Wednesday, 2 December 2009
Questionnaire to target audience and evaluation of results
ResultsQuestionnaire Results
Male- 14
Female- 26
1-9 10-20 21-30 31-40 41-50 51+
0 28 3 2 6 1
Once a month- 16
Twice a month- 10
Once a week- 2
Other- 12
Horror- 10
Comedy- 12
Romance- 3
Sci-fi- 2
Adventure- 7
Fantasy- 1
Rom-com- 2
Action- 2
War- 1
What is your favourite genre and why?
A lot of people voted for horror films and the reason for this was because they like the thought of being scared. There were also a number of people who voted for comedy because they like being entertained and they like a laugh. Adventure films are popular as they are interesting to watch and grab the audience’s attention. However the majority of the questionnaires were from the females.
Who would you go to the cinema with? Does it change what genre of film you see?
Out of the males, some went with friends, however it was common for them to go with close family members. This reflects their ages because they’re family like wives and children. Where as half of females mostly go with friends. As an overall most questionnaires said that whoever people go with has an effect of what they see.
What is your favourite horror and why?
The results show that most people have stated that they enjoy films that have an interesting solid story line, because they are not just about death or gore yet they keep the audience interested. The majority also like films that give the sense that it could really happen to you.
Describe what you look for in an opening scene of a horror film and why?
There were many different views about what people look for but an idea about what the film is going to be about, but without giving too much away, was the most apparent. There was also popularity in being introduced to charters as well as the actors playing them. Background knowledge also came up a lot. In the editing scene scary music was well-liked as was flashbacks.
Textual of opening sequences from the Horror Genre
Within the first few seconds of the opening sequence of the strangers there is a black screen with super imposed writing. Shortly after this is shown a non-diegetic voice appears and begins to read out what the super imposed writing says. As the super imposed visual continues the writing changes and gives the viewer a brief description about the year this happened where, but still with a non-diegetic voice over. Just after the first minute of the film has gone the viewer begins to hear a diegetic sound of an engine being turned on and the medium long shot fades in from black and begins to reveal a street with a row of houses. This shot is establishing the location but it is not yet clear where this is. Once again the shot fades out and then back in from black and begins to reveal some more houses. Each shot within this opening sequence is shot with natural light and as the shots carry on it starts to reveal to the viewer that the sun is slowly setting and is slowly becoming dark. This carries on for another 30 seconds and we then begin to hear a diegetic sound of a police scanner. The screen slowly fades to black as we hear a woman crying down the scanner but once again the shot fades in from black revealing a car with a smashed in window and two children standing in between the hole, this appears to be a long shot and this shot is establishing something that has happened. This is now where to film begins to start.
Recent films from the horror Genre
Directed by
Oren Peli
Produced by
Steven Schneider, Jason Blum
Written by
Oren Peli
Starring
Katie Featherston, Micah Sloat
Editing by
Oren Peli
Distributed by
Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks Pictures
Release date(s)
United StatesOctober 14, 2007 (Screamfest Film Festival) January 18, 2008 (Slamdance Film Festival) September 25, 2009 (limited) October 16, 2009 (wide)
Running time
86 min.
Country
United States
Language
English
Budget
$15,000
Gross revenue
$107,255,151
Paranormal Activity is a 2007 American independent horror film written and directed by Oren Peli. It premiered at the Screamfest Film Festival in the US on October 14, 2007, and was shown at the Slamdance Film Festival on January 18, 2008. The film received a limited release in several US cities on October 9, 2009, and had a nationwide release on October 16, 2009.
The movie centers on a young couple, Katie and Micah, who are haunted by a supernatural presence in their home. The movie is presented using "found footage" from the camera set up by the couple to capture what is haunting them.
Directed by
Peter Cornwell
Produced by
Scott Niemeyer, Norm Waitt, Steve Whitney, Paul Brooks, Daniel Farrands, Phyllis Laing, Wendy Rhoads and Andrew Trapani
Written by
Adam Simon and Tim Metcalfe
Starring
Virginia Madsen, Kyle Gallner, Martin Donovan, Amanda Crew, and Elias Koteas
Studio
Gold Circle Films
Distributed by
LIONSGATE
Release date(s)
March 27, 2009
Running time
92 min.
