Hannah Lortie

Questionnaire Analysis

Part 1: Understanding my audience

The genre I have chosen is horror. I have chosen this genre because it will
entertain the audience and also because of the use of different sound
effects and camera movements. This links to the target audience because
it is set in present day so the audience will be able to relate to the
costumes, the personalities and the thrills of the film.
Graph 1
From my research I have found that the
main target audience is between the
ages of 15-25, this is because they are
the most likely audience members that
will want to see and be exhilarated by a
horror film. They are the audience
members that are willing to go see
something that will thrill and scare
them.

So far in my research I have found that there is no gender specification on

liking a horror film. Both males and females like horror films, however, a
females reason for liking and watching horror films is either because they
really do enjoy it or they are using it as a reason to get closer to their
spouse. A males reason for liking a horror is
generally for the thrill is gives you. In graph 2 Graph 2
we clearly see more men enjoy horrors more
than women but the difference between each
isnt that big and it still shows that both
genders will enjoy a horror film.

Graph 3 shows that between the ages of 15-24 are the main ages of
people who generally watch horror films.

This means that if I chose any other age group to be my target audience
they wouldnt enjoy the film as much as people aged 15-24.
Graph 3
Hannah Lortie

The codes and

conventions for
horror films are
low-key lighting;
this is used to
give the film more
suspense and sets
the scenes
atmosphere. A
female victim; this
is used to show
the vulnerability
of a women and
because they are
seen as the
weaker sex to kill.
An unseen
antagonist; this is used to create uncertainty and allow questions to be
asked by the audience. Lastly, isolated locations; this is used to create
fear in the audience because the victim has nowhere to go in such a
secluded location. These are used in a horror film because they create
tension, suspense and to create a sense of fear yet excitement in the
audience.

In the genre horror, audio is usually presented in a non-diegetic form,

meaning that the audio is usually unseen. For example, in a haunted
house a door might start to creek behind you and this would be non-
diegetic because you dont see the noise you can only hear it. This is done
because it gives a scene more mystery and suspense. Things such the
introduction music are also non-diegetic because we dont see where it is
coming from but it makes the start of the film eerie and full of tension.

My main target audience will also be 15-25 because it will appeal to their
age group and exhilarate them because of the costumes and actions in
the sequence. It will appeal to both genders through different elements in
the film, for example a woman might be enticed by the costumes but a
man might be enticed by the actions. I have chosen this age range
because my research has shown me that this age range will pay to see my
film. I havent chosen a specific gender for my film as the film can appeal
to both men and women, it can reveal to men through the action and
horror, whereas it can appeal to women through the horror or the through
the way it makes a women closer to their spouse. I will also have my
target audience in my video to make it more appealing.
Hannah Lortie

Part 2.1: My Target Audience

My target audience is both males and females aged 18-24, I have not
chosen a certain gender to be my target audience as horrors attract both
genders because I will have a larger audience to aim the film at. I have
chosen this as a target audience because in the graph above it shows that
this age group are more likely to watch a horror film and enjoy it at the
same time as being thrilled. I will attract my audience by advertising
through images and also trailers of the film, this will show the audience
snippets of the content of the film and this will attract them to want to see
the film if they believe that the trailer looks good.

I will also attract them through the storyline, plot, costume and props of
the film. I will do this by making the costumes and props relatable to the
audience; this will be props like phones and costumes that look just like
what are worn on todays trend. I will also use the codes and conventions
of my film to entice the audience and leaving them wanting to know more
about the plot and the story within my 2 minute sequence. I will do this by
making my actors show real emotions through the sequence. The age
rating I aim for is 18 as most horrors are usually rated 18 because of the
sinister content and also because my 2 minute sequence includes violent
behaviour and the use of weapons. I will make my opening sequence
appeal to my audience by making the characters relatable in the way they
talk, act and dress.

My psychographics are, dependent on the age.

The first age is 15, the psychographic for a 15 year old would be:

Possibly have a part-time job

Uses parents money for socialising
Spends a lot of time in their room and on their phone
Has lots of school books and homework
Possibly in a short term high school relationship

From the ages of 15 25 the only differences will be:

They have a apprenticeship/full time job

Long term relationship
No more school work
Spends most their time working
Not a lot of time to socialise

Part 2.2: Questionnaire Analysis

Hannah Lortie

I developed a questionnaire to determine the audiences wants and needs

for my chosen genre. 35 people answered my questionnaire.

