Survey link: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/WQR6RQR

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Horror sub-genres

Preferred horror sub-genre

I created a survey on ‘Survey Monkey’ and published it on Facebook to get some feedback on what my audience wants to seen in a horror movie trailer. I got responses from 15 boys and 15 girls giving me a total of 30 responses.

This graph shows me that the majority of people would prefer to see either psychological, zombie or paranormal horror, and also that monster, religious, vampire and thriller horrors are NOT popular.

From learning this I will use influence from these sub-genres in my horror trailer production to appeal to a larger audience.

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Settings

What settings do you find most scary? From this graph I can see that the majority of people find old buildings and hospitals scary. However, it is unlikely that my group would have access to either so we are more likely to shoot in rural areas and ‘haunted’ forests as these are more accessible. These settings also appear to be the mid-ground of the results averaging around 6-7 answers each. This means our trailer will still appeal to a fairly large audience.

Other:These are some other suggested locations.

-‘Somewhere really common e.g a living room.’-‘Schools and other public buildings, any where i go daily cuz it make the horror more real’

I like the idea of shooting the trailer somewhere relatable so that the audience can relate their own lives to the horror movie.

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Are you influenced by actors, directors, franchise or companies?

I asked weather actors, directors, franchise or companies influenced the audience to see a film, and surprisingly found that the majority of people who took the survey were not influenced. This is good news for my group as we will be creating an entirely independent trailer without access to these things.

What is your favourite horror film and why?

Overall there was a wide range of horror films mentioned for many different reasons. However, the film ‘Paranormal Activity’ came up several times:

‘It’s different to other horror films, and it plays on my mind because I believe in ghosts’‘it held you in suspense a lot & was a good film’‘Made me poo my pants’‘paranormal activity because it was really realistic.’‘At the moment it is probably the Paranormal Activity films as they are different to pretty much most of the horror films about.’

From this feedback I can see that realistic or believable horror movies are popular and that un-cliché films are also more popular.

The saw films were also mentioned by several people:

‘The saw films because they are cleverly constructed and have brilliant effects’‘The Saw Films, as they have such a good story line in terms of people having to make a choice between good and evil! ‘Plus some of the traps are pretty epic’‘Saw. I'm a bit sick in the head and I think the ideas of the "contraptions" are very clever.’

These results suggest that clever plots that make the audience think make a good film.

What is your least favourite horror film and why?

I found that the reason why people did not like the horror films they listed is because they are unrealistic and/or without a good storyline.

‘boring predictable horrors with no story and just an excuse for a gore-fest...’‘i don't like the gory non realistic ones’‘Hostel 2 - Plot was terrible, and it wasn't at all scary enough. Wasn't anywhere near as good as the first one.’‘Any movie with a really bad storyline/poor structure.’

What makes you want to see a horror film?From the feedback I got I can see that creating anticipation and a high adrenaline rush in trailers will leave a viewer wanting to see more. Also, indications of a good plot help to lure in the audience.

What do you like in a horror trailer?

From the responses I got I can see that a good indication of the plot draws in the audience rather than having just quick shots of gore, although some quick shots of scary faces and horror are appreciated. With this in mind I will have to be careful when making my trailer and not give too much of the plot away, just enough to draw in the viewer and leave them wanting more. It was also mentioned that inter-titles are preferred rather than a voice over. I would agree with this as reading the inter-titles gets the viewer focused where as with a voiceover the viewer can be distracted from the shots being shown – in a way I feel it can break the continuity of the theme.

What have you seen in other horror trailers that make them bad?Many people said that by giving too much of the plot away the trailer is ruined – they wont want to see the film if they already know how it’s going to pan out. Shots out of context were also said to be bad as the are un-necessary and confuse the viewer. Cheesy lines, bad acting and bad effects are also a disincentive to see the film.

‘Just enough detail of the plot to get you interested in the story-line but not too much so you cant guess what is going on.’‘Short clips of the action to get you engrossed.’‘To see bits leading you on, and you don't find them out in the trailer, which makes me want to go see them.’‘Some gory bits’

‘bad acting, too much of the plot, cheesy inter-titles/voice over’‘Just violence. And giving the story away, plus they're not tense just pictures of people screaming’‘When its just random scenes and you can't really tell what the story is’