Audience Research Results

Questionnaire

The questionnaire that I had put together have resulted as a random sample, meaning there is not an equal amount of representation of gender and age. Here is a sample of my questionnaire.

I have opened my questionnaire by introducing the participants of what I wish to gather from them. It also gives them the type of questions they could expect from this questionnaire. This is as I have named the genre of the teaser trailer that wish to produce as my production work.

Question one and two, give personal details about the participants. I am able to find out their age, which will help me create a potential target audience.

Looking at question three, I have gone into finding out the characteristics of my audience. What type of media printout they tend to look at. This question particularly focuses on the printout for my production work, the magazine front cover and the poster, both of which are promotional techniques that will used to advertise my film.


Question four will help me focus on the techniques and conventions of a psychological horror, as it will help me to keep my audience engaged. I have also left space for them to explain themselves.

Question five, gives the participants the chance to explain themselves further. It also allows me to know what my potential target audience will be looking for when watching a horror trailer.




Question six expands on knowing more about the characteristics of my audience. I am then able to understand what habits they have, and to see if they are similar to other participants. this allows me to have a more clear potential audience.

Question seven allows me to calculate what source of technology is the most popular out the ones that have been mentioned. If cinema, or t.v, or Internet are the most selected, it means that the participants are surrounded by promotional materials to advertise other films.



In question eight i have asked what are the top three horror films that they have particularly enjoyed. this will help towards my research on teaser trailers, and analysing material. it will also show if there any similarities in the participants chosen film.

Question nine is to help me personally when deciding a story line for my potential audience. I want to produce something that will attract my audience and will engage them.



Questionnaire Results

Here are my results, for a few of the questions. I have used bar graphs and pie charts to show the outcome.

Above is my results for question one. This graph above shows the total number of participants that took part in my questionnaire. The majority of the people were female (12), in total there were 21 participants.

Above is a bar chart to show my results for question two. the majority of my participants were aged 18 and 15. However my target audience will range from 15 - 20 years of age.

Above is a bar chart showing the results for question seven of my questionnaire. They were allowed to pick more than one, however the one with the most votes is cinema, following after DVD, and then the Internet. Looking at this data the most votes go to cinema, which keeps the participants surrounded by advertisement of new releases.

Theses are the reasons to why the participants ticked them as their answer

for question eight i asked the participants to list their top three horror films that they particulary enjoyed. the most listed were Saw, Hide and Seek, The Grudge, The Unborn, Final Destination and finally Scream.

Looking at all of the posters for the film, the colours that are mostly used are black and white. Most of them have extreme close -ups of faces. The name of the film however is in a smaller print and is not at the top of the page, they have been places in the middle and the bottem of the posters.

Psycological Horror - sub genre

The Ring



The trailer begins with two girls talking. This gives suggests to the narrative of the film. The dialogue replicates the images that area being shown, this gives a sense that "it is happening as we speak" which starts to build up the viewers tensions.

There are many close-ups used throughout the trailer, which reduce the amount the viewers see, they are forced to look at what is shown on the screen. This then leads to a rise in tension.

The Blair Witch Project

Product Research - Magazine Covers

Along with my teaser trailer I also have to produce a magazine front cover as promotional material for the film. Here are two magazines that I have looked at, these magazine are well-known film magazines. The two that I have looked at are called Empire and Shivers.

Empire

Empire is a British film magazine published monthly by Bauer Consumer Media. It is the biggest selling film magazine in Britain, consistently outselling its nearest market rival Total Film.

• There is a colour scheme used on the front cover of the magazine. In this issue it is green, blue and gray. The colour scheme reflects the theme of the image, which is from a film, The Dark Knight.


• The masthead, Empire, has been covered by the image, this is because the readers are able to recognise the magazine. This makes is a well-known magazine by its targeted audience.


• The image of the Joker, heath Ledger, is the main focus of the magazine, which is a way of promoting the film. The image is also of a shot from the film, which gives a more realistic view to the image.


• There are other films mentioned on the front cover. These could be released at the same time as The Dark Knight, and are at competition with each other. But The Dark knight is the main focus of the magazine, making it seem more popular to the target audience.


• The heading under the name of the film "BATMAN vs. THE JOKER - SUMMER JUST GOT SERIOUS", is a way of engaging the target audience. It gives them something to keep in mind when going to the cinema.


• Being a film magazine, the actor has been shown the way they are shown in the film, giving it a more film like magazine.
  

Sight and Sound

Sight and Sound is an example of a magazine that is not as popular as Empire.



Above are two examples of magazines from Sight and Sound. Both of them have a mysterious atmosphere them, which creates a tensed effect. They also have many differences; the one on the right has more text on it with a background image, whereas the one on the left has the masthead and a heading with the background image.

The masthead is in the same print, with a yellow background and bold black text on it. This technique is very effective as it stand out and catches the audience’s attention.
However the one on the right has a black and white image, which suggests that it is an older issue to the one on the left.

The image in the background is the most important content on a magazine cover; this is because the viewers notice the image first.

• The magazine on the right shows a woman with a knife covered in blood, this suggests that it has something to do with murder, and creates a sense of danger. The image is placed more towards the right of the page, with the text around it on the left. The magazine cover also has a colour scheme of red and white, and black. Having red and black creates a curious and discomfort atmosphere to the magazine.
• The magazine on the left shows a man with his back towards you, standing on the street. The main focus is the man, as there is a white bright light that is shining onto him from the left. This magazine cover is all about the image, and how the viewers interpret it.

