Ideas of fonts

Chosen Font

First Draft of Poster

Finalised Narrative Structure

Narrative Structure

The trailer will start of with the idea of a myth/old tale that the characters are discussing, however there been watched from above by the killer. The students are not aware of this, this shows that were following the conventions of horror films as the equilibrium is showing the students having a good time and not aware of the danger that surrounds them.

After a jump cut is used to show that the unknown killer is socialising and persuading the group to go visit the location in where the myth/old tale was created. This shows how the story line is progressing into the next stage, a change in the equilibrium.

The killer then invites them to visit a church and grave yard as a joke/dare, knowing that the popular teenagers would take up the offer. This is a stereotypical location for a horror setting as we connate churches and graveyards with death, blood, isolation and etc.

Once the students are standing outside the church, there will be a panning shot of the killer watching the teenagers outside the church gate, thus giving the impression of a sinister atmosphere, which adds to the conventions of a typical horror film/trailer.

When the students are in the church, we will use the effects of shadows, non-digetic and digetic music such as, screaming, the sound of the killers shovel and sound effects used. This will effectively make it a good value production horror trailer that will appeal to the target audience.

In the horror trailer there will be only two killings that are shown through fast editing, this again follows the convention of horror trailers. The decision to have the killer kill two characters was because we didn’t want to reveal the whole story and wanted to keep the audience interested in the trailer. 

Throughout the horror trailer the killer’s identity is not revealed to the audience, we thought that this would create a darker atmosphere within the trailer and will scare our target audience.

The most significant prop used in the trailer will be the killers shovel and the sound of the shovel this shows the audience how a garden utensil can become such a violent weapon which will scare our audience more than having a knife used. 

The trailer will follow Todorov's theory of equilibrium, disequilibrium and a new equilibrium. We felt that this is would be the right narrative theory to use as horror trailers normally show that everything is okay at the begining and that the characters are enjoying theirselves. However, in the middle of the trailer something dark and sinister distrupts the plot which is where the characters fight against the killer or antaganists. However, as it's a trailer we will not be showing the new equilibrium as we want the target audience to be kept in suspence and want to go watch the movie. In the narrative, I feel that we are meeting the theory sucessfully and have thought clearly how we want to attract the target audience. Below is Todorov's theory:

TZVETAN TODOROV - Todorov suggested that stories begin with an equilibrium or status quo where any potentially opposing forces are in balance. This is disrupted by some event, setting in chain a series of

events. Problems are solved so that order can be restored to the world of the

fiction.

Planning Ideas for Horrror Trailer

The picture above shows our first planning draft for our horror trailer. As you can see we have roughly figured out what our story line is and have placed it in order so that we can then create a story board after.

Storyboard

STORYBOARD 

The planning of the storyboard allows us to have a clear idea of how we want to structure and narrate our movie trailer. We can see how many shots our trailer will consists of and how long we want the shots to be. Additionally, drawing the storyboard allows us to picture visually what we will need for props, costume and will make sure that we do not waste time when filming. 

Research into Props

Killers Prop: 

This is the main prop that will be used to kill the victims. Even thought the prop does not look like a stereotyped horror weapon, we plan to cover it in fake blood to fit the conventions of horror films. 

Add more props ... 

Location Pictures

These are my location pictures in where we want to shoot the horror trailer. We chose this location as it was close and easy to get to. Also we thought it fit the description of an abandoned church and looked quite dark and sinister. Furthermore, from the answers we got from the questionnaire, we knew if we wanted to target our audience we would pick one of the setting that they had put down.

Evaluation from Questionnaire findings

Overall, I have found out:

• Males take more of an interest than females in horror films/trailers 
• The most frightening settings are abandoned places or locations people feel the safest at 
• Production value of the trailer is important 
• The use of music in the trailer is significant 

When handing out my questionnaires to the students, I found out that males were more eager to fill out the questionnaire than females, which shows which sex is more interested in the genre of horror. I was surprised that  females didn't fill out the forms as I would of thought that they would be more reliable than males. 

