Questionnaire results

Q1) 6/8 people said yes.

Q2)  3/8 people said supernatural
2/8 people said Comedy
1/8 people said Teen
2/8 people said Monster/zombie

Q3) 5/8 people said Paranormal Activity

1/8 people said Texas Chainsaw Massacre

2/8 people said Dawn Of The Dead

Q4) 3/8people said 26-50

3/8 people said 51-75

2/6 people said 76-100

Q5) 5/8 people said up to £10
1/8 people said £8
2/8 people said 'between £12 and £15'

Q6) 5/8 people said 1
2/8 people said 2
1/8 people said 3

With our questionnaire we found that only 6 of the 8 people we asked were fans of the Horror genre, this was not suprising as the nature of Horror films is often too intense for some people. Despite this we found that most are fans which made the questionnaire results more reliable as 6/8 of the people are likely to have experience with the genre and be able to make comparisons.All the favourite films mentioned are huge as far horror goes, all of the three movies grossed more than $100m in the worldwide box office, but luckily they did not all have huge budgets. 2/3 of the favorite films had $millions at their disposal, which isn't great for us as our budget is tiny in comparison, but despite this the most succesful film of the three was Paranormal Activity grossing over $193m at the box office globally, but interestingly had an astonishingly low budget of $15,000. Our budget still comes nowhere near to that but it shows with a low budget you can still create a very successful and profitable peice.Only 3/8 (37.5%) of our sample group stated the supernatural subgenre of horror to be their favorite which is quite low, however we are not concerned as 5/8 (62.5%) said that Paranormal Activity is their favorite horror movie, and considering our film is going to be quite similar to Paranaormal Activity it is a reassuring statistic.

Questionanaire

Media Questionnaire 

Are you a fan of Horror films?   YES/NO

What is your favourite sort of Horror film? 

• Supernatural
• comedy
• teen
• monster/zombie

     

What is your favourite horror film?____________________________________________________

How many dvd’s do you own?

·       1-25

·       26-50

·       51-75

·       76-100+

How much are you prepared to pay when you buy a DVD? £_______

How often do you visit the cinema a month? ___________________

                                                                      

Analysis of trailers

From my research into movie trailers I have realized they exhibit similar qualities to the opening couple of minutes of films, they both give a taste of what is to come in the rest of the film e.g. an action sequence or comical situation. Another feature they share is the questions; in trailers it is very important to get the audience asking questions as the urge to find the answers will convince them to go and watch the film, similarly if questions pop up in the opening couple of minutes the audience is immersed into the film and the experience of watching that film is likely to be enhanced.

Movie trailers can have a big part to play in a films success therefore producing a good, interesting advert and broadcasting it correctly is very important. To make a good advert you should give a taster of the scenes to come, with an action movie trailer you expect to see a bit of a punch up, someone in distress and a few explosions, as well as this there needs to be suggestions into the plot of the film but its important to make sure too much isn’t given away. With the previously mentioned the audience should be interested in the film but may not be convinced they have to go and see it, this is where questions become effective (especially if the film is a sequel or prequel) as they take it from a film trailer to a film from which you can learn the answers to the questions you as an audience member have asked yourself; a perfect example of an advert like this is The Dark Knight Rises, the advert featured clips of action and gave us an idea into the plot, although many of these ideas we were questioning as there were no answers at all. Broadcasting a trailer correctly is extremely important and many factors should effect when and where the trailers should be broadcast, the two main factors are budget, and target market. There is very little point in broadcasting a trailer for An 18 cert movie on a kids channel; the audience of the trailer would not be able to see the movie if they wanted to but its likely they would not understand concepts of the trailer, equally if you advertise a kids film at 11 o’clock at night the chances are kids (the target market) aren’t going to see the trailer. Budget effects how your trailer is broadcast also, if you have made a film with your mates on a budget of 10 pounds then it is pointless in putting an advert out on prime-time tv for the film, but if your film has a huge budget and is projected to gross millions worldwide then advertising in a small town newspaper probably wont cut it. Avenger Assemble nailed this by broadcasting the trailer for the first time during the superbowl, which over 100m people where watching, the thirty second slot reportedly cost $6m, which is a huge amount of money but not a lot to invest when the film grossed over $1.5bn worldwide.

