Feedback - Miss Spencer

Target audience feedback - This is targeted research which looks at who likes tyour genre. Well done. However I would like to see where you got this information from (add some graphs and make sure you credit your source)
Also try to find another source to confirm your findings.

Genre research feedback - Detailed and interesting research that makes good use of the Distinct formula to add structure.
However there are a couple of issues:

You must update the historical part of this research, the first horrors were made in the 1920's (or even just before) I have some good research material you can borrow to confirm this, or there is plenty of info on line.
Please add a few more images at the beginning of the post to illustrate your points.

Task 3.3 Target Audience Research

Age: The typical age for somebody that enjoys the horror genre is usually between 15 and 25. During young adulthood, people are in the key stages of developing their personalities and therefore are more open to experimenting with different emotions and feelings. The "teen spirit" makes adolescents want to rush into life without guidance and seek thrills which they can get from these horror films, which excite the younger audience much easier than an older one. Younger audiences are also less likely to be put off by violence and gore, which may make older audiences feel negative
towards the film.

Gender: Research shows that males are more likely to be fans of horror films compared to females, due to the "thrill seeker" persona which is portrayed by the stereotypical male who seek thrills to contest with their young adult hormones. Violence is also a convention of horror films which is a concept which is enjoyed by males. 

Class: Horror films are aimed at the working class community, due to the level of thrill and excitement which can be gained from them for a relatively cheap price. If the upper class watch horror films, they are usually a sub genre on another genre such as romance, action or comedy, due to the higher level of satisfaction these individuals seek whilst watching a film.

Groups of audiences: The usual audiences for horror films are usually groups of friends, however there are key groups that usually watch these films together. For instance, couples as the comfort that is needed after seeing horror films is to a level comfortable enough for a first date to be successful. Horror films are also good conversation starters after the film and therefore add to the success of the date.

Overall, the typical demographic for the target audience for the horror genre can be fairly broad, but research states that the majority will consist of young males who seek a thrill from the films for a cheap price. Horror films usually cast teenagers as their characters and due to this the audience will usually be of a similar age, as they can relate to the characters in the film. They often form a relationship due to the similarities between them which create a stronger emotional pull towards the film. The similarities also put the audience in the character's shoes, which help them to gain a stronger horrific effect.

Theorists
According to media theorists, when we as an audience consume media, we become a part of a 'mass audience'. In which we all individually experience it differently due to our different characteristics.

Herbert Blumer in the 1950's stated that during the war, Hitler and Stalin used the media as a tool to persuade mass audiences to follow their policies by using propaganda techniques. Posing the idea that media in the wrong hands can be dangerous. Blumer suggested that... 
1. Mass media audiences come from all walks of life
2. Mass audiences are anonymous
3. Little interaction or exchange of experiences exists between the mass.
4. The mass is very loosely organised and can not act within the unity of the crowd.

However, although this may have been the case in the 1950's, we can now discredit Blumer's findings as modern technologies such as the internet allow the mass to communicate and exchange experiences.

Media theorists eventually discovered that the mass audience was not just one group, but were segmented into smaller ones.

Demographics allow us to target our media products at specific people dependent on their 

• Race
• Class
• Gender
• Age
• Sexual Orientation
• Job
• Religion
• Disabilities

We in media mainly focus upon age, gender and race/ethnicity.

Young and Rubicam's four consumers
Mainstreamers: 40% of the population. They like security and belonging to a group.
Aspirers: Want status and the esteem of others. They like status symbols and designer labels.
Succeeders: People who have already got status and control.
Reformers: Define themselves by their self esteem and self fulfillment.

A contemporary approach to audience targeting is the Life Matrix which defines 10 audience categories.

1. Tribe Wired: Digital, free-spirited, creative thinking.
2. Fun /  Atics: Aspirational, fun-seeking, active young people.
3. Dynamic Duos: Hard driving, high involvement couples.
4. Priority Parents: Family values, activities, media strongly dominate.
5. Home soldiers: Home centric, family orientated
6. Renaissance women: Active, caring, influential mums.
7. Rugged Traditionalists: Traditional male values, love of outdoors.
8. Struggling Singles: High aspirations, low economic status
9. Settled Elders: Devout, older, sedentary lifestyles.
10. Free birds: Vital, active, altruistic seniors.