Analysis and Findings from Questionnaire

FEMALES:

As a group we had to ask 10 females and 10 males to fill out our questionnaire. We wanted to make sure that it was a fair questionnaire as we thought it was important to get equal views, so our trailer could target both gender. After thinking if we should have the general public filling out the questionnaire we thought it would be a better idea to ask students who were in my college as I felt like the students would be take the questionnaire seriously and would not give us unreliable answers.  Also as our target audience was at 15-18 we had our target audience available, which would of made it easy to have the questionnaire filled out in college.

Girls:

The majority of girls aged 16-18 did not watch horror films as regularly unlike males and if they did it was only once or twice a month. This shows that horror films are masculine and females are more scared to watch horror films.

When asked ‘what elements do you like within horror films’ the girls had a variety of different answer’s which were:

-          Tension (the same answer as the males)

-          Unexpected scenes

We had fewer answers than males as some of the female answered ‘nothing’ and ‘it’s so scary’ which shows that the majority of females in our college do not enjoy watching horror films and would rather watch a different genre, for example romance.

When asked ‘what do you think is the most frightening setting for a horror film’, the majority of the females answered with ‘deserted’ places, for example

-          Real-life situations/everyday life

-          Home

-          An abandoned places

This gives us an idea that the girls find their home/safest location more frightening as its intruding their privacy and a place where they find they are most protected. 

The above chart shows that 90% of the females are not influenced by the production value of a trailer. This shows that they don’t take interest in horror films to notice the significance of production value in horror trailers.  

This chart shows that that our target audience don’t mind if teenagers or adult actors act within the film/trailer. This could suggest that they do not really notice the characters or that they don’t mind as they hardly watch horror films.  

This chart evidently shows that all the females are influenced by music in horror films like the males and is one of the most significant elements. This shows us how important music will be in our trailer and that we have to think carefully about the kind of music we use, as it would not fit the typical conventions of horror films if we used music that sounded romantic.

When asking ‘How would you like a horror film to be advertised? (For example, posters or websites) we received three main answers which were TV adverts, posters and websites. This showed our group how we would target our audience mainly through posters, websites and magazine film covers.

Analysis and Findings from Questionnaire

MALES:

Results/ Evaluation from questionnaires: MALES

As a group we had to ask 10 females and 10 males to fill out our questionnaire. We wanted to make sure that it was a fair questionnaire as we thought it was important to get equal views, so our trailer could target both gender. After thinking if we should have the general public filling out the questionnaire we thought it would be a better idea to ask students who were in my college as I felt like the students would be take the questionnaire seriously and would not give us unreliable answers.  Also as our target audience was at 15-18 we had our target audience available, which would of made it easy to have the questionnaire filled out in college.

Boys:
The majority of boys aged 16-18 watched horror films quite frequently which could be from the fact that horror films are stereotyped as quite masculine and targeted more towards males.

When asked ‘what elements do you like within horror films’ the males had a variety of different answer’s which were:

-          Tension

-          Scary costumes and effects

-          The effect the music has on the audience

-          Blood and gore

This shows us what males want from horror films, what makes them watch horror films and gives us an idea of what to include within our horror trailer. The responses we received from the males showed that our horror film will target their audience correctly and we will be able to be successful.

When asked ‘what do you think is the most frightening setting for a horror film’, the majority of the males answered with ‘deserted’ places, for example

-          A park

-          A church

-          An abandoned forest  

This gives us an idea that males find a more quite and deserted place effective within a horror film.  One response from a male student was that ‘a place where no-one goes, as it’s more effective for the audience’. Our chosen location is a church showing that we have thought carefully about our location and how we can target it to the audience without them losing interest.

When asking what characters they find more frightening/shocking there was a mixture of answers such as, innocent people who were being targeted, children and characters from horror films. For example, the iconic characters Freddy Krueger and Chucky.

