Primary Audience Research

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I have created an online survey for my target audience to get their response on the horror genre, which I wish to create my campaign on. I have asked a variation of questions, including their age and gender in order to find out what age group want what from a horror trailer. I also thought I should ask them about their gender to see their feelings about what gender the protagonist should be. By finding this out, I can then work out which gender to have as my protagonist, which is something I was struggling with. I decided to ask about antagonist, however not to go into too much detail, as I have already conducted surveys about a masked antagonist which I found to be popular with my target audience as I asked them specifically. My target audience is 15-24 category which would be 50% male and 50% female of a working class background. I decided to ask about an antagonist although I have my idea, just to see if I got any surprising responses which could make me re-think my strategies for my antagonist plans.


All of the people I asked were within my target audience, which is very helpful for me as it will help me adapt my work completely around the answers I receive as they are coming directly from my target audience.

I asked the gender of my audience to see on the variation in results, such as asking about the gender of protagonists. 60% of those I asked were male, which fits quite well with the 50% ratio I wanted for my audience, although as there is more of a male based audience I may adapt my trailer to appeal to males more, by using a female protagonist.

Although it seemed like a basic and straight forward question, I felt it was one that should be asked if I was to take the information I received into consideration, my audience would need to enjoy and have knowledge about horror films.  

By asking what they would expect to find in a horror film, it helps me to consider what is considered a ''typical horror film'' and to try and incorporate this into my trailer, yet also try to do something which is individual to give myself a unique selling point.

Again, by asking the audiences expectation, it will allow me to meet their expectations, and aim to exceed them. I plan to incorporate these themes or something similar, however to add some extra attractive features. 

I have asked the audience favourite style of horror to find out which type is successful in order to help me with which idea I should pursue. I found that Paranormal Activity style was popular, so this is something I will consider in the creation of my trailer. 

This question has really helped me decide that it would appeal to the majority of my audience to have a female protagonist, to showcase Carol Clover's Final Girl Concept. I think a female would appeal to my audience as for males, the Laura Mulvey theory of ''to-be-looked-at-ness'' would attract them to watching a female. A female protagonist could also appeal to a female audience as due to their same gender, an allegiance could be formed throughout the trailer. As I am wanting to appeal to both genders quite equally, I think the choice to have a female protagonist would be a wise one. 

I was curious to find out what film they had previously watched, as it generally was a new film which had drawn their attention. I plan on looking at all of these films trailers in detail if I have not already to look how they are either similar or different and I could reflect upon how they have helped my research form.

This question was a very important one as it has directly helped to decide how long my trailer should be. I want to appeal to my target audience in the best way I can, therefore I will take on board the primary audience research, however will need to try and aim to the time length my examiner has given.