Questionnaire

We are going to create a short opening for a thriller/horror film, our target audience will be older teenagers and young adults. To give us a better idea of our target audience, and what they want from a thriller/horror film. We can then use all of this feedback to develop our product. This questionnaire was carried out with 20 participants, 10 female, 10 male.

How often do you watch horror/thriller films?
Rarely - 3
Sometimes - 6
Often - 11

What type of music is generally present during the opening of a thriller/horror film?
Diegetic - 4
Non-Diegetic - 13
Both - 3

Do you feel that music and sound effects are important for creating tension in thriller/horror film openings?
Yes - 17
No - 3

What do you feel is the most appropriate setting for a horror/thriller film?
School - 12
Theme park - 4
House - 4

What time of day is most effective for a horror/thriller film?
Day time - 9
Night time - 11

Do you feel the best type of victim for a horror/thriller film would be male or female?
Male - 2
Female - 18

Evaluation:
This questionnaire has helped us to decide when, where and who to use for our video. Most people thought that the use of non-diagetic music was more effective than diagetic sound. I think this is important as it means that we should use more non-diagetic music in our film, for example exterior music like a soundtrack placed over the top of the film that the characters can't hear as they're talking. I think this will work well with a thriller film as we'll be able to use tense music to build suspense. Music is an element I will definitely use as it is a very effective way of creating a certain feeling or atmosphere, and my questionnaire also shows that most people agree with this. Over half the people we asked thought that the most appropriate place for a thriller/horror movie setting is in a school. This is very beneficial to us and we have a lot of access to our school and so will be able to make a suitable looking project. The majority of people felt that night time was a more effective time for a horror/thriller film but there wasn't too much difference in what time of day people thought the film would look more effective as many people also thought that daytime would look good too. I think this means that a mixture of daytime and nighttime shots should be used to create a project of good quality. Finally, 90% of people thought that a female character would make the best victim which is what we as a group all decided would work best.