Notes and Ideas on Audiences

After we decided on a genre choice of ‘horror’ we needed to research into more detail about our audience. After completing my interview we now had more knowledge of what the audience expect from this type of genre but we now needed to see the type of viewer we are aiming for and who to target our film towards. We did this through finding out what age group through using other popular horror films viewing the certification on them to see which certification our film would be best suited to and answering and looking into various other questions.

How are other films in your chosen genre certified?

To find out this information we used http://www.imdb.com/ and looked at the top 10 most popular, recent horror films then looked to see the certification they were given. We chose to research the most recent films as this is the most up to date information we could gather as to what certification our film will be in order to see what age group we are aiming our film towards.

The Rite (2011) – 15

Let me in (2010) – 15

The Resident (2011) – 15

I spit on your grave (2010) – 18

Black Death (2010) – 15

Paranormal activity 2 (2010) – 15

Devil (2010) – 15

Hatchet 2 (2010) – 18

Piranha (2010) – 18

My soul to take (2010) – 18

From finding out this information it is clear that the most popular certification of recent horror films is 15. I feel this way there is a larger target market as we can aim our film towards younger teenagers as well as other target groups. In order to certify my film as a 15 rating I will have to ensure the content of the film is not too graphic and follows the certain guidelines to be a 15 rated film.

Who does your genre target?

The Horror Genre depending on the content, the typical killer and innocent girl is aimed towards young adults most typically males through the extreme use of male gaze theory, however horror films with a more in depth storyline can be aimed more towards an older more understanding population. The main target audience for a horror film is quite obviously horror film fans that seek to see the newest latest horror films. Horror films are more aimed towards groups c and below I feel as the content is quite violent and hard hitting. Also for obvious reasons a typical horror film with use of murder and violence will not be aimed towards young children below 15.

What Demographic groups are you going to target?

The demographic groups I will be targeting I feel is group’s c and below as I feel the content is graphic and usually violent. This helps me to decide where to advertise and how to advertise for example I would not advertise my horror film in a magazine about politics.

What audience theories may you apply to your film and its genre?

The hypodermic needle theory will apply to my genre and film and it will have a hard hitting effect, I can relate my film to real life which will scare and worry the audience, they will relate it to their life’s and therefore be scared leading in my film being a successful horror as the viewer of a horror film expects to be scared and worried. The aim for my film is to frighten my audience I want it to be talked about and be a film that the audience ‘couldn’t sleep for days’ by using the hypodermic needle theory I could achieve this and therefore create a successful popular film that fits well within the horror genre.

What hobbies might your audience member have?

Due to the type of audience and certain kind of people the film is aimed towards I feel the hobbies they undergo will differ from other audiences, for example for a politics film their hobbies will be more towards stereotypical higher class hobbies e.g. horse riding or hunting. For a horror film I feel the hobbies they will endure are such things as regular cinema visits, music gigs to watch their favourite bands and overall socializing with friends and family. Due to the images used for horror I feel they are aimed more towards a ‘gothic’ trend or ‘greebo’ as many horror films contain skulls and this symbolizes and contrasts with the clothes they wear so this shows the sort of gigs I believe they will go to ‘more heavy rock/metal’ so this also helps to see some certain magazines I will be best to advertise my film in.

What Rating would your film get in the UK?

After looking at other film certifications we found that the average certification for a film of this genre is either 15 or 18. we feel the film cannot be a 12 or below as the content included is to graphic violence and threat. To decide whether the film will be an 18 or 15 we have to analyse the properties of our film and match them to the age rating criteria.

What other media works does this audience consume regularly?

I feel the type of audience our film is aimed at will watch television; they will watch comedy and horror programmes not intellectual programmes. They will listen to rock music through radio and via the Internet. They will listen to the most recent from rock/metal music genre, so this will tell me where to advertise my film to be most successful towards a certain target market for example to advertise in ‘hammer’ or ‘Kerrang’.

What comparable films has your average audience member seen?

