Audience research video

We asked a variety of young students about their own experiences with films, of this genre and others, to see which elements we could include in our work.
The questions are as followed

!) What in a trailer would persuade you to watch a film?

2) What social media outlets influences you to watch a film in the past?

3) What would you typically expect in a slasher film?

4) What kind of film advertising do you find effective?

The purge teaser analysis

This poster is taken from the teaser trailer of "The Purge"

Who is our audience?

In this image, our group compiled a mood board sort get an ideal image of what our target market may look like, the things they would do, the things they would be interested in in terms of hobbies and or activities. We can also see the food and shows/films they may also like that would be similar in a way to our film. This aids us in providing information we could choose to include in our posters, trailers and other things that would be seen by the public. As a result we are able to see what things could influence the target audience to help use attract as many viewers as possible.

In Darkness poster analysis in relation to audience

Target Audience Research

Target Audience Research - Results from Chantelle_L

Horror Film magazine analysis

Magazine Analysis - "Sight and Sound"

The name of this magazine is "Sight and Sound". A reason why this name was chosen because in films, the sights and sounds are what make them iconic or memorable.
The sell lines are very limited and basic and in this magazine, they seem to focus more on classic horror films (as this is the genre of this magazine) .
The design of this magazine is suitable of that for a film from this genre as it features a chainsaw and blood but i feel it lacks some themes like darkness. Also the fonts stand out well but don't really convey they styles of genre as it all seems plain.
The genre it covers is clearly horror, it says it there and the inclusion of the chainsaw combined with blood emphasizes this. and it is owned by the British film institute. and opinions
The target market in terms of demographic appears to be adults due to it's mention of classic films as many wouldn't have been alive or it wouldn't have been possible due to their age. Also personality wise, it would suit people who aren't scared easily and enjoy the entertainment value of horror films rather than those who can be scarred of be offended easily by things
A major competitor of this magazine is "Scream" which is also UK based so it provides credible competition as they are both based in the same country..Another competitor is "Diabolique Magazine" and it isn't clear where it is from but as it is also a horror film magazine, it offers competition to "sight and sound".
The types of representation it conveys on the front page are gore and blood due to the feature of a chainsaw and  various spots of blood. in the front cover.
The content features show to the audience that horror can come from anywhere and its unexpected which is seen in various horror films.By trying to link it to real life adds to the realism of horror films and trailers.
The features in this film include articles about films and new releases to watch out for in this genre along with reviews and opinions. Some directors featured in this magazine are Mike Figgis and Simon Pummel who are all horror film directors varying in success.
This magazine follows a typical  house style but doesn't stand out as much as others. For example the "Scream"  magazine would appeal more to the demographic due to the colour scheme and sell lines. I feel that the sell lines and colour schemes are what let down this magazine as they are to basic and the white background doesn't fully explore the connotations involved with the horror genre

The Rite Trailer Analysis

From this trailer, it is very easy to distinguish what genre it is from straight away. The use of music and the writing in the beginning of the trailer, we could tell it would be based on religion due to the Latin writing in the opening followed by the sentences. We also see key iconography associated with religion, (the rosary and the cross), which consolidates the feeling we get that it's about religion. The use of sound also portrays a sort of religious horror as there are screams and in the trailer the characters suggest that there is a demonic being possessing people. We see this evidently in the actions of the woman in the trailer as she acts out of the ordinary.

Analysis of film poster from my genre -The Purge:Anarchy

Trailer - Mise en scene ideas

Mood Boards - Genre Iconography Dystopia and Stalker/Slasher hybrid (Shared)

Influential genre examples

Research: Websites on marketing

http://marvel.com/guardians

The design of the website is very graphical and accentuates the sci-fi theme of the movie "Guardians of the Galaxy" with hovering interaction on the home page. 

The navigator for the website promotes clips from the movie, about the movie, photos, downloads etc. all aspects involving the movie to help promote it and show what its about. It even gives the option to sell tickets to watch the movie.In order for it to be also approachable for younger children it involves activities like "Make yourself a guardian of the galaxy" creating a shareable gif to yet again promote itself. It has social networking like facebook, twitter, google plus and pinterest presenting other promoting websites on networking.

The graphical designs would be as you would have in the spaceship or in the technical future embracing the whole idea that the future is going to be very hi-tech, computerised and sci-fi instead of the manual concepts of cars and books but  the idea of spaceships, aliens and with humans and animals in space with the characters Quill and Rocket 

Genre Research - Institutional Context

Top rated slasher feature films (IMDb)

Se7en (Drama, Mystery, Thriller) [1995] - 8.7/10


The Silence of Lambs (Crime, Drama, Thriller) [1991] - 8.6/10


Psycho (Horror, Mystery, Thriller) [1991] - 8.6/10


The Shining (Horror) [1980] - 8.5/10


Halloween (Horror) [1978] - 7.9/10


Deep Red (Horror, Mystery, Thriller) [1975] - 7.7/10


Grindhouse (Action, Horror, Thriller) [2007] - 7.7/10


Santa Sangre (Drama, Horror) [1989] - 7.7/10


Man Bites Dog (Comedy, Crime, Drama) [1992] - 7.6/10


American Psycho (Crime, Drama) [2000] - 7.6/10

Top-Grossing slasher feature films (IMDb)