The response from this question showed what kind of characters our targeted audience are scared of and will help us to develop our evil character.

The above chart shows that 70% of the males are influenced by the production value of a trailer. This shows that we will need to try our best to make sure that the editing and camera angles are correct as we don’t want the trailer to look too amateur. The other 30% response was a no which could suggest that they may like independent films that are created to look amateur.

This chart shows that that our target audience would be more interested in having younger actors included in the films. For example one answer I received was ‘yes, as they enjoy horror films more than the older generation and would probably like to see them deal with the situation’. This showed us that including characters that were younger would be successful in our horror trailer.

This chart evidently shows that all the males are influenced by music in horror films and is one of the most significant elements. This shows us how important music will be in our trailer and that we have to think carefully about the kind of music we use, as it would not fit the typical conventions of horror films if we used music that sounded romantic.

When asking ‘How would you like a horror film to be advertised? (For example, posters or websites) we received three main answers which were TV adverts, posters and websites. This showed our group how we would target our audience mainly through posters, websites and magazine film covers.

Questionnair

Questionnaire: Horror

1.    How old are you?

…………………………………………..

2.     Are you male or female?

 ………………………………………….

3.    How often do you watch a horror film?

……………………………………………………….

4.    What elements do you like within horror films?  (for example,  It scares you)

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

5.    What do you think is the most frightening setting for a horror film?  (Why?)

………………………………………………………………….

………………………………………………………………….

………………………………………………………………….

    6.  What characters do you find more frightening/shocking in horror films? (Please explain)

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………

7.    Are you influenced by the budget/production value of a trailer?  (If so why?)

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

……………………………………………………………….

8.    Do you think it’s more effective if younger (students) characters act within the film/trailer than adults?

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

9.    Are you influenced by music in horror films?  (Why?)

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

10.                 How would you like a horror film to be advertised? (for example, posters or websites)

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Final Ideas for Narrative Structure

Myth/Old tale, that there is a serial killer who killed his victims at a deserted church and buried their bodies at the church grave.
- Students hear about this tale through news articles as people begin to go missing around the area.
- One of the students dare/peer presser the whole group to visit the church.
- They visit the church during the night.
- They begin to joke around and scare each other.
- The joke begins to turn into actual killings, implying that the tale is true.
- However, the serial killer is actually one of the group members who is copying the old tale.

Ideas of Narrative Structure

Drama students (5-8) who have come from a different country to study.
- They visit a school in where they are rehearsing.
- All is normal, until one student is convinced someone  is watching them.
- One of the students get called to the office.
- The rest begin to get suspicious and begin to investigate, this is where each character becomes missing.
- Lead into classrooms and have to solve puzzles to get out safely. (The killer speaks to the characters through the intercom/loud speaker)

Film Trailer Analysis

The Trailer opens with the non-digetic sound of a school bell, which already establishes where the setting of the trailer will begin/take place. This already gives the impression to the audience the targeted audience has been aimed at young adults as they can obviously relate to the sound of the school bell. This is then followed on by the opening shot of a low angle, which shows the audience a male shutting his locker door which is followed on by the use of the digetic sound of a teacher talking.

The camera then pans in, while the teacher is talking and shows the students doing their work. This all looks normal of course but the non-digetic sound, of a continues high pitch note creates a tense atmosphere for the audience whether they subconsciously notice it or not. Already the beginning 10 seconds of the trailer follows the conventions of a horror trailer as the audience know that something is going to happen. 

A Jump cut is then used to pan along one of the students faces.

As the camera pans across, the audience can see the student’s features which do not look “normal” and is hidden away by his “hoodie”. Additionally, the digetic sound of the teacher’s voice is continued as the camera pans slowly, this has purposely been done as the word ‘grotesque’ can be seen to describe the boy, which already gives the audience this false impression about this male character. 

