Libby Coates

Summary findings for audience research

I completed some target audience research for action horror films in order to find out what sort of audience I am looking at and how I can achieve their desires and needs of an action horror film. I asked 15 participants to answer a questionnaire. My questionnaire included relevant questions about action horror films, so I could get an overall view about the target audience. I chose to do a questionnaire as they give a good generalization of information that is gathered. The majority of the genders were males, 73.33% leaving at total of 26.67% being females. My results do not surprise me as violence, scare and action which are typical conventions of an action horror are much loved by the male gender. Males are more likely to be the target audience for action horror films than females. This is stereotypical as males are thrill seekers due to their adult hormones.My findings shown that the typical age for action horror audience is 15-18 year olds. This age group is likely to be the target audience as they are young and are developing with their emotions and feelings and crave all thrills they can get. Horror films fulfill this exciting, scaring thrill that young audiences want whereas older audiences have gone through that stage of their life and they aren’t too positive towards action horror films. When I asked the questions; what was your most memorable film opening and why, the majority of people answered with things like ‘it seems all happy at the beginning then bam, you’re scared’, ‘It kept you on edge and made you believe it was real and something scary was going to happen’, ‘Scary and unexpected’ and ‘intense and dramatic and leaves a cliff hanger. These are all examples of thrill as the audience seems to crave the suspense of being scared and not knowing what is going to happen next.I asked the audience what themes they think usually crop up in horror films and my most popular answers were; Death, Violence, Gore, Fear, Action and Paranormal, leaving Love and happiness with as unpopular themes in an action horror. I now know what my audiences expect to see in action horrors and I can apply this to my later planning of the film.I also asked the participants about the opening of an action horror film. What do you expect to see in an action horror opening? My most popular answers were: ‘a fast pace and intense opening’, ‘slow pace opening’ and ‘scary cliffhanger opening’ these are all conventions of an action horror film. Luckily I found out that my participants watch quite a bit of film since I asked them how often they go to the cinema and how much film do they watch in a

Libby Coates

month and 53.33 said 7+ hours and 24.67 said 5-6 hours. This is helpful as I am dealing with participants that are familiar with film and have a passion to watch films so I can get a good idea of what they are interested in and what they expect to see in specifically action horrors.

My findings throughout my research have influenced my action horror opening as when I come to planning and filming my opening I will have to consider the expectations of the 15 participants who completed my survey. As they supply a brief idea of what my target audience likes and how old they are, etc. I will target my audience at 15-18 years olds so I can include that thrill factors and the appropriate themes which these ages expect. Although the majority of my participants were male, I know that there will be females out there who too enjoy the action horror genre.