Survey Monkey Responses

17 male responses
33 female responses
Total= 50

6 often responses
11 never responses
33 occasionally responses

2 slasher responses
22 psychological responses
5 zombie responses
3 gothic responses
5 vampire responses
7 supernatural responses
6 other responses:
"Don't watch horror".

15 jump scare responses
7 effective music responses
1 supernatural characters/ events response
8 haunted house events/people getting possessed by demons responses
7 clown responses
4 violent, bloody or graphic events responses
2 masks responses
1 serial killers response
5 other responses:
"All of the above".

8 music/soundtrack responses
22 storyline responses
8 characters responses
4 gorey scenes responses
5 camera angles responses
3 other responses:
"Jump scares".

14 old abandoned house responses
7 woods responses
18 hospital responses
7 abandoned school responses
4 other responses:
"All of the above."
"An old castle".

1 The One response
4 End of the Phone Call responses
8 Her responses
10 Listen Don't Speak responses
3 Lest Us Forget responses
4 The Day it Happened responses
11 In Loving Memory responses
8 Other responses:
"Beneath."
"Here We Lie".

"Annabelle."
"The Omen."
"The Others."
"The Ring."
"The Purge."
"The Conjuring."
"Seven."
"The Conjuring 2."
"Woman In Black."
 "IT."
 "Insidious."
 "Scream."
"Theatre of Blood."
"What we do in the Shadows."
"Dark Water."
"Misery."
"Exorcist."

Most popular response: "The Shining".


This survey was helpful to me to see what the public think about horrors and how their opinions could influence a lot of my filming preparation, eg. my film is going to be a psychological horror, which was the most popular genre in my survey. Finding out what people thought about the different titles was helpful to see which one I should use so that I can start working on my mast heads and titles for my poster or magazine. Knowing whether they were male or female allowed me to work out what the different genders picked in general, and knowing what their favorite film is I found helpful, as it allowed me to see what people find effective in different horror films. I could be inspired from some of "The Shining" being the most popular response & look at it's scenes to see what is the most effective form of scaring the audience.

Planning the filming

The following camera angles are what I am going to film for my trailer.

Victim (protagonist of trailer) shot angles:

Close up: Her hand holding a necklace her sister gave to her
Wide shot, tracking shot, pan: Girl walking in the garden
Following the girl in front and behind
Point of view shot/subject filming: sees the caravan through the girl's eyes
Tilt shot of her looking up to the sky
Wide shot of bedrooms, garden, caravan and the house in general to establish location
Close-up of wounds on the girl's body
Point of view shots: opening and closing doors
Mug shots of girl screaming showing emotion
Wide shots of her inside her sister's bedroom crying
Hand-held shots of girl falling to floor

Camera angles for the dead sister:

Black and white or sepia flashbacks at start of trailer. hand-held shots and subject filming (through sister's eyes) of her in garden walking, turning round and smiling at the camera, filming her from behind, sitting in the car, close-ups of her being happy.
In contrast: the sister believes that she can see her sister's dead body wherever she goes and goes mad. Dead body is lying on floor with messy hair, simple dark clothing and open eyes lying on the floor in wide shots in kitchen, bathroom and bedroom floors.

Effects of lighting

                 High key                                     Low key



Lighting in a horror film is very important for how you want the audience to react.

High key lighting is when the atmosphere and location is very bright, with sunshine, colours and happiness. Often in horrors we see this at the start of the film before things turn bad.



Low key lighting is when the lighting is very dark with lots of contrast and shadows. This is used to create the effect of not knowing what is around the corner or what may be out there.

Some trailer examples with low key lighting:

Annabelle- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paFgQNPGlsg

In the first few seconds of Annabelle's trailer, the establishing shot is dark and shadowy, the audience can't see around corners and the only source of light is the one coming from the house. This creates an isolation around the house and a enigma code- what could be out in the darkness?
The Boy- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1U21VBSbSs
The Witch- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjBN0ByAqDk

German Expressionism links to this, as these films were known for their shadows, corners and silhouettes creating an un-nerving atmosphere that would cause fear and confusion to the audience.

