Q3:WHATHAVEYOULEARNEDFROMYOURAUDIENCE

FEEDBACK?

(SurveyMonkeyLink
)

When creating our media package, we aimed to create a product that adhered to the
apocalyptic horror subgenre, with a modern approach that would work as a unique selling
point. This would have to be clear in all three of our products.Todiscovertowhatextentthis
was true and how successful we were in appealing to our target demographic we created a
survey on surveymonkey.com. Thisallowed ustocatalogueawideresponseandcollectdata
from beyond just our target audience, making sure it was not age/gender biased. We also
used social media to get more developed answers from our viewers making our feedback
more accurate. 50peopleparticipated giving us a wide range of data and responses to The
Aftermath.

Weweresuccessfulinourcreationofatrailerthatadheredtothehorrorgenreasevidenced
byourfeedback[1],62%ofpeoplesaidthatourtrailerwasreflectiveofthisgenre.Thisis
furtherbackedupbyallofouraudienceagreeingourproductwassomewhatorveryrelevant
tothehorrorapocalypsesubgenre[2].Manyagreedthattheinclusionoftypicalconventions
ofthehorrorgenresuchasblood,shadowsandlighting,andambiguityofthepursuersmade
thegenreclearandevidentfromthebeginning.Thefact32%ofpeoplesawourfilmasa
thriller,and6%interpreteditasadrama[1]canalsobeseeninapositivelight,asitshows
thatnarrativeislayersandhasfeaturesfromdifferentgenres,notjusthorror.Thereforeour
trailerappealstoawideraudience,asevidencedbythe84%whosaidthatbasedonthe
trailertheywouldwanttoseethefilm.Thisisimportantasnotallthepeoplewesurveyed
wouldstatisticallybefansofthehorrorgenre,andthereforetheuseofthehybridgenreinour
productmakesforamoreinterestinganddiversefilmwhichdoesnttotallyadheretowhatthe
genreexpect,suchasthefocusonhumanrelationshipsinTheAftermath,andappealstoa
widerdemographic.

Whileallviewerswereawareoftheapocalypsesubgenretosomeextent[2],32%sawThe
Aftermathasathriller,whichindicatestousthatlesstypicalconventionsofhorrorwereused
inourproduction.Howeverthiscanalsobechalkeduptothereputationoftheapocalypse
subgenrewhichcanbeseenasbothasathriller(i.e
BookofEli,TheMazeRunner
)ora
horror(i.e
28DaysLater,DawnoftheDead
)duetothetwoverydifferentmarketsforadults
andteensleadingtoapredominanceofthrillerfilmsalsowithinthisgenre.Inourown
productionwemayhavealsoadheredtothethrillergenreduetotheuseofeditingtobuild
tension,andlackoftypicalhorrorgorewhichwechosenottoincludeasitdidntfitintoour
parametersforatrailer,whichdoesntoftengiveaway
aspectssuchasbodyhorror.

Thisdata[2]hasshownusthatnotonlyhavewe
successfullyconformedtoourchosengenre,butourmore
nichegenreisalsohighlyevidentinourtraileras59.18%
saiditwasveryrelevantinourtrailerforTheAftermath.
Whenfurtherquestionedpeoplesaidthattheprevalenceof
ourgenrecameprimarilyfromthemusicandbuildingof
fearthroughthecharacters.Manynotedthattheuseof
newsclipsandeditingatthebeginningwaseffectivein
outliningtheplotandindicatinggenre.

Ourdata[3]indicatedthatwewereoverallsuccessfulinour
portrayalofgenreandcreationofourtraileras84%ofour
audiencesaidfromthetraileralonetheywouldseethefilm.
Thiscommunicatesthehowourresearchanddepthof
knowledgelookingathorrorfilmsanddeconstructionof

trailerspaidoff,asamere8people(16%)indicatedtheywerenotinterestedinThe
Aftermath.

Ourproductwassuccessfulinappealtoitstargetdemographic,youngpeopleare
conventionallyfansofthehorrorgenreandthrillsitprovides.Thiswasreflectiveinoursurvey
[4]bytheoverwhelming92%thatsaidthatthe1525agegroupwastheaudiencethetrailer
wouldappealtothemost.Thisquestionwasonethatcouldhavemultipleanswers,ie.people
maybelieveTheAftermathwasbestsuitedfoteenagersaswellasyoungadults.Thisalso
effectivelyshowsthesizeofourpotentialaudience,andthereforethefilmspotentialsuccess
asitreachesmorepeoplewithoutdeviatingfromthegenre,asshownintheprevious
questions.

Ourtrailerwassuccessfulnotonlyinadheringtothetypicalhorrordemographic[1]butvaried
inthan22%saidthatitappealedtoanolderaudience,and12%saiditappealedtoayounger
audience.Fromthisitsclearthatourtrailerofferedsomethingnewtothehorrorgenre,asit
wasconstructedwithafocusonthecharactersandtheirinteractionssuchasSamand
Adrian'srelationship.Thisisnottypicaltomostfilmswithinthehorrorgenrewhichoften
discardtheircharactersandhavethempickedoffonebyone,asthisiswhatworkswithinthe
narrativeofthefilm.Comparatively,ournarrativeadheredtosomeaspectofthedrama
genreinthatthegrowingemotionsofthecharacterswereshown.Whenaskedtodevelopon

howtheythoughtthiswasshownourviewersclaimedthiswasmostacutelyfeltthroughthe
useofnarrativeandvoice.Ourdatashowsthat13peoplechosemorethanasingleage
groupforthisquestion,indicatingthattheuseofvarietywithingenreandthemodernaspects
thatappealtothemostyoungmoviegoersledtoawiderpotentialdemographic,as
somethingnewisbeingintroducedtoanalreadypopulargenre.

