ELLIE GAWTHORPE

Questionnaire Analysis
Part 1- Understanding my audience
The genre that I have chosen for my opening sequence is horror. I have decided
to use this genre mainly because Id consider horror to be my favourite genre.
Another reason why I chose horror was that horror films are intense and full of
anticipation. This idea links with my target audience of male teenagers and
young male adults as this audience will be more inclined to enjoy scenes of
danger and violence. Both of these themes can create exciting story line and this
is what will entice this type of audience. Whilst doing independent research I
found some information that confirmed my target audience;
-The information from a Prezi website confirmed that the average target
audience of a horror film was 15-35 year old caucasian males. (1)
-The results from the table also supports the average target audience that is
young males aged 15-35. It also states that the main target age for a female
audience is also set between the ages of 15-35. (2)
-Other information led me to find that a white, American audience will be more
inclined to watch a horror genre rather than the other ethnicities.

(1)
https://prezi.com/xr1bbyqx3frd/horror-audience-profile/

(2)
This results table concludes that the horror genre will typically have a target
audience that consists of male between the ages of 15-35. Even though the
percentage is significantly higher between the ages of 15-35 with males, I was
surprised to find that from the age of 36+ that the male audience still has a high
viewing rate for horror films. Yet, the decline in percentage shows that an older
male audience may not be as interested in a horror film as a younger male
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audience. In comparison to the female audience, the viewing rates are very
different with the percentage for 15-35 year olds being within 51% and 63%. It
seems that a female audience however on average would prefer comedy or
romance comedy films.
Out of the different genres of films, within the ages of 15-35, the most popular
genre of film for men is actually comedy. Although this is the case, I believe that
my horror opening sequence would still be a success within the male target
audience.
http://www.participations.org/Volume%209/Issue%202/4%20Redfern.pdf
From doing my independent research I have finally decided to set my target
audience to male teenagers and young male adults. I have done this as the
results from the table shown above states that males between the ages of 15-35
are very likely to watch a horror movie in comparison to females of a similar age
and an older male audience.

http://web.calstatela.edu/faculty/sfischo/media3.html
According to this study a Latino audience may be more inclined to watch a horror
film than other ethnicities. As well as this, the next ethnicity that would be more
likely to watch a horror film is a White audience. An Asian and Black audience
however may be less likely to want to see a horror film. For example, according
to the table an Asian audience may prefer to watch an action-adventure film,
where as a Black audience may prefer to watch a drama. From the results from
this graph, I will try and aim my film towards a Latino and White audience. To do
this I will try to represent these ethnicities by using actors from the same
ethnicity. Even though this is the case, this does not mean to say that I would not
cast any Asian or Black actors or actresses. Within the horror genre, ethnic
minorities are claimed to be under-represented. As well as this, minorities are
also typically presented within the film to either be the violent antagonist or the
first protagonist in the film to die. In most cases, this factor seems to be applied
to black actors more than any other ethnicities. The reason for this under-
representation and negative presentation could be that racism is a real factor
and an issue that is featured within cinematography overall. Another reason for
this could also be that film producers cater their films more towards a white
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audience, as historically, horror films have been targeted towards this audience.
This means that horror films will generally link in with the white culture and
lifestyle more than any other ethnicity, meaning that characters from other
ethnicities will not be deemed as important as they do not represent the target
audience. Black characters may also be stereotyped to be slow or less intelligent
in comparison to other white characters. This may result in the fact that black
characters tend die frequently in horror films as they could perhaps in
comparison be seen to be ignorant to danger. Black characters and characters
from other ethnic minority groups too in many cases are given less of a
character development than white characters as they are overall seen as less
important.

The typical codes and conventions as shown underneath can be considered to be

a part of a horror genre.
Therefore I will be using the following for my opening sequence-
-An unseen antagonist- The idea behind using an unseen antagonist is to keep
the viewer in the same state of confusion that the protagonists in the film are
also in. In my film however, the unseen antagonist will be shown at the end of
the opening sequence. I will use this to my advantage as the viewer will find out
that my film contains supernatural beings. This is another convention that is
included in the horror genre
-The supernatural- Ghosts are an example of a supernatural being and they can
be considered to be one of the stereotypical conventions of a horror film. The
plot of my opening sequence will contain reference to some type of supernatural
being, most likely a ghost or demon, and it will be suggested that this
supernatural being will be attempting to kill the protagonists. As well as this, in
typical horror fashion, this ghost will resemble the form of a human, yet it will
most likely be distorted in some way.
-An isolated location- The use of an isolated location can be considered to be a
typical horror convention. The reason why this is used is to scare the audience
into believing that there is no escape. In a film the protagonists and other
characters become trapped in this one location, and as a result of this, they will
most likely die. Therefore, I will be basing my opening sequence in a secluded
forest with an abandoned house in the same area.
-Suspenseful ambience or music- This type of music is used to make the viewer
feel uneasy and it also indicates when something bad will occur. In a similar way,
I too will use unnerving music when the protagonists are in danger or when the
camera is looking through the viewpoint of the unknown antagonist.
-Low lighting- This is a technical code used in horror films to make the scene
appear mysterious and scary. On the same hand, it creates the illusion of the fear
of the unknown which leads the viewer to believe that there is something
watching them. My opening sequence will also include the technical code of low
lighting and this will be achieved by filming at night or when its dark outside.