The Cabinet of Dr Caligari- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuocVLKdSqQ

In this film the monochrome has a high contrast of light and darkness, especially from 21:30-21:51, as the set is very angular and unusual with different shapes and areas of darkness where we can't see anything. This is a good example of low-key lighting.
Faust- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Flnxq2HMOqA
Metropolis- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0NzALRJifI

Horror Music Research

The Shining main title
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWbI19Pt_nU

Kubrick chose to use some music by the avant-garde classical composer, Krzysztof Penderecki. A famous composition he wrote was called Polymorphia, which has many eerie scratching, squeaking and un-nerving sounds.
The crackling noises along with wailing sounds create a tense atmosphere making the audience wonder what is going to happen. The repetitive notes throughout create a hypnotic sound and make the audience wonder when the next scare will be. He was inspired by this composer as the music cresendos and builds tension and adrenaline, but then stops suddenly, making the audience jump or not know what to expect next.

The Woman In Black opening theme
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZzgxCVBa1M&list=PL3qcecRT3YPufrt4II32VJnm6gdMCP8Ly

The chimes and notes in this piece suggest things to do with children from the tone. The repetitive notes and the tense build up of squeaking sounds create tension and really terrify the audience.

Dead Silence theme song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ix2-HV63Ek
This song again suggests children through the musical box sound. This is effective as it is twisting the idea of a music box, which is meant to sooth a child, but this is very different.

Saw theme tune
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWaNoK3gN6M
This song doesn't seem as creepy or psycological, it has tension but more of a heroic and building atmosphere almost like an action story. This could suggest the feelings of the victims.

My New Narrative

I recently thought about how I could change my narrative slightly by having a deeper story line. I want to keep elements from the old narrative but change them slightly in the following ways.

5 years ago a young girl looses her older sister. She can't get over the loss and she misses her very much. The sister who died used to regularly go on camping holidays with her boyfriend/friends on the weekends, and the caravan is still in the girl's family garden. The girl regularly goes down to the caravan for comfort and to bring back memories. She also rings the number that used to be her sisters, and it always goes to voicemail. She loves to hear her sister's voice and sometimes she will leave a message.

In my trailer I am planning on starting with the girl reflecting on her sister's death with voice overs, visiting the caravan and ringing the number. I will also include some flashbacks. Further on the line things start to get strange, as the caravan might look different how it did to last time, or things move inside the house or the garden might get ruined. Eventually the girl will ring the phone number, and someone answers. I also might get a shot of the girl finding the sister buried underground, who might stand up and walk from her grave.

My new narrative follows Tzvetan Todorov's theory, as the narrative starts off with equilibrium of happy flashbacks of the two sisters, then we see the disruption of the sister dying by seeing different shots of the younger sister upset about the situation. We see the situation thickening and getting worse the more we see and the more she tries to resolve the situation near the end crescendo, however because it was a trailer I'd created, I can't reveal the entire narrative so the ending equilibrium explained in the theory won't be shown in my trailer. A common convention of horror films is for the ending to finish with equilibrium.

"Powers of Horror"- an essay by Julia Kristeva

This essay addresses abjection which is about how viewers feel when watching horror. Abjection is the feeling where you feel fascinated about the horror but at the same time feeling disgusted by it. Kristeva was one of the first people to write about abjection.

"It lies there, quite close, but it cannot be assimilated. It beseeches, worries, and fascinates desire, which, nevertheless, does not let itself be seduced. Apprehensive, desire turns aside; sickened, it rejects".

This quote describes in detail the feeling you get watching gruesome events. She talks about how it worries you, a sickening feeling but fascinates desire at the same time. Horror is taking something out of the ordinary world and turning it to frighten others, which isn't what humans were made to do originally.

"Loathing an item of food, a piece of filth, waste, or dung. The spasms and vomiting that protect me. The repugnance, the retching that thrusts me to the side and turns me away from defilement, sewage, and muck. The shame of compromise, of being in the middle of treachery. The fascinated start that leads me to toward and separates me from them".

