RESEARCH AND PLANNING: Preliminary Conclusions

1) What have the deconstructions told you about the openings of movies?

My deconstructions have varied greatly, as each opening has presented a different way of starting. For example, Rushmore focuses on introducing his main character, but Dead Poets' Society focuses on clarifying where the film is set. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince continues the story from another film, by presuming its audience understands the action of the opening, whereas Wuthering Heights creates an atmosphere. In regard to our film, I think Wuthering Heights offers the most inspiration. Though it is not the same genre, it uses sound and camera shots to create tension, something we need to do in our film.

However, Dead Poets' Society is also useful, as it has shown me how to use props and costume to present themes and characteristics of the film.

2) What has your target audience research told you about likes, dislikes and viewing habits?

My groups target audience research has told us the majority (82.6%) enjoy horror films. This result is very positive, because we are doing a horror film and it is reassuring to know that the majority of people asked do enjoy horror films. However they do not opt for Werewolves when it comes to favourite horror characters, which is a negative because in our film we planned to use Werewolves.

The British horror industry is the most popular in the world, so it is beneficial to know that people within our area of the world, make horror films the most successful. Open ended questions at the end of the survey asked whether they had any comments on the production of horror films. The feedback we got from this was that horror films have to be an 18 rating to properly scare the audience. We got a negative response stating that the public have moved on from horror films because they are boring.

3) How have you used the above research to make panning decisions regarding your movie?

In the Target audience research we also found that, Werewolves were not the preferred choice of the audience as horror characters. As a group we discussed that it may not be a good idea to include a Werewolf, but to include the 43.5 favoured physco or a serial killer. We came to the conclusion that it did not matter, because in our first two minutes the audience do not see the werewolf, but are given point of view shots. This may work positively because it will keep the audience guessing. Overall, I feel that it is essential not to give too much of the plot away, but to keep it vague and get the audience guessing, in effect to create tension and to get them more involved with the movie.