Aiming for between 15-20 responses, I gathered 20, which is a good number for testing with a variety of respondents (majority aged between 21-25, some respondents are 30 and over 50).
The first 3 questions ask the respondents generally about the whole short film and not just the modified scenes to see whether they perceive the genre as horror. Out of 19 respondents, only 3 said they didn’t think the genre was horror (15%), therefore it is fine to say that the film genre is horror. With this being true, the 3 versions’ responses will be more accurate in determine which element affect the genre.
The next question asks which element scared or startled the viewers in the film the most, in which they can select multiple choices. 65% answered sound effects, and 60% answered music. The story, visual elements, lighting and jumpscares share 3rd-6th place with 40% each. Finally, with the lowest value, narration, with 1 answer, said that it scares him/her.
What this means is that the most important elements that contribute to the horror elements of a film is sound effects and music, whilst narration has little or no effect. This is the 3 elements that will be tested in the next part of the questionnaire.
Modified music version
In the modified music version, the horror music is replaced by something you would rather find in a comedy movie or a cartoon.
8 respondents (40%) feel more comfortable with the replaced music than the original, while 12 (60%) said that they are less scared with this version. I also assumed that some respondents might not be scared with the original music. With the big change in music, 15 respondents (75%) no longer considers this version to be horror. This is a very significant number.
Removed narration version
In this version, the narration is removed, which gives more volume for music and sound effect. Although the majority mentioned that the narration does not scare them, lacking narration allows music and sound to have more effect.
7 (35%) respondents said that they were still uncomfortable, and the other 35% said that they feel even more uncomfortable, which add up to 70%. Similarly, 30% and 35% respectively said that they still feel scared and feel even more scared. 80% considers version genre to still be horror, keeping in mind that 15% already mentioned from the beginning that they do not think the short’s genre is horror.
Added sounds version
In this version, some comedic sound (boiing) is added every time a jumpscare happens, which reduces the scare factor, rather than an unexpected sound of a piano or violin screech. This also meant to reduce fear. However, more than half still feel uncomfortable and 40% still feel scared, meaning that sounds might not really have that big of an effect. This is certainly true, since in horror films, especially those having clowns as scare factors, are often accompanied with sounds similar to that is heard in this version. 65% still consider this version to be horror.
Finally, throughout all versions, 30% feel that music makes them a lot more comfortable watching compared to others (20% and 10% on narration and sound, respectively), and 50% feel that music makes them feel least scared (10% and 15% on narration and sound, respectively).
Limitations and implications for future research
The biggest limitation of this research is the inability to test the effect of visual elements. With a bigger budget and more investment in terms of time, this could have been achievable, since visual elements need to be changed within the pre- and production period, and less in post-production period.
Additionally, the amount of respondents were also limited. The changed elements were also limited, in theory (the “sandwich”), there could potentially be hundred of edits, 1 in each element, but within each element, there could potentially be be hundreds more. With a lot more investment in time and money, a bigger research could be conducted.
Conclusion
Even though films genre are somewhat blurry to be determined, horror is the most obvious because it deals directly with viewers’ emotion. Through this research, the element that is the most influential in affecting the genre of a film is music. This reflects many of the secondary research that I did earlier this year with emotion and music. Of course, scary music alone is not enough to turn a comedy into a horror without the help of other elements, although in this short clip, some cats playing with toys with added sound effects and music actually be scary.
Finally, the research question was:
What is the most important element that can affect the audience’s viewing experience, emotion and understanding of a film?
The answer is: music is the strongest element in affecting the audience’s viewing experience, emotion and understanding, which is the genre of the film. To be more specific, not any kind of music, but music that is dissonant to the remainder of the elements within the film.