This quote describes how the disgusted feeling is like in your mind and body which is not pleasant, but at the same time the horror leads you towards it. Love/hate relationship.

"Food loathing is perhaps the most elementary and most archaic form of abjection. When the eyes see or the lips touch that skin on the surface of milk- harmless, thin as a sheet of cigarette paper, pitiful as a nail paring- I experience a gagging sensation and, still farther down, spasms in the stomach, the belly; and all the organs shrivel up the body, provoke tears and bile, increase heartbeat, cause forehead and hands to perspire. Along with sight-clouding dizziness, nausea makes me balk at that milk cream".

This quote is a very graphic and visual description of how you feel watching horror linked with food, and the reason why it makes people feel so disgusted is because horrors show these scenes in such detail and audiences can thoroughly imagine the feeling of these things being inside us. These feelings are described in this quote, eg. gagging.

Research into different horror titles

I did some research on different types of titles for horror magazines, posters and films. I noticed that the majority of horror magazine titles were fantasy or dreamlike, eg. "Nightmare" or "Shadows and Tall Trees". Some others I found were called "Cemetery Dance", "Splatterpunk Zinc", "Black Static", "Dark Moon Digest" and "Aghast". The titles are short and snappy, related to Gothic or gore themes. The words "Black" and "Darkness" are effective, as these are the scariest times to film as audiences's find it un-nerving not being able to see around corners, as well as feeling a sense of vulnerability. "Splatter", "Gore", "Scream" and "Blood" are graphic words which describe what the magazine will be about and will let audience's know if it will be their type of read.

Some different horror film titles I find effective are "It Follows" giving a vulnerable atmosphere, "Scream" which is a simple snappy word but gives off a feeling of fear and terror, "Don't Look Now" which shows the audience that the terror can't get any worse, "The Orphanage" which is a place where children are vulnerable, "The Others" which seem different to normal reality, but the title still remains un-clear and mysterious.

Some titles I have thought of for my film are "At the End of the Phone Call", "Her", "The One," "Listen Don't Speak", "We Will Never Forget" etc.

Horror titles in general give off a disturbing un-realistic view on things, and very often they are linked to psycological  or gore themes which different people find disturbing. This could be through clowns, ghosts or slasher themes.

Analysing modern horror trailers set in isolated locations

Cabin in the Woods
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsIilFNNmkY

The trailer starts off with a positive, naturalistic normal vibe. All the characters seem positive and happy like a normal movie. When they are in the vehicle driving to their destination, their GPS says that it is "Unworthy of global positioning" which seems fun at first, before they realise it's no joke. There are many cuts at the start of the trailer showing different angles/objects establishing the area and the characters in a quick paced fashion. This is also effective from the up-beat rock music in the background, referring to the young age group. We see the vehicle driving into the woods with very high trees, and we immediately get an un-nerved feeling as the audience watching.

When they arrive at the abandoned site, it gives off a creepy atmosphere as they are vulnerable as they don't know where the are. The fade to black transitions also make these cuts seem like a faded memory. The wide shot of the cabin is effective, as it looks un-nerving due to the location in the woods and how it looks run down. The quick cuts matching in time with sharp ghostly sounds add to the creepy atmosphere.

The mise-en-scene is effective in the way the character's facial expressions are shown through close-ups and mug shots. This demonstrates their fear and establishes their personalities. Towards the end of the trailer, the cuts get faster, showing desperation and panic. This is also shown from the music in the background building up. These cuts consist of the creatures that are causing the damage in the film, facial expressions of the characters, actions the characters are making and showing the audience the different locations in the vehicle, different rooms in the cabin or the woods. This trailer works well due to the establishing shots, appropriate pauses and how the tension crescendos towards the end through the quick cuts and how the music builds up.

In this film/trailer the characters are archetype stock characters in a typical teenage movie. These characters include the rebel, the explorer, the caregiver, the hero etc.

