PSYCHOLOGICAL THRILLERS QUESTIONNAIRE - FEEDBACK

By Sara Avramovska (SA) & Monisha Roy (MR)

■ Myself (Sara Avramovska) and Monisha Roy (MR) have gathered our group of participants ( 100 participants however not all at the same time) within our media classroom and handed out this questionnaire. We have displayed a few short films we have found on YouTube in order to help our audience answer the questionnaire more effectively and reliably. We have displayed around 3 Psychological Short Thriller films we found as well as any that our audience required to re-watch such as the Black Swan or The Butterfly Effect movie scenes therefore the feedback will not be based only on one particular short film we had chosen but rather a broad range.

■ Here are the 3 Psychological Thrillers we had displayed to start of this session:

https://youtu.be/pLwDhH0I2Iohttps://youtu.be/_9MPydNcxaohttps://youtu.be/pwvECOFJwFo

What are you favourite psychological thriller movie? (Please List 3 below)

• Black Swan.• The silence of the

lambs. • The game• Psycho • The Ring • Saw• Cube• Paranormal Activity • Insomnia • Panic Room • Requiem for a

dream• Frozen • The Woman in Black

• The Butterfly Effect • Sleep Tight • Red Dragon • The Broken • The Hunter • Identity• Hide and Seek• Fracture • What lies beneath• Hannibal • Awake • Trauma • Don’t say a word

What intensifies your experience of watching your favourite movie? (Psychological Thriller) Why?

BELOW ARE SOME EXAMPLE ANSWERS:

• ‘’The intense interplay of emotions and internal conflicts between characters (actors). It intrigues my attention or the audiences attention and keeps my or their eyes glued on to the screen, and I believe that if the actors play their role effectively, I will defiantly watch the film ’’

• ‘’ I feel as if sound Is extremely important. Usually you don’t notice it while watching the film as you are entirely engaged within the film to a point where the cinematic field, or cinematic aspects rather, are almost unnoticeable, It feels like real life experience. However once we were shown the short films by Sara and Monisha, and asked this question I realised the importance of sound especially how well it is synced with what's happening within the film. It creates a sense of movement, a sense of reality, as if you were in the film yourself!’’

• ‘’I feel drawn to emotion from the music within Thriller films or any films in general. It advantages and mimics the visual image’

• ‘’Dim and Mysterious lighting.’’• ‘’ Dialogue kept at minimum. I dislike it when the tension and suspense is

build up and then the characters speak. Its just distracting, kills the mood and focus. It irritates me.’’

• ‘’I enjoy supernatural figures in psychological thillers and the realistic makeup. It emphasises the sense of realism and puts you in the shoes of the character that has to face a particular supernatural situation, engaging you as the audience to face the situation along with the actor themselves.’’

What aspects/elements of Psychological Thrillers do you dislike?

Most of our participants struggled to find an answer for this question, the few feedbacks that we have gathered are simply related to sound issues, lighting and unclear camera movements therefore as a group we will aim to do our best to achieve an effective and efficient quality of filming and editing the final product. We aim to research furthermore into these aspects of cinematography such as on how to use the tools of Final Cut Pro as none of our group members have used it previously. Either myself (SA) or MR will conduct this research on CONSTRUCTION - Editing Final Pieces (Movie Poster, Film Review and Short FIlm Scenes).

What intensifies your experience while watching psychological thriller?

Beneath are a few examples of the feedback we have collected from both gender participants:

• Salma: ‘’ I personally enjoy the miss-en-scene the most because some Psychological Thrillers have realistic makeup and it builds a sense of excitement and an adrenalin rush.’’

• Jake: ‘’I think I enjoy the story-line mostly, as the conflict between the characters, or rather the protagonists emotional and physical conflicts are quite relatable in some cases… and I feel rather intelligent watching the storyline of psychological thrillers as it gives me the privilege to figure out the story or what's going to happen next! ‘’

• Shukria: ‘’ The non-diegetic music intensifies the experience due to the increase in heart rate and blood pressure. It gives me Goosebumps…and the build up to climax really does excite me’’

• Khizer: ‘’Story-line. A sensation of being in that specific situation presented within the film. A sense of realism and ideology is presented as a conflict in most psychological thrillers therefore it intrigues me as an audience member.’’

• Kane: ‘’ Intriguing and Compelling if the tension is great…if its damn right’’ • Zayn: ‘’ I enjoy the development of the character and the theme of perception

presented through the realistic mise-en-scene such as casual clothing attires. Also the lighting within psychological thrillers I believe contributes immensely to the build up in tension if done right. Dim Lighting can honestly keep me on the edge of my seat as I really have to pay close attention to the scenes in order to fully engage in the storyline and usually the murderer, or whatever the creature, jumps out! I love that feeling at that exact moment!’’

