Our survey of results show that the majority of participants that took part in this question were under the age of 18, which is beneficial as this is our chosen target audience which means that we are able to easily determine the thoughts of our demographic. Moreover, it is also useful that participants above the age of our target market were allegeable to contribute to the survey as this allows for an expansion of opinions/ideas across a variety of demographics, where we may wish to in-corporate these ideas in future planning stages. We were able to gain all twenty-eight participants contribution, given through emails to teachers, students, parents & siblings.

The second question required participants to note their gender through a closed question, allowing our group to efficiently observe the results - where finding out the basic information of our demographic was straightforward. Moreover, the results had high validity due to the equal spread of both male & female participants completing the survey which meant that we were able to compare & contrast the results with ease, without the survey becoming bias towards the specific gender.

To conclude, both questions provided information about our target demographic which allowed us to summarise the main findings of our survey and in particular, the interests, dislikes & preferences that we may adopt to improve the production format e.g. incorporating our audiences fear into the production to enhance the surreal aspect of the sub-genre.

SURVEY ANALYSIS

OPEN ENDED

Question 3 & 13 required participants to answer an extended question, where detail and specifics were necessary. By asking our demographic about their fears, this provided feedback that was somewhat personal, yet intriguing for the participant to respond to. I believe question three was

successful as the responses were varied and would be easily adaptable to base around our production e.g. spiders, heights and the dark. It was interesting to find similarities that participants shared regarding their phobias, as well as the more personal responses e.g. loss of a daughter, which allowed us to determine that a more mature participant answered in this way and thus, giving more depth to the answers provided. Unfortunately, few responses were answered with immaturity which proved disruptive when attempting to analyse the question which means that the accuracy of the answers were decreased significantly. In order to prevent further disruption, I would strongly consider using a source other than ‘SmartSurvey’ which allows the option to refrain a participant answering with explicits e.g. ‘PollSurveys’ as this would secure the accuracy and maturity of the survey. Despite this, the overall responses were pleasing and were intriguing to read – spurring ideas for our production from personal fears that our demographic share and thus, creating a more suspenseful plot if chosen to develop.

RANKING Question 7 & 10 required participants to use a ranking system to determine their most favoured aspects of our chosen horror conventions i.e. locations & weapons, and these questions allowed us to focus on the mise-en-scene aspects of the sub-genre to establish the most to least essential factors to include in the production. Personally, the layout of the questions provided participants with a more sophisticated and intriguing approach to the survey – not only providing an alternative & unique way to express their thoughts but also, it engages the participant in an interactive way which requires patience as oppose to generic surveys that are predictable and may lead to participants giving inaccurate responses. I was positively surprised by how easily readable the results were, which proved more efficient when analysing the figures in detail. Overall, question 7 was most successful due to the simplicity of the result feedback (automatic ‘total score’ system) which allowed us to interpret the table into the highest total points received from the participants. The fact that chainsaws, knives and axes were voted most important for horror movies proved beneficial for feedback as we became aware of how accessible these items are when finding and using the items in our production.

However, one or two issues were reported regarding the understanding of question 7, which did not state whether the ranking system from number 5 to 1 was descending from positive to negative or vise-versa. This is clearly a question error as a select number of participants may have been unaware of the what the question was asking for, which means that results from question 7 are perhaps more inaccurate than first thought. To improve further, I will consider stating the words ‘least’ with rank number 5 and ‘most’ with rank 1 to give a clear direction of the respondents answer, without confusion.

PARTICIPANT PREFERENCES

Question 4, 5 & 6 required participants to state their opinions and activities in every day life on the basis of horror films, with these question focussing solely on the background of the participant and opinions of the sub-genre. Each question allowed participants to note their direct thoughts regarding the impact that horror movies have on them while watching. It was rather interesting to analyse the reactions of the participants – the majority feeling somewhat anxious & scared and this was a significant question due to these questions being quite a personal matter, meaning more engagement for the participant. Question 5 & 6 were successful in terms of the clear judgment of the participants

overall, with one or two options being chosen by the majority. This allowed more ease in evaluating when creating the summary for these questions as it was made clear the importance of certain factors that we may include in the production e.g. the majority of participants selecting “friends” as their preferred method of watching a film connotes that horror movies of a particular genre are viewed as an activity of socialisation, which broadens the target market further. In contrast with the least selected i.e. “siblings & parents” – clearly suggesting that horror movies with graphic content are most popular amongst a group of people, where uncomfortable scenes of a gruesome nature may be included, which would explain the low percentage of the young demographic choosing not to view a horror movie with family members. Moreover, we discovered the regularity of viewing horror movies amongst the participants, with various responses such as “rarely” being given to describe the time schedule. Perhaps this suggests that the horror genre is gradually deteriorating in popularity, however, this perception is challenged by the majority stating a yearly view of the genre.

PRODUCTION BASED

Question 8, 9 & 11 were based around the actual production ideas that the participants were able to contribute to, where ideas generated by the demographic secured our direction of the storyline and allowed us to adopt any improvements needed through their dislikes of aspects regarding the genre e.g. clichés, We also needed conformation and a secure knowledge over whether the chosen sub-genre (psychological) was going to appeal to a variety of demographics. These results were founded by question nine, where the majority of respondents selected ‘psychological’ as their preferred sub-genre. In particular, this result was pleasing to view as this links directly to our establishment of ideas, which our demographic agree with. Due to the ‘thriller’ genre receiving a high quantity of selections, we may decide seek to adopt generic conventions of this genre in order to enhance the appeal to an audience – this may be done through research, textual analysis or test shots for locations/actors. In comparison, question eleven was rather successful in terms of the character preferences from the audience. This is most significant due to the selection of a ‘psychopath’ being used as an antagonistic feature as this links to our initial ideas being met by the demographic, which means that changing our main ideas to suit the target market appears unnecessary. In addition, we intend to incorporate an adult antagonistic playing the ‘psychopathic’ figure, as this was also a popular selection amongst our participants. Moreover, question eight required respondents to answer a closed-question (for variety and consistency) regarding the story-line further, which allowed us to contrast with our original idea to see if it aligned with the demographic perception. Due to the higher majority insisting the genre would have more appeal if the storyline was based on real-life events, our focus afterwards was to adopt a surrealistic impact to our idea in order to emphasise the psychopathic quality e.g. in a hospital room, at an ordinary house.