Re-make of prelim task

My group and I thought after creating our first horror prelim task which was a scene from the move 'Devil', it was too short and did not have enough shots or editing done as it only lasted 20 seconds long. Then I went onto YouTube in order to find a scene to re-create which involved more shots than last time. I found a scene from the horror movie 'Creature.'

Here is the scene myself and my group re-created which involved much more shots, cuts and sound effects from our first horror prelim we created which was not effective in my eyes. We also edited the colour gradient when we put all the scenes together as we filmed in a bright location which had bright lights as it was in our school. So in order to create a dull and dark effect as it is in the real scene, we tried made our clip more dull by playing around with the colour gradient to greyish. We also added in a similar sound effect in the background but one thing I would say we could have improved on is that when the scary girl with the hair in front of her face comes on screen, the sound effect should be more loud and drastic as in our horror clip it was not so loud and scary as it could have been.

Storyboard

Narrative

When Jane is 10 years old, her family move into a new house; after a few weeks of living there she discovered a Latin phrase scratched into the wall. She looks up what it means and it translates as ‘I proclaim Satan Lucifer as my one and only God. He chooses me.’ This then sparks off strange occurrings in her house and attacks which are diverted towards her. Her parents try to do everything in their power to save her from this by praying. After endless failed attempts they decide to send her to a nunnery at age of 11. When she is sent there, the haunting stops and Jane can live in peace..

When Jane is 16 she had settled into the nunnery and feels safe there. She has made friends and her best friend Nancy is someone (other than God) who she feels she can always confide in.One night she goes to check on her friend Ruth who hasn’t turned up at dinner but is terrified to see bloody water running underneath the door of the bathroom. She starts to try and bash down the door but fails so runs to get help. They manage to get the door open but she is shushed away and told to go to her room before she can see what has happened to her friend. The Priest says ‘She’s with the Lord now’ and asks her to return to her room. When she returns to her room she begins to pray but objects start to shake and fly off the table. The Dictionary pages fly open until they land on the word ‘Devil’.

Weird happening start to take place and her friends start to get killed off one by one. One of her friends becomes possessed so she performs an exorcism on her and makes a pentagram in salt on the floor to trap her in; but one she is released she is automatically dead and is like an empty shell. Her best friend Nancy becomes possessed and starts to haunt her. Jane tried to escape and runs into her room to find written in blood the words ‘HE CHOOSES ME’ She runs away and goes into the forest but she is still being pursued by this demon. She hides there during the night and then she notices something engraved into a tree and pulls off the bark to reveal the same Latin phrase. She repeats them in hope that it stops the spirit but it makes it enter her body. She rises into the air and then repeats the same words over and over again in a different voice. Thankfully she is saved by one of the religious priest that has experiences with working with bad spirits and then they perform an exorcism on her and she faints. After a couple of hours she wakes up to find herself on her bed in the convent with the priest, parents and friends that are happy that she is alive and safe. 

Fears in Society

Remake of Devil Lift Scene

We were asked to re create a scene from a horror movie with the groups we had been put in. This would help me get familiar with the filming, editing and team working with my other group members so that we know each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Overall it was a fun experience.

We only had one day to film and one day to edit this scene which did not give us much time to come up with more creative ideas as I could have done so. We all came to agreement that we would do the lift scene from the movie ‘Devil’ which is all based inside a lift which makes it different from other horror movies. We used the lift that was in our sixth form building as we were ambitious to get this scene as accurate as possible. We also used each other as actors so that we can get familiar with working with each other. We firstly recorded our scene yesterday and used a lot of cut shots from peoples point of view but when we went back to view the actual scene on YouTube, they actually had a panning shot. So we had to re film our scene today which only took about 10 minutes. In the scene we filmed, they were only 4 shots which were a panning shot and 3 point of view shots. The only thing we could have improved on is to drag on the scene more long as it only lasted 17 seconds.

After this task, what I have learnt personally is that I should plan and prepare before actually filming scenes as this can lead to mistakes as we made during this task. A schedule shot plan would help me plan what types of shots and when to take when filming the scenes we need to.

Here is the actual movie scene we had made an attempt to re-make: 

The specific skills and ideas I developed during making this short scene was thinking carefully for the appropriate location as it was just about the same from the official clip we followed from.When it comes to making my real horror trailer, I would carefully think about the locations as to how suitable and appropriate they with the scenes we would be creating soon. Although, in this prelim task we did not add in any sound effect and we could have made it longer as it was pretty short meaning we did not have much editing to do. When making my real trailer, I would for sure add in a soundtrack and effects in the background of our scenes to make it more realistic and effective as it also is a convention of mostly all horror trailers - all trailers in general. 

Questionnaire Analysis (Quantitative Research)

After setting out qualitative research, myself and my friend thought we should create a questionnaire/survey on-line so that we get more of an insight of what teenagers and adults think towards horror movies/genre. We created our questionnaire/survey on a website called SurveyMonkey.com. Why I chose to create a survey online is because I thought it would be easier for people to take and to gather information quickly and effectively. 

Question 1:

Here, you can see most of the people that have answered our questionnaire are mostly teenagers aged 15-17 year old's. Why I have asked this question is because I wanted to aim my target audience mainly towards young teenagers as I feel they are more excited about experiencing being scared whilst watching horror movies mainly as they are still young and ready to be frightened. Only a few people that have answered this questionnaire are adults.

Question 2:

In this question, mostly females have answered this questionnaire and some males by only two people less. Whilst making my trailer, I would keep in mind that I do not want to target to a specific gender which is why I have asked this question as I want to aim my trailer towards both genders. 