 Would you prefer if the protagonist was around your age? (Please Circle One)

Male Female0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Yes No Does not matter

As displayed on the bar chart on the left hand side, majority of our questionnaire participants of both genders did not object or oppose weather the protagonist was indeed around their age or not as 56% have circled ‘’Does not matter’’. However 37% has said ‘’yes’’ they prefer the protagonist to be around their age and 7% preferred if it was not. Due to this myself (SA) and (MR) at this point in our coursework believe that our protagonist within the movie should be around our age therefore it is effectively relatable to our target audience ranging from ages from 15- 28, however since the majority did not mind, our protagonist can be relatable to all ages. (Scientifically Sleep paralysis is experienced by every individual at some point during their lifetime.)

Would you prefer if the story line unfolded quickly or gradually? Why?

Male Female

46

15

19

31

25

Quickly Gradually Does not matter

Since the majority of the participants have answered with ‘’does not matter’’ our group is accustomed with the opportunity to choose weather we would like our film story-line to unfold quickly or gradually. At the moment as a group we have not yet decided on which we would proceed to use, however we will discuss this matter altogether along with Ella Ponting once we have drafted our script.

 Would flashbacks intrigue you in a psychological thriller? If so why?!

Male Female 0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Yes No Does not matter

As you are able to identify from the bar chart we have conducted, the majority of both genders (female 30% & male 28%) are indeed intrigued by flashbacks presented within psychological thrillers. The reasoning behind their choices is displayed below:

Notice: (Please note that we have rephrased the feedback from our participants in order to conduct their opinions in shorter terms.) • Flashbacks develop the audiences understanding of

the character and the psychological trauma they are experiencing.

• Character development is • Flashbacks reveal emotional and physical information

throughout memories, as the character experiences the events in the present time throughput the visual image presented within the camera frame .

• Adds structure to the narrative while also developing the backdrop to the storyline of a film.

Myself (SA) and Monisha Roy believe that we should in cooperate this experience of a flashback within into our story-line due to the positive feedback received, however we believe we must conduct further research into this particular aspect of cinematography in order to gain in-depth knowledge therefore we contribute this aspect effectively. Our research can be found below this PowerPoint or link will be provided for guidance.

 Regardless of your answer within in the previous question, would you prefer if flashbacks were presented in: Black and White, Colour or It Does Not Matter (please circle one)

Male Female0

5

10

15

20

25

Color Black and White Does not matter

Both male and female genders responded with similar feedback on weather they enjoy flashbacks presented in ether black and white or in colour. 21% of the male participants preferred if the flashbacks are presented in colour where as 23% preferred the presentation of black and white. 20% Female participants preferred colour, where as 21 enjoyed black and white. As you can gather, this information demonstrated that both genders had diverse opinions on the choices, therefore we have decided that once we have shot the flashbacks scenes, we will edit the using Final Cut Pro while cooperating both of the options within our personal film, and display both scenes to a large group of audiences to gain an in-depth understanding on which is more effective and which we will display as a final piece of our coursework in order to please our audiences. This information will be collected and analysed within further questionnaires.

Would you prefer if the villain/monster is presented through realistic make-up (Picture A) or perhaps cartoonish (Picture B)?

Male Female0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

Picture A Picture B

As you can gather both of our 44% female and 36% of male participant preferred the realistic Picture A choice rather then the Cartoonish Picture B. The reasoning behind this is displayed below:

• If the makeup is realistic, it intensifies the experience of the audience off screen as sleep paralysis is a real disorder/condition.

• Intrigues the audience with its vivid and clear image.

• Contributes to the build up of imagination.

• Builds anxiety. • A sense of realism can make the

experience rather vivid. • Originality. • Thrill-seeking.• Increased heart rate and blood

pressure can feel the sinister presence off-screen.

• Excitement.• Dopamine release which makes

people enjoy thrilling and scary situations.

What is your worst fear?

• Sleep Paralysis. >>>> Both of our fears • Arachnophobia (fear of spiders) • Claustrophobia (the fear of small spaces) • Aerophobia (the fear of flying) >>>> Sara’s Phobia • Thanatophobia (the fear of death) • Hemophobia (the fear of blood)• Xenophobia ( the fear of the unknown) • Nyctophobia (the fear of darkness)• Anatidaephobia (the fear of ducks) >>> Monisha’s Phobia!

Are you aware of sleep paralysis? (Please Circle)

Male Female0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Yes No

As you can tell by the conducted research, there are 33% of male and 31% of female participants that are unaware of sleep paralysis and we believe that put storyline could bring awareness and avoid immense psychological traumas in those who have or may have experienced this disorder. More on why we have chosen to do sleep paralysis can be found through our entire blog. (including target audience in gender, age, sleep paralysis related research etc.)

If not, would you still be interested in watching a short film based around this topic?

Male Female0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

Yes No

As you can observe, majority of the participants would still be interested so Yay! Thumbs UP! … however we will still aim to intrigue and persuade all of our participants to be apart of the final product display/viewing therefore we can gather contrasting impressions and observe weather we have alternated the opinions of those who were not entirely interested in watching the short film.