Audience theories: reception theory

Audience theories: cultivation theory

Audience theories: uses and gratifications theory

Audience theories: hypodermic model

Audience theories: desensitisation

Audience research - reactions to trailers

The first trailer contained a lot of jump scares which were most effective towards the start of the trailer however too many were used and started to have a lesser effect as it went on. The last jump scare was also effective as there was a longer shot before hand which acted to build up tension. 

The second trailer had very few jump scares which drew less of an impact from the participants. The main comment that I grasped from this trailer was 'did they just pull off his nose?' along with a shocked expression. This tells me that the audience are still shocked by gore but not as much as jump scares as one participant didn't even flinch or move at the gore.

What I have drawn from this is research is that audiences like trailers being jumpy and scaring them more than seeing lots of blood and gore.

Participants with their consent forms.

Audience research - questionnaire findings

To begin my audience research I chose to do a questionnaire as it is a quick easy and effective way to collect people opinions on particular issues. My questionnaire was formed of 6 questions which each aimed to find out something different from my target audience. I gave it to 15 people and recorded their results.

Question 1 - How much do you enjoy horror on a scale of one to ten?

This questions aim was to get an idea of how much my target audience enjoyed horror as a whole.

Question 2 - What type of horror film do you enjoy the most?

The aim of this question was to find out what sub-genre interested the audience the most so that as a group we would be able to know what the people want to see. This is important as it is easier to watch something that you want to see and actually like in comparison to something that you hate.

Question 3 - Which  part of the film is most exciting to you?

In finding out what engages the viewer the most it allows me to know what they will enjoy seeing most in a horror trailer which will make them want the watch the film more therefore achieving the goals of a trailer.

Question 4 - How often do you watch horror films?

The purpose of asking this question was to again test my target audiences interest in horror as a whole  and how much time they are willing to dedicate to it.

Question 5 - When watching a horror trailer what makes you want to watch the film?

Similarly to question 3 this also aims to find out what audiences seek from horror trailers however these questions are more general and technical categories. I have done this so that I roughly know what excites and interests the audience however allows me flexibility with how I wish to achieve it.

Question 6 - Which of these scenarios do you find the scariest?

By asking this question it gives me an idea of what sort of plot line will interest my audience most. This is helpful because it gives me an starting point on creating a story that will cater for the audiences needs.

Research rationale

Age group decisions
The age group that I have chosen to focus my research on are those between the ages of 15 and 19. This is because I have the most access to people that are these ages through school. I chose for the youngest age included to be 15 as I wish to make my horror a 15 rated trailer. I have chosen not the make the film and 18 because it would not only be difficult to film the content needed for this without it looking cheap and fake, but also because there is no need and a lot of horror films rated 15 work well and do not need 18+ features to be good. I have chosen to use teenagers as my target audience not only because of easy access to them, but also because research such as that of Wells’ supports the idea that young people enjoy horror more than other age groups.


Audience research - Questionnaire and interview
To research my audience, I am going to use two different methods. The first of these will be an interview where I am going to ask people about their fears as I can later manipulate this information and use it in my own trailer. This research is qualitative as it allows the participant to elaborate on the question. After collecting videos of people discussing their fears I am going to create a chart to make the information readable by putting it into categories e.g. Ghosts, bodily mutilation, possession etc. Also by having the information in a chart formation I can compare it seeing which category scares the most people.
I am also going to create a questionnaire to collect quantitative data. This will mainly include questions using scaled answers e.g. ‘how much to do you enjoy horror films?’ on a scale of 0 (being not at all)-10 (love them).
In order to support my research I will most likely search online for similar studies to use as for comparison.

Market research
For this I plan on doing online research on test audiences and people's reactions to them. This can be useful as I can see the audiences reactions to specific parts of the film therefore grasping what scares them. I plan to replicate this experience with people in my target audience so that I have first hand data that I know is accurate and reliable. I will also be able to see what specifically scares my target audience which will be helpful in deciding the theme of my trailer.