Planning - Film Synopsis

When a dusty old diary is found, hidden in the back store cupboard, an angry spirit is disturbed and returns to seek revenge on the girl who dared open the book full of secrets.

During the Blitz a young girl named Cassandra was evacuated from London and taken to a school in the North of England for the duration of the War. She was left in the school feeling lonely and helpless; an outsider. Her only outlet was her diary which she kept close to her at all times. She was teased and bullied by the other children, sinking into a deeper depression each day she was away from her home and family. Eventually she had had enough of her life and ended her suffering by hanging herself in the North Chamber.

Over 60 years later, Scarlett, a school girl, finds the diary in a store cupboard. Not knowing the consequences of her actions or the horror she is about to encounter, she opens the diary. This causes Cassandra’s spirit to be unleashed and she returns to seek revenge on Scarlett and any other person who gets in her way.

Planning - Initial Film Ideas

The method our group used for the initial planning of our film idea was the “flip-chart method” used by Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, The World’s End). This video explaining the method is an extract from the Hot Fuzz DVD extras:

This method appealed to me because I felt like it was a good way to get ideas down on paper to base the film’s premise on. Even ideas that would not end up featuring in the film if we actually made it could be written down and allowed to shape the final product. Some individual ideas might be better than others, and I think this method makes it easier to spot the better ideas and develop upon them more, so they become a large part of the finished product and the less relevant ideas can either form a small part of the final product or not be included at all, producing a better film at the end of the process.

Another feature of this method I found useful was the detailed character profiles that could be included in the planning. Having a full idea of a character means you know how they will react in certain situations, which would make a finished film seem more realistic. Without this, characters could react to situations in ways that don’t match their personality, negatively affecting audience reception. This will help us in producing a trailer which shows viewers what our characters are like in the short space of time that we have. As audiences would have more of an idea what our characters are like, they would be more likely to be interested in seeing the full length film.

Below are pictures of our planning notes that we produced using the flip-chart method:

Initial ideas on genre, premise, setting, characters, and the conflict which would disrupt the equilibrium in Todorovian theory.

Brief initial synopsis for the full length film.

Character profiles for our two main characters featuring ideas for names, appearance, dress codes, and motives.

Initial ideas for the main events of our trailer, the style of editing, and use of sound. 

Modifications to our trailer planning which we added after feedback.

After we had formed a basic plot we used aspects of the plot (e.g. setting, characters) to give us ideas for the film's title and put them into a mind map. The title we decided to use was North Chamber.

Research - Casting Ideas and Star Theory

The film our group is making a promotional package for will feature two young girls as the main characters. If our film was really being made and had the backing of real production companies, we would want star actors who fit in with our character descriptions to play them. This is because of the audience appeal generated by “star” actors. Stars can be defined in a number of different ways, these include:

• Economic power – Is the star’s involvement in a film on its own enough to attract a large enough audience that would pay to see the film, regardless of the film’s genre or themes?

• Profit – Do films the star is involved in make millions of pounds in profit for the film’s producers?

• Fame – How well known and popular does a star have to be on a global scale? Can stardom be split into different levels based on fame (A-List – Z-List)?

Richard Dyer’s 1998 book The Stars states that “stars are commodities produced and consumed on the strength of their meanings.” This essentially means that stars are created by the film industry to sell films and generate profit. The amount of money and hype they generate is based on their level of fame and appeal.

Chloe Moretz would be a good casting choice for our production as she fits the desired age range and appearance for our protagonist Scarlett. She also starred as the eponymous Carrie in the 2013 remake, proving her ability to be a protagonist in films of the horror genre, and giving her a reputation among genre fans, thereby increasing her level of stardom, making the film more likely to succeed.

Carrie Trailer:

Research - Representational Issues

Both of our main characters are teenage females; this relates them to the representational issues of gender and age.

