Questionnaire Two Analysis

For my A2 Media Studies coursework on horror films, I had to carry out a second questionnaire to give to my twenty members of my target audience that is more specifically suited to my promotional package. The second questionnaire’s results will be used to help me and my partner gain more information into the interests of our target audience so we know that our practical work is suited best for them.

Introduction

Out of the 20 people in our target audience that we asked, 7 of them answered yes and 13 of them answered that they didn’t mind; leaving 0 saying no. We asked this question so that we would know what our audience’s preferences were on the protagonists age.

From this we have learnt that our audience would rather see a protagonist in a horror film around the same age as them probably so they can relate to them and their experiences more.

Question 1

We will take into account these results and probably make it so the protagonist featured in our horror film is around the ages of our target audience which we found in our first questionnaire was between 15 and 25.

It will influence our practical work from now on as in all of our practical pieces we will use a younger protagonist so our audience can feel they associate themselves with the character.

The results we found for our second question were that 11 people would prefer to see less of the narrative in the trailer and 9 people answered that they would like to see more of the narrative featured in the trailer.

From this we have learnt that even though the results were quite close, the majority of our target audience would rather see less of the narrative in the trailer, most likely because they want to watch the film to find out what happens instead of having it spoiled in the trailer.

Question 2

The answers gathered from this question will influence our research and planning and practical work as now we know when we start filming our trailer to keep the plotline to a minimum so that the audience only get a hint of what will happen in the film so that they are persuaded more to go watch the movie to find out for themselves how it concludes.

For question three, we found that 18 people in our target audience answered yes and only 2 answered no.

There were a variety of reasons for their answers as those that said yes replied that the stings would be effective in leaving a lasting impression on the audience as they would make the trailer scarier, memorable and would make those watching want more so they would be more inclined to watch the film.

Question 3

These results that have been gathered will have an impact on my promotional package as my partner and I will make sure to put a sting at the end of our horror film trailer so that it is more successful in grabbing our audience’s attention and making them want to watch the film.

The answers will also inform my research and planning as I will have to research how to use a sting effectively so that my audience can be more scared.

Question 4 was a little more broad as our target audience could choose more than one answer but the majority would be more attracted to our film if gore/jump scares featured in our trailer, followed by effective sound, editing, then lighting.

From this we have learnt that it is the scare factors in horror film trailers that draw in the audience to finally see a film as the sound would be incorporated into the jump scares and the gore would feature throughout.

Question 4

Our audience’s answers will influence our practical work as we will ensure that gore/jump scares are displayed effectively in our trailer because they are what our target audience mainly want to view.

Plus in my research and planning I will research appropriate sounds that would make my film trailer scarier in order to attract a wider audience to watching my film.

The results for question five were that 18 people said the trailer should be between 2 and 3 minutes, whereas 2 people said it should be between 1 minute and 1 minute 30 seconds.

From these results, I have learnt that my trailer for my media studies coursework should have a duration of between 2 and 3 minutes because that is the length that my target audience prefer trailers to be probably so they are not tediously long or far too short that they don’t show any of the narrative

Question 5

This will make an impact on my research and planning and practical work as my partner and I will have to plan our filming of our trailer and the scenes in the trailer to make it so the trailer is only up to 3 minutes. This will influence my practical piece as I now know how long a duration my trailer should be so now I can plan how to use the amount of time provided to show my target audience enough of the storyline to persuade them to watch the film.

My target audience’s answers for question six were that 12 of them want the trailer to feature both slow paced scenes and quick cuts, 7 of them want just quick cuts and only 1 person wanted just slow paced sequences.

From this I have learnt that my audience’s preference on the editing of my horror film trailer would be to include both slow paced scenes to build the tension of the narrative and quick cuts to showcase my protagonists mind deteriorating.

Question 6

The answers provided for this question will be significant to my practical work as when my partner and I are editing our trailer, we will ensure that both quick cuts and slow paced scenes are put into it so that there is a variety which is what my target audience wanted to see.

It will also cause me to research the most effective ways to use these editing techniques so that it will be used in my trailer successfully.

Out of the 20 people in our target audience that we asked, 15 said yes that they preferred music to be playing in the background of a trailer, 3 said they didn’t mind and 2 said no.

From this I have learnt that the majority of my target audience would rather hear music playing in the background of my horror film trailer that is appropriate for the scary tone that I am trying to set in order to get them to eventually watch the movie.

Question 7

These results will influence my research and planning as I will have to research background music that would suit my horror film trailer as it is what my audience want in the trailer and it is what will draw them in.

Also, it will have an impact on my practical work as when editing my trailer my partner and I will ensure that we use scary non-diegetic music in the background as another factor to scare the audience.

For question 8, 17 of my target audience answered saying they want to see the antagonist and the location on the poster whereas only 3 said they would like to see just the close up of the antagonist on the poster.

From this I have learnt that my target audience would rather see more of the antagonist and the setting on the poster probably so that they can get a general feel of the film before deciding whether or not to go watch it.

Question 8

This will influence my research and planning and practical work as my partner and I will ensure that we make our poster's main image show our film's antagonist and one of the locations it is set in because it is what our target audience want to see in our poster and it is what will draw them in to watch the film.

The results we gathered from question 9 where that 19 of our audience answered yes, 1 said they didn't mind and 0 said no to wanting the release date of the film displayed on the poster.

I have learnt from this that my target audience would prefer to know when the film is being released so it would be wise to put this information on my poster and other practical pieces.

Question 9

This will have an impact on my practical work as we now know to include the release date of our film on our poster, magazine front cover and trailer because it is what our target audience want to see and we want to be able to attract them to watching the film so we will make sure our promotional package is suited for them.