The Forest
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hW8hUcXR-A
The establishing shot is a wide shot of a nice house with a voice over. It then cuts to shots inside the house, as well as some flashbacks and the woman talking in the voice over. When the sister looks inside the tent then back out, a girl screaming in her face is un-expectedly there and makes the audience jump, which is also helped by the build up of music causing tension and fear. After that is an establishing shot of the 'suicide forest', giving an un-nerving atmosphere to the audience. Titles throughout this trailer are effective, as the background looks like a forest with fog, giving a blurred vision of what inside the forest looks like. The non-diegetic sound throughout is also effective, as it is a creepy/eerie whisper that is repeated throughout making the audience feel very un-comfortable. There are different angles and shot types of the forest to make it seem as scary as possible, through birds eye shots, pans and wide shots. Night-time shots are also effective as your vision is compared.

This trailer has little details throughout which are very effective, such as pauses, sudden sounds such as leaves crunching on the ground, a person behind the shower door etc. These shots give the audience adrenaline, because they can see what is going to happen compared to the character in the film who seems vulnerable. Shots of the dead bodies/spirits show the audience a taster of what the film will include and how scary it will be with lots of tension.

Frozen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiUNsDVjCbo
This trailer starts off with an establishing shot of ski slopes on snowy mountains. It also introduces the characters a bit. The text on screen is effective, as they are real facts about skiing and snow boarding, eg. "30 million skiers and snowboarders in the US..."
The chair lift creaks and angles of the lift as well as the darkness give an un-settling feel, and the audience know something is going to go wrong. The non-diegetic sound is effective when all the lights turn off. The crashes emphasise this and makes it even more un-believable. The shots of the character's faces freezing as well as the chair lift breaking bring huge tension to the audience as well as true fear for these people. A very effective shot is a point of view shot looking down as if you are the person jumping from the lift. This makes the audience cringe and terrified. This trailer is effective as it only has a few characters in the movie making the isolation as realistic as possible. It is also the type of film to put people off skiing.

British Horror films

Hammer Horror Films 1950's:

Cult Horrors:
Wickerman- 1973: Someone visits a small Scottish Island to investigate the report of a missing child.
Witchfinder General- 1968: A horrific tale of evil set during the English Civil War.

Contemporary:

Byzantium- 2013: A modern twist on a vampire horror incorporating romance and action.

Eden Lake-2008: A couple go away for a weekend by a lake where they meet a gang who cause serious injury.

Dog Soilders- 2002: a small squad of British soilders encounter a bloody massacre whilst on a nighttime training mission in the Scottish Highlands.

28 Days Later- 2002: A group of misguided animal rights activists free a caged chimp infected with a virus from a medical research lab.

The Children- 2008: A film where children turn against their parents and do strange things, such as mis-behaving and injuring people. They dominate over the adults, changing the stereotype in the media where children are seen as vulnerable and innocent.

The Hole- 2009: Some teenagers find a hole in a basement where a series of horrific events take place. Inside the hole are where the teenagers biggest fears are, eg. clowns.

The Descent-2005: A group of women visit North Carolina to investigate caves. When they're in the cave they realize they're not alone.

Woman In Black- 2012: A film following on from the theatre production. The woman in black is a supernatural ghost who lives inside a haunted house and some horrible events happen to the man staying in the house.

Low Budget films:

Kill List- 2011: Some dark events take place from a contract killer and his business partner as they carry out a new assignment.

Cherry Tree Lane- 2010: Horrific events take place in a couples home when someone knocks on their door.

Typically British horrors have low budgets and are set on location. They don't rely on big Hollywood names to promote their film and they don't depend on much CGI or graphics to make a statement. The majority of these films have co- productions where three or four production companies join to create the film, usually because they aren't big enough to create these on their own. In Kill List the two companies which joined were Rook Films and Warp X. In Cherry Tree Lane companies Limelight and Steel Mill Pictures joined.

Filled in Filming Schedule

After I finished thinking about my storyboard, I filled in all the information needed about each scene/shot to help me stay organised. Nearer the time I will fill in when and what time the shoots will happen.

Shooting Schedule

Here is a template I made for my shooting schedule. This will keep me organised so that I know what to bring, when and who needs to be involved for particular shots. It is important to be organised so that you can do all your filming in a decent amount of time. It also helps the footage and the trailer to look the best as possible, as each shot would have had lots of preparation and organisation.