Hannibal (Crime, Drama, Thriller) [2001] - $165,091,464 


Scary Movie (Comedy) [2000] - $157,019,771


The Silence of the Lambs (Crime, Drama, Thriller) [1991] - $130,742,922


Scream (Crime, Horror, Mystery) [1996] - $103,001,286


Scream 2 (Crime, Horror, Mystery) [1997] - $101,334,374


Se7en (Drama, Mystery, Thriller) [1995] - $100,125,643


Red Dragon (Crime, Thriller) [2002] - $92,930,005

Scream 3 (Horror, Mystery) [2000] - $89,138,076


Freddy vs. Jason (Horror) [2003] - $82,163,317


The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Horror) [2003] - $80,148,261

Film Productions and Distributions for some 'Slasher' and 'Dystopian Future' feature films


The Purge (Dystopian Future)


Film Production Companies

- Blumhouse Productions

- Platinum Dunes

- Media Rights Capital


Distributed by:

- Universal


The Silence of Lambs (Slasher)


Distributed by:

- Orion Pictures


Divergent (Dystopian Future)


Film Production Companies

- Red Wagon Entertainment

- Summit Entertainment


Distributed by:

- Lionsgrate


Scream [series] (Slasher)


Film Production Company

- Woods Entertainment


Distributed by:

- Dimension Films

- Konrad Pictures

- Outerbanks Entertainment


Hannibal (Slasher)


Film Production Company

- Scott Free Productions


Distributed by:

- Universal Pictures

From the research of some of the films listed, it has come down to a conclusion that Universal Pictures seem to be one of the top distributors for slasher-feature films as well as dystopian future feature-films. It's one of the main and most known film manufacturing companies in the film and media industry. Universal Pictures works with the parent company known as NBC Universal and is also known as one of Hollywood's "Big Six" film studios. The company offers range of production services such as set lighting, grip to proper and special effects. For post-production media services, it also has on offer a variety of services such as sound editorial & design to picture editorial. Universal Pictures is mainly known for its creating and distributing of theatrical and non-theatrical entertainment on film. The Purge: Anarchy has achieved a total gross of $71,562,550 and is ranked number 108 overall the movies produced by Universal Pictures. The company is also in a partnership with Blumhouse Productions, Focus Features, Illumination Entertainment, Laika, Legendary and Working Title.

Blumhouse Productions is an company in partner with Universal Pictures. It's an multi-media American Film Production Company that's founded and run by Jason Blum. The film production company produces low-budget genre films such as Paranormal Activity and Inisidious. The majority of the films Bluehouse Productions produces seem to mainly be horror, thriller and slasher films such as The Purge and The Purge: Anarchy. The film production company is known for it's debut movie 'Paranormal Activity' where the budget is estimated to be about $15,000 and grossed at $107,918,810 in 2010. The film production has more of a known-title within the horror-genre films since for Halloween 2012, they did an event called 'Blumhouse of Horror' which is an innovative haunted house experience located in Downtown Los Angeles; an escape game experience as a sort of marketing for the next upcoming film 'The Purge: Breakout'.

History of our genre

Slasher/slasher is a sub-genre of Horror films but mainly due to the involvement of psychopathic killers who stalks and plans murders that are usually random or many within a day etc. The psychopathic killer usually has a sort of disguise like a mask to remain anonymous to the public.

The slasher film as a genre can be connected to a real-life event in the 1957 a man named Ed Gein was known to be a psychopathic killer, who was obsessed with dead human bodies which started to become an extreme case collecting them. This real-life event of Gein inspired a book called Psycho by Robert Bloch in which lead killer movies to be created in the 60's like Hush, hush sweet Charlotte,  What ever happened to baby Jane, Maniac, Satans Bed and Strait Jacket alongside Psycho itself. There are also recent movies within the 2000 till now like Cherry Falls (2000), Cry Wolf (2005) and the well known final destination.

Horror is the main genre of this whole slasher/stalker kind of films so we have to ensure to also have knowledge on this genre as a whole too. Horror's aim is to frighten the audience and induce the whole feeling of terror and horror by creating an eerie and frightening atmosphere throughout the whole film.

Dystopian future

Dystopia is a community or a society that is undesirable and is the opposite of utopia. Dystopian future genres concept produces these undesirable disrupted futures such as dehumanisation, corrupted governments, environmental disaster etc.  The idea of dystopia was cacotopia before hand, which is the word for the imagined seating of the worst government.

One of the earliest dystopian films is Blade Runner from 1982, and American neo-noir dystopian science fiction film based in Los Angeles in November 2019. It is about humans being genetically engineered replicates who were indistinguishable from adult humans created by a mega corporation.

They were made essentially for labour and entertainment purposes and are illegal on earth, if they make it to earth they are to be killed. A Blade runner, a hunter of replicates seek these replicates who wish for their lifespan to be extended.

Films like this with a futuristic disrupted society has helped influence films now like The Purge, The Hunger Games, In Time and Divergent.

Repertoire of elements for our genre

Our film pitch

The Rite Poster Analysis