Graph Analysis
For the question, the graph shows
that 16 people (45.7%) of the
people who answered were male,
18 people (51.4%) people were
female and 1 person (2.9%) said
they preferred not to specify their
gender, no recipients said other.
This graph also shows that there
were more women to answer the
questionnaire than men; this shows
that the opinions to follow are both
male and female.
In the question, the graph shows
that 24 of the people were 16 years
old, 6 people were 17 years old, 3
people were 18 years old and 2
people were 19 years old. This
shows that everyone who answered
the question were all teenagers
between the ages of 15-24, the
usual target audience for a horror
film. However, these results are
showing that most of the people
who answered the questionnaire
were under the age of my film
rating, meaning following questions
opinions may not be helpful.
This question had a variety of
answers; the main answer was that
the recipients favourite genre is
comedy. The graph shows that, 5
people answered horror, 6 people
answered thriller, 8 people
answered comedy, 6 people
answered romance, 3 people
answered drama, 4 answered action
and 3 answered sci-fi. Although,
horror was not the most popular
genre but it wasnt the least popular
and this means that the opinions in
Hannah Lortie

following questions could be about

horror, which is good for me to
know.
For this question, the answers I got
show that the unknown is what
scares most of the recipients. 14
people said they were scared of the
unknown, 12 people said they were
scared of loud noises, 5 people said
they were scared of the dark and 4
people said other. This helps as I
will include these in my sequence
the unknown and the loud noises
are used, these were the biggest
scares in the questionnaire.
In this question, the results show
that people preferred to have the
main antagonists to be unseen. The
graph shows that 28 people chose
unseen and 7 people chose seen.
These results have given me the
idea to change parts of my opening
scene; the changes would be
lowering the camera to hide the
antagonists face. This will make the
opening sequence more appealing
to the audience.
As predicted most people said they
would they like the sub-genre
psychological thriller. 19 people
chose the psychological thriller, 15
people chose rom-com and 1 person
chose other. This helps because my
opening will now have someone
with psychological issues so
knowing that people are interested
in psychological thrillers means that
the audience will be able to enjoy
the opening sequence more.

In the question, 20 people said they

prefer the main character to be
male and 15 people
Hannah Lortie

said they would prefer the main

character to be female. This means
I will have a male lead.
In this question, unsurprisingly the
most relatable part of a horror is the
lifestyle of the characters. 11
people said the lifestyle of the
characters, 10 said clothing, and 7
people said friendships and 7
people said family members. In my
opening sequence the audience will
be able to relate to the lifestyle of
the characters and the clothing
which will enable them to relate to
the film whilst watching the
sequence.
For this question, 24 people said
yes and 10 people said no to the
plot being important. 1 person
answered the question with the
answer why; I believe this is due to
misunderstanding the options and
me writing the options wrong. This
1 answer is insignificant to my
results but the other 34 answers are
helpful in this study, they are
helpful because I now know people
will take an interest in the plot of
my film.
For this question, the graph shows
that 2 people chose 1 on the scale
of 1-10 (1 being not scared and 10
being very easily scared), 3 people
chose 2, 2 people chose 3, 2 people
chose 4, 4 people chose 5, 8 people
chose 6, 3 people chose 7, 5 people
chose 8, 1 person chose 9 and 5
people chose 10. 1 being not scared
at all and 10 being very easily
scared. The results are significant
as they show that each recipient,
except 2, will be scared in a horror
Hannah Lortie

at least once, showing they are

easily scared.
In this question, the graph shows
that 15 said the most important
part of a film is introducing the
characters, 9 said the plot is the
most important, 6 people said
visuals, 3 people said location, 1
person said the titles and 1 person
said visual effects. This shows that
the individual members of the
audience will be intrigued by
different things, giving each
individual their own feelings and
thoughts of the film. This benefits
me because I dont have to make
my film specific to everyones likes
and dislikes because theyre is
something in the film for everyone.
In the final question, the graph
shows that 13 people said the
characters are what entices them, 9
people said it was the plot, 7 people
said its the visuals, 6 people said
its the locations and none of the
recipients said visual effects. So,
because he majority of people are
interested and enticed by the
characters I will make the
characters as interesting as I can
and ensure the actors portray the
characters right.

Part 3: Conclusion

My opening sequence belongs to the genre, horror with little psychological

elements such as using the mental state of the characters to make the
audience feel frightened or unsettled. The conventions I am going to be
using is the main character being the seen antagonists, the location being
relatively isolated and the antagonist having some sort of disability
causing the outburst, in this case my antagonist has PTSD and major
anger issues.
Hannah Lortie

The representations I am going to show are bruises to show the abuse

inflicted on one character. I will use a stereotypical
muscular man to be my antagonist
and a, stereotypically, weaker women to be beaten and bruised. The
women will be wearing normal jogging
outfit that is dirty to show that she has been
held in captivity for a while. The women will show her as scared and afraid
throughout the opening to show her as relatively weak. The man will be
very muscly and possibly have tattoos showing
depending on his costume. I will not
challenge any codes and conventions.

I will represent my main title in dark coloured writing with a dark

background so that it keeps the gloomy sinister vibe. The writing will
appear vividly as the writing is brought on screen when a gunshot is
heard. However, the other titles such as the production company will be
bold letters in white writing to show the innocence of the victims.

The codes and conventions for horror films are low-key lighting and a
female victim, unseen antagonist because in the first scene we see his
face and see how he reacts to different things. The other code and
convention I wont be using is an isolated location because it is easier and
more convenient for my film that the house I will film at isnt isolated
because it shows the antagonist can act normal but freak out.