Research: Questionnaire Results

Q1 - Everybody that I asked thought that supernatural horror was a popular genre. The main reason for this is because they felt that supernatural horror was the most popular genre within horror, which we know is commonly watched by everyone anyway. This was an important question to take note of as my partner and I didn't want to continue to make a trailer for an unpopular film genre as it may have proven difficult to try and attract an audience which is quite small and niche.

Q2 - Most of the people that I asked believed that men are more attracted to supernatural horrors and this generally supports the conventional target audience for horror films and other research that I have conducted. This is because stereotypically females prefer romance films in which they can have an emotional connection with the characters and go on a journey with them, which conventionally isn't a typical narrative in our chosen genre. My partner and I are now going to make sure that we aim our trailer at more of a male audience to fit supernatural horror conventions and the advice from our target audience.

Q3 - When asking our target audience what age group they felt best suited a supernatural horror genre, they thought that 16-25s were the best choice, which is the age that we wanted our trailer to be aimed at anyway. This supports previous research that I have collected as conventionally younger audiences are more likely to watch horror films as they are more likely to want to feel scared when they go to the cinema. We may include some themes or characters that relate to a younger audience more, for example, a teenage brother/sister who our target demographic can relate to.

Q4 - Half of our target audience thought that there shouldn't be another sub genre linked in to our supernatural horror narrative and I generally agree as supernatural horrors are very popular as it is, as my research and this questionnaire has proven, and I think that incorporating more than one would make the specific genre less clear and harder to show clear conventions that are identifiable for fans of supernatural horrors. However, we may include aspects of psychological horror as they could subtly go hand in hand as we do want our audience to feel that what is happening to our protagonists in the film, could happen to anybody.

Q5 - Most of our target audience felt that the antagonist in the trailer should not be seen, which would fit to supernatural horror conventions as they typically feature ghosts which aren't generally seen anyway. Also, as our budget is very low and we don't have access to high quality special effects, and so the inclusion of a supernatural being shown on screen could look a bit naff and reduce the authenticity of the trailer.

Q6 - In our last question, most of our target audience believed that a supernatural horror should be set in a large house. This fits to the codes and conventions of most other supernatural horrors as typically they are set in big and old family homes as it directly links to the audience as it makes them feel that it could happen to everyday people like themselves. We are going to set our narrative in a large house to fit to these conventions and our target audiences opinion.