We have produced a questionnaire as a source of our research into horror films by finding out the opinions of different people. We are going to use our questionnaire to find out what type of horror films people like and their views on certain aspects of what makes a horror film. This will help us gain an understanding of who we want to aim our horror film at and how to structure and make our opening horror sequence appeal to our target audience.
(However, this questionnaire was produced based on our original ideas which changed when producing our OTS)
(However, this questionnaire was produced based on our original ideas which changed when producing our OTS)
Question 1.
What is your favourite horror subgenre?
What is your favourite horror subgenre?
Finding out which subgenre is the most popular amongst the respondents is important because we need to be aware of which subgenre will make us the most money. The subgenre of our OTS is a Slasher which will make us the most money as according to our results this was the most popular. The Slasher subgenre was closely followed by paranormal which we will make sure to incorporate into our OTS.
Popular Slasher films include: |
Question 2.
Pick your favourite popular horror film. (If you haven't seen any from the options then pick the one you are most likely to watch)
Pick your favourite popular horror film. (If you haven't seen any from the options then pick the one you are most likely to watch)
This question was included because we wanted to ask which horror films were peoples favourite, however if we asked all of our respondents to think of their favourite then we would've got 10 different answers. We can see from these results that Scream was the most common picked answer. Both Insidious and Sinister were then second. The fact that Scream was the most popular horror film is good for our audience research as it's a Slasher horror film which helps support our idea that by producing a OTS in the subgenre of Slasher, it will appeal to our target audience of 17-24 year olds.
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Question 3.
What type of killer would you like to see in a horror film? (e.g. Clown, possessed child)
What type of killer would you like to see in a horror film? (e.g. Clown, possessed child)
For this question we didn't include tick boxes as we wanted to see what everyone prefers in terms of the type of killer. Out of 10 people who completed I was surprised to see that some people put the same answer despite not giving them restricted choices. The top answer was a child killer, which is becoming more and more common in horror films. (An example of a horror film which includes a child killer is Sinister) However, the second most common answers were both a 'masked villain' and a 'psychopath man'. These are also very common in horror films and would be easier for us to include in our OTS.
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Question 4.
What setting would you find the scariest for a horror film?
What setting would you find the scariest for a horror film?
This question is important because it allows us to gain an idea of which settings people prefer to see in a horror film. The fact that both the asylum and the town were the most common settings shows that you don't HAVE to go to an extreme setting in order to make an effective, scary horror. I was surprised to see that a town was one of the most popular. I think that having a horror film set in a normal town could make the audience feel more scared because of the realism which allows the audience to be able to relate to the setting. Also the village and church were chosen the same amount of times.
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Question 5.
Which weapon do you find the most effective and scary in horror films?
Which weapon do you find the most effective and scary in horror films?
By asking our respondents to choose which weapon they believe is more effective allows us to decide which weapon we should use in our OTS. Out of the 10 people a large majority picked an Axe. An axe is a large weapon which was originally used to cut wood but could now be associated with a machete. In our OTS an axe would be a scary weapon to use as it's not as commonly used as a knife or gun.
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Question 6.
Do you find a younger or older killer more scary?
Do you find a younger or older killer more scary?
Although for our OTS we are going to be using a teenager as our killer it is still important for us to know whether people prefer them younger or older. I was surprised that the results showed people preferred an older villain. Therefore, in our opening title sequence we are going make our 17 year old killer look older in order for it to appeal to our target audience of 17-24 year olds. As this was a very closed question the results might not be 100% accurate. However, the respondents we asked were all varied in age which could explain the difference in results.
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Question 7.
Which of these ways to die do you find the scariest?
Which of these ways to die do you find the scariest?
The aim of this question was to find out what people were scared of in terms of dying. As well seeing what kind of death would scare someone the most, this question also allows us to gain an understanding of what kind of deaths would make our audience sympathize with a victim in a horror film. The most commonly picked answer, which takes up 60% of the chart, was torture. As we are using an ax for our main weapon we could also include more weapons and violence in out OTS to appeal to our target audience who clearly would find it more scary. Torture was closely followed by burning alive which you could argue is a form of torture. Falling from a building got a few votes also which was picked by people with a fear of heights.
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Question 8.
What is your biggest fear?
What is your biggest fear?
For this question we decided to make it open and not closed with tick boxes like some of the others, as we wanted to get a simple idea of what things in general make people scared. With not specifying that it needed to be related to horror films our results show things such as clowns and ghosts which can be closely related to the genre. For this question we expected to receive a wide variety of answers but two out of the ten respondents put 'small spaces' and another two put 'heights'. Although we can't include all these fears in our OTS it was still interesting to get an idea of what people are scared of.
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Question 9.
What types of music/sound effects do you find the most effective in terms of creating an eerie atmosphere?
What types of music/sound effects do you find the most effective in terms of creating an eerie atmosphere?
The most common answer for this question about music and sound effects, which 6 out of 10 people chose was intense music. A big part of some horror films is the suspense which is built up throughout before something violent or scary happens. I can see from these results that those types of scenes with intense music are the most popular as people seem to enjoy that type of experience. Therefore in our OTS we will make sure to build the tension by using intense music. Although intense was the most common, it was closely followed by spooky music which can also create an eerie atmosphere. It is mainly used to make the audience feel uneasy. When asking this question we asked anyone who chose the box 'other' to specify and one of our respondents stated that she found the 'sound of a heart beating within music' created a very eerie and tense atmosphere.
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Question 10.
Do you prefer watching horror films in which the narrative is fictional or based on true events?
Do you prefer watching horror films in which the narrative is fictional or based on true events?
The last question in our questionnaire was asking if our respondents preferred a fictional narrative or if it was based on a true story. As we can see from the results a large percentage of people prefer a horror film which is based on real events. Therefore, for our OTS we will make sure to research real life situations which fit with our sub-genre of slasher/paranormal. If we cannot find a real life story in which relates closely with our sub-genre or wouldn't appeal to our target audience then we will incorporate some real life situations which will have the same scary effect on our audience.
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