Planning: Influences on Production

There are many things that have influenced our ideas for our film:
The overall story line was influenced by films such as the ‘Scream’ franchise, ‘The Ring’ and 'Friday the 13th’. Revenge based crimes which often end in the isolation and death or a group of teens. In these films many of the scenes involve fast paced editing and music that makes the audience jumpy and raises their heart beats as the characters fight for their lives. The trailers start with equilibrium then break out into flashing shots of the characters fear and struggle to survive.

We want to include scenes that make the audience jumpy of the dark to create tension. Surrounding the characters in darkness will make the audience edgy and unsure of what the it is concealing, as films are often viewed in the dark this will make the audience wary of their surrounding as if they are in the characters shoes. The close ups of the characters faces show there expressions and emotions clearly.

We got some inspiration from Scream 4, the idea of a big empty house in the middle of nowhere, this isolates the character making them vulnerable and the scenes more exciting.



 

Often in horror films the antagonist creeps up behind the victim in a shot where only the audience can see the threat to the character, making the viewers want to shout out, encouraging audience participation. This creates more of an effect on the audience, meaning that a trailer will be more effective in capturing the audiences attention and making sure it is memorable.

 

Planning: Example of a successful film

The conjuring is a 2013 American film of the same sub-genre of our film (supernatural) which has been a huge success. The trailer conforms to the conventions of the genre this is reflected in the editing, lighting and mise-en-scene, suggesting that in order to create a successful trailer we must follow suit.  

Planning: Sound track influences

Horror sound tracks have to be very clever manipulating the audience’s emotions and making them feel involved in the film. This forces the audience to become active enhancing their viewing experience.

These trailers show this:


The trailer has an eerie tone that builds up throughout the trailer to create a dramatic climax, making the audience more engaged so they are more likely to go and see the film when it comes out. This conforms to the conventions of the genre, satisfying the audiences needs. It is important for us to mirror this in our trailer.

 



The diegetic sound effect of a ticking clock opens the trailer making the audience feel wary, as if time is counting down for something horrible to happen. During the trailer non-diegetic sounds increase the pace of the film building suspense. In our trailer we want to use diegetic and non-diegetic sounds to similar effect.

The sound of the man’s laboured breathing connotes weakness and fear as her runs away from those perusing him. Often in horror trailers sound effects such as laboured breathing are put in place to make characters look more vulnerable, creating more of an effect on the audience when bad things happen to these characters. The strong beat in the background puts the audience on edge and brings up their heart rate, leading to a climax. Drawing the audience and subsequently increasing the films chances of being a success.

Planning Targets

Well done Bryony! Interview two key actors and explain why they are suitable. Do some intitial soundtrack research. Research and then design some titles that will create brand identity. Include pie charts to support your questionairre. Evidence your initial storyboard. Deadline for Friday - that way you can film some footage over half-term. Well done.

Planning: Influneces of directors and actors

 Actors

Patrick Joseph Wilson starred in Insidious and The Conjuring two massive successes in the genre. Although having actors that feature in other successful films will draw in a target audience, with most horror films famous actors are not main selling points (unlike action films). This works to our advantage as obviously we can’t use famous faces as a selling point.





 






Directors
James Wan is a director known for his successful series of horror films, he may have received a minor fan base for his recent films, but again the rule above applies. Unlike other genres horror doesn’t tend to rely on big glamorous directors to attract attention.

Planning: Moodboard

 

Picture:

1- Represents our antagonist when she was younger, this picture represents the creepy, slightly haunting feel that we want to create around the background of the character ‘Martha’. The General appearance connotes innocence however this is contradicted by the cruel dark expression on her face.

2&3- This shows the character after she comes from the asylum both the images represent the unstable troubled air around the character, her appearance and facial expressions show that she is detached from reality.

4&7- Is the outfit of the antagonist, which is going to be a hospital like gown thing connoting that she has lost her mind, this image links with horror films.

5- Shows our typical and unsuspecting teens that represent our main characters.

6- Represents the typical setting of a teen horror, a house in the middle of nowhere, this picture gives the feeling of foreboding that we want our setting to have. These settings are associated with the genre.

8- This is supposed to give off the same effect as the first picture, starting a feeling of foreboding as the family appear unnatural.

9&11- Represent the weapons and forms of murder and how the victims are threatened this is designed to scare the audience as the objects are every day and easily assessable making them feel unsafe. The scissors appear scarier as they are a very mundane object.

10- The completely black eyes represent appear uncaring and cruel, this gives the character a scary flair as it implies that she has no mercy or remorse.  

Planning: Narrative

Narrative planning for our trailer:

After researching patterns in narrative of other films within the horror genre we have made our trailer fit Todorov’s and Propp’s theories in the following ways.

Todorov’s:

Equilibrium: Will be shown at the beginning by light, slow paced shots showing happy expressions on the teens faces, accompanied by lighter music connoting equilibrium and peace.
Disruption of the equilibrium: The news report telling the audience that the girl has gone missing, here the happy music ends and darker music signifies that ignorance of the teens.
Recognition of the disruption: Is marked as the teens start to get wary of their surrounding and things start to go wrong.
Attempts to restore: is presents as the group of friends try to get away from the killer and fight her off.
Reinstatement of the equilibrium: is not evident.

Propp’s:

Our trailer ideas don’t really fit to Propp’s theory as although we have a clear villain we don’t have a clear hero, donor, helper or princess. It is quite common for horror films to deviate from this theory as it is important for the films to be unpredictable to a certain degree.

