Market research is designed to identify the consumer's desires in order to fulfill their requirements and appeal to the consumers tastes; this ensures that a wide audience will invest in the film.
I created a questionnaire and emailed it to all contacts so that I could gather a wide range of feedback to gain an understanding of why different age groups and genders watch psychological horror films, offering a range of questions to gain knowledge of how to suit the audience's likes and dislikes in a creditable film.
Here are the questions asked and the results:
I created a questionnaire and emailed it to all contacts so that I could gather a wide range of feedback to gain an understanding of why different age groups and genders watch psychological horror films, offering a range of questions to gain knowledge of how to suit the audience's likes and dislikes in a creditable film.
Here are the questions asked and the results:
-As you can see, the amount of females participating are nearly double the amount of the males answering.
-An extremely high percentage of the people answering were in the age bracket of 15-17; the questions are answered by teenagers therefore the results will obviously be influenced by this generation and what they intend to see when they watch a psychological horror film.
-An extremely high percentage of the people answering were in the age bracket of 15-17; the questions are answered by teenagers therefore the results will obviously be influenced by this generation and what they intend to see when they watch a psychological horror film.
-It is apparent that the majority of the respondents have watched psychological horror films, therefore we know that they are popular to
the age ranges answering; over 80% are in the age bracket 15-17, therefore this provides guidance when giving the film a rating, for instance I would consider labelling it a 15 BBFC instead of an 18 BBFC.
-The most popular answers for question 4 were between 'Black Swan' and 'Saw'. These are both outstanding films, but for results seem complete opposites due to the fact that 'Saw' contains a lot more gore than 'Black Swan'. To take this into consideration, I would have to find a balance of the elements contained in the films or include either little gore, no gore, or lots of gore. 'Black Swan' is
a lot more real than 'Saw' as it is about a girl that goes to a dance school, which is a situation that the audience can relate to, so the contrast between the two suggests a different motive for watching them.
the age ranges answering; over 80% are in the age bracket 15-17, therefore this provides guidance when giving the film a rating, for instance I would consider labelling it a 15 BBFC instead of an 18 BBFC.
-The most popular answers for question 4 were between 'Black Swan' and 'Saw'. These are both outstanding films, but for results seem complete opposites due to the fact that 'Saw' contains a lot more gore than 'Black Swan'. To take this into consideration, I would have to find a balance of the elements contained in the films or include either little gore, no gore, or lots of gore. 'Black Swan' is
a lot more real than 'Saw' as it is about a girl that goes to a dance school, which is a situation that the audience can relate to, so the contrast between the two suggests a different motive for watching them.
-'Entertainment' was the highest percentage of feedback, followed by tension/thrill. This means they look for entertainment quality, gripping and intense.
-Paranormal activities was the second most popular fear, with their own responses making the most popular. This implies that fears are more personal than a category can hold, therefore for the film it might be best to incoorperate many fears and work with fears that link together.
-The actors/actress' chosen are either famous female, pretty and innocent characters or actors that have been starring in creepy movies before, such as Johhny Depp in 'Edward Scissorhands' where he played an unusual and pale character; this may have influenced the client's choice on actor, but Johnny Depp was the most popular.
From the responses given, it was clear that the respondents desire for a gripping storyline that is realistic in order to create a more powerful psychological horror film, because if it's more believable then the film is more tense and thrilling as the audience can feel involved.
I can now take these results and export them into the planning of the films storyline. I can use the knowledge of what appeals to the audience to create a film that contains all the elements suggested; this means that the film will be more creditable and successful as it caters to the audiences taste. It appears from the overall essence of responses that a realistic approach with less gore and more paranormal activities should be used, exploring reality situations and applying fear to create the ultimate thrill. The more the audience can relate to the film, the more believable and chilling the film is, creating a greater impact; this was also echoed in the actor/actress question as the answers suggested beautiful, normal and young females and quirky, handsome males, by using the correct character can capture emotions easier as they are so fixated on relating themselves to these characters.
We also asked fellow students and teachers at college what they think of psychological horror. Through doing this we can see the key features from films that stick in the audiences minds and how we can use those when designing our film.