Audience Questionnaire

Film Questionnaire.

What age group are you?
12-15 16-19 20-25 26-30 30 +

What gender are you?
Male Female

Do you enjoy watching horror movies?
Yes No

If you replied'Yes' in the previous answer, What sort of horror movies do you like? (Select as applicable)
Psychological Slasher Supernatural Macabre (gothic)
Suspense None

Do you think trailers are important in deciding whether you want to see an upcoming film?
Yes No

In your opinion do trailers reveal too much about the film?
Yes No Sometimes n/a

Do you have a preferred actor/actress that you would like to see in an upcoming horror?
Name______________________ No preference

Does a film poster contribute to your interest in a film?
Yes No

Do you read film magazines, if so which ones?
Yes No

In relation to the last question, would reading exclusive material on an upcoming film encourage you to see it?
Yes No

Thank you for taking the time to fill out this questionnaire.

Initial Ideas: Our Film Poster

Sketched Poster Idea
Paint version of Poster

Genre Research: Horror

The Nature and Effectiveness of Horror Films: Horror films are unsettling films made to frighten and panic, cause dread and alarm, and to effect and reveal our hidden worst fears, often in a terrifying, shocking ways while entertaining us at the same time in an experience. Horror films effectively center on the dark side of life, the forbidden, strange and alarming events. They deal with our vulnerable sides and fears, our nightmares, our alienation, our terror of the unknown, our fear of death and dismemberment, loss of identity, or fear of sexuality. Horror films are also known as chillers, scary movies, spookfests, and the macabre.

Some information was gathered from the following Links: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20091109072841AADfQUG
http://www.movie-page.com/stuff/article-horrorflicks.htm
http://www.filmsite.org/horrorfilms.html

Types of Horror Films:
Slasher
Macabre (gothic)
Psychological
Suspense

Slasher flicks: Halloween, Friday the 13th, Saw, The Scream Series, The Hitcher, Slumber Party Massacre, Freddy Krugar: Nightmare on Elm Street.

Monster Movies: An American werewolf in London, Alien, The Blob, Poltergeist.

Smart/Psychological Horror: Rosemary's Baby, The Devil's Advocate, Event Horizon, Silence Of The Lambs.

Gore Galore: Dead Alive, Dead Alive 2, Living Dead Series, Event Horizon, Wishmaster.

Poster Research Continued..

Grace and I used these two 'teaser' posters for the dark comedy/horror 'Jennifer's Body' starring Megan Fox and the vampire-esque television series 'True Blood' as we find it interesting just how similiar they are. However we like the idea of the girl featuring on the poster in extreme close up but we feel that the bright red lips and the blood drips symbolises a more vampire concerned plot anc character so we decided to use similiar conventions like the angle of the camera and the pale skin but different coloured make up e.g. pink lips and blonde hair on our own poster creating a more innocence character rather than the vampy look that is portrayed in these two posters.

Horror Film Poster Research

This is also a teaser trailer for the 2009 3d feature 'My Bloody Valentine'. This was an effective poster to use for horror film research as it contrasts with both the 'Saw' and 'H2' poster as the suspect and the victim are both featured on the front, however the suspect, holding an axe is only a silhouette giving the audience the smallest hints of narrative possible in attempt to retain mystery. This is an idea that we are definately considering as this convention would attract an audience to a horror poster as they would be curious.

This is a teaser poster for the recent Halloween release, 'Halloween 2'/'H2' as it releases little information e.g. only the title, director and the date of release. I have used this poster in my research as it contrasts with the 'Saw' poster due to the fact that the suspect is featured on the front of the poster, rather than the victim, helping me to gather ideas as to what characters I will include on my main poster. I think that the appreviation of 'H2' in fiery colours is effective as it suggests that the audience are already familiar with the the 'Halloween' series. The teaser poster for 'Saw' is similiar to 'H2' as the infamous 'Michael Myers' is featured also in black and white suggesting dark content.

