Family & Friend Screenings

We were given a DVD with our finished sequence on, and as my group had only screened in front of 17-18 year olds I thought I would get some personal feedback from people outside school. Instead of using a questionnaire I just talked to them about it, and this is what I found out.

Mum (aged 46): Does not like the horror genre at all and as a result was very jumpy. She admitted she does not like the violence of the genre but was impressed by the acting and cinematic experience it provided. She missed certain aspects such as the production company and the foot that moves near the end. However, the plot did not confuse her and she got an almighty shock at the end with the hand slamming against the door. She found the flickering lights a bit dazzling and said she would only have watched the rest of the film if I had actually directed it for real!

Dad (aged 49): Does not usually watch horror but would if it was meant to be good. He was very impressed with the music and atmosphere and found the location very sinister. He said he felt nervous the whole way through as if something was going to happen but he was also dazzled because of the flickering lights and as a result missed some dialogue and the foot at the end. He wanted to find out why the victim was there and what had possessed the killer, so would watch on.

Uncle (aged 51): Enjoys quite alot of horror films althought not necessarily gore. He really enjoyed the sequence and understand everything as well as the enigmas that he wanted to find out. He admitted he was a little bit confused by the foot but worked out by the end that it was another victim - adding he thought there was too much clutter around the foot. All in all though, he would watch the rest of the film and actually preferred it to the 'Hostel' film he saw, which he did not like because it was too farfetched.

Cousin (aged 25): Likes horror movies but prefers action thrillers. He was extremely impressed by how filmic it was and the mysteries he encountered - he wanted to find out more! He was a little sad to find no real violence in the scene but I assured him more would have come in the actual film. He had no criticisms at all and told me to give the actors a pat on the back for an Oscar-winning performance.

Brother (aged 19): Loves any films including horror. He really enjoyed the sequence and thought the pace and structure, and how heldback the narrative was was excellent. Being a film student at university, he claimed he could take the film from there and actually make it into something special with a twisted plot. He thought the flickering lights were actually effective in unsettling you and added to the anticipation something would happen. He also was impressed by the depth in the killer's character and said his acting was amazing for a sixth form student. His one criticism was the blurry camera occasionally, saying we could have changed the manual settings to eradicate this. However, he said he would definately want to see more.

Nan (aged 74): Has never watched a horror film because she would be too scared. Like mum, she did not enjoy the violence and could not take the intense atmosphere. She thought it really looked like a film though and added that the acting was convincing and clear. She got confused with the 'putting to sleep' scene and did not see the foot move, but we turned the volume down so she did not get too shocked by the scream sound with the hand, which she thought was the scariest thing she had ever seen. She would not want to see more despite the fact she was impressed with it.

Family Friends (mum & dad aged 40's, one son aged 16, one son aged 13): The mum and dad had pretty much the same views as my mum and dad, with their dad enjoying it slightly more. The 16 year old son really liked it and said he had seen 'Saw', referencing it to the start of that (spooky!). He said he would definately watch on because he likes watching horror films to see how scary they really are and he likes to pick holes in them (though he could not pick any in ours). The 13 year old is not really allowed to watch films rated over 15, but he liked the film, understood it and asked alot of questions about why things were happening (meaning he wanted to find out more). He got a bit scared at the end with the hand, which I think shows the 18 rating would be more suitable and any hardcore 13 year olds can get their hands on the DVD!

Overall, this feedback was very useful and concluded alot of things. The people that mattered most were my brother and cousin (part of the core audience) and they were the ones who had most knowledge of horror and enjoyed the film most because they watched that sort of thing. They were impressed by it, which is very hopeful for the films success. The wider audience had more mixed views about the film, which is expected. The adults in their 40's would not usually watch that genre, but the men did still find it interesting, proving some adults of this age might go to see it. My nan was probably too old and had never seen a film like it, so the potential for old people is not very high, which does not matter a great deal as it is way outside our core audience. The people below our core audience age were the 16 and 13 year old, and they both enjoyed it too. The 16 year old said he would watch on despite being under the age rating, showing lots of kids this age and maybe below would watch such a DVD. Even the 13 year old did enjoy it although slightly creeped out by it all. I think there is a little bit of potential either side of the core audience and plenty within it. At the end of the day, it is probably more about whether you actually like the horror genre or not as to whether you would truly enjoy our sequence!