Research

I created a questionnaire and asked 12 people aged from 16-20 to find out what this target audience expected from a horror trailer.

What scares you the most in horror movies?


Paranormal (Ghost activity)    7        Alien activity   1     People (Zombies, Psychotic behaviour) 4 


What adds tension for you the most?


Fast tempo music   0        Slow, quiet music (Slow cellos, violins)    4      Loud, sudden noises   8


In a horror trailer, what types of shots and images would you expect?


Sudden close ups    4     Fast, action related, cut shots    4      Long, eery, dark, shots    4


What is your favourite horror movie?


Paranormal activity (2), signs, house of wax, the crazies, Saw2, the descent, texas chainsaw massacre, vacancy, poltergeist


Have any recent horror trailers caught your eye and why so?


Paranormal activity 2 (3) because it has eery and quiet shots and includes the common fear of the unknown
Devil because of its real life potential happenings (chlostrephobia)
Buried because it looks different
Saw7 because its gruesome and has much suspense


Which do you find more scary?


A little girl  9               An old man  3             A teenage boy  0




What shots would you find more effective in a horror trailer?


Black and white  5     Red and dark  3    Change from blur to focus 4


                                                                                                                                       




From this questionnaire, I found that a majority of people find the paranormal and the unknown far more scary than alien activity or people. We will include slow, quiet music and loud sudden sounds as people voted these two as the most tension building. All 3 types of shots gained an equal amount of votes meaning we should try to include a variety of close ups, fast action cut shots and long dark shots as the target audience expect these images. We will also use all 3 shots to add tension, black and white shots, red and dark shots and the change from blurry to focus shots. From the list of their favourite horror movies, we will take ideas from by watching the trailers and will do the same with their favourite most recent trailers. The target audience seem to think that using a little girl character in a horror movie is the most scary so we will go ahead with our plan and do this.

The Brief

A promotion package for a new film, to include a trailer with two of the following options:

• a website homepage for the film;
• a film magazine front cover, featuring the film;
• a poster for the film

For the trailer we have the option to work in groups but for the other two sets of coursework we have to work individually. I chose to work with Alex and Amy for my trailer.