I looked for the top 10 most popular horror films of all time as I feel the majority of my target market will have seen these films if they are fans of the horror genre

I gained this information from http://www.imdb.com/

Top 10 horror films of all time

(Assuming the target audience would have seen the majority of these)

Psycho (1960)

Alien (1979)

The Shining (1980)

Les Diaboliques (1955)

The Thing (1982)

Tucker and Dale vs evil (2010)

The Exorcist (1973)

Nosteratv (1922)

Rosemary’s Baby (1968)

Faust (1926)

Also with these my target market I feel will also have seen some of the films first listed for answer one as these are more recent, a horror genre fan may like new horror films but more recent ones not older ones, because as you can see above some of these films are over 80 years old.

Where would you average audience member shop for clothes?

As the genre is aimed towards the typical ‘greebo’ audience they will shop for clothes in places that sell that specific fashion sense, also the genre and film will be more aimed towards teenagers and younger adults another place they may buy clothing will be shops such as top man or river island as these are popular clothes shops for student clothing. Now that I have a wider understanding of where my audience purchase clothes from where I advertise will have a much bigger and more successful effect, I will advertise in shops that I feel my audience will shop in for example if my film was aimed at children I would not see much point in advertising in a garden centre.

In what magazines and websites would you advertise your film?

I have briefly described already where I would plan to advertise my film but now I shall go into further detail. As my target audience is split into both ‘greebo’ and  

‘student’ the places where I advertise my film are of high importance. To start as my film is more aimed towards the male gender I will advertise in popular male magazines for example, nuts, loaded and car magazines. This will attract attention from the male gender towards my film. To attract the ‘greebo’ audience i will advertise in magazines in which are popular to that specific type of person so I will advertise in popular ‘greebo’ magazines such as ‘Kerrang’ or ‘hammer’. To attract my student population I feel the best way to achieve this will be to get an advertisement space on the famous website Facebook, this is used regularly by a large percentage of students.

In screenings for which films (in cinemas now) would you show your film's trailer?

After research I found that currently at this moment in time there is only one new horror film ‘John carpenters, the ward’ in cinemas so this is firstly where I would advertise my film. As there are no other films fitting my genre I will next choose the most popular films that are currently out and show my trailer for them as this will be the largest population to view it. So the films I will show my trailer at will be ‘How do you know’ and ‘Black swan’. There is a popular film recently released called ‘knomeo and julliet’ however this is aimed at a young audience and my trailer would not be shown before as the content will not be suitable for a young child.

By Alex Cockburn

Mood Board for Horror

Mood Board

As our group weren't sure on what our film should included, what characters, if we wanted a mask, if we wanted it to be psychological or just plain gore, we put together a mood board of all the things that horror includes and decided on what we liked most to enjoy making our film as well as being professional and acting as though this film would be mass produced with a major company. This research is important to get the best out of our film opening and to make it successful!

mood board

By Will Howlett

Audience Expectations

Questionnaire of audience expectations

To research more into what the audience would expect from a horror genre I created a quick questionnaire and asked ten different people from different age groups. This gave me a wider understanding of the expectations needed. I asked 8 questions to find out more information the questions varied from emotion felt to lighting used.

What do you expect in general from this genre?

When I asked what was to be expected in general, the expected narrative of the film. 7 answered death, the commented that there would be a murderer and a victim. They felt this was the typical storyline of a horror film. 2 answered the horror could be psychological; they referred to the ‘SAW’ films and said it could mess with your head and have an eerie atmosphere. One out of the ten people asked said that from a horror he would expect a monster or creature escaping and causing mayhem. All of these answers refer to death being a main part of a horror film.

Where do you expect it to be set?

The participants did not see this as a valid question they felt as long as the lighting is dark the setting does not matter, however a couple of them commented that the surrounding and setting must look broken down, old and eerie, they said the woods or streets and night is a very effective setting for a horror genre.

Do you expect blood in a horror genre film?

When this question was asked all of the participants answered yes, they feel blood must be included in a horror film. They also commented that they feel there must be lots of it and see this as quite an important factor of a horror genre.

How do you expect the lighting to be?

The participants answered all the same, they feel the lighting will have to be dark in a horror genre as this has the effect of a more eerie scary place, they felt the protagonist appears more innocent at night in dark whereas the opposite effect on the killer, the antagonist will appear more threatening.

Do you expect it to be fast paced?

The results of this question varied once again some participants felt a horror has got to be fast passed as this will have a good effect on the audience it will keep them in suspense and this is what is needed in a horror genre, however others felt that a horror is best suited at slow pace, they felt this way the audience is constantly in suspense wondering what will happen and involved in a dark atmosphere also with slow pace the ability to shock and make jump the audience is easier to achieve.