Storyboarding

Special effects makeup

Someone I know has started to learn about and experiment with special effects makeup recently, such as creating realistic burns, gashes or wounds. I thought that this would be very effective to use on the ghost girl in my trailer to make her seem more powerful/disturbing. I could also put these fake wounds onto the victims to demonstrate the violence even further. These could be gashes or cuts on the face, burns or wounds on the arms or on the chest/neck. I will also use fake blood on the actor's skin as well as their clothing, to make it seem more realistic. I could also try using red food colouring and water to see if that would work well.
We could experiment with large or small cuts or grazes, seeing which ones worked best or having a mixture.
Here is an example of something they tried recently:

"Men, Women and Chain Saws" by Carol Clover

This book focuses specifically on the slasher genre and gender. It talks about how the slasher genre is explored, and how female and male characters come into it. It talks mainly about how female characters rise in the early 1970 films, such as "Carrie". (1976)


"A girl named Carrie White, the browbeaten daughter of a religious fanatic. Because of her strange clothes and shy mannerisms, Carrie is the butt of every class joke; the social outsider in every situation".


This quote introduces the audience to Carrie's character. It makes her seem weak and awkward, completely different to who she becomes later in the film.


"The source of her pain soon becomes the source of her power".


This quote goes against the media's interpretation of a female stereotype, where females are seen as being weak and vulnerable- this quote shows that Carrie can get stronger the more she gets put down, helping female characters in horror.


"She also has a mild telekinetic ability which intensifies after her fist menstrual period, and she finally uses this power to 'bring down the house' following a terrible social disaster at her high school prom".


This quote gives the viewers more detail about how her power gets put into practise, through locations, people and what she does.


"She is led to believe that she has been elected queen of the senior prom, only to have a bucket of pigs blood dumped down on her at the moment she is crowned. To which she responds with the force of her telekinetic will, causing the gym to go up in flames and her entire school class with it".


Once again Carol describes in even more detail how and what Carrie did, demonstrating her power and how her class mates treat her. Carol starts off describing the situation, then in further detail then in more detail and so on, to get the viewers an idea and to keep them interested.


"But what exactly is the horror here? if 'women's liberation' is the fear, is Carrie its representative monster, and if she is, who is the victim, and who is the hero?"

This quote's rhetorical question is effective, as it's a valid point that the viewers don't know. Carrie is an interesting character who comes across as weak, powerful and heroic all in one. Which one is she?

How horror has changed over time

Horrors started off years ago when there was a strong literary tradition of horror or ghost stories before films were invented. As well as this many novels were created, such as Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818), the stories of Edgar Allan Poe (1830's/ 1840's), Bram Stoker's Dracula (1897) and Robert Louis Stevenson's Jekyll and Hyde (1886) are all key texts and still influence the horror genre to this day.

Classic horrors such as German Expressionism, Cabinet of Doctor Caligari, Dracula and Sweeney Todd themes originated after novels and stories. Horrors started off with things that related to the public at the time, such as going against religion or sinning.

Horror also twisted entertainment purposes into frightening things, such as clowns or jesters. They made the costumes and masks as over the top as possible, and twisted small details, such as making eyes smaller or making teeth bigger to create a more disturbing element to films.

Older films also used people as the main source of horror in the films, such as Dracula, Alice Sweet Alice etc, so individual people would be the terrifying thing about the film. Many of these characters were possessed by the devil, linking back to religion, such as The Exorcist, Incidious, Devil Inside.

As older films didn't have the technology we have now, there was a lot of use of makeup, costume and location settings to scare the audience, such as fake blood, supernatural humans and isolated locations, which directors still use in films today. Gore, thriller, Gothic and slasher themes were common, as actors could reenact fighting scenes, which is also where the use of weapons and fake blood come in. Now, CGI is used a lot to create un-natural or ghostly characters, as well as having better editing software to create trippy effects, such as filters on the camera which makes everything seem hazy or realistic.