Planning: Questionnaire analysis

 

When we collated answers to our questionnaire from 20 people there was a clear pattern through the answers.
On almost all the questions there was a majority vote.

1. (Which horror sub-genre do you enjoy the most?)
Most people opted for Supernatural horror as their favourite sub-genre of horror. These are films such as paranormal activity and insidious. This works well for us as we have chosen supernatural horror for our film, I think our decision was partly based on the fact that films such as paranormal activity and insidious are the ones most talked about at school by our target audience. Therefore it made sense for us to do a similar film.
To justify our findings, during research we found list of what people thought
the top ten scariest horror films are.
Out of the 10, 9 of them were supernatural horrors, or of a supernatural agenda. Most of them involved a single antagonist who works alone and is seeking revenge of some sort.

2. (Do you prefer there to be a single antagonist (killer) or more than one?)
Most people preferred just one antagonist. As mentioned above most of the top ten horror films had a single antagonist. When working alone killers appear more intelligent and more of a threat. Most of the antagonists of supernatural horror films are motivated by hatred. Therefore for most storylines more than 1 killer wouldn't have the desired effect.
Supernatural antagonists appear stronger and scarier due to their unfamiliar powers. This makes the victim looks more vulnerable and hopeless, making the storyline more exciting.

3. (Do you think there should be a deaths shown in the trailer?)
Most people thought there should be a death in the trailer as it establishes the style of the film. Horror films are fast paced and it is important we reflect this in our trailer. At the start of our trailer we are going to use editing, mise-en-scene, camera angles and music to build up tension, before the climax of the trailer.

4. (What components of horror films do you find most effective?)
Most people said editing. I think this is because if a film lack continuity and realism it isn't scary. Therefore it is important to make the camera shots flow and make any special effects look as real as possible otherwise the film won’t be believable. We must make sure that our editing reflects the conventions of the genre, being fasted paced and jumpy.

5. (How many horror films do you watch a month?)
Most people watch horror films 1-2 times a month this tells us they are likely to be more of a occasional thing. Many horror films such as scream, are based around getting reactions from audience, therefore they are aimed at groups of people.

6. (Do you think audiences should be introduced to the characters in the trailer?)
Most people thought you should get to know the characters a bit in the trailer so the audience has a more personal connection to the film and are more likely to go and see it.

7. (What is your favourite features/styles of horror films?)
The option chosen the most was paranormal which is what we predicted however we thought there would be more of an even spread as all these features are essential to make a successful horror film. However we will take this into account and make sure we take care in making our trailer include paranormal effects that are effective and realistic.

8. (Do you think the identity of the antagonist (killer) should be revealed to the audience in the trailer?)
The answers we got for this question were very varied. All the people asked thought there should be a death but maybe just tease the identity of the killer. Some films like paranormal activity work off mystery in not knowing the identity. However other films such as Insidious use the identity and information about their killer to attract attention.

 

Planning: Questionnaire

To gather information on popular styles and themes within the horror genre we asked 20 people within the target audience 8 questions. This will help us to decide what to include in our trailer scene and check that we are on the right track.

Here are the questions we asked:

(Select one for the multiple choice questions)

1. Which horror sub-genre do you enjoy the most?
-Comedy horror
-Teen-horror
-Monster-horror
-Slasher
-Supernatural-horror
-Zombie-horror

2. Do you prefer there to be a single antagonist (killer) or more than one?

 

 

3. Do you think there should be a deaths shown in the trailer?

-Yes
-No
 

4. What components of horror films do you find most effective?
-Editing
-Mise-en-scene
-Camera shots
-Sound effects/music tracks

5. How many horror films do you watch a month?
-1-2
-3-6
-7-10
-10+

6. Do you think audiences should be introduced to the characters in the trailer?
-Yes
-No

7. What is your favourite features/styles of horror films?
-Gore
-Thrills
-Paranormal effects
-psychological messing
-Lots of deaths

8. Do you think the identity of the antagonist (killer) should be revealed to the audience in the trailer?
-Yes
-No

Planning: Audience profiling

The ring audience profiling:

The Ring is of the same genre and style of our made up film, therefore they will attract similar target audiences. This means we can infer from the graph bellow who our film will predominately attract. The 15-24 age group was the highest percent of viewers, this suggests that we should model our scenes around teens, and have main characters of a similar age. The male to female ratio is pretty even, but female is slightly more. Mainly middle class are going to watch the films so we should therefore be based around this social group.

Further research:

Research:
Research has suggested that various motives for horror films include; the need for excitement, the desire to feel intense emotions, and distraction from everyday concerns. Horror films include violation of social norms and the portrayal of things that don't often happen in everyday life.
This type of violent entertainment appeals more to males. For many young people and adults horror films are a good topic of conversation. People tend to watch horror films in groups often to prove they can tolerate it, watching them in groups allows the people to prove to their friends that they can withstand the violent and often gory scenes.
When horror films include aspects of humour, the reactions of audiences will be milder. When violence is too real it can lose much of its appeal.

Areas to be considered when trying to please the target audience:
We plan to use scenes of intense horror to give a sense of achievement to enduring the film, this is something the target audience want to get out of watching such films.
We want to create scenes that can become talking points for social interaction as, mostly the target audience use media as social stimulants.
The target audience will watch horror films for the thrill and excitement; we aim to do this by creating scenes aimed at making the target audience jump.