Females typically fall into the “damsel in distress” character archetype in horror films, as they are often stereotyped as weak and easily frightened. However, females often overcome this initial fear in horror films, by being the last survivor and having to confront the film’s antagonist. This representation conforms to stereotypes in the wider media where the ideal woman would be very feminine, i.e. fragile and emotional.

In the wider media, teenagers are frequently stereotyped as being very naïve and unintelligent. This is used in the horror genre, as teenagers in horror films act on this naivety and put themselves in peril. Often they are helped by an older, worldlier character that advises them and warns them of impending danger; more often than not the teenagers will ignore this warning.

These generalisations and representations of particular age groups and genders are useful in horror films as a means of scaring the audience. Very intelligent, organised and fearless characters are not the norm for protagonists of horror films as these characters would not be scared or find themselves in peril easily, making the fright less intense for the audience. As a result, we will be supporting these representations in our film, as they are an effective way of scaring viewers.

Our protagonist and antagonist, before becoming a ghost, will be fragile and weak, our protagonist being tormented by a supernatural being and our antagonist being a victim of bullying and eventually committing suicide. Our protagonist does initially subvert these stereotypes as she is a bully herself, and as a result is not seemingly emotional. However, this does fall into another media stereotype as, especially in representations of schools, popular women are portrayed as nasty and gossipy.

Research - Mise en Scene in the Horror Genre

Mise en scene is a French term that means “placing on the stage”, and in film constitutes everything on screen, such as setting, props and dress codes. In horror films, settings are very important to convey the right tone. Typically, settings are isolated, for example the remote farmhouse setting of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Also common in setting is gothic architecture as features of it, for example gargoyles, create an eerie atmosphere. Haunted houses are often gothic.

The Shining

Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Props are also important, and are sometimes iconic to the film they feature in, for example Jack Torrance’s axe in The Shining and Leatherface’s chainsaw in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Weapons and blades are very common props, and antagonists often have a signature weapon, such as the knife in the Scream franchise.

Ghostface

Jason Voorhees

Freddy Krueger

Scream also illustrates the importance of dress codes in horror films, as the cape and mask of the antagonist Ghostface has become iconic of not only the film, but the horror genre as a whole. Other iconic costumes in the genre include Jason Voorhees’ hockey mask from the Friday the 13^th franchise, and Freddy Krueger’s hat and striped jumper from the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. This highlights the central role aspects of mise en scene have in making horror antagonists more identifiable, whereas protagonists appear more ordinary and typical. The dress codes and props they interact with are used to make them seem like regular people, meaning viewers can easily relate to them, making the distinguishable villain’s torment of the protagonist scarier.

Lighting is significant in establishing the tone of horror films. Lighting is nearly entirely low key and sometimes chiaroscuro. Interesting lighting effects add to the ambience and intensify the audience’s fear, by making the events more supernatural and other worldly, in the case of supernatural horror films like The Ring. Horror films are occasionally made to look as if they are made up of “found footage”, which affects the mise en scene as picture quality is made grainier, and CCTV like, and shaky handheld camerawork becomes more common. Notable examples of “found footage” horror films include The Blair Witch Project and the Paranormal Activity franchise.

Research - Editing and Sound in the Horror Genre

Editing

Effective editing is very important in the horror genre, chiefly because the main purpose of a horror film is to frighten the viewer. The pace of editing builds suspense, either by being fast or slow. Conventionally, fast paced editing (shorter shot length, more frequent cuts between shots) is used in horror films to convey a sense of urgency to the audience; the pace of editing may become slower afterwards with the use of more sustained shots, to build up to a particularly scary moment and a return to fast paced editing to shock the viewer. Editing like this helps the film achieve its primary goal of being scary by enhancing the impact of what is happening on screen. Editors do not often start with sustained shots in the horror genre as, although these shots can make an audience wary as they anticipate a sudden shock, viewers may lose interest if a shot is sustained for too long. By gripping the audience using more urgent editing, they will be sucked into the film by the time a more sustained shot is used. Editing can be used to create dramatic irony in horror, i.e. when the audience sees a glimpse of the antagonist that the protagonist doesn't see, meaning they know that the protagonist is in danger before he/she does, building tension in the audience. The Dark Voyeur perspective is used in the horror genre to give the impression that the protagonist is being watched. This is achieved by framing the shot as if someone were hiding, watching the protagonist, making the shot a POV. Shots can be framed with branches, curtains, or from within a darkened room. These editing techniques can be used in our trailer to scare viewers, meaning they would want to see the film if it were being released. The advantages of them are that they do not require a large length of on screen time to execute them, meaning they can be implemented into our trailer easily, without the trailer exceeding its running time and the audience losing interest.