The horror film 'Saw' has an age rating of 15 in the UK.
An age 15 film can display any of the following:

•   strong violence

•   frequent strong language 

•   portrayals of sexual activity

•   strong verbal references to sex

•   sexual nudity

•   brief scenes of sexual violence or verbal references to sexual violence

•   discriminatory language or behaviour

•   drug taking

Due to the film's gore and violent nature. Nobody under the age of fifteen would be permitted to watch it due to the psychological harm it could do to somebody of a young age.

Its target audience would perhaps be Dynamic Duo couples or people in the Fun /  Atics category. Due to the gruesome images and fast paced story line in the film, that people without a hard driving personality may not necessarily enjoy seeing.

For our film 'Arabella' I think that our target audience would fall into the Tribe Wired or people in the Fun / Atics category. As it is a creative film that addresses urban legends, which is a controversial topic that people would need to keep an open mind to enjoy. Also, due to the film starring teenagers, younger people may enjoy the film more then older people as they can relate to the characters and the themes within it. 

Task 2.2 Horror Genre Research

Horror films usually contain many stereotypical conventions that allow the audience to associate a film with the genre even if they have not researched into it. 

Horror films usually have a very distinctive setting, for example, they will usually be set in small isolated communities, in urban environments with lots of dark streets and narrow alleyways. Many of them are set in large cities or ''ghost towns'' with a dark history, with buildings such as abandoned houses and asylums that connote isolation and a fear triggering past. Many locations that are considered to be conventions include, Lakes, Dark woods, Cabins, Underground tunnels, Abandoned houses, Graveyards, Asylums and Haunted house basements.

They also have a very common technical code, which includes expressive, unnatural camera work with lots of point of view shots and high and low angles. The high and low angles connote fear, whilst POV shots allow the audience to see the story from the antagonist's eye, and is usually used at  the end of a typical horror film. We see a very long POV shot in the opening of 'Halloween' when Michael Myers kills his first victim. Handheld shots are also commonly used to make it difficult for the audience to make out what is happening. The entire film 'Cloverfield' is shot using handheld shots and so is the majority of 'The Blair Witch Project' as the shot promotes the feeling of terror and uncertainty as the documentary vibe makes the plot appear realistic. Ambient sound is also important within horror films, to create an element of uncertainty, for example it is common to hear lots of footsteps and heartbeats. The editing of the film is also paramount for creating tension and suspense. If the editing is slow and unpaced, we know to expect that something scary is likely to jump out unexpectedly.

A horror film has many conventions within its iconography. It's visual style often includes very dark colours such as black and red which links to the themes of evil, blood and danger. We often see this within the opening credits of the film. The lighting of the film is usually expressive and not naturalistic, low lighting  helps to create shadows in the darkness and unnerve the audience. Props are also used to further identify the genre, such as chainsaws, machetes, firearms, axes, masks, supernatural and religions icons and knives.

A horror film's narrative structure usually conveys many conventions. One conventional narrative is primarily seen in ''Slasher films''. Where a traumatic childhood event creates an insane, vengeful killer who returns to his home town and usually preys on teenagers to get revenge, Teenagers are conventional victims as they represent an immoral, stupid generation. Most of the teenagers are killed very quickly, but there is almost always a survivor, who is most likely to be a female character.

The horror genre usually has a main protagonist who will often be the victim or hero of the film and an antagonist who will commonly be a monster, mutated human, alien or serial killer. There will often be particularly 'stupid' teenage characters who will be killed quickly and often creepy children who will take on an evil role. We also see police officers who can either be good or bad and many more which include ghosts, zombies, demons, stalkers and psychopaths. Conventional themes include good versus evil, depression, religion, revenge, zombie apocalypse, nightmares, madness, envy and supernatural. Which are all concepts which are unsettling and chilling for the audience.