This is a teaser poster that was released for the film 'Saw'. I have included this poster in my film poster research as I think that it portrays typical conventions of a horror poster due to its colours e.g. the bright red and black and the black and white image enhances with blood red on only certain aspects of the nurse, this poster suggests the narrative as we can tell that the nurse is the victim due to the expression on her face, this is an aspect of horror posters that I wanted to research to see which of my characters should be included on the front. I have also used this poster in my research as I wanted to explore what taglines horror posters use. This gave me some ideas as to what colours I am going to include in my film poster and what my tagline may be.

The Conventions of Teaser Trailers

Teaser Trailers are short trailers that are used to advertise upcoming films, games or television features. The main reason why they are named 'teasers' is because they are shown usually long in advance (approx. one or one and a half years) before the film is released and many are released as the film is in production/being edited and therefore they may feature scenes or alternative versions of scenes that are not in the completed film or they contain very little, if any footage from the actual film. Teaser trailers are unlike theatrical trailers as they are much shorter, normally lasting from 30-60+ seconds in order to keep storylines, characters and the general mystery of the film a surprise from the audience. 'Teasers' are usually primarily made for big-budget and blockbuster movies e.g. a current teaser trailer 'Iron Man 2' however they are also used to promote independent and cult films e.g. 'An Education'. Teaser trailers give the audience a taste of what is expected in a particular film until longer trailers or the films are released.

Hollyoaks Later

Hollyoaks Later-Essay Plan
How does 'Hollyoaks Later' help to attract the target audience?
Introduction paragraph- mention the target audience and briefly explain how 'Hollyoaks Later' attracts the audience
First paragraph- general information about 'Hollyoaks later', when it started and who it was aimed to attract etc. How subjects that cannot be discussed within usual 'Hollyoaks' are revealed throughout 'Hollyoaks' Later e.g. sex, drug abuse and more extreme violence
Second paragraph- The reason for 'Hollyoaks Later' and what age group/audience is attracted to the time that it is on t.v
Third paragraph- About the characters that are selected to be within the storylines in 'Hollyoaks Later', whether they are new or regular characters
Fourth Paragraph- The contast in 'Hollyoaks' and 'Hollyoaks Later' and whether other soaps
Fifth Paragraph-Discuss whether 'Hollyoaks Later' is a success or not, maybe include some audience figures for proof
Conclusion-mentioned valid points and conclude

Media: Eastenders/Hollyoaks

Eastenders and Hollyoaks both have their fair share of similarities and differences, the main difference being the way in which they represent youth. The cast of Hollyoaks are all well made-up, fashionable, slim and popular characters (even the adult cast are always dressed in style) all to attract the attention of a young audience, this contrasts to a varied cast in Eastenders e.g. Whitney is dressed in clothes from the market and gold jewelery the majority of the time which leads the audience to believe that this is what a 16-year old girl that lives in London looks like. However the two soaps do have quite similiar settings e.g. Eastenders has the local pub, The Queen Vic and Hollyoaks has The Dog in the Pond and they each have a launderette, a beauty/hair salon and a corner shop however their nightlife facilities are different and successfully target their audience as Hollyoaks has a Student Union bar reflecting University life and where the cast are likely to be and Eastenders has the R&R club that is targeted at the young people in albert square but not neccassarily teenagers. Another contrast in settings is Hollyoaks domestic setting is mainly in the University halls and Eastender's is in the houses of the families in Albert Square, this also gives the audience clues as to who the soap is aimed at.
Hollyoaks and Eastenders storylines are also displayed very differently as Eastenders like to see their dramatic and serious storylines build up over a number of months possibly a year e.g. Stacey and Max's affair where as Hollyoaks' storylines appear a lot more lighthearted a lot of the time until a dramatic incident is given to the audience by surprise. A lot of realistic issues such as employment, gcse's, relationships and image are reflects in Hollyoaks possibly enabling the audience to relate. Eastenders issues mainly display violence, affairs and relationships which are not as personal to their audience compared to Hollyoaks. The two soaps both get thousands of viewings per week despite the fact that Hollyoaks has a higher volume than Eastenders but then again, this all depends on the purpose, the audience.