Country
United States
Language
English
Gross revenue
$76,501,870
Followed by
The Haunting in New York
Set in 1987, the story centers on Matthew Campbell, who is being treated for Hodgkins lymphoma in a hospital in Upstate Connecticut. After seeing the effect the long commute has on Matt, his family rents a nearby house, which they learn was previously a funeral home. They discover a mortuary room in the basement and the family begins experiencing violent and supernatural events that the parents initially blame on stress and hallucinations from Matt's treatment. Matt also experiences visions from the perspective of a young man named Jonah. Matt contacts a minister he met at the hospital for assistance with his paranormal experiences. The minister informs Matt that the visions and supernatural encounters are likely a result of the previous occupant's occult activities. The Jonah character is discovered to be the ghost of a psychic medium involved in the previous owner's activities and presently bound to control the "spirits" within the house.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Haunting_in_Connecticut
History of the Horror genre
Horror Films are unsettling films designed to frighten and panic, cause dread and alarm, and to invoke our hidden worst fears, often in a terrifying, shocking finale, while captivating and entertaining us at the same time in a cathartic experience. Horror films effectively center on the dark side of life, the forbidden, and strange and alarming events. They deal with our most primal nature and its fears: our nightmares, our vulnerability, our alienation, our revulsions, our terror of the unknown, our fear of death and dismemberment, loss of identity, or fear of sexuality.
Whatever dark, primitive, and revolting traits that simultaneously attract and repel us are featured in the horror genre. Horror films are often combined with science fiction when the menace or monster is related to a corruption of technology, or when Earth is threatened by aliens. The fantasy and supernatural film genres are not synonymous with the horror genre, although thriller films may have some relation when they focus on the revolting and horrible acts of the killer/madman. Horror films are also known as chillers, scary movies, spook fests, and the macabre.
http://www.filmsite.org/horrorfilms.html
The reason our group decided to choose the horror genre is because, the majority of our target audience (which is teenagers) sees this genre of film the most. We also thought to do this because this is the type of film that we know the most about so we thought we would know what would make a gripping opening sequence but also we know what would scare us.
Group Meeting 1
Three girls are moving into a new flat, whilst they are walking in with all the boxes, a strange man is watching them- they don’t realise. When they get inside, they celebrate the move and listen to music. (Superimposed images) One of the girls walks back down the stairs to collect another box, she sees an old lady and she stops and talks to her about the flat that the girls are moving in to. The lady seems worried and makes a quick exit. The girl is left wondering. (At this point we will see superimposed image of the man standing over a girl at the bottom of the stairs) Back in the flat, the other two girls are still celebrating, one looks outside to see a man looking up at her, she alarms the other girl and they ignore him. The one who was by herself walks back into the flat to find the door left ajar, and the other two girls not there. She starts to worry and rings the two girls to find that they are not answering, it goes to answer machine. She hears the doorbell go and is reluctant to open it. When she does, it is the other two girls at the door then the door closes and the titles come up on a black screen.
Reasons for choosing the Horror Genre
As a group we choose to create an opening scene to the horror genre as we thought that what we knew the most about, the reason we think we know the most about this is because we know what would scare us and how it would so we decided to do this instead of a comedy. The reason for this is that everybody has a different type of humour and what our group might find funny other people might not.
We all like to watch horror films such as 'the strangers' and 'saw', they interest us as they are entertaining to watch and all have gripping yet scarey story lines.
Conventions of an opening sequence
Within the first few seconds of the opening sequence of the strangers there is a black screen with super imposed writing. Shortly after this is shown a non-diegetic voice appears and begins to read out what the super imposed writing says. As the super imposed visual continues the writing changes and gives the viewer a brief description about the year this happened where, but still with a non-diegetic voice over. Just after the first minute of the film has gone the viewer begins to hear a diegetic sound of an engine being turned on and the medium long shot fades in from black and begins to reveal a street with a row of houses. This shot is establishing the location but it is not yet clear where this is. Once again the shot fades out and then back in from black and begins to reveal some more houses. Each shot within this opening sequence is shot with natural light and as the shots carry on it starts to reveal to the viewer that the sun is slowly setting and is slowly becoming dark. This carries on for another 30 seconds and we then begin to hear a diegetic sound of a police scanner. The screen slowly fades to black as we hear a woman crying down the scanner but once again the shot fades in from black revealing a car with a smashed in window and two children standing in between the hole, this appears to be a long shot and this shot is establishing something that has happened. This is now where to film begins to start.