Questionnaire Analysis

Question 1: What is your gender?
We handed out this questionnaire to an equal amount of males and females to give us a fair view of each gender's opinions on horror movies.

Question 2: What age bracket do you fall under?
The majority of those that filled out the questionnaire were between the ages 15 and 19. Since it is a large majority, we have taken their preferences into consideration as they would be slightly different to the other age ranges.

 Question 3: Out of this selection of film genres, which other than horror do you prefer?
 There is a lot of variation in the answers to this question and this allows us to see the other styles of movies that people like other than horrors. This information is useful because it shows what elements we could add to our project to make it more enjoyable for our target audience.

(Other: Bollywood and Animation)

 Question 4: What is your favourite horror movie?
A large percentage of the people that were asked this question chose "Orphan£ as their favourite horror movie. "Orphan" is a psychological horror movie and so we could use some elements from the movie such as sound effects and cuts that will make our target audience enjoy our movie trailer more.




Question 5: Please state two reasons for your choice.

• The Exorcist: It was cool when the bed started moving by itself and it was the first horror movie that I watched
• The Sixth Sense: The twist in the narrative, e.g. that Bruce Willis’ character is dead, and the delicious scare created by the haunting.
• What Lies Beneath: The plot is interesting and has an unexpected twist. The way the Director builds tension is excellent.
• Dead Silence: The idea of inanimate objects being alive, the story-line and the plot twists.
• Orphan: A lot of horror movies aren’t directed as well as this one, in my opinion, and the story is good and thought provoking.
• Orphan: The different storyline; the kid is 30ish years old! The setting was good.
• Orphan: Made me jump and was a good story line.
• The Ring: Psychological terror rather than gore. Plays on fundamental fears, having limited time to live etc.
• Saw: Scary and gruesome.
• Saw: It’s gruesome and it makes me laugh.
• Disturbia: Good story line and kept me on the edge of my seat.
• Final Destination 5: The creative deaths and the unpredictable test.
• Paranormal Activity: Realistic imagery and incredibly frightening.
• Blair Witch Project: Interesting plot. The way the movie is presented, with point-of-view camera, makes it seem more realistic.
• The Orphanage: Because it keeps you in suspense throughout, and the ending is predictable.
• 28 Days Later: I friggin’ love zombie films, it’s awesome.
• None: I prefer comedy films; the characters annoy me when they don’t help themselves by running upstairs or locking themselves in a room.
• None: I don’t watch horror because they are too scary.

These are the results that we received and the majority of the people love the movies they chose because of the story line or how "on edge" it kept them. This tells us that our narrative needs to be gripping with startling moments.

Question 6: What influences you to watch a movie?
From these results, we can clearly see that the most influential element that makes someone want to watch a horror movie is the trailer. This means that our aim for our project is to create a good, strong, high quality trailer and the other two products should support it.

(Other: Friends)



Question 7: If anything, what makes a horror movie less appealing to you?

• Nothing.
• If a horror has too much gore and is too silly and/or predictable, I won’t enjoy it.
• Gallons of blood and gore.
• It’s scary.
• The fact that characters don’t help themselves by running upstairs and locking themselves in a room.
• Predictability.
• Poor ratings and reviews.
• Excessive gore overtaking story-telling.
• The constant need for scenes to be ever more gory then the last, and the fact that I watch a movie to be cheered up and possibly excited, not scared and frightened by what will be coming next, therefore making me not watch on.
• Story-lines that don’t make sense.
• The actors.
• A poor storyline.
• Typical horror film narrative.
• Too much blood cliché.
• Unrealistic such as aliens.
• They’re scary.
• Ones that scare me thoroughly and give me nightmares.
• A bad storyline.
• They’re too twisted and give me nightmares.

From the resuts of this question, we will define the answers that relate to our sub-genre, such as "Story-lines that don’t make sense" and "Predictability", and adjust our narrative to appease those opinions. It is our aim to attract our target audience, so to create a narrative that doesn't take into account these factors would be destined to fail. 

Question 8: Which of these film posters is most effective?
"Possession" was chosen 11 times as the most effective with the other two poster far behind with only 5 and 4 votes so it is clear that the poster for "Possession" grabbed the audiences attention, but for our project we need to know why so that we can utilize this.



Question 9: Please state two reasons for your choice.

Amityville:

• The bright red writing. The creepy image of the house and the man makes you want to know more.
• Looks dark and scary. The house looks like a face.
• It shows a character from the film. The image effect is awesome.
• Dark and grainy. Context and font.
• Simplicity and the colours used.

House at the End of the Street:

• The use of reflection plus the view through the window adding effect to the poster. Plus giving you a better understanding on what the movie is going to be about. The colour is not just a simple black, the use of black, grey, and white makes the situation in the poster stand out, and those looking for something other than a dark, scary film will go straight towards the centre one without a look at the others.
• Simple, but it gives all the information needed. Doesn’t overwhelm you.
• Creepy.
• Because it looks scary.

The Possession

• The image combined with the name suggests a narrative involving character possessed by the spirits/the devil; I prefer supernatural horrors and find them the scariest. The reference to it being based on a ‘true story’.
• The subject appears isolated, adding to the fear factor. The bright light draws your attention.
• Draws attention to one part of the poster. Simple.
• It’s very contrasty. The person isn’t standing normally, like they’re distorted.
• The character looks freaky/scary. The darkness creates scary mood.
• Stands out more than the other two. It’s not as typical as the other two.
• Looks appealing and seems horrific
• Shows a solitary figure in dark which creates interest. Isn’t as cliché.
• The lighting. The person has no human elements.
• The lighting hides any human features and the font is effective.
• The lack of colours gives it a creepy feel and combined with the light and her clothing makes her seem ghost like.

The posters of this question were chosen as they each show a different method to present the film they are advertising. Amityville shows the main antagonist and the location, House at the End of the Street shows the mains protagonist and the location, and finally Possession shows the main protagonist with no background, utilizing darkness. By having the prospective target audience commenting on the most successful features in each, we can then create a poster that appeals to them most.

Question 10: What do you think is most effective in a movie trailer?
From the table that is shown here, you can see that the most effective feature in a movie trailer is the sound track. This informs us that we should add and focus on the soundtrack as an important element of our trailer as it will draw in the target audience.