Sound

Use of sound is equally, if not more, important in the horror genre. Often, it is sound that scares the viewer, not the on screen visuals. Diegetic sounds that usually feature in horror films are often loud and sudden, like screams and the creaking of floorboards. Outside from these sudden bursts of sound in the diegesis, there is not much noise to increase the effect of these loud noises. Long periods without noise in horror films can be used to put the audience on edge, scaring them more when a loud noise occurs. Non-diegetic sound in horror films is primarily made up of music which has sudden spikes in volume and tempo, building to a crescendo, greatly enhancing the shock of a scary visual. Examples of this in the genre include the Jaws theme and the music from the shower scene in Psycho. Sound is effective in the horror genre; a research team led by animal distress call expert Daniel Blumstein found that the irregular sounds like screams and dissonant chords typical of horror films trigger a biological response making people think their young are threatened. This shows that sound will be very important in making our trailer scarier, and that we will need to obtain appropriate music and sound effects in order to do this. We might need to edit our sound using software like Audacity, to make it more effective.

Research - How our Trailer Would be Viewed

If our group’s trailer were for a real film, I would like the trailer to be viewed in cinemas as part of the trailer reels for other horror films as this would allow the film to be marketed to people who enjoy films similar to ours. Also, the trailer could be shown on television, most likely on later in the day to allow the trailer to show more scary content, as well as being on a channel aimed at our young target audience, for example BBC Three or E4.

In addition to this, our trailer could be viewed on the internet through being uploaded to YouTube or Vimeo, as well as being featured on social networking sites such as Facebook. This means the trailer is more likely to be viewed by our young target audience as they spend more time on the internet. Also, adverts on social networking sites are often shown to people based on things they have shown an interest in, so our trailer will be viewed by people more likely to watch horror films like ours.

Use of the internet has become more prevalent in the marketing for films as the internet is becoming more available to the general public, with broadband deals frequently being packaged with Sky or BT Vision boxes, increasing ownership of computers (Households will often have more than one computer), and portable means of accessing the internet (Laptops, tablets, and smartphones) becoming more commonplace. The film industry has adapted to these changes by focusing their marketing more on web based campaigns.

Research - Further Target Market Investigation

In a report (viewable at: wwwhttp://www.bfi.org.uk/sites/bfi.org.uk/files/downloads/uk-film-council-portrayal-vs-betrayal-case-study.pdf) the British Film Institute (BFI) found that 32% of the British public watch horror films. Of males, 36% of under 35s watch them, and 33% of over 35s watch them; of females, 44% of under 35s watch them, and 22% of over 35s watch them. This reinforces our target market decision (under 21s, appealing to both genders but with a slight focus on females) as it shows that horror films are more popular with younger people, and younger females like them more than younger males do.

Psychographics are a way to categorise audiences based on their personalities, likes, and consuming activity. One model that categorises audiences in this way is the Cross Cultural Consumer Characterisation model developed by the advertising agency Young & Rubican. It has 7 categories, Resigned, Struggler, Mainstreamer, Aspirer, Succeeder, Explorer, Reformer, and I feel that our target audience will probably be Explorers, as they are often the first to try new things, are more adventurous, and will therefore be more open to the idea of a scary film.

