1. Where would you prefer a horror to be set during an opening sequence? – I chose this question as it would tell me which location appeals to the audience the most it also gives the audience a choice; whatever they pick i will use for my filming location. 12 out 20 participants chose a forest for the preferred location thus i will be shooting in a dark forest by my house. The forest is spatial with a very tall trees this is vital for hiding the face of the killer.
2. Which gender do you connect with (relate/empathize etc) during an opening sequence? – I wanted to know which gender my audience connects with the most but it was evident that the audience prefer seeing both genders therefore i’ll have a male and a female aged 16-17 entering the forest exchanging small dialogue which will foreshadow the events that will occur in the forest. The “monster” will be a girl who appears as a young ghost, she won’t be seen as much though.
3. In an opening sequence of a horror what do you think is most important to establish? – This is a vital question in understanding what the audience want to be seen in the opening sequence. It was a tight match between Location and both location and characters. Its conventionally the location to be established which suggest why 47% of the audience chose to establish the location; linking back to the dark forest, i’ll use a variety of high angle shots and establishing shots to create an atmosphere to accompany the location.
4. What is your favourite horror film and why? – as my audience will all be interesting in horrors it is important to know why a certain horror is their favourite. There was a range of responses from ‘chucky’ to the most common film stated ‘Insidious’. People stated that they enjoyed the “unpredictable” and “unconventional story lines” also the “effective audios” are what commonly make certain horrors people favourite. From this I’ve inferred that i will need to find an audio will creates the mood of tension effectively. Also my opening sequence will need to create enough enigma codes that the audience find the storyline interesting and unpredictable.
5. What option do you prefer for introducing the general information of the film? The information is usually about character, location and plot. – I wanted to know what the audience felted was affective way for introducing information as I’ve learnt what information is important to establish. The results show a balanced between the ‘voice over’ option and the ‘prologue’ option. The highest result showed audience prefer to learn key information through dialogue between characters. I can know incorporate this information into the conversation. For example i can name the forest and talk about what awaits them in the forest etc without giving away the story and making it seem like a trailer. Conventionally prologues are used to explain information so it will make the storyline more unpredictable which was earlier recognised as a factor that the audience enjoy. 
6. Do you prefer a climatic audio with words or a climatic audio without words? – I’ll be finding and deciding an audio soon and wanted to know what the audience prefer. The majority of result showed “climatic audio without words“, the audience stated this because the audio with words can be ‘distracting’ and an audio without words creates more ‘tension’.
7. What conventions of makeup do you find the scariest e.g red lips, bruised face – This question was design to discover what makes an average person’s face scary. There was a range of answers for zombie makeup to red lips. The features i’ll include are the most frequent answers; red lips, dark eyes and bruised face.
8. What color of titles do you think will stand out and why? – The audiences responses match the conventional horror titles, contrasting back ground and title color. I’ve decided to do white on a black background. I needed an understanding of what the audience thought was best which is why i asked the question.
9. If you had a choice of lighting sources from the options below what would chose to be used during the opening sequence? – I gave the audience a range of options as lighting is a vital factor of horror conventions. The lowest score was inside light due to audience preferring to film use outside lights, streetlamps and torches. I’ll try to include all of these sources. I can have shots of the streetlamps before they enter the forest and they can have torches whilst the actors are in the forest. I’ll be filming at 6 or 7 o’clock so it is dark but not pitch black.
10. What makes a horror’s opening sequence scary to you?Explain why – This is a useful question in discovering what audience find scary in an opening sequence because ultimately that is the purpose of an opening sequence. The audience ranged answers from “a frightening location”, “tension audio” and if the scenes are “jumpy”. Interrupting this data into my opening sequence i’ll try to include a ‘jumpy’ moment whilst the characters are in the forest. The location has been selected due to the audience thinking it is the scariest and as i spoke about in the previous answers i’ll select the audio carefully.
11. What do you prefer to happen during an opening sequence?- The following options were action, dialogue between characters and both action and dialogue between. This question is designed to give me a direction of what needs to be included in my opening sequence. The results had little range between them but action was the highest result. I will need to include action in my opening sequence and for this i might include a chase scene or just build the tension within the forest as not a lot of action can happen within the first two minutes of a film.
12. Do you think it is scarier when the ‘demon/ghost’ face is seen or isn’t seen? Explain why – This was asked simply to know whether the ‘killer’ will be seen or not. The majority of answers said seen which i agree with as it is conventional of horrors also it creates tension. I won’t massively focus on the character though as i think in the situation less with work as more. If too much is seen the effect is lost. Also the character is focused on more later on in the film not during the opening sequence.
13. One of my ideas was to add a filter such as black and white to a section of my opening sequence, what is your opinion of this?Explain why – The responses were varied but the answers did give me an understand of whether the idea would work or not. It was very even but I’ve decided that it won’t work as it may feel like an old film and as I’m filming at night in a forest the effect won’t be as visible.
The process of writing my questionnaire:
Formatting the questionnaire was simple; the audience needed space to answer and the necessary boxes to tick etc. It was thinking of questions to ask which was difficult. The questions were essential for indicating the audiences preference but the question had to be applicable to your opening sequence. For example if I wanted to film in a park but gave my audience the options to film in a park or river and the audience chose river I would need to film in the river as this is the audience’s preference. When writing the questions you also had to bare in mind that the audience won’t be media students and may not have considered factors of opening sequence such as titles and music. When writing a questionnaire you need to remember the likelihood that people don’t have much time to answer long-winded questions therefore the questionnaire needed a mixture of closed and open questions. Eventually I had 13 questions which would help me understand the audiences’s likes and dislike but also to indicate so ideas for my opening sequence. Then you need to distribute 20 questionnaire to members of your target audience. The best place to collect data would have been in a cinema when a showing of a horror is on then you aware that you’re only asking horror enthusiast. Once the questionnaires had appropriately filled out, i needed to analyse and evaluate the data.
Further development from questionnaire results:
- I’ve finalised on using a dark forest for my location as it was the highest chosen result. I’m pleased for this result as my initial ideas were based in a forest so i’ll be able to develop my ideas further. Audience stated how it is important to establish location during an opening sequence which is ideal for a woodland location. I can climb up a tree and use high angle shots of the characters below and establishing shots of the woods. This is catering the audiences preference whilst establishing the genre.
- For characters i’ll be using two females and one male. There will be a male and female exchanging dialogue about a rumour they heard about the woods and then in the woods there will be a female ‘villain’. Makeup is vital in making an appearance frightening – the female villain will have dark eyes, red lips and a bruised pale face. My initial idea of this character is to make her appear like a young girl who haunts the forest; she could be in a white dress but the dress is now old, torn and dirty. The audience preference for explain general information about the film was through character dialogue. I’ll have to think of a detailed script which allows the audience to understand in greater depth. This is one way to create enigma codes.
- In the discovery of my the audience’s favourite horror films I learnt that it is usually horror films with unconventional narratives, this allows be to creative with my storyline.
- Audience prefer audios without words as they’re less distracting, even though I’m not add the stage of choosing an audio i’ll base the decision around the audience’s preference.
- The titles will be conventional – White writing on a black background. This was the most common result which the audience responded.
Quick cuts are used during the girls discovering the trashed room to create the sense of panic. There are a variety of the shot which show what the doll has done without having it move, the shots were purposely chosen to distract the audience from the fact that the doll can’t actually move like over the shot shots of the doll sitting and 
EmilyMorter 