Horror Audiences Research

By Tim Loe

Why People Watch Horrors

• Horror Definition: an overwhelming and painful experience, caused by something frightfully shocking, terrifying or revolting; a shuddering fear.

• The Incentive to watch horror films:• People watch different genres because they enjoy

different experiences, an example being the comedy genre, which is designed to create humour. Horrors are designed to shock, considering this the audience would want to be shocked, and enjoy the tension building up to it.

Target Audiences - Horror

• The UKFC conducted research showing that a typical horror viewer is male, aged 15-24. This can be explained, as males usually enjoy thrill from action films, whereas females prefer lighter forms of entertainment, such as comedy or romance.

• However this extract from the UKFC website suggests that this has changed, since figures show that there is an increase in female viewers of horrors, and they have now exceeded the attendance figures of men.

Market Research• This pie chart shows the ratio of male to females who watch

horrors (supernatural subgenre).

• This therefore means that our target audience with be male and female, since the ratio is almost 1:1.

malefemale

Female 45% Male 55%

Market Research

aged 14 - 17

aged 18 -24

aged 25 - 34

aged 35 - 49

aged 50+

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

audience % This chart shows statistics from the ‘national metro’. This is based on 12 months of revenue. It shows the age of the audience. The most substantial number, 48% is viewers aged 18-24. Although there is still quite a large amount of the younger audience, added 14 – 17 (24%). This is why it is best to make our target audience 15 – 25, since it is a mixture of both stats, and matches our certification for our film which is 15.

Film Trailer Audiences• Film trailers are a vital part of the distribution

process, since they reveal the plot of a film in an exciting way, which will effect the audiences decision on whether to go or not.

• Trailers are usually showcased in three places:• Websites, Cinemas (before similar films) and

Television• This allows producers to reach a wider range of

audience, and is the reason why trailers much be short, exciting and provoke anticipation.

Audience data for a similar film to my idea• Name: Paranormal Activity• Genre: Horror / Mystery • Brief Synopsis:• After a young, middle class couple moves into a

suburban 'starter' tract house, they become increasingly disturbed by a presence that may or may not be somehow demonic but is certainly most active in the middle of the night. Especially when they sleep

• Quotes from reviews

Audience Data from a similar film to mine

• Quotes from Reviews: (source – IMDB reviews)

Conclusion from reviews:

• Realism is key. Our antagonist cannot look cheap, or it will undermine the whole trailer.

• Actors must be convincing.• Production value must be present, an effective

method to achieve this is shooting in a variety of aesthetically pleasing locations.