There were a variety of answers for question 10 as 14 people said yes to having a tagline on the poster and gave reasons such as it gives the audience a hint to what’s going to be in the narrative, it sums up the film, makes the poster more memorable and makes them think more about the film. However, 6 people said no for reasons such as they are more interested in the character and the storyline so they don't want to be distracted by the tagline.

From these answers, I have learnt that the majority of my target audience

Question 10would prefer for there to be a tagline presented on my poster as it could be a factor that causes them to be more persuaded to go watch my film and it makes them feel more of a connection to the film if there is a tagline.

These results will influence my practical work as my partner and I will ensure that we feature a tagline on our poster because we want it to be a successful piece of promotion and it is one of the factors that will cause our target audience to go see our film because they will learn more about the narrative by reading the tagline.

Question 11 was very important and the results I got from it were that 10 of my target audience preferred ‘The Uninvited’ poster, 6 preferred ‘The Awakening’ poster and 4 preferred ‘The Broken’ poster.

The reasons given to these were ones such as the antagonists hidden identity makes it scarier or that it shows that she’s mentally unstable or that it shows the setting.

From this I learnt that the majority of my target audience would like for my

Question 11

film poster to resemble ‘The Uninvited’ film poster because it is the one that they like the most as it gives an indication to what will happen in the storyline of the film.

This will impact my practical work as now my partner and I know to create our horror film poster in the same style as ‘The Uninvited’ in order for it to be successful in drawing in our audience to watching our film.

For question 12, the results we found were that 11 preferred the film title to be at the bottom, 6 didn’t mind where it was placed and 3 preferred if the film title was at the top of a film poster.

From this I have learnt that the majority of my target audience would prefer it if I put the name of my film at the bottom of the film poster, most likely underneath the main image so once they’ve been attracted by the main image they can find out what film it is that is being advertised.

Question 12

These results will have an impact on my research and planning and practical work as I will have to research existing media film posters that position the name of the film at the bottom to know whether it is conventional or not and my partner and I will ensure that when making our film poster we place the title of our film at the bottom of the film poster because it is what our target audience prefer to see.

This question was also important as we found that 14 out of the 20 of our target audience would pay between £1 and £3 for a movie magazine, 6 would pay between 0 and 99 pence for a movie magazine and none of our target audience would spend over £3 on a movie magazine.

These answers have helped me learn how much my target audience are willing to spend on a movie magazine so I know more how to suit my film magazine to them so they purchase it.

Question 13

These answers will be significant to my practical work because my partner and I will ensure that when creating our magazine front cover as we now know to make our magazine price between £1 and £3 because that is the amount that the majority of my target audience are willing to spend on a movie magazine and we want them to be able to purchase ours so it is successful.

The results for question 14 were generous as I found that 16 people answered saying yes and 4 people said no for various reasons. Those that said yes gave reasons such as the front cover was advertising a good article, it was brightly coloured and the images seen were interesting.

From this I have learnt the different factors that I need to include in my magazine front cover in order for it to be successful in attracting my target audience.

Question 14

This will have an effect on my research and planning and practical work as my partner and I now know what to include on our magazine front cover that hopefully will draw in our target audience into reading it more thoroughly. Plus, I will have to research existing media texts that use these examples well so I know how to use them successfully.

The results found for question 15 were interesting as I found that 15 of my target audience would rather see our horror film advertised in a general movie magazine whereas only 5 would prefer to see it advertised in a horror movie magazine.

Explanations given for these answers were that in a general movie magazine there are more of a variety of films promoted and they can be more interesting.

Question 15

From this I have learnt that the majority of my target audience would prefer to see my horror film advertised in a general movie magazine such as Empire or Total Film because there may be other films featured in it not of the horror genre that they would also enjoy.

This will have an impact on my practical work as my partner and I now know to make our horror film be advertised in a general movie magazine instead of a horror magazine so more of our target audience will be inclined to buy it.

Question 16’s answers were very diverse as the participants could name three colours each but the colours that were mostly given were black, red, white and blue.

From these results I have learnt that my target audience would mostly like to see these colours featured on my film magazine because these colours are associated with the horror genre and can have scary connotations e.g. blood, death, good versus evil, a ghostly atmosphere, etc.

Question 16

These answers given from my target audience will influence my practical pieces as my partner and I will be sure to use these colours when creating our film magazine front cover because our target audience would like them to dominate the frame and they could be what attracts them to reading it properly.

For question 17, the answers we gathered were that 9 of our target audience said yes, 6 said maybe and 5 answered no.

From this I have learnt that the majority of my target audience would prefer it if a free gift was included with our film magazine maybe because it is another incentive for them to purchase the magazine and therefore see our film being promoted.

Question 17

These answers will influence my promotional package and research and planning as I will have to research existing free gifts that are included with film magazines so I know what type of gift to put in mine.

Also, my partner and I now know to actually include a free gift with our magazine front cover as it could persuade our audience more to purchase the magazine so it could be successful.

The last question is very important as we found that 8 of our target audience preferred the Total Film front cover, 7 preferred the Fangoria front cover and 5 preferred the Empire front cover.

Reasons for this were that they were simple yet effective, there was a consistent theme, it focused more on the main protagonist, it stood out and it was scary.

From this, I have learnt that the majority of my target audience would

Question 18

prefer it if my film magazine had a similar layout to either the Total Film cover or the Fangoria front cover. I will apply this knowledge to my research and planning and practical work as with my partner I will ensure that my film magazine layout is similar to these so my target audience are more persuaded to purchase it so it is successful.