Group: Audience Questionnaire and Feedback

Purpose of conducting a questionnaire

From the questionnaire, we aimed to discover:

• What our target audience expected from a slasher movie and how we can meet those expectations
• How we can interpret our props and the location we plan to use in our production to make our film look more professional
• How our characters should be portrayed in our production and to understand what the best characteristics are to have in a slasher film

Methodology

• We opened our questionnaire with a simple multiple choice question to give our sample an idea that they'll be answering questions from the slasher genre
• We used simple terminology but gave space for our sample to give explanations to their choices, enabling us to receive more detail from their answers
• Our second and third questions were related to their opinions towards slasher films and what are their favourite features of the slasher genre were
• For our third question, we offered multiple choices for our audience to choose from and also enabled them to note down any other characters they thought were scary from the slasher genre. This would help us to look at the different spectrums of the slasher genre and to identify the different characteristics of each slasher killer
• The fourth question required a scaled response and focused on mise-en-scene, specifically to props
• The fifth question required more of an opinion-based answer so that we could understand the ideology behind the use of masks and how their use could create tension and inflict fear among the audience
• Question eight was our most important question, giving us an idea on how to end our horror film (it is known that all films should have a good beginning and ending for the audience to highly rate the film). Giving the audience the option to choose 'yes' or 'no' to whether or not the antagonist should reveal his mask, gave us ideas on how we may choose to end our film and to link the whole production together so that it makes sense

Questionnaire

Shown to the right is an example of one of our completed questionnaires. We asked the participants to answer the following questions:

1. How often do you watch films from the slasher genre?
2. What is your all-time favourite slasher film?
3. What is the scariest slasher film killer?
4. What are the scariest slasher weapons?
5. Do you consider masks to be effective in a slasher movie and why?
6. What are the scariest slasher film locations?
7. What time of day is the best time to set a slasher film?
8. Do you think the antagonist should reveal his identity if wearing a mask at the end of the film?
9. How important do you consider the use of iconic weapons to be in horror films?

Results

• We had a total of 15 questionnaires sent out and had a successful 15 responses. This is useful to us in understanding how we can improve our horror film and if our audience like the genre

Question 1: 

- One person said that they watch a slasher film more than once a week

                    

- One person said that they watch a slasher film around once a month

                    

- Seven people said that they watch slasher films at least once a year

                    

- The other six respondents said that they almost never watch slasher films

This shows us that slasher films may not be the first sub-genre our audience would choose from throughout the horror genre

Question 2: 

- Our results varied for this question. Five people out of fifteen did not answer this question showing that they do not have an all-time favourite slasher film

                    

- Two people said that their favourite slasher movie was Scream

                    

- Two people said that their favourite slasher movie was Friday the 13th

                    

- Two people said that their favourite slasher movie was Halloween

Question 3: 

- Five people said that Freddy Krueger was the scariest slasher film killer

                    

- One person said that Michael Myers was the scariest slasher film killer

                   

 - Two people said that Ghostface was the scariest slasher film killer

                   

 - Six people said that Leatherface was the scariest slasher film killer

                    

- One person did not answer this question

Question 4: 

- We had varied results however most of our respondents thought that the knife was one      of the scariest but most common slasher weapon to be used in slasher films
- It can be concluded from this that our audience are looking for much more gory    weapons to be used by the killer however the knife is very accessible and can be effective if presented in the right way

- We can make these conclusions as the chainsaw was chosen to be the scariest slasher weapon

Question 5: 

- This question was the most useful to us in deciding whether or not we should use masks. Most of our responses thought that masks were a good idea to be used as this hides the identity of the killer and introduces the 'fear of the unknown'

- The most useful response we had was that masks 'dehumanise the killer', which looks at slasher killers in a much more gruelling way

Question 6:

- Our results were very similar for this question. Most people said that abandoned houses, creepy woodland areas and abandoned schools were the scariest places as this creates fear and isolation as the protagonist is alone with the antagonist

- This is useful to us as we are planning on using a woodland area with an abandoned building hidden inside the trees

Question 7:

- 80% of people who answered our questionnaire said that shooting a slasher film just after 9pm (as it begins to get dark) is the best time as this gives the antagonist space to hide in the darkness and creates an enigma to why is the protagonist wondering in the dark on there own

Question 8:

-  93% agreed that the antagonist shouldn't remove his mask and reveal his identity because they said it continued to preserve the sense of secrecy
- The other 7% said that the antagonist should reveal his identity as it makes the film much more sinister and rounds off the film, giving it a meaningful ending which links the plot together

Question 9:

- Our final question was important in understanding if an iconic weapon was important to our film. 80% agreed that the use of an iconic weapon was important as it perceived the antagonist to have more of a motive to kill the protagonist
- The other 20% said iconic weapons weren't very important however the use of camera techniques and the location were more important as this gives us more opportunities to make the antagonist more scary and chilling

Evaluation

From our research, the two questions that were most useful to us in deciding how to adjust our production to meet the audiences expectations were questions 8 and 9. We were able to decide that we shouldn't reveal the identity of the antagonist as this creates more of a motive for the antagonist and makes him much more chilling. From question 9, we were able to understand that the use of an iconic weapon is important as the antagonist seems to have more of a motive to murder the protagonist and makes the murder much more personal.