Viewing Habits• Our questionnaire found that our target audience are most likely
to view a film trailer using their computer perhaps using the
films website or other multimedia websites such as YouTube.
This would be the most suitable platform to release our trailer
on as this is where our trailer would get the most views from our
target audience.
• Similarly, our results showed that our target audience were also
likely to use a computer to watch a film therefore we will film in
HD so that the audience has a higher quality on a computer and
will enjoy the film more. however the cinema is also a popular
option for our target audience as our previous results showed.
0
2
4
6
8
10
TV Cinema DVD/Blu-ray Computer Phone
Preference for Viewing a Film
Trailer
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Preferred platform for
Viewing a Film
6. Horror Film Preferences
• To gain a better understanding of the type of psychological
horror film our target audience would be looking for, we asked
them to select two of their favourite psychological horror
films. We found that the Woman in Black and Paranormal
Activity were most popular amongst our target audience as
these are modern films which the audience have grown up
with so this is the style of film we will be aiming for.
• Our findings also showed that our audience are looking for
either an intimidating or serious tone in our trailer and would
most like to see it set in a modern house.
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Favourite Psychological Horrors
Serious
50%
Intimidat
ing
50%
Preferred Language
Style
Modern
House
75%
Woods /
Forest
25%
Preferred Setting for a
Horror Film
7. • We asked our audience to select some cinematography
elements that they thought would be appropriate to use in a
horror film. The top three elements to use were extreme close-
ups, point of view shots and jumpy or quick cuts so these are
elements we will consider adding to our trailer.
• Whispers were the most popular choice of sound although
silence was also a popular second choice. We will also consider
these results when making our film trailer as it will help to
identify it as a film of the horror genre.
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
Preferred Cinematography
Elements
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
Preferred Sounds for a Horror
Film
8. Magazine Print Preferences
• For our ancillary tasks, we have asked our audience their
preferences on a selection of film magazine front covers and
their reasons why.
• Empire magazine received the most votes and when asked
why, we found that the picture, colour and layout were all
important factors to consider.
Empire
55%SFX
20%
Total Film
25%
Magazine Front Cover
Preferences
Text
20%
Picture
25%
Colour
25%
Layout
25%
Features
5%
Why?
9. Film Poster Print Preferences
• We also questioned our audience about their preferences for
a small selection of film posters.
• Our results showed that The Woman in Black poster was most
popular by far and this was due to the picture used. This
shows us that when creating a poster, the picture chosen must
fit with the genre to attract our audience.
The Woman
in Black
60%
Paranormal
Activity
5%
The Blair
Witch Project
25%
The Ring
10%
Horror Film Poster Preferences Text
5%
Picture
45%
Colur
25%
Layout
25%
Why?
10. Conclusion
To conclude, our findings have shown that our target audience is both male and
female aged between 16 to 25 and mainly students who have part time jobs. This
shows that our target audience do have a small income available to spend on
films which not everyone would have. This is supported by our audience saying
they spend mostly between £6 to £10 on film consumption per month.
From our results, our audience digitally download films more than going to the
cinema as this is a cheaper option so reflects our student audience. However, the
cinema was also a popular choice so these will both be platforms to consider
when distributing our film. Similarly, for our trailer, our audience would be most
likely to see this using a computer which is another factor will consider.
11. Proposals
When looking back at our results, we can see what the audience prefers and what
would allow us to reach our target audience in the best possible way. We have
proposed that for our main product, we will use a modern house as the
setting, because this will allow us to connect to our target audience more and will
let them feel like they can associate with our film more. We will also use a serious
language style, as this was the most appealing to our audience. We also propose to
use extreme close-ups, point of view shots and jumpy/quick cuts as our audience
suggest this will help our film fit the psychological horror genre.
For the first ancillary task, which is a front cover of a magazine, we found that the
style of Empire’s magazine, which features The Joker from the Batman series, was
the most popular amongst our target audience when asked which one that they
liked the most out of a mixture of four different covers. With this in mind, will use a
layout that has been inspired by this magazine cover. We have also proposed to
use bold colours and an eye-catching image to make our front cover more
appealing to our target audience.
Similarly to our poster, we have found that the image is the most important factor
in making our poster seem visually attractive. Therefore, we propose to use an
image that is somewhat shocking and eye-catching, as this will make it more
noticeable to an audience whilst also fitting to the psychological horror genre.