Certificate analysis

texas chainsaw massacre- 18
paranormal activity - 15
paranormal activity 2 - 15
paranormal activity3 -15
28 days later - 18

we're almost 100% certain that we are going to do a peranormal activity style trailer, although we may do a zombie style horror. Finding out the certificates for films similar to the one we wish to create has helped us decide a rating. If we do the paranormal activity style trailer the rating will be 15 as it is not too violent or explicit and being 15 leaves us with a wider audience. If we do a zombie style horror the rating will have to be an 18 as it will be violent and explicit, with blood and gore.

texas chainsaw 3d trailer - analysis

The trailer starts off introducing the cast, they are a group of late teen or early 20's people, and are all situated in a horror favourite, in a vehicle that looks like it could give up at any moment. The young Adults also conform to other conventions as they are portrayed as stupid and idiotic, when asked if she knows anything about the place they are going the girl says "just the address" This is perfect for horror fans as they want to see a female get killed, especially one that is prepared to go on a trip without any idea on where they are visiting. Now that the setting and the cast has been introduced they start showing the action and horror that entails throughout the film. The girl that doesn't know anything about where shes going is soon shown to be at the mercy of the chainsaw massacre. Tied to a tree and duct tape over her mouth she is unable to scream, shout or break free, the chainsaw massacre is toying with her and connoting he is going to cut off her arm. This is exactly what the audience wants to to see, a horrified teenager being terrorised by a nutcase who is likely to caus e huge amount of blood, gore and terror.

Film idea 1

Our third idea is another horror, we plan to make a trailer for a zombie apocalypse film. The film will be set in a post apocolyptic world with either no other people or very few other people in the trailer and will follow just one person, however there will be glimpses of beings but it will be quick and due to this we are not sure whether or not to make the fact there is zombies obvious from their costume and make-up, trough action titles that explain the plot, or both. The plan is to have a trailer like that of '28 days later' although this could be very difficult due to lack of budget and equipment.

Pros

• We have both seen the film and the trailer and are aware of the conventions and cliches expected of this type of film.
• The trailer could be filmed with only two of us which keeps things simple and saves us from having to find numerous people to act for us.

• We are both familiar with the genre and sub genre and we have a clear idea of the things we want adn don't want in the trailer.
• Some shots will be simple and easy tro film but will be effective.

Cons

• With the equipment we have, it will be extremely difficult to make some shots clear, scenes when it's going to be dark, the character will be hard to see clearly as the cameras are not of high enough resolution and we dont have access to powerful lights.
• Filming in public will be tedious as we will have a limited time period in which we can film due to lighting and during this time there will have to be no-one around so they don't compromise the shots.
• 
  

Film idea 2

The second idea for our film is a horror film similar to Paranormal Activity. The advert to Paranormal Activity is composed of quick and simple shots which we could recreate fairly simply. The only shots in the advert that we would not realisticly be able to do is the shots showing the audiences reaction as we dont have access to a cinema or screening room, and the more complex 'happpenings' such as the sheets floating. Both of us have seen the Paranormal Activity films and are interested, this is partly the reason for us considering this idea. Making similar shots to the film is well within our capability as we will need to purchase little equipment or props, considering the first Paranormal Activity only cost a reported $15,000 to make we should be able to make our trailer for a few pounds.

Pros 

• We are both interested in the Paranormal activity franchise
• We can create shots that fit in with the genre and look good with the equipment we have.
• A huge budget is not required in order to make the trailer

Cons

•  Creating the shots may be tedious as methods of making the paranormal happen may be noticable in the shots.
• Lots of takes of most shots will need to be taken as we may not be able to see the errors on the camera screen.