Analysis of results from the final Questionnaire…

We looked at our results from our pilot questionnaire and after analysing the results we improved upon the past questions and added more. Also it was open to the public so it wasn’t just answered by people in a class – which gave us a broader knowledge of the expectations of people in our target audience

Our first question was simple as we just first wanted to see firstly if the people giving us the answers enjoyed horror films and also if horror films were popular within our target audience. This questionnaire like our pilot showed us that the majority of people do enjoy watching horror films however there will always be some people who do not. This further solidified our opinion that we have chosen the correct target audience for our work.

Our second question also came from the pilot questionnaire as we didn’t provide many subgenres at first and also hoped we might get more people preferring slashers. Like before we did get some people choosing Psychological as it is a more popular sub-genre within production companies. However we did get more people saying slasher this time (maybe because they were aware of what sub-genre we were doing!)

After asking what weapon would best be suspense a lot of people liked the idea of using a kitchen knife. Someone did say machete which yes would also be effective however would be harder for us to acquire and make look more realistic. A kitchen knife would also work better as it seems more menacing than a gun – not because of the impact but instead the method of using the weapon. It also works well with the slasher genre as deaths are usually more gory and dragged out.

We again asked what kind of killer would be preferred. The majority of responses sowed a serial killer. We hoped this would happen as it fits the slasher sub genre of someone killing many people. We could have broke from conventions if people had of proffered it but we felt that it would be harder to create the other villains and they may not have worked well. By using a serial killer instead we can have more mystery in the production – why is he doing it? Who is he? And so on, creating more tension and intrigue.

A lot of people liked the idea of a masked killer, this may be because it is a well known convention for murderers identity to be hidden shown by the vast amount of films we see it in – Halloween, Texas Chainsaw massacre, you’re next and so on. Someone also however did like the idea of casual clothes so we could incorporate this by the killer yes wearing everyday clothes hinting at his identity but masked so we have no solid clues of who he is.

Results showed that most people thought the female victim should wear a skirt. This could be because most films try to represent women as sort of a sex symbol. So we are following the convention but not in a inappropriate way. Some people did say pyjamas this could be because they want the action to take place at night and pyjamas show she would be sleeping and people are always more vulnerable when asleep. However we will go with the majority and she will be wearing a skirt.

A lot of people thought it would be better to see the death off screen in our production and I have to agree. It would make it more mysterious and more effective than if we showed a death scene were there couldn’t be contact – it wouldn’t look realistic. A death off screen could be more enigmatic as the audience can’t be certain she is dead until later in the production when she is found (which is looked at in question 10).

We asked opinion of time of day the production should be shot at. Most people said afternoon or late at night. During this time of the year it is dark at both times stated. This means that it will make the production more eerie and sinister if there are shadows and darkness outside the windows. We do have to be careful though as sometimes filming at night can make the production hard to distinguish as it is too dark to make out detail.

We know that we will be using a house as our setting so our old question of where the best setting would be has been discarded. We found that most people think the main rooms of either the living room or the kitchen. The kitchen seems most popular this could be because of the use of this room in many horror films such as ‘scream’ or ‘Anabelle’ for scary scenes. We will find a way to incorporate this into the film in a way that fits in the narrative so she it does not seem weird that she is just in the kitchen when it is not somewhere people tend to spend their time.

We also found that a lot of people thought the idea of following blood splatters around the house to get to the body would be better. I think this may be because it would build more anticipation for the audience as they wait for the ‘big reveal’ we will also try and do it in a jumpy way like a ‘final scare’ before the end of the film opening which is when - if we decide to – the title will appear.