The audio of a horror film is used to show when there is a high threat level to the
protagonists and other characters in a film. This type of audio in most cases will
be non-diegetic, meaning that the sounds being made are not seen on screen. As
a result of this the scene becomes tense and unsettling. The music itself is
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presented as a slow ambience, in an attempt to make the viewer anxious. From

this, the intensity of the ambience then increases as other instruments such as
waterphones, blaster beams, violins and other classical instruments are played
loudly. For my opening sequence I will be using music that contains similar
features and it will too be played in a non-diegetic format. In the same way, the
music will only be played whenever the protagonists are in danger. For example,
a slow and unnerving song will be introduced when the characters are being
watched by the unknown antagonist. On the other hand, I will have some
diegetic audio from the dialogue of the characters, their footsteps, the birds in
the trees and other sounds. However the majority of the diegetic sounds will be
made by the protagonists.

Part 2.1- My target audience

My target audience for my opening sequence will be male teenagers and young
male adults, in the age range of 15-35. I have decided on this being my target
audience as in my own opinion I believed that this audience would be most
inclined to watch a horror film. As well as this, the research that I did supported
my opinion of the typical target audience. It claimed that young men were more
likely to be excited by the high thrill and danger that can be presented in a horror
film rather than women and older male audiences.

To attract the target audience to my sequence I will apply typical horror genre
codes and conventions, along with an interesting plotline and characters. The
actions of the protagonists, and the age appropriate plotline of them all finishing
high school, will be relatable to the members of my audience. This is because my
audience would have finished school if they are in-between the ages of 15-35.
This therefore creates a common link to the target audience as they would have
been expressing similar emotions and feelings as the protagonists. Another
feature that I will include will a cliff hanger at the end of the opening sequence
as this will leave the audience in a state of confusion and anticipation about the
safety of the protagonists.

The age rating for my opening sequence will be set to 15. This is because
teenagers and young adults are the age group that are most likely to watch a
horror film. As well as this, the opening sequence will contain some swearing,
suggestions of underage drinking and fear inducing themes that could be
unsuitable for a younger audience. Yet, the age rating will not be set to an 18 as
the use of hard drugs, nudity or extreme violence will not be included.

To make my opening sequence appeal to my target audience I will be using

actors that are of a similar age. This will be the case as the audience members
will be able to better relate to the characters. On the same hand, the characters
will all also be laid back and will use inside jokes with each other. As this is the
case, my characters will be realistic and will even have traits that maybe
desirable to the target audience members in real life.
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A psychographic is the action of separating the target audience into different

sections that are related to different features such as the values, traits, attitudes
and the interests of the targeted audience. The psychographic of my target
audience overall consists of two different categories. These two different sections
are split into the younger audience members preferably from the ages of 15-25,
to the older
audience of between the ages of 26-35.

The audience members that are within the ages of 15-25 may tend to have a
profile that is related to the following themes-

Most likely still in some form of education such as high school or university.

Disposable income spent mainly on clothes.

Interested in social media and how they are perceived by other people of a
similar age.

Going to music festivals.

Going out with friends and going to parties.

On the other hand, audience members that are within the ages of 26-35
however may tend to have a profile that is related to the following themes-

Full time job.

Long term relationship, maybe married with children.

Is able to vote for what they want in regards to politics.

Possible homeowner or business owner.

Going on holiday frequently to different countries.

Part 2.2- Question Analysis

To gather my own results, I created an online questionnaire to find out the
opinions of others on the film genre horror. Overall I received 20 responses.

Graph Analysis
This pie chart shows that I received 14 responses
from females and 6 responses from males. As only
30% of the findings were from males, then the
results that I collect from my questionnaire may not
entirely represent the choices of what the male
audience may want to view. Even though this is the
case, the fact that I concluded a questionnaire still
has allowed me to collect more information
regarding the horror genre.
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For this question I used an open question so that

people could give their exact age. I found that out of
the 20 people who answered 14 of them were within
my target audience that ranges from teenagers to
young adults (15-35). Therefore as the majority of
the results are from my target audience, then I will
get a better insight into what my audience would
like to see within my opening sequence.