What pitch music do you expect?

The answers to this question varied by coincidence 50/50, 5 of the participants answered that the pitch needs to be high pitched and create a eerie atmosphere whereas the other 5 disagreed they said they feel the pitch needs to be low as this has a much more worrying and scaring effect on the audience.

Do you expect to see much dialogue?

At first the participants did not understand this question, but once I explained the meaning of this question as to whether the starting of a horror film the characters talk much I got a clear set of results, they felt there should only be a brief dialogue usually of an innocent girl and the killer has no dialogue and has a much greater impact on the audience if remains silent.

What emotions do you expect to feel?

The results were once again all the same to this question, all participants felt they need to feel scared and worried, they need to be left hanging and wondering what will come, they need to be made jump and just overall need to feel frightened, one participant commented that they want to still feel scared once the film is over.

Through carrying out this questionnaire I now have a clearer understanding of what an audience expects from a horror genre. It has helped us to consider where out film shall be set the lighting we need to use and other various importance's. Through doing this and using the information we have obtained we shall be able to create a successful film opening that follows the expectations of a horror genre.

By Alex Cockburn
      Jess Wilding

Experimenting with Genres

These next three post-it notes are just the institution that we came up with for the first 8 seconds. Fade out from black to the tree. This would last for 2 seconds.

The tree explodes into flames and the 'Burning Tree Production' slowly appears with a sound 'ahh creepy' This shot would last for 4 seconds.

Fades to dead tree. Then fades to white to the park scene. This would last for 2 seconds.

Long shot of two figures on a bench with an empty dark park in the background, the only light would be created from the lampost. A low pitched non-diegetic slow tempo sound played over the track. This shot lasts for four seconds. Actor's names will appear above their heads through the titles.

Mid shot of the two figures on the bench, same angle as the last but in a mid-shot. Sound carries on and this shot lasts for two seconds. Titles - Produced by Orange Productions.

Voiceover of diegetic dialogue of a break-up. Scripted as... Julie: 'It's not working out Michael' Michael: 'NO! Don't say that..' Close up to see the facial expressions and this shot will last for 20 seconds.

Close up of male actors face showing emotion, mysterious. Non-diegetic mixed pitch sound. This shot would last 7 seconds. No titles to be played on this shot.

Long shot of male character on the bench alone look hurt but suspicious at the same time, afterwards anger is present on his face. High pitched diegetic sound. This shot would last for 5 seconds.

Long shot of the girl character walking away from the man. Sound carries on and non-diegetic dialogue of the man yelling for a second chance. This shot will last for 15 seconds.

Close-up of the man's face to show his emotions from the break-up. He is being very sly, looking quite upset and angry as if to seek revenge. He knows something is up. This shot would last for 10 seconds.

This Lesson

In this lesson we were given a task to make a Film Opening with a Genre decided from our groups. We decided on doing a Romantic Horror Genre and limited ourselves to 10 post-it notes, including logo's of a decided company. Additionally we were given Jellybabies to use as characters in the film opening. We made up the title and the whole sequence of shots to last for around a minute. This was to give us ideas of different genres and openings. This helped us a lot in knowing what we would like to do for our final opening. In this task we learnt that we don't have to over-complicate the film opening and that not much has to happen. We limited ourselves to a certain amount of post-it notes as we knew that there doesn't have to be a whole lot happening just in the opening, we were also noticing that others were using over 20 post-it notes and got confused after a while.

Ideas: Whole Group

Posted by: Jess Wilding

Veritgo Opening Re-make

Description of Vertigo Opening

‘VISTAVISION MOTION PICTURE HIGH-FIDELITY’ in a faded grey clouds background, extreme close up of bottom right of face; includes cheek, lips, nose and ear lobe. Moves to the left of the face to an extreme close up of the lips, with title ‘JAMES STEWART’ in  bold white outline. Moves up to eyes, just on top of the eyebrows, ‘KIM NOVAK’ on the nose, in same colour and writing, eyes move left then right slowly, then look forward. Moves to the girl’s right eye, eyes fill up with water, title underneath ‘IN ALFRED HITCHCOCK’S’. Extreme close up of the eye and the background tints red, eyes open wide. ‘VERTIGO’ title comes out of the eye, in same colour, zooms out getting bigger, fills the whole screen and goes upwards getting bigger at the same time. There is a whirl of white in the girls eye, it spins around, like a hypnotise wheel, the whirl gets bigger, the eye background fades out. Black background, whirl normal size in the middle again titles on the right of ‘CO-STARRING...’ Whirl then gets bigger, it is a light blue colour.

