Audience research

15 – Suitable only for 15 years and over

No one younger than 15 may see a 15 film in a cinema. No one younger than 15 may rent or buy a 15 rated video work.

Through research and observation I found most horror movies are rated at least 15's, this is often due to their dark nature and explicitly. The typical target audience for horror is the demographic of 15- 24 year olds and mostly male, this is also given the main characters in the films are similar ages. Through some statistical research however I found the popularity of horror amongst the female audience has risen. As our main character is a teenage female and our film will be exploring dark themes we felt this rating would be the best suited rating for our target audience of teen females. I also find increasing the ratings increases curiosity particularly within a teen audience as its as if it is more exclusive to them.

Discrimination

The work as a whole must not endorse discriminatory language or behaviour, although there may be racist, homophobic or other discriminatory themes and language.

As our film is set from the perspective of a teenage girl and we look to address current themes of discrimination, particularly in the school setting it may contain themes of discrimination and portray it in a true nature, however not endorsing it. However in our opening piece, there will be no themes of discrimination.

Drugs

Drug taking may be shown but the work as a whole must not promote or encourage drug misuse (for example, through instructional detail). The misuse of easily accessible and highly dangerous substances (for example, aerosols or solvents) is unlikely to be acceptable.

Our film will not contain any encouraging of highly classed drug use. However, it may contain themes of underaged drinking. In our opening as it is set after a party there may be discarded alcohol bottles etc. but there will be no display of underaged drinking.

Imitable behaviour

Dangerous behaviour (for example, hanging, suicide and self-harming) should not dwell on detail which could be copied. Whether the depiction of easily accessible weapons is acceptable will depend on factors such as realism, context and setting.

As this is a slasher film it is given that there will be a lot of 'imitable' behaviour and murder. However, we have made sure not to dwell on these scenes and portray them subtly. In the opening there will be scenes with weapons however their will not be any graphic scenes with these weapons.

Language

There may be strong language. Very strong language may be permitted, depending on the manner in which it is used, who is using the language, its frequency within the work as a whole and any special contextual justification.

As we want to make our film true to character display and realistic , our opening and film are likely to contain strong language. As the characters are above 16 we feel this is fitted to the context and justified.

Nudity

There are no constraints on nudity in a non-sexual or educational context. There may be nudity in a sexual context but usually without strong detail.

Our opening doesn't contain any nudity

Sex

Sexual activity may be portrayed, but usually without strong detail. There may be strong verbal references to sexual behaviour, but the strongest references are unlikely to be acceptable unless justified by context. Works whose primary purpose is sexual arousal or stimulation are unlikely to be acceptable.

Our opening will not contain sexual activity

Threat

There may be strong threat and horror. A sustained focus on sadistic or sexual threat is unlikely to be acceptable.

One again as our film is a slasher film it will contain lots of strong threats and horror. In our opening there is one victim of threat however, none of a sadistic or sexual nature.

Violence

Violence may be strong but should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury. The strongest gory images are unlikely to be acceptable. Strong sadistic violence is also unlikely to be acceptable. There may be detailed verbal references to sexual violence but the depiction of sexual violence must be discreet and justified by context.

Our opening doesn't contain sorry images however there is suggestion of infliction of pain or injury, but not a big enough amount to break the guidelines.

FOCUS GROUP

For our focus group we have selected 5 teenage girls, all ages 16-18 for target audience research. We have made sure to have it contain some fans of horror and some who aren't particularly. We feel this will help judge the effectiveness of our opening.

After presenting our film concept to the group, we decided to ask them a few open ended questions pre-production;

(Participant number 2 is male) 
How old are you?

1. 16

2. 18

3. 17

4. 16

5. 16

Whats your favourite genre of film and favourite film or tv show?

1. Horror- Scream

2. Horror - House of Wax

3. Horror - Scream Queens

4. Action/ Thriller - Silence of the Lambs

5. Comedy - Juno

Would you watch this film?

1.  "Yah, sounds cool"

2.  "Sure with a couple of friends probably"

3.  "Maybe but I think I'd need to know more first"

4.  "If the plot line is strong then yes but it is at risk of sounding like a typical slasher I             think"

5.  "I probably wouldn't pick it out of a line up, and I don't really like horror movies but           the main character sounds interesting"

What age rating would you give it?

1. "Sounds like a 15 if you're not going to go down the gory root"

2. "I'd hope it was a 15"

3. "12 or 15"

4. "depends but 15 like most horror movies"

5. "I don't know really..like an 18 or 15"

Horror viewing Statistics:

UK independent films earned a larger proportion of their overall box office from the ‘PG’, ‘15’ and ‘18’ classifications than the other two categories in 2015. The top earning independent UK films in each of these classifications shows how the pattern of box office by rating each year is usually determined by a small number of high grossing releases. The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel earned 80% of the total box office for ‘PG’ rated independent UK films, the combined grosses of The Woman in Black: Angel of Death and Amy made up 28% of the total box office for ‘15’ rated independent UK films, and Legend earned 73% of the category’s total box office for ‘18’ rated releases.

The statistics here show that 36% of males who answered the survey enjoy watching horror films compared to 44% females, these figures differ from the Sky Horror channel who reported that 58% of their viewers are male.  The difference in these statistics demonstrate that both genders enjoy watching horror films and surprisingly in this case females more than males. 

"In 2014, 15-24 year olds made up the largest proportion of the UK cinema audience, at 31%." -BFI website 

This fact informs me that the most popular age group which visited UK cinemas were indeed between the ages of 15-24. As we are aiming to appeal to this age group this reassures our decision.

"A wide range of genres appealed to women, whereas men were drawn to films with a strong action element " – BFI website

I think our selected genre 'horror' will appeal to both genders equally. The element of darkness we will create but with a feminine protagonist we hope will appeal to our target audience- females.