In 1986 the first ever horror film was called 'Le Manoir du diable' which translated, means 'The Haunted Castle'. This was made by Georges Melies who made several films throughout the 1980's, which were all silent short films about supernatural events. Then, in the 1900's the first monster appeared in a horror film which came from the book 'Notre Dame de Paris' written by Victor Hugo. In 1922, the first vampire themed horror film was released, called 'Nosferatu' which was an unauthorised adaptation of Dracula written by Bram Stoker. In the 1930's, the Frankenstein series was introduced by Universal Pictures. Between 1950 and the 1970's the horror genre saw a move towards the supernatural and demonic horror, due to what was happening in the world at the time and people's fears and beliefs.

You can usually spot the conventions of horror films on the front cover and advertisement for the film. For example, on the cover of the film 'Halloween', there are sinister images symbolic of a horror film, for example knives and masks and the colour orange, which is a common connotation of Halloween. The mask we can see in the image is made up of screenshots from the film itself, which is intended to give the audience a preview of the kind of themes that will be shown in the film. The title is written in bold letters, in an orange colour which again connotes Halloween and the sharp, large letters are also a convention. The actors are not stated on the front of the cover but the director is, who is a well known horror genre director. His name is purposely stated, so that people are persuaded to watch the film, due to them knowing his good reputation and therefore having confidence that the film will be worth watching. 

The top 10 Horror Films (As voted by IMDB users)
1. The Shining
2. Alien
3. Shaun of the Dead
4. Psycho
5. Cloverfield
6. Zombieland
7. Saw
8. The Exorcist
9. 28 Days Later
10. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

The Sub-Genres

• Slasher
• Splatter
• Vampire
• Zombie
• J-Horror
• Thriller
• Monster

• Psychological

Splatter Films

These types of films display extreme gore and graphic violence. These films, through the use of special effects and excessive blood and guts and tend to show an interest in the vulnerability of the human body.

An example of a popular 'Splatter Film' is Saw (2004) which is an independent horror film directed by James Wan that features a man and his sadistic puppet who abduct people from their homes and chain them in different 'games' where they are instructed by a tape recording the rules they must follow in order to win their lives.

Psychological Films
Psychological horror films have become very popular in modern day cinema which attempt to inflict fear into their audience by introducing a level of realism. These films are usually based around the disturbed human psyche and focus upon possession and dark forces that can take the roles of witches (The Blair Witch Project), ghosts (The Haunting) or demons (The Exorcist.

An example of this is Paranormal Activity (2009) which is a supernatural horror film written and directed by Oren Peli. The film displays a young couple who are haunted by a supernatural presence in their home. It is presented in the style of 'Found Footage' from a camera the couple set up in an attempt to capture video evidence of whatever is haunting them. This film displays the increasingly popular method of camera work, the ‘documentary’ style.
This involves using a lot of POV shots and setting up the camera so it looks like the characters in the horror film are filming the events themselves. This creates a more realistic feel for the audience, as they feel more involved in the events of the film and it also helps create the illusion that even the most unrealistic sequences are possible. 

Most of the nineteenth century’s greatest novelists tired to incorporate some horror into their books. People like Charles Dickens wrote a number of ghost stories including A Christmas Carol. Also novelists like Herman Melville incorporated many supernatural elements into Moby Dick, as did Nathaniel Hawthorne with The Scarlet Letter and The House of the Seven Gables. However, as the century started the highly develop many writers turned to the short stories to scare their readers, this included Edgar Allen Poe.

The Gothic tradition continued in the 19th century giving birth to the icons of horror. These include:

Frankenstein

The creation of Frankenstein's monster was made by a young girl who wrote these novels and over time, it was mistaken that the creature's name was Frankenstein but in actual fact, the creature had no name.

Other legendary figures of the horror, from the 19th century are the murderers, Dracula, Burke and Hare known as 'body snatchers'. Sweeney Todd aka the demon barber of fleet street and Jack the Ripper