Research - Audience Theories

The Uses and Gratifications Theory 

This 1974 theory by Bulmer and Kats states that there are four reasons why society uses media; diversion (a distraction from everyday life), personal relationships (people often see films together and can talk about what they thought of the film afterwards), personal identity (people can identify with some of the themes in a media production, for example a film/TV show about bullying), and surveillance (people use media products like news programmes, newspapers, and advertisements to obtain information useful to their everyday lives).

This theory is relevant to our production as many of the people in our audience will see this film for three of the four reasons; diversion, personal relationships, and personal identity. As our production is in the horror genre, people will watch it as a form of diversion from their lives, as they will see our protagonist being tormented by a ghost and know that their own lives could be worse. Also, many people watch horror films in groups as some would not want to see them alone, so our film could be used by the audience members for personal relationships as they can discuss the film with others after seeing it. Not all horrors would attract audiences due to personal identity, but ours will include a girl being bullied, so those who have been bullied will identify with that.

The Hypodermic Needle Theory 

This theory states that, rather than being active (thinking about the meaning of what they are watching) audiences are in fact passive, meaning that they believe everything that the media tells them. An example of this is the 1938 radio broadcast of The War of the Worlds in America which caused lots of people to think a real alien invasion was taking place; in some cases people evacuated their homes. However, the idea that the majority of people reacted like this has been rejected by people such as Hadley Cantril who argued that reactions were diverse, and depended on people’s attitudes.

 
This theory is still relevant to our production, as younger people tend to be more easily influenced by the media and could be argued as passive audiences until they get beyond a certain age. As a horror film, our production will include themes which are not suitable for these young audiences and so will be classified as such by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC). If we were to make the feature length film our trailer is advertising it would probably be given a 15 rating by the BBFC, meaning no one under 15 is allowed to see the film in cinemas or buy it on DVD/Blu Ray. The BBFC website states that a 15 is likely to contain strong violence, which our film probably would contain, as well as stating that “at 15 there can be strong threat and horror as long as there is no sustained focus on sadistic or sexualised threat” which is accurate to what I think our film would contain.

Research - Audience Report

We created a short questionnaire with the aim of finding out which demographic our target audience should be. The questions focused on age, gender, and people’s opinions surrounding the horror genre, as this was the genre of film we decided to make a trailer for. We distributed this survey to 21 students and teachers, and I will analyse the results we gained to decide what our target demographic should be.

The age range of the people we surveyed was 17-33, with 10 of them being male and 11 of them being female. 5 males and 5 females answered yes to the question “Do you watch horror films?”; this data is shown in the graph below:

This shows that, as horror is quite a divisive genre, our target audience should be both male and female to maximise the amount of people who will want to see our film based on the trailer. I believe we should focus slightly more on females due to the content of the following pie charts:

These graphs show that none of the males we surveyed defined horror as their favourite genre but 2/11 females did, showing that our target audience should be more focused on females as our survey has found that they are more open to the horror genre.

This graph shows that our target audience would be interested in a film similar to ours. Both The Woman in Black and The Ring contain female antagonists and have been suggested by both males and females. Most of these films are supernatural horrors, again suggesting that our film would be well received as it is also supernatural.
These ratings from IMDb users for The Woman in Black show that a younger target audience would be a good choice for our film as those under 18 were the age demographic which gave the film it's best ratings, giving it an average of 7.2 out of 10 stars. This data also shows that we may want to focus more on a female target audience as females rated the film slightly higher than males, and female under 18s gave the film it's highest ratings, giving it an average of 7.5 out of 10 stars, which is 1 star higher than the total average rating for the film.

This graph again shows that people would be interested in our film without us making changes, as the vast majority of people surveyed said they would find a little girl creepier than a little boy in a horror film. This is advantageous for us as the main villain in our film is a young girl.

As we are planning that the film we will be producing a promotional package for will be supernatural, the appeal of our prospective film is again supported by the graphs of questionnaire responses, as these show that supernatural is by far the most popular horror sub-genre for both genders. A higher proportion of females prefer supernatural horrors, showing again we should focus more on a female target audience.

