Questionnaire

I can only hope that the questionnaire will get results which can aid us in our further research into creating a horror film. With the help of other people, we can see their preferences and adapt our film around them.

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/ZG6XM7H

Our Survey will include the question:
How old are you?
Do you enjoy the horror genre?
Are you male or female?
What is your favourite horror sub-genre?
Who do you prefer as the main character?
What aspects of horror do you enjoy most?
How do horror films make you feel?
Is a more realistic horror film scarier?
What types of settings scare you most?
What is your favourite horror film?

With the answers from these questions, we will be able to change our story line and other such aspects to try and appeal to the answers from the questionnaire. 

Horror film examples

Here are a few examples of horror films that were successful:

Slashers:
Saw
Scream
Hostel
Halloween
A nightmare on Elm street
The Texas chainsaw massacre

Psychological horror films:
The silence of the lambs
The Babadook
The others
Psycho
The shining

Zombie horror films;
Zombie Land
28 days later
28 weeks later
night of the living dead
Dawn of the dead
Shaun of the dead

Action horror:
Dog soldiers
World war Z
The host
Troll hunter
Blade
They live

Body horror:
The thing
Contracted
Tusk
The fly
The beast within

Comedy horror:
The cabin in the woods
Scary movie
Zombieland
Beetlejuice
Dead alive

Gothic horror:
The others
Frankenstein
Nosferatu
Sleepy hollow

Sci-fi horror:
Alien
Predator
Then thing
The fly
Event horizon

I felt that showing some examples from each sub-genre could leave me space to try and take aspects from certain films to put into my own work. More successful horror films from these genres have included multiple features and with this information i found that most of the successful horror films have very obvious binary opposition which is presented through the use of different lighting and other things and the semiotics from this create an image of the monster and the hero. It has influenced my final idea as i think that trying to incorporate ideas from some of the popular sub-genres will make the final piece the best it can be. I will take the murderous villain from slasher films, the enigmas from psychological thrillers and also the action piece at the very start from Action horror.

Costume research

Most horror films see the villain in a simplistic costume which evokes fear, this may be due to the connotations of the costume or the other semiotics that overall add to the spooky effect. For example in the "Saw" trilogy we see the main character or "Jigsaw" is a simplistic child's doll which generally has the denotations of the doll are a children's toy or a simple wooden figure but the semiotics show that the lighting combined with the setting could give a much darker meaning due to it being dark and in an abandoned building. The villain is masked in slasher films but with the rising popularity of Psychological thrillers, the villain is generally masked as a normal person instead of a mask. The clothing stands out so that as soon as we see them, the iconography makes us realise they're the bad guy and we can assume from said costumes their intentions.

The hero or main protagonist can be seen in modern clothing for the times as they're generally normal everyday people. This could add to the effect of the film due to the fact that it makes the character more relatable which could make it more realistic and scary. The more up to date the fashion is, the more the audience can think how it could happen to anyone. For example in Donnie Darko, the main hero, Donnie, wears hoodies, t-shirts and shirts to make him seem like the average teenage boy.

The group analysis

My group consists of: Me (Matthew Lloyd), Callum Wardle, Scott Milner and Ewan Griffiths. We decided to do Horror thriller film and as a group, analysed: A nightmare on Elm street, Scream, Halloween and Se7en. These give us an overview of Horror on the whole giving us lots of ideas for our own opening scene. We chose these films due to the feedback from our focus group.

My analysis of A nightmare on Elm street has been posted on this blog and what i found out, is that many horror scene opening sequences consist of settings that most people wouldn't associate with horror films, which creates the enigma of why is this place so significant. As well as that, i found from my research that the lighting has a huge impact on the outcome of the final film as in A nightmare on Elm street, the lighting is flashing (giving a sense of emergency) as well as overall being a low key top lighting, to create an eerie effect as well as to cast shadows all around the room. We will try and incorporate this style of lighting by using lamps and more subtle lights to try and cast shadows in the scenes that the murderer is in, to build up a sense of fear and enigma surrounding him

Target audience for Horror films

Examples:

The cabin in the woods- Young couples

Strangers- Young males

A nightmare on Elm street- couples

Texas chainsaw massacre- Young males

Age:

The usual age for someone watching horror films is between 15 and 25. This may be because they seek thrill and the most young people can get is horror films. Younger people are also less susceptible to being put off by the violence and or unnatural images seen in horror films unlike an older audience who may feel negatively towards them.

Gender:

Males are more likely to watch a horror film due to the stereotypical thrill seeking which contests with young adult hormones

Class:

Overall horror films are aimed at a working class. This is due to them gaining a thrill/ excitement for a relatively cheap price. Higher classes watching horror may choose a sub-genre within horror to satisfy their horror watching needs.



We will try to reach the target audience by having an exciting and gripping opening scene which will leave an enigma surrounding the villain, which will leave the audience wanting more from it. As well as this, there will be action scenes which will appeal to the thrill seekers, even though there is a lack of blood, there will be scenes of violence which will set the tone for the rest of the film. The semiotics will build up this image of darkness and fear through the use of: lighting, setting and sounds which will draw the audience in to the film