Design Practice

Audience Selection & Research

As part of my gathering of research to support my chosen subject area I have been reading up on a couple of articles about why we love horror films. Supporting my claim about my target audience, a recent article online on Science Daily discusses the recent film 'The Fourth Kind' (Universal Pictures), "Researchers say one reason we watch is because the thrill calls up primal behavior, mainly in males, to assess threat levels. (The typical horror-flick viewer is a male adolescent between the ages of 15 and 45.)", (Leslie Fink, National Science Foundation).

In supporting of my chosen topic, as to why horror films might appeal to those people whom may not wish to view romanticised films over Valentines day, it could be suggested that, "...social scientists suggest we watch for different reasons, which include enjoying the adrenaline rush, being distracted from mundane life, vicariously thumbing our noses at social norms, and enjoying a voyeuristic glimpse of the horrific from a safe distance."

However a recent article on Entertainment Weekly looking at the film 'Jennifer's Body' suggests that because of such stereotypical horror films with men chasing down women this film was designed to break down the boundaries and reverse roles to empower women as the snarling beast, another recent film which seems to break down the boundaries is 'Orphan' again looking at making the feminine role protagonistic. The article further goes on to discuss how although men in their younger ages tend toward violent films, women audiences unlike men are likely to be more loyal where inspite of age, ''Men stop seeing horror at a certain age, but women continue to go.''

Sources:

http://www.livescience.com/culture/091106-bts-horror-movies.html

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20293304,00.html