Target Audience Research- Questionnaire

The first method I used for target audience research was a questionnaire. This was only handed out to people within the age range I am hoping to target. I distributed the questionnaire to students within my college who fitted within this age range, as well as a few people outside of college. I felt that I collected sufficient amounts of feedback as I had asked a range of people to fill out the questionnaire meaning I got a wide range of answers. Here is a copy of the questionnaire that I constructed;

 Findings; 

Although many people had different responses, I noticed many common answers. For example, some common answers included;

1 a) What was the last horror film you watched…

- The Grudge, Exit Humanity, Sinister, The Conjuring, Paranormal Activity, Scream, Final Destination, Insidious.

   b)… and what made it effective as a horror film?

-  it was funny, scary, the characters knew what they were doing and the movie was planned out well, the look of characters was impressive as it really added a sense of horror, it included elements of possession, there was less gore/ blood etc, it was a thriller, it had ‘jump’ scenes which were full of suspense, story line.

2) What aspects/genre/type of horror attracts you to watch them, e.g. gore, possession, death, mystery?

-  Mystery as it keeps suspense, all aspects, possession, death, mystery, blood. Suspense, posission.

3) What do you normally find, is effective or not effective about many horror trailers?

- trailers which do not expose too much of the story line is effective, when suspense is built up it makes audiences want to watch it more, suspense is effective, the length of the clip- if it’s too long it becomes boring but if short and scary it would pull me into watching the whole film, when it says ‘based on a true story’, needs a cliff hanger, fast pace trailers are effective, when it drags on it is not effective.

4) What attracts you into watching a horror movie in the first place?

- if the trailer is effective it attracts people into watching it, the films popularity, actors in the film, characters, advertisements, the thrill from watching it, story line, if it’s based on a book, the way characters are presented.

5) What would you typically expect from a horror movie?

- things to jump out and scare the audience, unexpected scenes, blood, death, clowns, evil character, spirits, scary scenes, cliff hangers, to not be able to sleep after watching it, darkness, villain, story line, suspense.

6) What do you like most about horror trailers?

- it gives the audience a hint about the film, it’s the company’s chance to impress audiences, sound, editing, the ‘jumping factor’- scaring audiences, gives audiences a better idea of what to expect, makes audiences want to watch the film, the suspense viewers are left with, how realistic it is, the interesting bits from the film shown in the trailer makes viewers want to see more.

Overall I have been able to identify a few common answers. This has shown me that although everyone has different opinions, there are a large number of people who have the same preferences from the target audience I aimed my research at. I have now gained a clearer idea of what I may need to include within my trailer.