GROUP – Questions 4/5Tom Holmes and Dan Holden

Who would be the audience for your media product? How did you attract/address your audience?

-Demographically, my film would not attract a specific age bracket of people and exclude everyone else. Generally the film would be more attractive to younger people but this is common place with any horror film I believe. That is to say, however, that it would not be surprising if an older audience did wish to watch my film. But it is designed to entice a younger core audience for sure. I say this because of the plot of the sequence as well as the filming style amongst other things. These aspects will be discussed later.

-I believe that my target audience would be the core audience of 15-29 year olds that regularly attend horror films of any genre. I think this because there is nothing obviously unconventional in my film’s opening to suggest it is any different on a significant level to generate a cult audience for example.Paranormal horror is not different to other horror sub-genres in truth, in that it encourages a young audience to the cinemas to watch the films but also in that the plots for many horror films are simple and easy for the mass audience to follow. This is a problem of arthouse or cult films in some cases as they are ‘specialist’ films; they require a certain kind of audience to watch them.So, in essence, I believe that my film would appeal most to the likes of the core audience of horror film lovers in the 15-29 age bracket.

Who is my core target audience? What makes

this the case?

-In terms of gender, my film does not set out to appeal to the likes of one sex rather than the other. In relation to which genders were present in my opening sequence, certainly it would seem like the film would be more attractive to males as there are more in the story. However, I do not think this is the case.Conventionally, horror films appeal to both males and females, specifically maybe males slightly more. Paranormal horror is much the same story. Initially, people would expect more men to visit the cinema to see horror films, but why? Is it because horror films are expected to be violent, gory and scary? Iconography in horror films determines the audience a great deal, as most horror films follow the conventions of the sub-genre. Indeed, I believe my film is mainly conventional of paranormal horror. What effect this fact has on my audience, there is no telling. In spite of this uncertainty, I believe that my film certainly appeals with equal depth to both men and women because there is no content to claim one way or another a certain group of people would like it more than others.

-Class and occupation is taken into account when films are produced, distributed and exhibited. The style of filming as well as the content will appeal to different people, the way it is advertised and who it is advertised to will too and where the film is shown will have been considered in relation to the people who will watch it. I have already established that my film is much more likely to be exhibited in a smaller cinema chain rather than at a multiplex. Similarly, my film would not have the financial backup of larger films with bigger budgets and so reaching everyone, particularly upper classes for example may not be so easy because of the financial strictness and limitations.

-The only belief/value really touched upon in the opening sequence is the matter of good against evil/life against death. This set of binary oppositions is a topic often linked to Christianity. This factor is linked more towards psychographics rather than demographics.The psychographics element to my film relates to what things a group of people like. This can be anything from gore to ghosts or from mystery to murder in horror films. I believe that my opening sequence suggests that my film would attract those with paranormal psychographic tastes because of the nature of the plot being void of blood and the more creepy aspects of horror, but rather it focuses on the mystery and supernatural side.

-Another demographic concerning my film is ethnicity. The social background to an audience is often more important than it appears to be. This is to say that definitely a certain ethnic group would prefer to go and see a particular genre of film rather than any other. Moreover, certain ethnic groups may have values that restrict them to only watching films of specific content that would not offend.I do not believe that my film explores any ethnic groups’ attitudes nor does it cause concern for prejudice.

As I just mentioned, I think that my film would appeal to those interested in paranormal horror, much more than anyone who likes the more gruesome aspects of horror in slasher and zombie horror, such as ‘Shaun of the Dead’ (Wright, 2004). This is a very gory comedy horror film in truth. There a number of reasons I think this way, namely in the style and plot of the opening. The style of my film’s opening is not intense, it sets the scene for the rest of the film with character development and paranormal events taking place. When I refer to my film’s ‘style’, I speak of the technical aspects and how these make my film conventional of paranormal horror.