Psycological films such as the Shining are very popular nowadays, as they seem to scare audiences the most. Gore, body horror or slasher films are unpleasant to watch such as Hostel, but psychological films can mess people's heads around the most. Is that person behind that corner?

Analysing Magazine Front Covers

 This cover has typical elements which are effective, such as the large main image of a supernatural person. The eyes create a disturbing feel as well as the hammer covering the mouth, partially covering the face of the person. The mast head written in red with a dripping font is effective and is something I'd like to try in my cover.

There aren't many cover lines on this cover, keeping the main image, mast head and main cover line the vocal point of the magazine cover.


The contrast of the darkness in the background (maybe suggesting fear of the unknown) and the red mast head create a good contrast as the red stands out. The image is effective, as the contrast of light and darkness is very large in this photo. It is also not showing the top of the person's face such as their eyes, giving a mysterious atmosphere to who this person is. The darkness creates an un-nerving atmosphere.

This cover is effective due to the red background and dripping font, suggesting blood. The subtitle "Blood, guts and gore" also gives an idea of what will be featured inside this magazine. The variety of images are effective, as it gives the viewers lots to look at, as if the magazine is full of good content. I like how there are different fonts, such as thin classical fonts to wide messy fonts.

I like how this magazine cover is simple, with a large mast head. I like how there is only one image and that it is positioned on the left hand side, which is unusual for magazine cover photos which are normally in the centre. I like how the picture links with the mast head "The Fungus". There are only a few cover lines too, which keeps the mast head and image the vocal point of the magazine.

The rusty, old and dark background creates an unpleasant atmosphere to the viewers, as we don't know where it is. The font in "Hostel" on the right reflects the same effect. The mast head is very large, making it the vocal point of the cover. The single photo creates a simple but effective feel to the cover. If I was going to use one photo in my cover, it would have to be a powerful image such as this one, showing someone's fear.

Colour Connotations
The colours red and black get used an awful lot in horror films, posters or other horror constructions because the connotations for them could be darkness, corners, fear of the un-known, vulnerability etc. for black, and for red the connotation is blood, gore and violence- something graphic or disturbing that audiences don't see in everyday life. They are continually used in posters as audiences recognize these connotations with these colours and are colours which stand out on a page and can be used in different ways, such as fonts, creating shadows etc.

Different types of mask

Masks are effective in horror, as they have a fixed expression which is abnormal, so it covers someone underneath and we don't know who is under the mask. Masks can also intimidate or enhance the creepiness of the person, by adding fake blood or abnormal features, like small eyes or different coloured skin.

Below- first mask is un-nerving from the authoritive smug expression. The mask below that doesn't look real and almost like an animal, creating a very disturbing atmosphere. The next mask is from the film "Saw" which is used as a disguise. The pale skin and eyes create an un-natural atmosphere, making it un-nerving. The next mask is odd, even though the mask is smiling, it seems like it is putting on a friendly disguise when actually they are the opposite underneath. The clown mask is twisting a friendly entertaining smile to an unpleasant smile which is like the previous mask. The next mask is used for protection but seems scary becuase the whole face is covered and makes the person seem tough and dangerous. The Scream mask is famous for having the exadurated features, such as the pale skin, long face and low eyes and mouth. The next mask is very simple, and can be used in a non-horror way- to disguise but not give a personality through the mask, just to disguise someone in a blank way. The next one is from the film "The Mask" which is a comedy, showing that masks can be used in a humerous way as well. The final mask can possibly be the oldest mask in history, made out of stone from 7000 BC.





                                                                                                                     
                                                             

Establishing Characters in my Trailer

Hannah- main character- girl who lives in caravan. Is desperate for attention and love in an evil sense. The antagonist who seems controlling, dominating and terrifying to audiences and characters within film.

Father & mother- don't care about their daughter. Can't understand what they've done wrong and why she belonged to them. This is inspired from film The Ring (2002), where the mother doesn't love the antagonist, making her become a violent ghost girl.

Sam- main victim who stands up to Hannah. Is strong willed, brave and confident. Typical leading male role.