Shotlist of Vertigo
vertigo shot list

Storyboard of Vertigo

Vertigo Storyboard

We decided to re make this particular film as we were also deciding on creating a thriller genre opening so wanted to explore this as well. This opening is very different and interesting to make, it was very difficult having to create the shot continuous. Making this opening explored different techniques and showed us how creative our film opening could be.

Halloween Opening Re-make

Description of Halloween Opening

Space background with the stars lasting for one second, light beams fly across the screen, Media, the title, goes from up and down the screen and meets in the middle and must be in 3-D. The title comes forward and goes back to 2-D. Light beams comes from behind and Media in the middle in grey and ‘MEDIA HOME ENTERTAINMENT INC’ at the bottom with light blue outline and black in the middle. The title ‘MEDIA’ gets bigger. Then to a black screen. The title ‘A COMPASS INTERNATIONAL PICTURES RELEASE’ in orange with the logo and on a black background, fades out. ‘MOUSTAPHA AKKAD PRESENTS’ in a orange-red colour, gets brighter orange, fades out darker. Pumpkin in the mid left hand side lit up to see the eyes, nose and mouth. Titles appear at the side of the pumpkin saying ‘DONALD PLEASENCE in’, same colours, gets brighter and then fades out darker like the other titles. ‘JOHN CARPENTER’S HALLOWEEN’ then appears. ‘JOHN CARPENTER’S disappears and ‘HALLOWEEN’ is just left there. ‘ A DEBRA HILL PRODUCTION’ title appears, ‘introducing JAMIE LEE CURTIS as Laurie’ appears.

Shotlist of Halloween


shot list- Halloween


We re-created this opening to get an idea of how to devise and plan out a horror genre opening as this is one of the genres we would most like to do in our final assessment film. This is one of the simplest openings to re create and also very chilling as it is just a pumpkin in the dark and eerie piano music. I think overall our opening is very original and creative and was fun to do.


Halloween Storyboard:



By Will Howlett
      Alex Cockburn
      Jess Wilding
      Kat Ransom

Superbad Opening Re-make

Description of Superbad Opening
A Sony Pictures Entertainment company logo of a woman holding a torch with dark blue clouds in the background lasting for 5 seconds, then zooms in to the torch. White screen comes up for about half a second. Design swirls out and goes in to Columbia Pictures logo. 5 multi-coloured figures appear on the screen one by one going in colour order from the left as; dark pink, purple, dark blue, brown and green. Columbia pictures slightly in the background fade out. Dark blue figure dances, on a yellow background, while ‘COLUMBIA PICTURES PRESENTS’ in bottom right of the figure, then ‘AN APATOW COMPANY PRODUCTION’ in the top left of the figure. ‘SUPERBAD’ title appears at the mid right hand side of the figure. ‘JONAH HILL’ is on the top left hand side at this point, ALL WRITING IS IN DARK GREEN. Star comes out from the middle zooming out and the writing ‘JONAH HILL is in yellow writing. Figure outline, white, with ‘MICHAEL CERA’ title, in a light yellow colour, figure duplicates into four figures there. ‘SETH ROGEN’ title in the middle of the second and third figure. ‘BILL HADLER’ title appears in the top left hand side of the first figure. Titles then appear in the right side hand of the third and fourth figure, then at the first figure again. Blue screen slides upwards, figure all coloured in yellow with title on the right hand side in light blue, then title in the bottom left hand side, then title moves upwards, then to the right. The bigger guy disappears and re-appears in white, the other still yellow, light blue title in the corner.


Shotlists of Superbad
shot list- superbad

We wanted to create the opening to 'superbad' as it was a much different atmosphere compared to the horror/thriller genres we had looked at. We had the 2 male dancers on a stage with a blank background to make it look much more professional. This opening showed us how fun filming could be and what type of techniques we could use for our own film.


Storyboard of 'Superbad'


Superbad Storyboard