Primary Research Questionnaire

Do you regularly watch horror films?

There is a large scope of people who answered ‘yes’ or ‘sometimes’, meaning our film will be popular as a horror. This means that we will have to have a hook to entice the ‘sometimes’ people.

What is your favourite horror and why?

• Sorority Row - Gore
• Silence of the Lambs - Tension
• Jaws - Suspense
• The Hills Have Eyes - Really scary!
• Exorcism of Emily Rose - Relatable
• Dead Silence - Intense
• The Decent - Good story line
• Sixth Sense - Makes you jump
• Natural Born Killers - 'wierd'
• Halloween -Creepy music
• Prom Night - Unexpected ending
• Wickerman -Psychological - not all blood and guts

There is a large range of horror films listed, and we have researched into the ones we have not heard of. There is also a range of high and low budgets, and old and new films. The ‘why’s will help us to factor in people’s likes within other horror films into our own. The majority of these films are ‘realistic’ plot lines that are relatable, so we will choose a plot like this for our own film opening.

Do you like gore included in horror films?

The vast majority enjoy the ‘blood and guts’ factor of horror films, which means that we will definitely be using it in our film opening. We have also learnt from other questions that people do not like gore to overtake the storyline or used in excess, so we will be careful to be only using it tastefully.

Do you enjoy supernatural elements (e.g. “magic”) or do you prefer a realistic horror (e.g. a “mass murderer”)?

The majority of people said they preferred realistic horror films over supernatural elements. In other questions, people said that they liked horror films which they could relate to, so we will make sure that our film opening is realistic.

Are the first few shots of a horror film what entices you to watch?

The vast majority of the people who answered the questionnaire said that the first few shots of the horror film were what enticed them to watch. For this reason, we have to make sure that the very beginning of our film opening is exciting and grabs the viewers attention.

How important do you think music is when making a successful horror film?

Everybody who answered the questionnaire thought that music in horror films was either extremely important or very important. For this reason we will put a lot of focus on the music in our film opening.

Do you prefer to follow the story of the villain or the victim?

There was pretty much an even spread of results, which justifies our plans of alternating shots between the villain and victim, although we will be focussing mainly on the victim.

Do you prefer the plot to be surreal and complicated or simple and easy to understand?

Since most people prefer a surreal plot, it will give us more scope to experiment with lighting, camera angles, colours etc.

Do you find nursery rhymes included in horror ‘creepy’?

A lot of people like the idea of including a nursery rhyme in a horror film, so we will definitely be using this idea in our opening.

What is it about horror films you like the most?

• Can be true to life/happen to anyone - relatable
• Grips you - want to see the outcome
• Clever plot
• Tension/suspense
• Plot twists
• The 'not knowing' element
• Things being left to the imagination

We will take all of these elements into account while writing our narrative.

 What are your main criticisms of horror films in general?

• Tacky
• Fake
• Unbelievable plot
• Predictable
• Over the top
• Gore overpowers storyline
• Gives you nightmares
• Bad special effects

…And we’ll try to avoid these!