96%ofviewerssaidourchoiceoflocationsandsetting
waseffective[5].Wepredominantlyusedruralsettings
andopenspacestoencapsulatethevulnerabilityand
isolationofthecharacters.Movingfromthebusy
streetsofLondonandurbansettingssuchasthetrain
station,totheopenspacesonFarthingDowns
complementedourclimacticbuildupandconveyeda
senseofmovementinthenarrative,aswellasusing
typicaltropesfromthehorrorapocalypsesubgenre.
Theruralareasinfilmssuchas
28WeeksLater
create
thesolitudenecessarytocommunicatethedesperation
ofthecharactersthroughsettinginjuxtapositiontothe
movementandrapideditingthetrailerbeganwith.

Clarityofnarrativewasacrucialaspectwekeptin
mindwhileconstructingourtrailer,duetotheamount
offootagerecordedwewantedtoconveytheinitial
outlineoftheplotwithoutmeaningbeinglostorthe
apocalypsesubgenrenotbeingconveyedaswehad
tocreateaseparatenarrativecommunicatinghowthe
filmsworldwasdifferenttoourown.87.76%saidthat
throughthetrailernarrativewasmadeclear[6].We
usedthethreeactstructureasabaseforourtrailer,
thisallowedustoadheretothetypicaltrailerand
conveythebasisofourplotwithoutgivingawaythe
wholestory.Viewersnotedthatthetrailersexposition
anduseofnewsclipseffectivelyconveyedthenarrativeandapocalypsesubgenreby
buildingupthefictiousworldourfilmissetin.Intheendweeditedalotoffootagefromour
firstactmakingitconciseandthereforeclearertothemajorityofouraudience,asonly
12.24%feltwewereunsuccessfulinprovidingclarityof
thefilmsplot.

96%ofpeopleagreedthatourmusicwaseffective[7]
andcomplementedourtrailersgrowingtensionand

climacticbuildup.Weusedfourseparatetrackstoconstructthetrailersescalationto
montage,thisworkedwiththenarrativesmultiplecrescendosthatarecommoninthehorror
genre,leadinguptothefasttrackfinalactwhereinthesoundtrackcomestoaclimax.We
usedcinematictrailersoundstoaccompanythetrailersmusicandshots,suchasthe
drummingintimewiththefilmsinstitutionalinformation.Thishelpeddrawthevisualand
auditoryaspectsofofourtrailertogetherintoonecohesiveproject.Wesucceededinthis
endeavourasevidencedbythelargepercentageofpeoplewhoagreedthatourmusicwas
effectivelyusedinthecreationofourproduct.

Wedecidedthatoneofproductsuniquesellingpointswastheuseofmodernconventionsin
thehorrorgenre.59.18%peopleagreedthiswasevidentinourtrailer[8].Weusedawide
spacedwhitefontoverfootagetocreateacontemporarylookingstyleaswellasanoften
brightvibrantshotchoiceandbinarycolours,suchasthebrightskyinjuxtapositiontothe
darkerforeground.Thiscomplementedourapocalypsesubgenreasthenarrative

presumablytakesplaceinthefuturethereforetheuseofmodernconventionshelpsconstruct
thisgenreandconstructavariedtakeonanalreadypopulargenre.34.69%ofviewers
believedthattherewasevidenceofconventionsfrombothclassicandmodernhorrorfilmsas
weusedtypicalconventionsofhorrorinourproductalsosotheviewercouldrecognizethe
genreandidentifywiththecharacters.Forexamplethetypicaldimlighting,enclosedsetting
ofthegarageandcloseupoftherattlingdoorknobarealltoanextentstereotypesofthe
horrorgenre.Howeveronly6.12%ofouraudiencethoughtthatourfilmutilizedconventions
only
fromclassichorroranditsstereotypes.Thebalancebetweentherepetitionandvariation
ofgenreallowedustocreatesomethingnewinourproduct,asacleancontemporarystyle
helpedconstructgenreandaUSPforourfilm.

Ourinspirationforourtitlecamefromourapocalypse
themedmoodboardandtheaftermathofanendof
theworldscenario.Thiswouldhelpestablishgenre
fromthetitlealoneandcreateasenseof
hopelessnessasthefilmissetafteranapocalyptic
event.94%ofpeopleagreedthatthistitlewasrelevant
toourtrailerandconformedtowhattheyexpected
fromgenreandnarrative[9].Thismayhave
contributedto62%ofviewerswhoagreedourfilm
belongedtothehorrorgenre[1]andthe100%that
saidourfilmwasveryorsomewhatrelevanttothe
apocalypsesubgenre[2].

96%ofpeoplesaidthatthetrailer,posterand
magazinecovercomplementoneanother[10].From
thisitsevidentweweresuccessfulincreatinga
cohesivebrandingimageforourfilmwhichconveys
theapocalypsesubgenre.Acrossthemainand
ancillarytasksweusedmonochromecoloursand
minimalisttypographytoconformtoourcontemporary
styleofhorror,subvertingtheoftenovertuseof
conventionsandhorroriconography.Similarlythe
posterandtrailerutilizethenaturalisticsettingand

typicalconventionsofgenre,suchasthecolourredanddarkenedshadowstoevokefeelings
offorebodingandterror,makingthegenreimmediatelyrecognizabletotheaudience.