Q3: WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED FROM YOUR AUDIENCE

FEEDBACK?
(SurveyMonkey Link)
When creating our media package, we aimed to create a product that adhered to the
apocalyptic horror sub-genre, with a modern approach that would work as a unique selling point.
This would have to be clear in all three of our products. To discover to what extent this was true
and how successful we were in appealing to our target demographic we created a survey on
surveymonkey.com. This allowed us to catalogue a wide response and collect data 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. 50
people participated giving us a wide range of data and responses to The Aftermath.

We
were
successful in our creation of a trailer that adhered to the horror genre as evidenced by our
feedback [1] , 62% of people said that our trailer was reflective of this genre. This is further
backed up by all of our audience agreeing our product was somewhat or very relevant to the
horror apocalypse sub-genre [2] . Many agreed that the inclusion of typical conventions of the

horror genre such as blood, shadows and lighting, and ambiguity of the pursuers made the
genre clear and evident from the beginning. The fact 32% of people saw our film as a thriller,
and 6% interpreted it as a drama [1] can also be seen in a positive light, as it shows that
narrative is layers and has features from different genres, not just horror. Therefore our trailer
appeals to a wider audience, as evidenced by the 84% who said that based on the trailer they
would want to see the film. This is important as not all the people we surveyed would statistically
be fans of the horror genre, and therefore the use of the hybrid genre in our product makes for a
more interesting and diverse film which doesnt totally adhere to what the genre expect, such as
the focus on human relationships in The Aftermath, and appeals to a wider demographic.
While all viewers were aware of the apocalypse sub-genre to some extent [2] , 32% saw
The Aftermath as a thriller, which indicates to us that
less typical conventions of horror were used in our
production. However this can also be chalked up to the
reputation of the apocalypse sub-genre which can be
seen as both as a thriller (i.e Book of Eli, The Maze
Runner) or a horror (i.e 28 Days Later, Dawn of the
Dead) due to the two very different markets for adults
and teens leading to a predominance of thriller films also
within this genre. In our own production we may have
also adhered to the thriller genre due to the use of
editing to build tension, and lack of typical horror gore
which we chose not to include as it didnt fit into our
parameters for a trailer, which doesnt often give away
aspects such as body horror.
This data [2] has shown us that not only have we
successfully conformed to our chosen genre, but our more niche genre is also highly evident in
our trailer as 59.18% said it was very relevant in our trailer for The Aftermath. When further
questioned people said that the prevalence of our genre came primarily from the music and
building of fear through the characters. Many noted that the use of news clips and editing at the
beginning was effective in outlining the plot and indicating genre.

Our data [3] indicated that we were overall

successful in our portrayal of genre and creation
of our trailer as 84% of our audience said from
the trailer alone they would see the film. This
communicates the how our research and depth
of knowledge looking at horror films and
deconstruction of trailers paid off, as a mere 8
people (16%) indicated they were not interested
in The Aftermath.

Our product
was successful in
appeal to its target demographic, young people are conventionally fans of the horror genre and
thrills it provides. This was reflective in our survey [4] by the overwhelming 92% that said that
the 15-25 age group was the audience the trailer would appeal to the most. This question was
one that could have multiple answers, ie. people may believe The Aftermath was best suited
foteenagers as well as young adults. This also effectively shows the size of our potential
audience, and therefore the films potential success as it reaches more people without deviating
from the genre, as shown in the previous questions .
Our trailer was successful not only in adhering to the typical horror demographic [1] but varied in
than 22% said that it appealed to an older audience, and 12% said it appealed to a younger
audience. From this its clear that our trailer offered something new to the horror genre, as it was
constructed with a focus on the characters and their interactions such as Sam and Adrian's
relationship. This is not typical to most films within the horror genre which often discard their
characters and have them picked off one by one, as this is what works within the narrative of the
film. Comparatively , our narrative adhered to some aspect of the drama genre in that the

growing emotions of the characters were shown. When asked to develop on how they thought
this was shown our viewers claimed this was most acutely felt through the use of narrative and
voice. Our data shows that 13 people chose more than a single age group for this question,
indicating that the use of variety within genre and the modern aspects that appeal to the most
young movie-goers led to a wider potential demographic, as something new is being introduced
to an already popular genre.