Jump scares are conventional of horror and so an audience would expect to see this if they went to the cinema to watch a film of this genre. On psychographic terms, I expect regular film goers that anticipate scares and thrills from horror films would go to see my film; younger adults and teens perhaps find this more attractive. Despite the fact that there are not a great deal of scares in the opening, there would be more as the story. I believe that this is evident given the style of the sequence.

What appeals my in film to my target audience in

terms of genre?

The setting for the opening is a stock location; a forest has strong connotations to horror and mystery. This factor was considered during the film ‘The Blair Witch Project’, a very famous horror film. The soundtrack appeals to a younger audience and shares connotations of youth due to its upbeat-feel and its genre.

Mystery in the plot up until the end of the opening sets the stage for the rest of the story to continue on from a opening which does not explain a lot but creates a cliffhanger to introduce the film. Mystery is conventional of paranormal horror.

The protagonist and the antagonist are both generic characters in my opinion. This meant that my audience can understand their attitudes and values simply and enjoy the story. They can relate to the protagonist too I feel, as he is presented as just another teenage male out jogging. This links to the aspect of verisimilitude; it could happen to any jogger. Verisimilitude as a characteristic of film is very important in horror, increasingly so, to induce fear.

Compliments-People explained how they liked the variation and ambition of shots we plan to use to meet criteria for technical excellence.-Many people also agreed that our storyline/plot was original.-Relating to our Wilderness Woods filming, people asked whether we would be replicating or interpreting some of our best shots in this film, as it is also situated in a forest.-Once the treatment was explained in relation to the music soundtrack, people seemed to like the idea. Questions/targets-Some people did question our decision on why we did not choose the favoured title our audience questionnaire concluded upon. On reflection, we will need to explain in-depth as to why we chose a different one.-On the topic of the title, some people also theorised that the audience - or at least some of them - would maybe not understand our title, 'Psychedelic'.-Practically, our location could be busy, as a number of our audience picked up on.-Despite the fact our Wilderness Woods shots were praised so highly, people questioned whether we thought we would be able to match or improve upon their quality.-In terms of the advice our audience provided, people suggested we should research into after effects before we start shooting so we know what to expect when editing.  

Comments:-People liked the low angle shot of the ball.-People liked the music syncing a lot.-Where the titles were positioned went down well.Targets:-No indication of horror genre?-The clip was too long.

This is a collection of the response we received after our

rough cut was screened.

What did my audience research provide in terms of results and

evidence?

-For my audience research I mainly utilised questionnaires and open screenings. The first allowed me to collate data and ideas on the sequence from a number of people and generate a group of graphs to show the results. The second refers to my film sequence being shown to numerous people while I reviewed their reactions. This enabled me to judge the reactions of an audience who had seem the film for the first time. Such an activity will have provided me with a very useful understanding of the views and attitudes of my target audience and to judge whether it is positive or negative.

Was the setting effective?

Yes No

Was the setting effective?

Did you like how the entity was shown, and was it shown enough?Feedback was generally positive, praising the shortness of the sighting adding to the intrigue, however it needed to appear more malevolent.

Again the feedback was almost completely positive, people liked the sound in our piece, and thought the juxtaposition of the music was interesting and engaging, however some found it odd at first.

Did you like our choice of soundtrack? Please explain.

Opinions were mixed, some thought the title was too colloquial for a horror film, while others liked the theme of juxtaposition throughout the piece and the memorable aspect of it.

We decided to not use the Patriarchy question as it was very difficult to determine without several characters, the terminology also led to confusion.

Do you like the title?

Was tension built up enough? Please explain.

Was the font suitable?

Yes No

Was tension built up enough?

Yes No

Comments were very positive, however most people were unsure of how it was built, however it was accredited generally to the sound mix and fast cutting.

The viewers seemed to understand the plot perfectly well, commenting mainly on the discovery of the noose and death of the protagonist. The disappearance of the tennis ball was only mentioned once but the summary constraints may have been two small for details such as this.

Please summarise the plot in two sentences.

1 (heartwarm-ing)

2 3 4 5 (terrified)0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

How scary was it?

Yes Don't Know No0

1

2

3

4

5

6

Did the film appear professional?