QUESTIONNAIRE ANALYSIS

Here is the analysis of both our physical and survey monkey questionnaire’s

“1. What is your gender?”This question was purely to determine if there was a divide between the genders on film choice and if one favoured psychological horror’s more than the other.

From our physical questionnaires we found there were 15 female’s and 16 male that answered. On our Survey Monkey Questionnaire we found that 9 female and 9 male candidates answered. This means that as it is an equal split, we can get a good balance of male and female answers.

“2. Which category below includes your age?”

This question was to determine the age of the person answering to match their views on the genre to what age group it is most popular with. Our results suggest that the age group “16-30” answered more than any other group maybe suggesting they enjoy films the most. However, considering that the majority of people that we know and therefore asked to fill in the questionnaire are our own age, this may suggest that it could be a slightly unrealistic statistic.

With the age group “16-30” being the obvious winner, “31-45” came second, with “46-60” coming third. We did not ask anyone younger than 16 as psychological horror films rated a 12 or below are very limited.

“4. Please describe your race/ethnicity (optional)”

This questions role was just to indicate if there was a particular race/ethnicity more inclined towards the genre. We chose to put this option down as “optional” as it may be sensitive to some. As we live in a rural area, most people who answered tended to give an answer along the lines of “white, British.” This suggests we haven’t had the opportunity to research if a certain ethnicity or race are more interested as the people who answered are mostly the same race or ethinicty.

Some exceptions where “English, Mixed-race” etc.

“4. On average, how many films do you watch per month?”

This question was to identify if the people who were being questioned where movie lovers and whether this would influence there choice in genre (whether they enjoyed psychological horror’s or not.)

We found from this question that most people watched 3-4 movies a month averaging at around 1 a week. The fact that only one person said they didn’t watch any a month suggests that the answers we received in this questionnaire are from people inclined to watching films, a good thing as they are more likely to have seen more psychological horror films.

“5. What film title comes to your mind when you say “psychological horror?”

This question was to establish what the most famous and well-known titles are in the genre and whether the genre is well established with film watchers. We found that some people couldn’t name a title or named a title that wouldn’t be classed under this genre as they tended to not include the “psychological” element in the film. However there was also a good number of legitimate answers given showing the genre is known by a large amount of film watchers.

The most popular film suggested was “Paranormal Activity,” a modern twist on a psychological horror film. This wasn't what we expected as we predicted more of the classic titles such as “The Shining” and “Silence of the Lambs” to appear more popularly however this shows that our audience know more recent films better than the older ones.

“6. What do you like/dislike about psychological horror films?”

This question was to try and find out what the general feeling was about this genre and what makes them enjoyable or not enjoyable. Obviously for this question we received a massive variety of answers however the most common answers where that a lot of people found the thing they either disliked or liked the most was the thrill of being scared or disturbed by it. Another common thing that was liked about the genre was the build-up of suspense and the unknown.

“7. What would expect to see in the opening of a psychological horror film?”

This question was to see what would be expected from audiences in the opening of this genre of film to see if it matched our findings from our deconstructions and to maybe take some ideas away from the suggestions made. The results from this question where again, very varied, however the overriding answer was an intense, disorientating beginning that sets the scene and introduces the main characters. We also had some suggestions that we felt didn’t suit the genre very much at all such as “a fight between men and zombies.”

“9. Out of the following, which is the biggest factor in building tension in a psychological horror film?”This question was to try and identify what audiences felt the main factor of building tension, something essential to this genre, in psychological horror films. We expected a varied answer however we came out with a clear winner with sound claiming most people’s choice.

Sound was the clear winner with camera work coming second and the setting coming third. This suggests that audiences notice that music builds tension dramatically and is used very commonly in this genre. This shows that when creating our own first 2 minutes of a film in this genre, sound is something that we must focus on.