Peter, Sue and Helen- friends of Sam who are victims of Hannah and don't survive. Seem weak, vulnerable and innocent.

Sam's parents- naive and obnoxious to what he is up to or the traumas of reality. Typical convention of parents in horrors, or binary opposites where the parents do care.

Jim- Sam's younger brother. Innocent, wants to help his brother in every way he can but he isn't old enough. Innocent, naive and  immature.

Above are a few ideas for specific characters I could use in my trailer. I was inspired by Vladimir Propp, who has a theory about specific characters in horror films. I decided to use or challenge these conventions. Ones I did use were the villain, the helper, the false hero, the dispatcher etc. I decided to use these characters, as they work well in horror films as they create binary oppositions, and make the film more interesting by having a variety of characterizations.
I wanted to have the main character which makes the horror film, as well as some victims to help the story seem more disturbing and effective. I wanted to include a protagonist in the trailer, so that there are tense moments throughout the trailer as well as character building. The parents are extra characters, which could be used for short clips of extreme close-ups to show fear or anxiousness, flashbacks or using them for vocal clips, such as heavy breathing or screams.

Manteno State Hospital

These photos were taken in a hospital called "Manteno State Hospital" which was a mental asylum in Manteno. It was founded in 1930 and closed in 1985 due to disease.
A photographer found the hospital and did some research about it. They found out a story about a woman who was admitted into the hospital. She described her story and what treatments she had. He decided to write on the walls the story of her mental illness and experiences in the hospital. He took photos of the written on walls and used a model with words on her body in a few of the images.
Writing on the walls is a great way to scare the audience, as it makes a very personal way to scare someone, as it is aimed directly at that person in particular. Some films which use writing on the walls are "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" and "Blair Witch Project", which create an-nerving atmosphere.
These places to film in are effective, as they are in isolated locations where they are sepreate from everyday life. Abandoned mansions or hospitals are also frightening as they are large, and you never know what is in the same building with you or what is hiding behind a door or corridor.

Effects of black and white

Classic films were grainy and in black and white, which wasn't very good quality or very clear to watch. Nowadays technology has improved, but for some reason black and white in film and photos create a very original atmosphere. They give a retro/vintage feel to the shot, and black and white can be used and is used frequently used to suggest a past memory, or how someone is feeling inside their head. Black and white allows the audience to see one subject in one light and another in a different light, making it more obvious to the film what is going on or suggesting a particular mood, eg. sad.

I would like to use black and white in my trailer for certain scenes, as I think it creates a dark, defined and eerie atmosphere to the shot, as it blocks away colour, which we associate with happiness. Because of the darkness, it creates a mysterious and suspicious atmosphere as the audience might not be able to see everything clearly in the frame.

I was inspired by German Expressionism, more specificially from the film "Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" and other classic horrors. "Night of the Living Dead" is a zombie film from 1968 and is filmed entirely in black and white, which made the story seem more realistic and eerie, caused by the shadows and darkness. I was also inspired by Schindler's List. In Schindler's List, the film is in black and white, taking us back to that era. There is also a girl in a red coat amongst the black and white. This creates so much focus and definition on the girl, and it draws attention to that person. You could also do this where everything is in colour and one person/object is in black and white.                                                                            
Below- Cabinet of Dr Caligari and Night of the Living Dead. City is an example of how black and white creates atmosphere. Girl in read coat from Schindler's List.

Potential props I could use in my trailer

*Creepy letters. These are effective in horror films, as they create an ominous atmosphere where the characters in film and audience don't know who they are from and why they are being sent to them. They have no control over receiving them or what the future will hold about what is written in the letters.  

*Chemicals. Chemicals are dangerous and can be used to threaten vulnerable characters, which could create tension for audiences, as they can recognize the panic and fear the characters are experiencing. 

*Weapons. The majority of horror films use weapons to create fear. They can threaten characters and raise disturbance for audiences, or they can physically be used, creating a gruesome/ bloody horror such as a slasher, eg. Scream.

