Audience profile: Males aged 16-24

The target audience for our horror clip is males in the 16-24 age bracket. Here I will post a few mood boards illustrating certain elements of this audience group.

What they watch: males aged 16-24 are likely to watch programmes such as The Big Bang Theory, The Inbetweeners, The Cleveland Show, Scrubs, Family Guy and The Simpsons, but most especially, football.

What they read: they are likely to read FHM, Q magazine, Play magazine and Nintendo magazine.

What they play: they are likely to play video games such as Assasin's Creed, Call of Duty, Bioshock, Grand Theft Auto and Super Mario Galaxy.

What they wear: males of this age are likely to wear Converse trainers, t-shirts, hoodies, jeans, hair gel, perfume/aftershave and earings, from brands such as Jack Wills and Lacoste.

What they eat: finally, this audience is likely to consume drinks such as WKD and Pepsi, and food such as pizza, chicken nuggets, crisps and chocolate.

Here is another mood board for males aged 16-24. It contains clippings and images from magazines and newspapers which represent the main aspects of this audience group's lifestyle.

Font ideas

Here are a few ideas concerning the fonts we want to use for our opening titles.

"You Murderer", "My Scars" and "Chiller" are good fonts for our opening titles as they contain dripping or smudged liquid which can be assumed as blood, a good feature as blood is heavily related to the horror genre. As our clip is called Slaughter School, these bloody fonts also compliment the murderous and overly bloody nature of this title.
 

"Letter Gothic" and "X Files" are other good fonts, as despite their lack of horror convention, the typewriter style they have creates a school-like feel, complimenting the location of our clip and also hinting that there is going to be a darker side to education in this film. 

 

The font “Jellyka - le Grand Saut” also portrays a school-like but at the same time creepy feel, as its handwritten qualities relate it to work and lessons, but at the same time create a personal feel that is a little unnerving (as it could be the murderer's handwriting).

Props and costumes

Here are the props and costumes we are going to use in our horror clip, Slaughter School.

Props:
Watch - for when the main character checks the time and realises how late it is.
Fake blood - we plan to write a bloody message on the whiteboard in the media classroom.
Hammer - the killer will be carrying a weapon, in order to kill the victim.
School bag - our victim will not carry this bag, but it will be on the floor next to her as she sleeps (at the very beginning), to reinforce that she is in an educational location.

Costumes:
Killer – our killer will wear dark clothing, consisting of trousers, a hooded jacket (in which the hood will be up) and most importantly, a scary mask that conceals their identity. We have not yet decided on the nature of this mask, as it depends what is available to purchase, but we have come up with a few ideas of what it should look like.

Victim – our victim will wear leggings and a dress, as she has just spent the day at college, a place where most people are able to wear their own clothes, which are usually of a casual and everyday style.

Script

Our horror clip will not contain a great deal of dialogue, as our main character is alone with no one to converse with, and the killer will not speak in order to raise tension and create a sense of mystery. We also feel as if sounds and actions are far more important when conveying tension and fear in our clip. So, with regards to this, our script is very short and goes something like this:

As the main character hears a mysterious noise: "Hello? . . . Hello?!"


We may alter this in the future, but as our clip revolves around the strange feeling of being alone, we felt that having a restricted script would compliment this and add to the isolated feeling the main character is experiencing.

Weapon

We have decided to use a hammer as the weapon in our horror movie. We cannot bring a knife into school as it is too dangerous, but at the same time we don't want to use something like a rope as we feel it doesn't look threatening enough. So, we've decided on a hammer as it does have scary qualities (such as the spikes on the end) but it is safe to bring to school as it predominantly blunt.

Results of Questionnaire

Here are the results of my questionnaire:        

1. Out of fifteen people, nine were males and six were females
2. Two people were in the Under 16 category, there were ten people in the 16-24 category, none in 25-34, two in 35-60, and one in 60 Plus.

So, from now on, I will talk in terms of gender and age . . .

3. Out of fifteen participants, no one visits the cinema once a week, eleven people visit the cinema once a month (six males and five females/two under 16, eight 16-24 and one 35-60), three people visit the cinema once a year (two males and one female/two 16-24 and one 35-60) and one person does not visit the cinema at all (one male/60 plus).
4. Out of fifteen people, eight enjoy horror films (six males and two females/one under 16, seven 16-24 and one 35-60) and seven do not (three males and four females/one under 16, three 16-24, one 35-60 and one 60 plus). 
5. Here are the reasons why these people enjoy horror films: "I enjoy being scared", "They are unexpected", "They are very exciting", "You get to experience a variety of emotions when you watch a horror film", "Horror films create an atmosphere quite unlike anything any other genre creates", "I think horror movies are far more interesting compared to other films" and "I like the blood and gore". 
6. Here are the genres preferred by those who do not enjoy horror films: four people prefer comedy, two people prefer action and one person prefers romance.
7. Here are the favourite horror films of those who enjoy this genre: one person likes The Silence of the Lambs, one person enjoys the Exorcist, one person likes 28 Days Later, two participants think The Ring is the best horror film out there and three people say The Grudge is their favourite horror movie.
8. Out of fifteen participants, six enjoy going out with friends (two males and four females/one under 16 and five 16-24), one person likes going to parties (one male/16-24), three people enjoy watching films (two males and one female/one under 16, one 35-60 and one 60 plus), three people like playing video games (three males/16-24), no one likes listening to music, one person enjoys sport (one male/16-24) and one person likes doing hobbies (one female/35-60).
9. Five people like Pop (five females/four 16-24 and one 35-60), one person likes Hip-Hop (one male/under 16), no one likes R&B, seven people enjoy Rock music (six males and one female/one under 16, five 16-24 and one 35-60), one person likes the genre of Metal (one male/16-24), no one enjoys Country music, one person likes Classical music (one male/60 plus) and no one had any other preference.
10. Two people thought an isolated house would be the best location for a horror movie (two females/one 16-24 and one 35-60), six people thought that a school would be best (four males and two females/two under 16 and four 16-24), three people thought the woods (two males and one female/two 16-24 and one 60 plus), nobody thought a suburban area would be a good idea, nobody liked the beach/ocean either, two people thought a castle (one male and one female/all 16-24), one person voted for the cemetery (one male/16-24) and one person liked the idea of a hotel (one male/35-60). 

So, judging from the results of this questionnaire, my group and I can now see that males aged 16-24 are our target audience.

Questionnaire

Today I created a questionnaire based around horror films in order to get an idea of our target audience and to also conjure up possible extra ideas for our horror clip. When I receive all of the results from this questionnaire, I will post them on my blog. The questionnaire is as followed (I asked participants to circle their answer and to write on the line when required):

Are you a male or a female?  Male   Female
How old are you?  Under 16   16-24    25-34    35-60   60 plus
How often do you go to the cinema (roughly)?  Once a week   Once a month   Once a year    I don’t go to the cinema
Do you enjoy horror films?   Yes    No
If yes, why?
If no, what genre do you prefer?
Again, if yes, what is your favourite horror film?
What do you most enjoy doing in your spare time?  Going out with friends    Going to parties   Watching films    Playing video games   Listening to music    Sports   Hobbies
What is your favourite genre of music?  Pop   Hip Hop   R&B   Rock   Metal   Country   Classical   Other
What would you say is the best location for a horror film?  Isolated house  School   Woods   Suburban area   Beach/Ocean   Castle  Cemetery   Hotel