This graph shows that a higher proportion of below 21 year-olds watch horror films, but this may just be due to under 21s making up the majority of people surveyed. Nevertheless, half under 21s said they did watch horror films, whereas only 40% of over 21s said they did.

I think that our target audience should be young, both male and female but with a focus on females under 21. This is due to the findings of our survey, where both genders were more or less equally receptive to horror films, with females being slightly more so. In addition to this, our survey also found that horror films are slightly more popular with younger audiences. Also, as our film will centre on younger characters in a school environment, it makes sense for this type of person to be our target audience.

Research - Conventions of the Period Drama Genre

A period drama is a drama which is in a historical setting and conforms faithfully to said time period. Parts of our production will be set in World War Two Britain, making research into these dramas important. Frequently, period dramas feature elaborate costumes and settings (sometimes built studio sets but also historical locations) and are associated with high production values. Many period dramas like Downton Abbey and Upstairs, Downstairs are successful both critically and commercially, especially in the UK (where they are normally set) and the US, as Americans tend to enjoy representations of traditional English culture. The BBC has a reputation as a producer of high quality period dramas.

Downton Abbey - Set in the time period around both world wars, hugely successful and popular, features lavish costumes and settings.

Period dramas tend to focus on British history, anywhere from Tudor times to the time period surrounding the First and Second World Wars, although there are some infrequent exceptions, such as Mad Men. They often touch on themes like social class by drawing comparisons with the strict ingrained class system typically associated with Victorian to Wartime society (Upstairs, Downstairs); national identity by containing real historical figures and locations (The Tudors); and race and gender by showing females and ethnic minorities struggling against the prejudiced societies of the past (Jane Eyre, Pride & Prejudice).  However, period dramas are primarily made for entertainment purposes, not for in depth discussions of these themes.

Upstairs, Downstairs - Set in the early 1900s, depicts class struggles of the time period.

Often, these dramas appeal to females, stereotypically because of the lavish costumes and settings involved which would be more popular with women than men, but also because of struggles of female characters in dramas like Jane Eyre. This appeal fits in well with our target audience which includes both genders but with a focus on females, without being off putting to men who also appreciate period dramas, especially if they themselves have an interest in history.

This research into period dramas is useful to our production as it helps stress the importance of historical accuracy, and how hard it is to achieve complete historical correctness. We will conform to the historical costumes conventional to the genre, but our costumes will not be the traditionally lavish ones common in period dramas as our production is set in Britain during the Second World War when rationing was in force and elaborate clothing was unavailable to the vast majority. Also, our props and locations will need to fit with the time period, so we will have to be especially careful when selecting those.

Research - Conventions of the Horror Genre

In Studying the Media, O'Sullivan, Dutton, and Rayner state regarding genre: "The concept of genre can be seen as a way of classifying particular styles or types of media texts by identifying common elements, that recur by being repeated again and again and act as a set of rules associated by both producers and audiences with certain types of text." There are many different genres of film, and each of them have different "common elements" associated with them. The trailer my group is producing is of a hybrid genre, one of these genres being the horror genre. A common theme in this genre is isolation, as these films often have isolated locations, like haunted houses or remote landscapes e.g. forests. Often, characters become isolated from anyone else, either through being stranded in a remote location alone, or by other characters being killed off. Horror films frequently pit the protagonist against the antagonist one on one. This sense of isolation makes horror films scarier as the main character is without help or intervention from the outside world. Horror films conventionally feature many gothic elements, such as haunted houses with gothic architecture or vampires, a common type of horror villain.

Villains in horror films are often undead, e.g. zombies and ghosts, or anything seemingly unnatural to put the viewer on edge. Young girls, dolls and clowns are often used in horror films, either as the main villain in the case of films like Annabelle, or to add to the creepy atmosphere in the case of films like The Woman in Black.