*Fake/real mud to put on costume. Mud can have a connotation of a person being dirty, bad, evil, going against what is normal. By using mud on costume can represent an un-happy jealous antagonist who is evil and not normal.







*Fake blood. In combination with weapons, this can create horror for audiences, as they realize that whatever is going on is serious and they are in danger for themselves or their friends.

 

 *White dress. Night gowns are a common convention for female antagonists in horrors, such as The Ring (2002) and The Grudge (2004). They create fear, due to the fact that they will come at you most commonly at night time when people are asleep and vulnerable. 

How to improve my work

In AS media, I learnt that getting constructive and positive feedback from different people helps your research and your improvement hugely. This is because everyone's opinions differ, and you might be able to see a trend or pattern in who likes or dislikes what. What works well is to have a focus group that you meet with every few weeks to discuss how you're doing and how you could improve. You could show two different pieces of work which are similar, but have slight differences, such as editing differences in photos, or different filming angles in the trailer. This gives them the choice and the opportunity to speak about why they prefer one version more than the other.

Another great way to get feedback is to create surveys on Survey Monkey. You can create your own questions, and you can send the questionaire to particular people, whether that's to a random audience, an older age group, younger age group or your peers. This gives you a huge range from different people and for you to see what works best. Some good questions include:
"What font do you like best and why?"
"How does the ending of the trailer make you feel?"
"What is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of horror trailers?"

Another way to improve is to look at other blogs and to see what content they are posting/have posted. I will also be looking at specific qualities for a particular target audience, such as story lines, locations or props.

Camera positions and angles

Camera angles and positions have a huge impact on the atmosphere of a scene, trailer or film. There are so many different ones, but some are used to show certain things, such as special props shown throughout the film, showing the proxemics between characters or showing the mise-en-scene.

Tilt shot is when the camera is down below looking up at someone. These shots make the person in the frame seem authoritative, powerful and important. These shots would be good for the antagonists or protagonists standing up for themselves confidently.

Crane shots are taken high up when the camera is on a crane which makes everything look small, helpless or un-important in terms of their emotions or their position compared to other characters in the film. The camera can be lifted up or down on the crane to change the dynamics.

Establishing shots are always the first shots that the audience see. They set the scene by letting the audience know where this film or scene will be taking place and gets the audience interested in what will happen during the course of the film.

Crab shots are when the camera is in a space, such as a cupboard or cabinet. This gives an isolated trapped feeling, or a less professional/relaxed manner, such as the Paranormal Activity style of filming, where lots of the filming is through CCTV.

Subject filming and point of view shots are taken from the position of the audience, getting them more connected emotionally as if they are that character.

Head on shot is when the action comes directly to the camera which can be very full on and dramatic for the audience, as it makes them feel as if it's happening to them personally.

Tracking shot is when the camera is moved along on a track on the floor, following a character. This can get the audience more involved, due to the slow movement of the camera shadowing a character. What will happen next?

Close ups/extreme close ups are great shots in film as they show someone's expression and how they're feeling, whether they're screaming or crying.

Paranormal Activity Filming Style

Paranormal Activity are a series of psychological horror films starting from 2007. They have a very iconic filming style, as they seem very naturalistic. The cameras are usually hand-held and shaky, as if the actors aren't actors and are making home videos or vlog footage. They are also normally families in their houses, once again referencing to isolated locations.

The films start normally, but further on in the film more thing start happening, such as things being moved or broken in the house to seeing ghost figures to people being thrown against the wall violently without knowing why. They also use point of view and subject filming to get the audience as involved in the films as possible. They often use CCTV type footage which creates a very naturalistic feel to the film, making it scarier for normal viewers watching.

When I watched the Paranormal Activity films, I really liked how they were structured differently and in a more casual/relaxed way as I had never seen another horror film series like this before. I like how these films establish the characters in-directly like in normal horrors- we learn their names differently through the casual chatting through friends outside or family inside the house. It inspired me to use similar footage in my trailer, such as friends walking in the woods holding the camera, then the audience hear screaming and the camera suddenly drops to the floor. Also outdoor CCTV footage could be effective, or police tracking the area through naturalistic cameras.