Horror Film Questionnaire

This questionnaire was created to get an understand of the impact horror films have on people and what they find most interesting about them. I asked a range of different age groups to get a wider range of answers. Next to some of my results I have annotated around it describing what evidence I have collected and how it can be useful during the construction of my own teaser trailer. As my target audience is 16-25, the majority of people I had asked to complete my questionnaire were within that age range. I was able to compare the difference between how younger audiences watch horror films in comparison to older audiences. I had also asked an equal amount of men and women so I could analyse the differences between how they watched horror films and the reaction it had on them.

Shooting Schedule

Storyboard

Storyboard

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Actors

Lucy Damon - Shreena Patel
Marilyn Roberts - Rhiannon Williams
Charlie Lee - Nihal Shariff
Tanya Riley - Maria Adegeye

FINAL FILM TITLE!

'Chromosome 17'
My group and I decided on a final name for our film after looking over and discussing the other options. We decided on calling it 'Chromosome 17' as it is related to the disorder of SMS (Smiths-Magenis Syndrome) which we are trying to make aware to our audience. I came across this disorder when reading through the 'Metro' on the 16th of November. They had featured an article on a 9 year old girl called Grace Fishwick who was born with the disorder of SMS and how it has effected her family and her mentally.
SMS is a rare developmental disorder which affects an average of 1 in 25,000 individuals. It is caused by a abnormality within the chromosome 17 and causes people such as Grace to become very violent towards themselves and others.
Some symptoms include disrupted sleeping patterns, deep set eyes, full cheeks, anxiety and self-injury along with many others.
I chose to feature this disorder within our film and teaser trailer as I wanted to make our audience and others aware of some disorders which aren't common but still cause damage to many lives.

Grace Fishwick article: http://www.metro.co.uk/news/847356-meet-the-real-life-jekyll-and-hyde-girl

Film Title Ideas

Above is a diagram of optional names for our film which my group and I thought would be relevant. Most of these names are symptoms and associations with Smiths-Magenis Syndrome (SMS) which is a disorder that we are portraying within our film.

Narrative of Teaser Trailer

• Heavy breathing - Lucy
• Hand held camera - night vision
• (Cuts to black)

Medium cuts

• Teacher talking about trailer
• Church - students walking
• Lucy saying "I don't like it"
• Outside the house - Riley "Perfect"

Fast cuts

• Charlie being zipped up
• Marilyn going into the bathroom
• Marilyn panicking

Mixture of cuts

• Church, the girls being attacked and walking through the bushes

• Lucy's hand switching on the light
• Name of Film shows
• Turns to black
• Tanya "what is that?"
• Bloody hand out of focus, moves towards the lens and the camera focuses, hand hits the screen
• "Coming Soon" is shown
• Name of production company
  

Narrative of Film

During an A2 media class, it had been announced that the students would have the task of creating a media horror trailer contributing to 50% of their final grades. And were then assigned to their groups consisting of Lucy, Marilyn, Charlie and (Tanya) Riley. Being so enthusiastic about death, horror and the afterlife, Marilyn is excited and has the perfect location for the group to begin filming outside a deserted church in the local area which is apparently haunted. So she arranges a time and the place for the group to meet for the first day of filming.

When arriving at the church, the group decide to go to the back of the church in an attempt to find something mystical as well as being the perfect location to film, believing that they would get a very high mark for the setting. They explore the area but Lucy does not feel comfortable and is insistent that they change location. With a large amount of convincing, Marilyn realised that there may be a more convenient place to shoot the film in a second location- an abandoned house. Again, the group reschedule another time and place to meet for the second day of shooting.

When the group is gathered together, for the second time, one of the group members was missing as Charlie did not come, assuming that she was lazy not unenthusiastic about the task altogether, Riley ensured that the group continued to shoot without her. (The entire group was unaware that Charlie has been mysteriously killed in her home- when her body had been carried out of her house and into an ambulance).

The group explore the house and realise that it is the best for shooting having everyone agree. As Marilyn, goes into the bathroom to look for props for a ‘bathroom scene’ the door swings shut behind her and locks itself so she is stuck in. the light starts to flicker so she cannot see where she is going, there are loud screams coming from the bathroom which alerts everyone then there is complete silence.