The high pitch non-digetic sound is continued as the audience see a high angled shot of characters talking around a fire. This creates a uncomfortable atmosphere for the audience as they start to question what is happening and what they are doing there in the night. The use of darkness is significant as it follows the conventions of a horror film and is a cliché, as the audience know that “bad” or “evil” things happen during the dark. 

Another jump cut is then used to show students laughing at one character, the audience here can see that he is being “picked on” or bullied, which positions him with a low status in the classroom.

Furthermore, a significant shot is then followed showed to the audience as the camera pans across and the audience see a streak of light (from the fire) which shines on a characters face. This image used here is quite powerful as the “bullied” character is contrasted from his earlier status. He is now seen as powerful, dominating and in control as he is in the centre of the shot and is perceived to the audience as confident.

Here the character looks more confident. 

Below are some examples of lower status students being “bullied”. The medium shot used here shows the facial expression clearly on both characters. The audience can see who the victim is and who the "bullier" is.

The analysis of the trailer helped me understand what shots to use so that I can make sure that my horror has the same effect on the audience. Through analysisng the trailer I can see what kind of shots are used to create the horror 'atmosphere' for the audience. The shots also show me how I can keep my audience in suspense for example, the bird-eye shot makes the audience feel like they don't know what is going on which effectively keeps them in fear and suspense. The mise-en-scene follows the horror conventions, an example is the woods that the victims sit in. The audience know that something dark will begin to happen. The shot used is another bird-eye shot which makes the audience feel as though they are spieing on the characters. This creates suspense for they want to find out what is happening. Suspence within horror films is a significant element as it creates fear and makes the audience want to follow the plot. This shows me how I will need to make my audience feel within my horror trailer, and will use these elements of horror to succesfully meet the requiments and needs for my target audience.

Age Restriction for our film/trailer

The chosen age restriction for our film/trailer is:

15

No one younger than 15 may see a ‘15’ film in a cinema. No one younger than 15 may rent or buy a ‘15’ rated video work.

Horror

Strong threat and menace are permitted unless sadistic or sexualised.

British Board of Film Classification

Universal – Suitable for all

It is impossible to predict what might upset any particular child. But a ‘U’ film should be suitable for audiences aged four years and over. ‘U’ films should be set within a positive moral framework and should offer reassuring counterbalances to any violence, threat or horror.

Horror

Scary sequences should be mild, brief and unlikely to cause undue anxiety to young children. The outcome should be reassuring.

Parental Guidance

General viewing, but some scenes may be unsuitable for young children

Unaccompanied children of any age may watch. A ‘PG’ film should not disturb a child aged around eight or older. However, parents are advised to consider whether the content may upset younger or more sensitive children.

Horror

Frightening sequences should not be prolonged or intense. Fantasy settings may be a mitigating factor.

"12/12A"

Suitable for 12 years and over

Exactly the same criteria are used to classify works at ‘12A’ and ‘12’. These categories are awarded where the material is suitable, in general, only for those aged 12 and over. Works classified at these categories may upset children under 12 or contain material which many parents will find unsuitable for them.


The ‘12A’ category exists only for cinema films. No one younger than 12 may see a ‘12A’ film in a cinema unless accompanied by an adult, and films classified ‘12A’ are not recommended for a child below 12. An adult may take a younger child if, in their judgement, the film is suitable for that particular child. In such circumstances, responsibility for allowing a child under 12 to view lies with the accompanying adult.

Horror

Moderate physical and psychological threat may be permitted, provided disturbing sequences are not frequent or sustained.

15

No one younger than 15 may see a ‘15’ film in a cinema. No one younger than 15 may rent or buy a ‘15’ rated video work.

Horror

Strong threat and menace are permitted unless sadistic or sexualised.

18

No-one younger than 18 may see an ‘18’ film in a cinema.
No-one younger than 18 may rent or buy an ‘18’ rated video.