Planning: Audience Research

The picture to the left is the questionnaire that we created for our audience research. Our target audience, as discussed in the research I did previously, will be teenages/young adults. Because of this, we made sure the audience we asked to fill in this questionnaire would be of our target audience age.

The questionnaire contains seven different questions all based on what the audience feels would be conventional for a horror film. We had nine people answer our servey in total and in the presentation below is the answers we cumulated for each question. To the right is an example of one of our filled questionnaire sheets.


             

Planning: Storyboard

The storyboard is essential for us when it comes to our filming days. The storyboard acts as a plan of action and tells us exactly where, what and how long to film for. Our storyboard includes the definite scenes with the last sheet as some optional shots. We are planning to stick to this storyboard, however certain shots may be added to the film or some may be removed.  If we film exactly what is on the storyboard then our short film, without end credits, is around 4 minutes and 10 seconds. From this base, we may need to add a small amount of scenes, however we will see the length when it comes to filming.

Planning: Pitch for Our Idea

               

Costume[s] and Make-up
For our short film, our costume and make-up will remain very minimal. Our male character will have no make up as he will not have any injuries which would require make-up. Our antagonist for the majority of the short will remain out of sight, and so make-up is not needed for these scenes. Our character will be revealed at the end of the short, and so dark face paint and possibly fake blood will be needed to insinuate the child is of the dead.

Location Test Shots
As stated in the presentation, our location will be my house, as we wanted to tap into the idea of 'horror in the home'. With the test shots taken we have noticed both positives and negatives. Firstly, we wanted to have scenes which are held in small locations so we can give off a feeling of being trapped. This can be done well in my house as the corridors offer this feeling, and the vast amount of shadows formed naturally by house lights allow for us to play on the 'hiding in the shadows' idea. The only issues we could find are that in certain areas of the house, house lighting do not illuminate it, and so we may need to create a lighting rig to counteract this.

Props

As our antagonist is going to be a small child, we felt it would be ideal to use multiple childs toys as props, in order to keep the audience on edge and creeped out by these toys. We feel that the audience will be creeped out by these toys further as we do not associate these toys with demonic activity. We can see these toys as regualr household items and so our play on 'horror in the home' is explored further by this. Multiple toys such as these dolls, a dollhouse and moving toys will be what we use. We will also be using large boxes to insinuate that this family has just moved into this house, and so this house is unknown to the character, tapping into the fear of the unknown.

Research: Consolidation

Having completed the research phase of the coursework, I have discovered new ideas and facts about the horror genre that I will now use in my own production.

For my production task I am working with Amber Runnacles and Eden Edwards. Within the group, I hope to portray ideas that extend upon creativity I have already analysed and also create some new ideas that exploit audience and genre theories I have learnt.

These theories extend from misogynism within the genre through to the attraction audiences receive watching immoral actions. In my own work I wish to break certain trends in the the theories, such as Molitor & Sapolsky's misogynism, whilst meeting the theories that we know are neccessary for a successful horror film, whether is be a feature or a short. These thoeries I will follow are Rick Altman's counter-culture attraction theory and Dyer's theory of audience escapism.

It is also vital that our production also delivers on the emotional and visceral pleasures that are to be expected from a horror film. Either our horror must provoke a feeling of fear from the audience or at least build tension to a point where the audience are questioning what will occur and when. This was achieved well in the short film 'Alexia' I evaluated and I wish to feed of this analysis and create a successful short horror film. Finally, I am also keen to add in intellectual puzzles into this horror, as I feel it imerses the audience further as they wish to solve a puzzle before the answer is revealed.

Research: Audience & Genre Analysis

Research: Technical Analysis ('Dust Buddies')

              

Research: Technical Analysis ('Plastic')