Riley is at the scene with Lucy closely behind and kicks the door down to find Marilyn murdered on the floor of the bathroom and blood smeared on the walls and floor. Panic breaks out between he last group members and they become suspicious of each other having an idea that one of them is a ‘killer’. They both go into a room and sit down together in silence. There is a power failure where the lights switch on an off continuously and each time the injuries from Riley increase until she as seen as dead, all that is heard is screams. With the hand held camera that the student are using, in night mode Lucy’s hand stretches towards the light switch, and as she turns it on, there is a flashback to the doctors office at the place where she had been diagnosed.

On may 17^th, at aged 9, Lucy Damon was diagnosed with a condition that caused her to become extremely violent at any given moment for a short period of time, then returning back to her original state afterwards, unaware of any incident that had previously taken place. Due to the fact that her mother had died in a horrific accident being brutally murdered by her father and forced her to live in a foster home.

Finally, there is a close up to Lucy’s face where she smirks, then another close up of her eyes.

Characters

A2 media students (4 girls)

• Lucy Damon
• Marilyn Roberts
• Charlie Lee
• Tanya Riley (referred to as Riley)
  

Initial Ideas

Above are some initial ideas which my group and I decided to incorporate into our teaser trailer. Once we found out about our groups we came together to discuss a few ideas which we would like to incorporate into our trailer.

What would I like to focus on and gain?

To collect and develop our knowledge about what we have gained and learnt about the horror genre over the past 8 weeks we were asked to annotate different images taken from horror films and theories which we have researched into. This allowed us to swap our ideas in a creative way but to also think about what we would like to achieve during the course of this project.
Some key elements which I would like to focus on and gain during this project are:

• Todorov's theory and The Final Girl theory, but adapting them to suit my teaser trailer.
• Using a mixture of hand-held and professional camera shots to add different atmospheres.
• Point-of-view shots along with a mixture of other different shots to represent the characters emotions.
  
• Making it suitable for teenagers but also adults.
• Make the audience interact more with the teaser trailer.
• The ability to take scenes from well-known films but developing them to make them more modern and attractive to my target audience.
  

Conventions of a Trailer

Here are some common conventions of a trailer:

• They highlight the 'best bits' of a film
• We are not shown the story in narrative order
• It showcases the stars of the film
• Conversations usually consist of one line each
• Unusual angles
• Voice-overs
• Music plays an important role in creating the atmosphere
• Title doesn't appear until the end
• Trailer builds to a climax where it ends
  

'Cabin Fever' (2002) Poster Annotations

Media Studies DLD

On the 4th of November we were put into groups for our Media deep learning day. My group consisted of Sarah, Maria and Nihal and we had the option to film a parody or a homage of key scenes from the horror genre. A parody is a literary or artistic work that mimics in an absurd or ridiculous way the conventions and style of another work; E.g. 'Scary Movie'. A homage pays tribute (in a film to a director or actor). The reason behind this deep learning day was for us to introduce us to the video camera's and editing software in preparation for our final teaser trailer. We began by collecting our ideas together and decided to create a new film but by adding elements and characters from other films which we have researched into. We then began to storyboard our ideas and had 2 hours to film our parody. Some problems which occurred were people talking in the background, spending too much time filming some scenes, having too much footage and during our presentation to the class we had realised that the music had gone over on one scene so the noise in the bathroom was cut off. After editing out the scenes that we didn't want we were left with 6 minutes of footage, as the limit was 3 minutes we had to cut out some sections to fit the time limit which was very tedious. When watching our video we realised that the sound had extended over the time which we wanted it to, and this caused a problem as the sounds in the bathroom could not be heard. When doing our final teaser trailer we will take this into consideration and watch over the final piece to ensure that the sound and image is correctly placed.

Marketing a Horror Film

BBFC Guidelines

U - Universal (suitable for all) 4+

• Scary sequences should be mild
• Unlikely to cause undue anxiety
• No reference to drugs
• Infrequent use of mild bad language
• Occasional natural nudity
• Mild sexual behaviour e.g. kissing
  

PG - Parental Guidance (8+)

• Parents are advised to consider whether it may upset young children
• Reference to illegal drugs
• Mild bad language
• Frightening sequences should not be prolonged or intense
• Natural nudity
• Sexual activity may be implied
• Moderate violence
  

12 - (12+)

• Moderate physical and psychological threat may be permitted
• Moderate language
• Dangerous behaviour should not dwell on detail which could be copied
• Moderate violence
• Nudity
  

15 - (15+)

