Quantitative Audience Survey/Audience Research

Usman Sabir

Introduction/Research Methodology

• In order to comprehend the demographic of the Slasher genre, I utilised web 2.0 and created an online survey via QuestionPro.com.

• This was created in order to understand what the audience has a preference for and then allows me to cater to the demographic with various codes and conventions which can be applied from the Quantitative Audience Survey.

• In this slideshow I will annotate my findings and discuss how these can be applied to my Slasher trailer.

• In order to gain respondents I reached out to my sample via the use of social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter along with Hotmail to get my survey out to the demographic and reach out to the desired sample. Also the fact that teens make up the target market for slashers manipulated in where I place this survey as on big social media giants like Twitter and Facebook there is a major teenage audience awaiting there.

What Is Your Gender?

This immediately tells me that my demographic and target audience are a mixture of males and females (slightly more female), therefore I must ensure my content of the trailer is not sexually bias and is ubiquitous amongst the sexes.

How Old Are You?How Old Are You?

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

12 to 14 15 to 17 18 - 25 26 and over

Age Group

Series1

My age demographic is a mixture of 15 to 18 year olds, this gives me the freedom of choice to choose what age restriction shall my film be rated. I have chosen 18 as these gives me more flexibility when filming for example more adult themes and gore can be applied, I believe this advantage outweighs the disadvantage of reaching out less than a 15 certificate to the public.

What Is Your Favourite Animal?What Is Your Favourite Animal?

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Tiger

Cat

Lion

An

imal

Preference For Specific Animal

Lion

Bear

Cat

Dog

Tiger

As you can see there is predominantly a masculine, dominant predator-like animal preference which are at the upper region of the food chain. This tells me that in my trailer I can apply elements of dominance or add masculinity in certain characters such as the male roles or the final girl as seen in conventions of slasher films. The killer can have a predator like feel as if its hunting down prey within the trailer.

Do You Like Horror Films?

Using this data I can now effectively rely upon my data as the sample legitimately portrays the horror/slasher demographic and I can now use them as a target market. I can also analyse the answers and respond or cater to their needs and expectations from the horror genre. As majority answered yes I can trust the answers to be representative of the horror/slasher genre demographic.

How Do You Watch Films?

This information is vital as it clearly demonstrates how my demographic consume their media product, by acknowledging this and applying it to my trailer project I can successfully reach out to them in certain areas of media consumption knowing that there will be a slasher/horror audience present within that form of consumption. For example Cinema, Television and Download were the top three answers therefore I can utilise in my project; Advertisements on TV Spots, or a promotional offers for the film or trailer on Netflix, Blinkbox and Amazon’s LoveFilm and other various digital internet sites. This way I know there is my target market viewing these promotional adverts and offers which can effectively lead to a “word of mouth” promotional campaign without having to promote too excessively due to budget constraints as I am producing within a low budget independent trailer. This allows me to use a powerful low budget marketing campaign to my advantage. More people are downloading these days as opposed to DVDs due to the easier option of getting a UV Copy unfortunately this can lead to illegal downloads hence why DVD preference is low.

How Do You Watch Films? Form Of Media Consumption

35%

25%4%

24%12%

Cinema

Television

DVD

Download

Other

Most Frightening Elements of a Slasher/Horror?

0 10 20 30 40

Opinion Frequency

Sound

Characters

Villain

Location

Ele

men

t

Most Frightening Elements Of A Slasher/Horror

Location

Villain

Characters

Sound

Utilising this information I now realise what my demographics needs and requirements are as they find Sound and Villains, two of the most frightening aspects of a horror/slasher when executed properly. I can incorporate this via having a intimidating and masculine/dominant predator like (Q2 Findings reference) villain, so when production/principal photography occurs I can ensure that the villain remains intimidating and scary otherwise the target market will not be catered to. Also the sound I must now take into consideration using non digetic and digetic sounds to scare the viewer such as sharp piano notes or loud high pitched screams etc during post production and editing. Also as Villains were the second highest this means I could incorporate typical formulaic villains from slashers films e.g. the masked killer.

What Location Tends To Create A Frightening Atmosphere?

05

10152025

Preference

Woods/Forest Hospital Graveyard

Location

What Location Tends To Create A Frightening Atmosphere?

Woods/ForestHouseHospitalCar ParkGraveyardOther

When in principal photography and collecting reconnaissance shots or “rekkies” I can avoid areas/locations in which my sample find least frightening and blend or streamline multiple locations in which the demographic do. For example in the synopsis the characters could be initially partying indoors and then relocate within the verisimilitude to a different location this way I can cater to my target market as the top three findings are very close, using all three will be refreshing and shows a realistic verisimilitude in which multiple locations exist and is not just based within a house which is not realistic compared to other Slasher’s digesis and verisimilitude. Also I believe the main reason House came up as one of the highest is due to the fact that it gives an element of helplessness that the victim is stranded and has nowhere to go, trapped in a a cage therefore the audience relates to this hence why I intend to use both Woods and other locations like a house as my demographic has responded positively to them.

What Typography Colours Do You Think Would Be Representative Within A Horror/Slasher Genre ?