Product Research- Film Posters

Together with my production I have also to produce a poster for my teaser trailer. Therefore I have looked at the posters for the teaser trailers that I have researched. After looking at a few posters it will help me come up with a poster to promote my teaser trailer.




After looking at a few posters to advertise the film, there have been some similarities. One of which is the stars name tends to be at the top of the poster. This makes it seem like the main promotional technique used to attract the target audience.

Audience Research

Questionnaires

I will design a questionnaire that will give me the foundation research in the planning of a horror teaser trailer. These questions will follow along the line of what they most like about horror movies, and what keeps them engaged. The questions that I will ask are mostly going to be closed. This will mean my results are statistical, which will be presented in bar/pie charts.


Observational Research

To then widen my audience research I plan to use observational research method. I will carry this out by showing the targeted group two trailers, which I feel they may have particular interest in. We will then discuss the likes and dislikes of both the trailers. This research method will be able to catch my viewer's reactions whilst watching the trailers. This research will help me to come up with a final conclusion on what audience will expect to see in a horror trailer.

Product Research- Teaser Trailers

What is the purpose of a teaser trailer?

• Hint of the narrative - This will give the viewers a sense of the storyline, if its a non-linear or linear narrative.
  
• The stars in the film - This allows viewers to be introduced to new actors, or actors which are seen as their favourite.
  
• Show something of the genre of the film - Allowing the viewers to know the genre of the film, gives them an idea of they can expect from the film. This could include the setting, music, dressing of he characters and the lighting; these all create the atmosphere of the genre.

When looking at a few teaser trailers I will look at how it engages its viewers by the conventions of a thriller/horror film. These conventions could include the setting, lighting, sound (diegetic, non-diegetic), clothing, a motif, a troubled character, a villain, and there may also be a hidden story; this conventions increase the viewers tension.
The follow teaser trailers that I have decided to analyse will inspire me in the making of my teaser trailer, by using similar techniques. the few teaser trailers that I have chosen to look at include, Signs, Hide and Seek, Mirrors and Final Destination 3.

Mirrors

This teaser trailer is only 51 seconds, there is a lot of editing and different techniques used to put together a few clips which increase and engage the viewer’s intention of watching the film. The film seems the have chosen an object that we the viewers and everyone use in their every day to day life, this object is a mirror. The reflection of the person in the mirror has affected the family’s behaviour. The reflections have shown people living on the opposite side, an evil side of live that appears to be waiting to come out.

At the beginning of the trailer the distribution company has been introduced to the viewers, in this case it is 20the Century Fox which is well known for distributing mainstream films.
The lighting of the shots is very shady, making shadows/reflections, which links with the name of the film “Mirrors”. For example the reflection in the puddle, and dark shadows on the walls and floors of the characters.
The use of sound, both diegetic and non-diegetic are increasing in volume through the trailer. For example the sound effect of movement, like the doors and the wind.

Mirrors - official trailer

There are a few similarities in both the trailers of “Mirrors”. There are many similar shots, and also the beginning 15 seconds of the teaser trailer matches the original trailer. Throughout the trailer there is a continuous sound of a heartbeat, which increases tension for the viewers. They become more concerned about what might happen next, or they know what is going to happen and are uncertain if they want to see it. However because of the tension already caused, the trailers are continuously drawing the viewers in to carry on watching because of the tension building up, not already caused. As the viewers listen to every heartbeat, a different shot is shown through the use of cut editing in the rhythm of the beat; this is another reason to why the viewer’s tension increases. However there are also additional shots which give the viewers more to see, and hopefully increases their desire to watch the film. This gives the viewers a broader understanding for what they could expect from the film, through the use of dialogue in the original trailer.

Hide and Seek trailer

Looking at these four shots, they all show a sense of discomfort. This is due to the type of shot, either it be a close-up or a mid-shot, out of focus shot, or the composition of the shot.

• Looking at the bathroom scene, the lighting is very dark, which adds an unexplained event, which confuses the audience. This is due to the psychological element that is added to the narrative. It also adds a sense of danger of someone else being there.
  
• The scene in her room makes the audience look as if they are spying on both of them. This is due to the fact that the shot has been taking from inside her cupboard. This links to the title of the film “Hide and Seek”.


• Looking at the scene in the kitchen, a person seems to be taking a knife. Due to the type of shot, and composition, the viewers are unable to see who the person is, which adds a mysterious feel to the narrative.
  
• The shot that is out of focus makes it harder for the viewers to see the emotions on their faces. However we are able to see that the girl seems to be looking for something, her dad who is in the background seems to be going out. This makes the dad seem suspicious as he has not said anything to his daughter and is leaving her home alone.

Overall using a little girl as the main character makes her seem very innocent, which could however be subverted throughout the narrative. She could have been represented as a good person due to her appearance, but through her characteristics this could be subverted so she is seem playing a negative role in the narrative.

Signs trailer

A few typical conventions used in teaser trailers are:-

• The title of the film is either at the beginning or at the end of the trailer.


• The star's name is also mentioned. This is done to obtain the viewers in order to increase the films targeted audience.


• A teaser trailer is less than a minute, there are many shots which shows that they are extremely fast.