• Strong threat and menace are permitted unless sadistic and sexual
• Sexual activity may be portrayed
• Violence may be strong but should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury
  

18 - (suitable for all)

• All allowed
• Explicit images of sexual activity may be permitted
  

Monstrous Femine - Carrie (1976)

• Monstrous act occurs when she gets drenched in pig's blood - symbolises menstrual blood
• Women are referred to as 'pigs', women 'bleed like pigs'
• It runs down her body just as her own blood ran down her leg at the beginning of the film
• Women's blood and pig's blood signify horror, shame and humiliation
• Over-bearing mother
• Absence of father
  

Spectatorship and the Male Gaze

This diagram shows the ways in which women are portrayed in comparison to men ands they ways in which they are represented towards the viewer.

Audience Theories

We looked at a range of different theories which are featured and created for the horror genre specifically. Some include: Male Gaze, Propp's theory and The Final Girl theory. What I liked most about looking at different theories to do with the genre of horror was that I was able to take the key information and develop it to suit my ideas for the project. An analytical approach was taken as we viewed each film, after learning about the different theories which are based within horror films I was able to analyse them in greater detail. One film which I thought had taken some of the theory concepts and adapted them to make them new and exciting. 'Scream' (1996) uses both The Final Girl theory and Todorov's theory. The theory is based upon the narrative of a film and how it's split into 5 different parts which give a short summary of what will happen at that particular moment; exposition, development, complication, climax and resolution make up Todorov's theory. The Final Girl theory refers to the last female character in a horror film. Carol J. Clover created the theory and states that there are elements which make the final girl distinct. Some include a unisex name and the girl is typically sexually unavailable. An example would be Laurie Strode in 'Halloween' (1978) as she was shown to be more innocent minded than her friends. 'Scream' challenges this theory as the final girl (Sidney Prescott) who has survived throughout each film has shown to be sexually available as she has a boyfriend (Billy) who she decided to sleep with, and Randy who admires her. When I create my teaser trailer I could use the concept of taking a theory and changing it to suit they type of horror film I am trying to portray and my target audience.

Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) - Trailer

What elements stand out?

• The sound - camera taking pictured and chickens (farm)
• The face of Leatherface
• Feathers on the floor
• How he attacks his victims
• Objects shown within the house
  

What 'horror' techniques have been used?

• Bones
• Decomposing hand
• Dead bodies
• Deformed face
  

How do we know it's a 'slasher' film?

• Leatherface hits a man with a sledgehammer
• Chainsaw
  

What hooks the audience?

• The fast pace
• Frequent cuts
• Detailed trailer
• We feel as though we are in the house with them
  

Known and Unknown

Known

• Life
• The everyday
• Normal physical matter
• Human Normality
• 'Normal' sexuality
• Social order
• Sanity
• Health
• Culture
  

Unknown

• Death
• The supernatural
• Abnormal physical matter
• The unconscious self
  
• 'Abnormal' sexuality
• Social disorder
• Insanity
• Disease
• Nature
  

Nosferatu (1922) - Opening Scene Essay

This is an essay which I had written that analyses the opening scene of 'Nosferatu' (1922). I look in detail at the characters, the ideas which are introduced, the connotations, editing, music, themes and what questions are left unanswered within the film.

Horror Film Timeline

Research - Horror Genre

In preparation for our final practical project we undertook research into the horror genre. I was able to look at a timeline of horror films from the 1920's when horror first began to the present day. The films which I had viewed ranged from vampires to slashers, I found it interesting to view and compare the different styles of horror and see the development of them over the years. One film which stood out for me was Hitchcock's 'Psycho' (1960). There are many aspects to the film and area's surrounding it which have inspired me and which have made me question my own ideas on how to present my teaser trailer. Alfred Hitchcock used his "no late admission"policy to attract a wider audience and make his film unique. This meant that people weren't allowed to view the film after the doors had closed. What was effective about presenting his film in this way was that people were more curious about the contents of the film since others weren't allowed to mention it. It was interesting to look at a range of films and being able to analyse them against other horror films, but also seeing the connection and how some films are able to take scenes and quotes ("we all go a little crazy sometimes" used in 'Psycho' and 'Scream') from previous films and develop them to suit their particular film and audience.

Brief

A promotional package for a new film, to include a teaser trailer, together with two of the following three options:

• A website homepage for a new film
• A film magazine front cover, featuring the film
• A poster for the film