Analysing Horror Questionnaire

I asked many people from different ages to find out what they most like to see in a horror trailer. I

asked a variety of questions to come up with an interesting idea that will in the end make an exciting

trailer. The people I asked were people who are likely to be my target audience, so people who are

older than 15 as my age certificate is likely to be 15.

My first question that would help me come up with the best idea was if the participants that

answered the questionnaire actually enjoyed and watched horror movies frequently. This was to see

if the genre horror was actually a good choice to do. From the participants who answered, no one

said that they never watch horror movies; this comes as a positive as the target audience I am trying

to appeal to is more than likely to watch my movie. 66% of responses did say they watched horror

movies sometimes; this is mainly because some people see horror movies as repetitive and very

similar so my aim is to make my horror trailer unique to other horror trailers so it makes it even

more appealing than any other movie trailer. From the results I have got for the first question are

very positive as I now know to make my trailer as different as any other horror trailer.

My next question I asked was them naming there top 3 favourite/memorable horror films of all time.

Many of the participants named Sinister, Insidious and the Shining as their top two films. These films

sub-genres are psychological so this has given me more of an insight of what people mostly enjoy in

horrors. This has given me an edge on choosing to do a psychological horror movie trailer. This is

very positive as I was already heading towards doing a psychological horror film as seen when I

analysed other film trailers which were in fact included Insidious and Sinister.

The answers I received from the participants made my decision even easier to do a psychological

horror as just fewer than 89% of participants said that they enjoy horror movies that are

psychologically terrified. Furthermore, a high 61% of participants said that they enjoy jumps and

scares in a horror movie; this is what I will need to try to produce in my trailer if I want people to

enjoy it and feel anticipation while watching the trailer. Other ideas such as comedy horror and

supernatural were not seen as popular choices so these are very unlikely to be in my trailer. It is vital

to make a psychological horror trailer serious and entertaining and not to be funny as viewers would

not find the movie appealing if the trailer is seen as funny as that is very unprofessional.

This question which was answered was much more varied with participants choosing different

options which they prefer the setting to be. The top four choices were Asylum, a Haunted House, in

a Graveyard/Old Churches and abandoned places. These are the four options I will be taking forward

and deciding which one to use. However, using Asylum as a setting it would be very difficult as I will

have to find a big surrounding that will cater the needs of an asylum. On the other hand, it would be

much easier to record my trailer in either a haunted house or in a graveyard so these are the two I

will be contemplating to use as the setting of my trailer.

The next question I asked, I wanted to fin d out what horror character do the participants find

scariest. There were three options that were very popular and the ones they chose were the ones

that I am thinking of doing. The top three which were chosen were clowns, evil humans and

ghosts/spirits. I am moving more towards either evil humans or ghosts/spirits as in my opinion the

more exciting horror movies involve these two characters as the antagonist. The well-known horror

movies such as insidious and sinister used spirits/ghosts and they have been very successful

compared to other horror movies. However, I need to make my trailer as unique as these type of

films because viewers would find the trailer as too original and similar so would not be interested in

watching the film.

The final question I asked my participants was if they preferred a film that is based on a true story.

This has helped me a lot as 89% of people said that they preferred a horror movie that is based on a

true story. This is probably because, people enjoy stories that have a meaning to it and if the movie

is a true story then it draws you in even more as you want to find out what actually happens. This is

why many chose The Conjuring as their favourite film as they may feel that the movie may have

more of a meaning behind it.