Other horror films contain more lifelike scenarios, locations and villains, which scare the viewer by allowing them to relate to the characters and situations included, making them think that the tormented protagonist(s) could be them. Examples of this include Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds, where the main antagonists of the film are ordinary birds, which most people will see each day, making the film more frightening. The main protagonists in horror films are often normal people, frequently females as they are stereotyped as being helpless “damsel in distress” type characters, who will eventually have to overcome their antagonist.

Horror films often have low key, frequently chiaroscuro, lighting, as darkness is linked strongly with fear, and raises questions as to what could be hiding there. Horrors also frequently feature slow editing with lots of sustained shots to increase suspense and shock. Once something shocking happens within the scene the editing usually speeds up and less sustained shots occur.

Use of sound is also key in the horror genre. Strange diagetic sounds often occur to bait the characters on screen to find out what the noise is which can isolate them and put them in danger. Viewers familiar with these conventions will know the danger the character is in before the character does, creating dramatic irony, common in horror films. In both trailers and films of this genre, sudden loud noises are used to scare viewers, not the content on screen however gory or unpleasant it may be. By creating suspense and conforming to genre, horror films can scare viewers as easily as with a loud bang.

Our group’s film will support these conventions, as the antagonist is the ghost of a young girl, who torments a singular female character, who will be isolated and have to fight the villain one on one. The female protagonist will also conform to the stereotypical damsel in distress character type. Also, the film is mostly set in an old gothic school, supporting genre conventions of gothic architecture and older buildings as setting. The film contains some lifelike, ordinary scenarios, such as a young girl going to secondary school, which are common in the horror genre. However it also contains the supernatural in the form of the villain, a female ghost.

Conventional low key shots and loud noises, both diagetic and non-diagetic, will be used as they are simple, effective ways of scaring viewers, which we will need to do to make our trailer more likely to succeed. If our trailer was not scary, people would not want to see the film the trailer is supposed to be for, as this film is in the horror genre. A very simple way to shock audiences is with loud, unexpected noises.

Research - Individual Analysis of a Film Trailer

The trailer I am analysing is the trailer for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.

Research - Trailer Conventions

Film trailers, like specific genres, have their own conventions. As the purpose of a trailer is to advertise the film to people and make them want to watch it, the trailer needs to show the highlights of the film and give the viewer a sense of what the film will be about without revealing too much. These highlights are edited together as a montage, not necessarily in chronological order.

This montage is interspersed with credits which tell the viewer which production company/companies, actors and directors are involved, the film’s title and tagline, BBFC rating, and release date. These credits are important as they can make the trailer’s audience more likely to see the full film in cinemas. Famous actors, producers, and directors have their own star appeal and will attract lots of people to the film. Titles and release dates mean the trailers audience know what the film is called so they will know what to see in cinemas, and know when it will come out, increasing anticipation for this date. The film’s title often appears at the end of the trailer so it is fresh in the mind of the viewer.

Voice overs and music are also important conventions in trailers. Voice overs are used to tell the viewers the basic plot of the film and music and sound effects create tone. This is especially useful in the horror genre as music creates a tense atmosphere and sudden loud noises shock the viewer as the trailer builds to a climax as it draws to a close.

Planning - Schedule

These are the initial plans we made for a schedule for finishing our coursework. However, these initial plans only concerned the main task of producing a trailer, not the ancillary tasks (poster and website) we also have to complete, meaning there were no dates on this schedule for when the ancillary tasks should be finished, and our targets for finishing the main task would have to be put back because of the extra work of creating our ancillary products. As a result, we have amended our initial ideas and produced a new schedule concerning every part of our promotional package, which we will adhere to when completing our coursework

Schedule

A2 Coursework

My name is Sam Duxbury and I am creating a promotional package for a film, including a trailer and poster, as part of my A2 Media coursework. I will be working with Rebecca Ainsworth and Hannah Boardman.