The first question I asked was: Do you think age 18 films are more scary than age 15 horror movies. The response was mixed, some of the people said that age 18 are more scary because they can have more blood and gore which means that it can be more scary. The others however said that age 15 films are scary. They thought this because you don't need blood and gore to make a horror film scary. They believed that a good story line is what makes a film scary as well as jump scares. From this mixed opinion it is clear to see that there is not one clear answer which one is more scary because there are different factors which can affect whether the film is scary such as: Jump scares, good storyline and choice of music and sound effects.
My second question to the group was: What makes a good horror film? Again there was multiple different answers because this was down to opinion as there are different reasons why to like horror films. Just like in my questionnaire, I found that some people find jump scares the scariest part of a horror film whereas some people find that a good storyline is what makes a film scary. From this question, some said that they find a good storyline makes the film. This is as repeatable storylines and predictable storylines takeaway the element of surprise. Some said that music is a strong contributing factor towards making a film scary because the music compliments the footage and helps to build up tension such as music stings that compliment jump scares.
My next question was: What is the difference between a age 15 film and an age 18 film? There were a lot of answers for this question. Firstly, 18 films are allowed more frequent use of bad language and violence. Age 18 films are also allowed a lot more sexual scenes and frequent of drugs. Age 18 films can also focus on blood and gore where as age 15 films can include blood and gore but it cant have frequent use or focus on it. The media students I asked were more knowledgeable about age ratings as they have knowledge of the BBFC film classification rating system whereas the older generation are less familiar with the difference between age ratings so some of them passed the question as they didn't know any differences between the two age rated films.
I then asked the group: Do you think jump scares are the best way to make a horror film scary? Everyone agreed that jump scares are the most effective way to make a horror film scary. This is as they are unexpected which creates a tense atmosphere. This result also matched the result I got in my questionnaire as in my questionnaire I found that most people agreed that horror films are the scariest part. This is why they are common in horror films because most people like 'cheap jump scares'. The reason they are known as 'cheap jump scares' is because the music typically goes quiet and fades to silence and then there is a big music sting followed by a jump scare. This is typically used in most horror films and is what people in my focus group and questionnaire agree makes a horror film the most scary.
My final question to the group was: What is your favourite horror film? A lot of people said 'pass' because they couldn't think of a favourite. These are some of the responses. Silence of the Lambs, Saw and The Conjuring. The first horror film is a classic. This horror film doesn't include jump scares and is only scary because of the storyline. This is an example of a horror film where the horror is in the story and not done through jump scares. Saw is based on scenes that focus on horror and gore, Saw is a franchise and has multiple films. This film is scary because of the sickening horror and gore. The final film is scary because of the jump scares. Even though I haven't seen The Conjuring, I have heard from friends that The Conjuring is full of jump scares. From these films, I can see that people have different choices of music based on different conventions of horror films.
This focus group was very useful as it made me more aware of audience expectations and what constitutes a good horror film. This also helped me compare the results to my questionnaire to see if I got similar results.
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