Question 3:

In this question, I asked what is their favourite type of horror film and people mostly put down paranormal type of movie which would be more spiritual and ghost based films. As I can see most of the teenagers are interested in paranormal and thriller films which I would consider whilst I am creating my horror movie. I have asked this question because as part of my research I would have more of an understanding of what type of horror my target audience prefer to watch. When I start planning the story line of my trailer, I would include this in and in to my trailer as I can see that paranormal is more popular within my target audience. This is shows that my target audience find it exciting to fear the unknown as Aliens/Monsters and Gory type of horror films does not interest my target audience much as paranormal. 

                                      

Question 4:

In this question, I asked what scares them the most in a horror movie and I came up with a range of responses. Summarising what people have said, they find unexpected things, jumping scenes, spirits, ghosts, dolls, fear of the unknown presence and things popping out of no where that scares them the most in horror films. These things are typical things that are included in mostly every horror movie in order to make the audience scared which I would keep in mind whilst making my horror trailer as these are the main things that make my target audience scared. Why I asked this question is because I would get more of an insight to what scares teens in horror movies and would gather these elements together and include them in to my trailer as I know it scares them. 

Question 5:

In this question, I asked what were their favourite horror movies and again I got a range of responses back. Everyone that has answered this question, came up with different horror movies and no one seemed to repeat a movie. But what I did notice is all these movies are new quite recent movies which tells me that my target audience like more modern horror movies but still like to watch classic movies like exorcism. Why I asked this question is because as I get a idea of what most teens favourite horror movies are, I can research onto those films and gather elements from those films to why it may scare my target audiences and include these ideas into my trailer. Mostly these films that my target audience like watching are more based on paranormal type films and some psychological films e.g. Orphan. 

Question 6:

In this question I asked what was their least favourite horror movie and the films that have been repeated were: The Conjuring, Paranormal Activity and The Devil Inside. As I have seen all three of these movies, I would understand why these teens would not find these films scary as much. This is probably because the story was an typical story every horror movie is expected to have or that the movie had a typical ending which did not excite them enough. Whilst I am creating my trailer, I would need to consider the things that are in these films and try not to include them in my trailer. Why I asked this question is because I would do my own independent research on these movies and see what the main elements of horror are in these films which have not frightened my target audience. By this, I would make sure not to include these elements into my trailer as it would bore my target audience. 

Question 7:

In this question, I asked what is one important key feature to have in a horror film and summarising what people have said, they think having suspense and twist is needed in a horror movie to make it more interesting. Also having a good storyline which would interest people to watch and not to have a typical story line that most horror movies have. When creating my horror trailer, I would need to bare these key features in mind so that I can include them in my trailer for it to be more interesting for my target audience to watch. Why I asked this question is because again, I wanted to get more of an insight of what teenagers feel what is important according to them which should be in a horror film in order to get them scared. What was mainly said was suspense which I would include when planning my story line of my trailer and to include a twist in the story without giving much of the story away. This would also leave my audience feel tensed and hopefully wanting them to watch the film.

Question 8:

In this question I asked what emotion do they feel after watching a horror film and most of the people feel scared, paranoid, frightened, uncomfortable, thrilled and excited! These are the main purposes of watching a horror movie as many teens would like to experience feeling scared etc. As they are getting scared, they are getting excited at the same time due to the jumpy scenes and loud music. Why I asked this question was because I wanted to get an idea of how my target audience feel after watching horror and most of them have said that they feel paranoid. This means I would have to make me trailer memorable in order for my audience not to forget my trailer and make it effective. 

Question 9:

Finally the last question! In this question I asked them what scared them generally in real life. By summarising what these people have said, they find ghosts, spirits, strangers, dead bodies and darkness mainly. These are mainly the ingredients to a horror movie which makes it scary and without these things, I think a horror movie would not be a horror movie. When I am creating my trailer, I would need to consider and keep in mind these key ingredients and what mainly scare teenagers in reality so I can include this in my trailer to really fright my target audience! Why I asked this question is because now I really wanted to know what scares my target audience in society. Most of these responses have said that they fear the unknown and strangers meaning I would have this as a key element in my trailer in order to really scare my target audience. 

Audience Qualitative Research - Focus Group 2

Looking back at our first focus group, there was only girls in the group so my friend and I thought it is a good idea to get a teenage boys view onto the same posters and trailer we showed them and get his opinions and thoughts from a males perspective.

Analysing horror posters
As we did before, we asked the boy what he likes about the poster Carrie(2013). He said he liked the red blood that was on her face and symbolises death which stands out. It also looks scary due as her girl's eyes on the poster is looking directly to the audience and this makes him want to watch the movie. He said that it is interesting and wants to know how and where the blood came from which makes him want to watch this film.

Then we went onto the Mama(2013) poster and he said that the little girl stands out the most because she looks scared and worried. He would want to the movie as it looks dark and gloomy which gives it that mysterious affect. He also feels sorry for the little girl due to the tag line on the poster. It also makes him curious that the women in front of the child does not look like a human by her body.

Out of the two posters we asked him which one he would want to watch and he wanted to watch Carrie. This is because the blood on her face looks interesting and scary which makes it stands out.

Reaction towards horror trailer
He thought the trailer was good and the women on top of the cupboard looks scary as it makes him wonder where that women as come from and why is she there which makes him interested in the movie. He also said that in the trailer it mentioned 'it is not a possession' so he is curious if it is not a possession then what is it? He also said that as mentioned it was based on a true story, this made it more effective as it made it more scary. He found the sound effects scary also as it made him jump. The music in the trailer created tension which made the scenes even scarier for him.