Typography colour is extremely important due to the fact that the promotional campaigns; trailers, poster and magazines will use this and so it can represent the slasher film and affect demographics opinions or interest in the film due to it being ubiquitous amongst the promotional trailers, magazines and posters. Therefore I have chosen to stick with the demographics' opinion of the Red, White and Black as a 3 colour code/palette for the trailer project as this appeals to the demographic and also using semiotics and connotation they each portray and represent a particular emotion or tone of the film e.g White being the innocence of the final girl, black portraying the death the killer brings and most obviously the red signifying blood via semiotics and connotations.

Whats Your Favourite Horror Film?

05

10152025

Number of Favourites

1

Film

What Is Your Favourite Horror Film?Halloween

Friday 13th

Texas ChainsawMassacre

Scream

Other

The Data here shows me that my audience have a preference for certain pieces of cinema. In this case my slasher demographic finds Friday The 13th most appealing and is their favourite. I intend to incorporate this into my project by using a method called Intertexuality in which (in the case of cinema) is a homage to previous pieces of cinema embedded internally within a film via the use of Mise En Scene, Composition, Camera shots and sound (a widely recognisable piece of intertexuality is the Wilhelm Scream sound clip referencing to the film Distant Drums). I can incorporate Friday the 13th and also Halloween and Texas Chainsaw Massacre into my trailer via intertexuality as these films appeal and cater to my audience therefore I effectively am doing the same. This can be done in a variety of ways, I intend to use a camera shot in which Jason’s mask from Friday The 13th will be in the shot lying on the floor, this will be recognisable to the Slasher demographic and when they recognise this unlike non slasher fans they feel positive about themselves as only they saw the reference (Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs). A character within the trailer could be called Leatherface as a nickname perhaps due to his excessive use of leather clothing. This also demonstrates what the demographic enjoy within a slasher therefore certain techniques within the film can be mimicked and replicated for my trailer for example in Slashers e.g Texas Chainsaw Massacre the “Hitchcock Zoom” is used, I could utilise something similar within my trailer.

What Weapon Do You Think Is Most Appropriate For A Horror/Slasher Film?

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10152025

Weapon Preference

1

Weapon Type

Most Appropriate Weapon ?

Axe

Chainsaw

Knife

Human Hands

Other

As my audience have spoken to which weapon they think is most appropriate I shall utilise the Knife and other popular weapons that came highest. The audience seems to have a preference for improvised weapons unsurprisingly as that is the main type of weapon used in Horror/Slashers films. I could use items along with the Knife, Chainsaw and human hands which were not designed with killing as the product objective. By using these type of items along with the Knife; you can make the audience have empathy for the victims as they are truly unsafe as the killer uses the environment as his weapon, something which can not be removed or hidden.

Conclusion/Evaluation• Utilising these findings I now know what my

demographics “wants and needs” are. By acknowledging this and applying it to my trailer project I can effectively cater to the target audience leading to a successful slasher trailer response. I also now have acknowledged what to avoid when in the various production processes and what to include; even the smallest of things for example the sound of a Wilhelm Scream or a iconic mask from a cult classic slasher film such as Friday the 13th using methods such as Intertexuality.

Audience ProfileKey Statisical Data: Age: 18 to 25Gender: Generally equal mixtureAnimal Preference: DogFilm Genre Preference: HorrorForm Of Media Consumption: DownloadMost Effective Elements in Slashers: SoundMost Frightening Location: Woodland/ForestSlasher Conveying Colours: Red, White & BlackFavourite Slasher: Halloween & Friday the 13th

Preferred Appropriate Weapon: Knife

Secondary Audience Research Support• 1) My primary data can be supported in various ways using secondary data, for example the Box office

results for the top 20 UK independent films released in the UK and Republic of Ireland, 2012; First place out of 20 film titles was the Woman In Black a film based on the British Horror Novella “Woman In Black”. This secondary quantitative data supports my primary data located in Question 3 in which I asked “Do You Like Horror Films?” and 91% answered “Yes”.

• 2) Also box office results for the top 20 UK and Ireland Qualifying films found Dark Shadows a horror/comedy film up on number 12.

• 3) Even more support for my findings is that in the top 20 3D films Silent Hill Revelation was in that list, Silent Hill is yet another horror film. This shows the growing fondness of Horror films since 2012 and the widening of the demographic to more broad parameters expanding from a still niche target market/audience. I found this data using the BFI 2012 Yearbook.

• 4) Also when I asked “How Do You Watch Films?” The second highest method of media consumption was Cinema, this is supported by the BFI 2012 yearbook as they found that in London (where primarily my sample resides) possesses a 848 cinema screens as opposed to Northern Ireland’s smaller 203 screen count; This reinforces my findings that cinema is a popular form of media consumption or intake.

• 5)This clearly demonstrates that the Horror genre is growing significantly and trending amongst the film industry as a genre and that the demographic parameters are becom ing more broad e.g. Slasher, Horror, Comedy Horror etc. with more variants appearing the industry explaining why Horror filming are generating more gross profit than other genres such as the Action/Adventure genre in the box office and film industry. These findings support my question “Do You Like Horror Films?”. This information was obatined from BoxOfficeQuant.com

Secondary Audience Research Support Graphs

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4) 5)