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%
sawTheAftermathasathriller,whichindicatesto
usthatlesstypicalconventionsofhorrorwereused
inourproduction.Howeverthiscanalsobechalked
uptothereputationoftheapocalypsesubgenre
whichcanbeseenasbothasathriller(i.e
Bookof
Eli,TheMazeRunner
)orahorror(i.e
28DaysLater,
DawnoftheDead
)duetothetwoverydifferent
marketsforadultsandteensleadingtoa
predominanceofthrillerfilmsalsowithinthisgenre.
Inourownproductionwemayhavealsoadheredto
thethrillergenreduetotheuseofeditingtobuild
tension,andlackoftypicalhorrorgorewhichwe
chosenottoincludeasitdidntfitintoourparameters
foratrailer,whichdoesntoftengiveawayaspects
suchasbodyhorror.

Thisdata[2]hasshownusthatnotonlyhavewesuccessfullyconformedtoourchosen
genre,butourmorenichegenreisalsohighlyevidentinourtraileras59.18%saiditwasvery
relevantinourtrailerforTheAftermath.Whenfurtherquestionedpeoplesaidthatthe
prevalenceofourgenrecameprimarilyfromthemusicandbuildingoffearthroughthe
characters.Manynotedthattheuseofnewsclipsandeditingatthebeginningwaseffective
inoutliningtheplotandindicatinggenre.


Ourdata[3]indicatedthatwewereoverall
successfulinourportrayalofgenreand
creationofourtraileras84%ofouraudience
saidfromthetraileralonetheywouldseethe
film.Thiscommunicatesthehowourresearch
anddepthofknowledgelookingathorrorfilms
anddeconstructionoftrailerspaidoff,asa
mere8people(16%)indicatedtheywerenot
interestedinTheAftermath.

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%ofviewerssaidourchoiceoflocationsand
settingwaseffective[5].Wepredominantlyused
ruralsettingsandopenspacestoencapsulatethe
vulnerabilityandisolationofthecharacters.Moving
fromthebusystreetsofLondonandurbansettings
suchasthetrainstation,totheopenspaceson
FarthingDownscomplementedourclimacticbuild
upandconveyedasenseofmovementinthe
narrative,aswellasusingtypicaltropesfromthe
horrorapocalypsesubgenre.Theruralareasin
filmssuchas
28WeeksLater
createthesolitude
necessarytocommunicatethedesperationofthe
charactersthroughsettinginjuxtapositiontothe
movementandrapideditingthetrailerbeganwith.

Clarityofnarrativewasacrucialaspectwekeptinmindwhileconstructingourtrailer,
duetotheamountoffootagerecordedwe
wantedtoconveytheinitialoutlineoftheplot
withoutmeaningbeinglostortheapocalypse
subgenrenotbeingconveyedaswehadto
createaseparatenarrativecommunicatinghow
thefilmsworldwasdifferenttoourown.87.76%
saidthatthroughthetrailernarrativewasmade
clear[6].Weusedthethreeactstructureasa
baseforourtrailer,thisallowedustoadhereto
thetypicaltrailerandconveythebasisofour
plotwithoutgivingawaythewholestory.
Viewersnotedthatthetrailersexpositionand
useofnewsclipseffectivelyconveyedthe
narrativeandapocalypsesubgenrebybuilding

upthefictiousworldourfilmissetin.Intheend
weeditedalotoffootagefromourfirstact
makingitconciseandthereforeclearertothe
majorityofouraudience,asonly12.24%feltwe
wereunsuccessfulinprovidingclarityofthefilms
plot.

96%ofpeopleagreedthatourmusicwas
effective[7]andcomplementedourtrailers
growingtensionandclimacticbuildup.Weused
fourseparatetrackstoconstructthetrailers
escalationtomontage,thisworkedwiththe
narrativesmultiplecrescendosthatarecommoninthehorrorgenre,leadinguptothefast
trackfinalactwhereinthesoundtrackcomestoaclimax.Weusedcinematictrailersoundsto
accompanythetrailersmusicandshots,suchasthedrummingintimewiththefilms
institutionalinformation.Thishelpeddrawthevisualandauditoryaspectsofofourtrailer
togetherintoonecohesiveproject.Wesucceededinthisendeavourasevidencedbythe
largepercentageofpeoplewhoagreedthatourmusicwaseffectivelyusedinthecreationof
ourproduct.

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.

Ourinspirationforourtitlecamefromour
apocalypsethemedmoodboardandthe
aftermathofanendoftheworldscenario.This
wouldhelpestablishgenrefromthetitlealone
andcreateasenseofhopelessnessasthefilm
issetafteranapocalypticevent.94%ofpeople
agreedthatthistitlewasrelevanttoourtrailer
andconformedtowhattheyexpectedfrom
genreandnarrative[9].Thismayhave
contributedto62%ofviewerswhoagreedour
filmbelongedtothehorrorgenre[1]andthe
100%thatsaidourfilmwasveryorsomewhatrelevanttotheapocalypsesubgenre[2].

96%ofpeoplesaidthatthetrailer,posterandmagazinecovercomplementoneanother[10].
Fromthisitsevidentweweresuccessfulincreatingacohesivebrandingimageforourfilm
whichconveystheapocalypsesubgenre.Acrossthemainandancillarytasksweused
monochromecoloursandminimalist
typographytoconformtoourcontemporary
styleofhorror,subvertingtheoftenovertuse

ofconventionsandhorroriconography.Similarlytheposterandtrailerutilizethenaturalistic
settingandtypicalconventionsofgenre,suchasthecolourredanddarkenedshadowsto
evokefeelingsofforebodingandterror,makingthegenreimmediatelyrecognizabletothe
audience.