96% of viewers said our choice of locations and setting

was effective [5] . We predominantly used rural settings
and open spaces to encapsulate the vulnerability and
isolation of the characters. Moving from the busy
streets of London and urban settings such as the train
station, to the open spaces on Farthing Downs
complemented our climactic build up and conveyed a
sense of movement in the narrative, as well as using
typical tropes from the horror apocalypse sub-genre.
The rural areas in films such as 28 Weeks Later create
the solitude necessary to communicate the desperation
of the characters through setting in juxtaposition to the
movement and rapid editing the trailer began with.
Clarity of narrative was a crucial aspect we kept in
mind while constructing our trailer, due to the
amount of footage recorded we wanted to convey
the initial outline of the plot without meaning being
lost or the apocalypse sub-genre not being
conveyed as we had to create a separate narrative
communicating how the films world was different to
our own. 87.76% said that through the trailer
narrative was made clear [6] . We used the three
act structure as a base for our trailer, this allowed
us to adhere to the typical trailer and convey the
basis of our plot without giving away the whole
story. Viewers noted that the trailers exposition and
use of news clips effectively conveyed the narrative
and apocalypse sub-genre by building up the
fictious world our film is set in.In the end we edited a
lot of footage from our first act making it concise and
therefore clearer to the majority of our audience, as
only 12.24% felt we were unsuccessful in providing
clarity of the films plot.
96% of people agreed that our music was effective
[7] and complemented our trailers growing tension

and climactic build up. We used four separate tracks to construct the trailers escalation to
montage, this worked with the narratives multiple crescendos that are common in the horror
genre, leading up to the fast track final act wherein the soundtrack comes to a climax. We used
cinematic trailer sounds to accompany the trailers music and shots, such as the drumming in
time with the films institutional information. This helped draw the visual and auditory aspects of
of our trailer together into one cohesive project. We succeeded in this endeavour as evidenced
by the large percentage of people who agreed that our music was effectively used in the
creation of our product.

We decided
that one of
products unique selling points was the use of modern conventions in the horror genre. 59.18%
people agreed this was evident in our trailer [8] . We used a wide spaced white font over
footage to create a contemporary looking style as well as an often bright vibrant shot choice and
binary colours, such as the bright sky in juxtaposition to the darker foreground. This
complemented our apocalypse sub-genre as the narrative presumably takes place in the future
therefore the use of modern conventions helps construct this genre and construct a varied take
on an already popular genre. 34.69% of viewers believed that there was evidence of
conventions from both classic and modern horror films as we used typical conventions of horror
in our product also so the viewer could recognize the genre and identify with the characters. For
example the typical dim lighting, enclosed setting of the garage and close up of the rattling door
knob are all to an extent stereotypes of the horror genre. However only 6.12% of our audience
thought that our film utilized conventions only from classic horror and its stereotypes. The

balance between the repetition and variation of genre allowed us to create something new in our
product, as a clean contemporary style helped construct genre and a USP for our film.

Our inspiration for our title came from our

apocalypse themed mood board and the aftermath
of an end of the world scenario. This would help
establish genre from the title alone and create a
sense of hopelessness as the film is set after an
apocalyptic event. 94% of people agreed that this
title was relevant to our trailer and conformed to
what they expected from genre and narrative [9] .
This may have contributed to 62% of viewers who
agreed our film belonged to the horror genre [1]
and the 100% that said our film was very or
somewhat relevant to the apocalypse sub-genre [2] .

96% of people said that the trailer, poster and magazine cover complement one another [10] .
From this its evident we were successful in creating a cohesive branding image for our film
which conveys the apocalypse sub-genre.
Across the main and ancillary tasks we used
monochrome colours and minimalist typography
to conform to our contemporary style of horror,
subverting the often overt use of conventions
and horror iconography. Similarly the poster and
trailer utilize the naturalistic setting and typical
conventions of genre, such as the colour red
and darkened shadows to evoke feelings of
foreboding and terror, making the genre
immediately recognizable to the audience.