Even though 65% of people disagreed with horror

being their favourite genre, 35% said that it was
their favourite genre of film. The only downside to
this result is that 65% of people who answered this
questionnaire may not often watch horror films, and
therefore may not be fully aware of some of the
features of a horror film. Even though this is the
case I could use some elements of comedy within
my opening sequence as 30% of the participants
agreed that there favourite genre was comedy. In
linking some comedic scenes into my opening
sequence my overall film may then also appeal to a
different target audience that prefers comedy.
The most popular sub-genre choice for this question
was psychological horror. As my film can be
considered a psychological horror this means that
my opening sequence will most likely intrigue an
audience and it will be a success among my target
audience.

From my findings 50% of the results state that

jumpscares are the scariest feature from a horror
film out of the other options. As this is the case, I will
be using jumpscares at appropriate times in my
opening sequence as it will make my horror film
appear scary to my target audience. It is important
for a horror film to be scary, because if it wasnt
then the objective of the film would be pointless.
Another feature that I could include to further the
horror level of my film would be to not give too
much away. This links in with the idea of the
unknown, which is also another feature that is
considered to be scary with 30% of participates
saying that this feature would scare them the most
in a horror film.
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Even though psychopathic murders are the scariest

killer according to my results, with 55% of people
agreeing with this. Ghosts and demons coming at a
close second, with 40% saying that this killer is the
scariest. From this result I know that my choice of
antagonist has been a success as 40% would still
fear a ghost or demon like supernatural being.

As my film includes an abandoned building, and

abandoned buildings are considered to the location
that would cause the most anxiety for the viewer
with 45% agreeing. I believe that my opening
sequence will be a success in making the audience
fearful of the events that would take place in this
setting.

The results from this question show that the

audience may be undecided about the identity of
the killer. As this is the case, I will keep the identity
of the unknown antagonist a secret until the end of
the opening sequence in which I will reveal the
identity in a form of a cliff hanger.

The results from this graph can be considered to be

put into two categories which would be easily scared
and not easily scared. I would say that both of these
categories are quite similar. Even though a clear
result is difficult to conclude with this graph, when
making my opening sequence, I will have to make
sure that it is scary enough for even the people who
are not easily scared.

As 35% of the answers state that the ending is the

most important section of a film, then I shall use the
results and therefore make the most interesting part
of my opening sequence at the end as a cliff hanger.
However, as 25% said that the beginning is the most
important part of the film then I would have to
ensure that the beginning of my opening sequence
draws the attention of the viewer.
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These results show that 65% of the people who took

my questionnaire are not bothered about the gender
of the main character. Still, the next highest answer
was for a male lead with 25%. As this is the case, I
will be using a male main character. However, I will
also be including another character who is female
for the 10% that would like a female character.

This question was created so that I can see how

influenced my audience are by films. 55% of the
answers say that only 1-3 hours are spent watching
films. As this is the case I can conclude that the
people who took this questionnaire may not often
watch films and therefore may not fully understand
some of the questions that I asked.

Part 3- Conclusion
My opening sequence belongs to the horror genre. As this is the case I shall be
using typical horror conventions that will induce fear into the audience members.
Ambience or unsettling music, an unseen antagonist, low lighting, the
supernatural and an isolated location will all be used and shown in some way to
set the scene for the plotline. Once this is done successfully, my opening
sequence contain the usual features of a horror film and these features will be
presented in a fear inducing way.

The representations that will be included will be based upon the different
characters that are within my film. The main protagonist, Zac, will be shown at
times to be one of the jokers within the group. However, when it is needed he
can be a strong, calculated and supportive leader. Therefore, Zac can be
considered to be the strong silent type. Nathan, who is the next character down
from the lead is the typical nice guy within the group. Even though his kindness
this is a strong point, Nathan may result in putting the needs of other above his
own, this will therefore put him in danger. The final character is Courtney. Yet
again, like Nathan, Courtney is also a nice person who is mostly energetic and
cheerful. However, her occasional foolish actions can sometimes annoy the other
characters and she can be perceived to be overly sarcastic.

My titles will all be white font so that they stand out against the dark shades that
will be involved with the filming. The most important titles such as the directors
name and the actors involved will be positioned in the corners of the footage so
that they can be easily read. As well as this the font that I choose will be linked
to the themes in the film in some way. For example, I could use a crooked font to
represent the trees that surround them in the forest. The effect that this will have
will further link my opening sequence with themes of nature and nature, both of
which will feature a lot within my theme. Especially decay, as this will represent
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the antagonist and the deaths of some of the protagonists that will occur later
on.