Evaluating My Survey

For my coursework I created and carried out a survey on 8 people. For this I targeted students aged 16/17 as this group of audiences is mostly targeted by the horror genre.

The majority enjoys the horror genre due to it being entertaining. They mostly enjoy the suspense and adrenaline that they can gain from the horror experience. This is probably due to the conventions; jumps scares, creepy locations and gory killings.

The most common texts mentioned were Ouija, Insidious and Sinister. Something common amongst all of these films is that they all have an aspect of mystery. Furthermore, they are all classified as under 18 movies which causes the films to not include as drastic scenes as an over 18 would include. This allows a wider range of audiences to be interested in the film. I believe that the target audience for all the films is around 16-21.

Look at the trailer and list the conventions used and analyse the effect of it on the viewer. What is their aim? (Sinister)

-          Use of children – causing innocence to seem sinister

-          Weapons – foreshadows murder and killings which may frighten the viewer

-          Attic setting – connotes mystery as no one normally goes up there. It may cause the audience to feel weary about the house overall

-          Symbol to identify the monster – causes the audience to feel creeped out and scared

-          Dark Colour Scheme – gives a creepy, sinister atmosphere to the locations.

Promotion methods used for this film - Sinister 

The budget of the movie was only 3 million dollars however the box office peaked at 77.7 million dollars which is a great success.

-          Facebook page promoted at the end of the trailer – successful as a wide range of audiences uses this social media causing there to be more hype about the film. 

-          Posters – The posters displayed on buses and around cities caused a wider audience to be interested in the film.

-          Trailer – An official trailer was uploaded onto the social media “Youtube” weeks before the release which allowed the already interested audience to see a more in depth insight into the movie.