Audience Research Rationale

For my research rationale I would be doing a variety of audience research in order to collect information and data so that my horror trailer, poster is mainly catered to my target audience. My target audience would be from the ages 15-27 as I have easy access to students in my sixth form, out of school and young adults. This will give me an indication of exactly what my target audience would want to see in a horror movie/ what they fear the most etc. The reason why I have chosen this specific age range is because its mainly from this age range that people love to go watch horror and I want to see if there is any difference between the big age gap in what they prefer to see in a horror.

For my audience research, the different type of research methods I will do is one being observational research where I will do interviews on specific individuals, mainly focusing on a range of different ages. I will also interview a group of people asking them what they fear the most and why they watch horror movies to help decide what to include in my trailer. I will conduct more research doing online surveys and publishing it on various social medias where I can reach a wider audience and get as many opinions as the more research I conduct, the more I will know on what specific conventions to include in my very own trailer. I will also study my target audiences reactions to certain horror trailers so I can get an idea of what they physically look like when watching horror and what really makes them scared and not.

In addition to this, I will be conducting market research like see how horror films are marketed in the real world and how they get audience intrigued to watch more. I will also be analyzing many horror clips on the web, this will help me evaluate what is vital in a horror trailer and what isn't worth adding in your trailer. I will look at what common theme is shared throughout all the trailers I analyse, for example if there are more supernatural creatures, monsters or if it is more physiological. By looking at theorists ideas and theories applied to most horrors, I will be able to understand what conventions are applied in horror and how it's done to make it scary. This is going to help me in the near future when I start planning my trailer as I will be confident in what I am including in my trailer as I will know it will definitely appeal to my audience.

The resources I will need in order to conduct this research is a phone where I can socialize with my target audience for opinions, I would need the web to create my survey and to share it out where I will get the most accurate results. I will also need a camera to film my audiences reactions and when I'm interviewing them. Maybe a pen and paper to note down notes when interviewing my audience where I can note down specific things each individual says.