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.

Audience Qualitative Research - Focus Group 1

Myself and a friend together thought we would bring together a focus group and show them posters and get their reactions towards a horror trailer as part of our qualitative research. By this, we would receive their feedback and see what there real opinions and thoughts are towards horror which which benefit me when it comes to making my horror trailer. Also the people we bought together are all teenagers as that is the target audience I am thinking to target my trailer towards and by receiving feedback from teenagers around the age 17, it would be more realistic about what 17 year old's generally think about horror. Here is the first focus group which we recorded of a Mac webcam:

Analysing horror posters
What we asked the group is firstly to compare the horror movie posters from Carrie(2013) and Mama(2013) so they are recent movies that have come out this year. We firstly asked them is what stands out the most in the Carrie poster and summing up what they have said, they think the blood dripping down her face and the blood coming out as tears stands out as it looks like the girl is in pain and it matches with the title on the poster. Also the necklace she is wearing as most horror have religious imagery in them which makes it more interesting. Then we asked them if it is a effective poster and if it looks like it is related to horror and they answered yes to both questions.

Then we went onto the other poster which was Mama(2013) and asked what looks effective about the poster. Summing up what the group has said, they think the child shown on the poster looks depressed and feel sorry for her and that she is in need of her mother. Also they think the lighting on the women and the child holding hands is effective as all the attention is going on that area of the poster and the rest of the poster is dark. They also think the persons hand the child is holding does not look human which makes it more interesting and curious for them to know who it is. Then we asked if they would want to watch that movie by looking at that poster and Nagiba has said that she would not because it does not give away much of the story whereas Carrie does and interests her more.

Overall, they liked the Carrie poster over the Mama poster as the Carrie poster seemed to interest them more and they found it more effective. Also I have found out that my target audience find the Carrie poster more effective due to the close up of the girl and the direct eye contact with the audience as if the girl is looking towards them which can be scary. When creating my poster, I would include these key elements into my poster to make it appealing towards teenagers so that they would want to watch the movie by only looking at the poster.

Reactions towards horror trailer

Then we asked them to watch The Conjuring(2013) movie trailer so we can get film their reactions whilst they are watching it. After they watched it, we asked them firstly what part scared them the most and they replied the face that appears right in the end of the trailer due to the light, soft music and then it suddenly goes loud which made them jump. Also they said that as it mentioned it was based on a true story, that made them more scared as it made it feel more realistic which I should consider whilst making my horror trailer.

From this, I can see that my target audience are more frightened by when sound effects and back ground music starts of slow and calm and then suddenly turns loud with a jumpy scene in it. I would include these elements on to my trailer as I know this is what gets my target audience of their seat! and really excites but scares them at the same time.

Example of film promotion

Looking back at 'What Makes an Effective Trailer' post, I remembered that I have seen the Carrie movie prank which is a great way of promoting their film. This has been inspired by the famous prom scene in 'Carrie (1976)' as the teenage girl during her prom gets humiliated and expresses her anger through her telekinetic powers. This prank that an group of people had put together worked well and shocked the public in the coffee shop. By this it has created awareness for the new remake of Carrie (2013) and this method of promotion as got the public involved which makes it more personal and fun. This prank video had then gone viral over the internet and has reached 48 million+.

Analysing more horror posters...

Here is a horror movie poster of the film The Ring Two. What I find interesting about this poster is that it is very simple as you can only see a women sitting down in a isolated room wearing white yet it is effective. She seems to be looking downwards and has her hair in front of her face which gives it that scary touch as we cannot see as the audience her face.

The edits to this poster seems to have blurred lines which gives it that old television view effect which makes the audience think why that may be. The colours used on this poster are black, grey/blue and white which are very dull colours but the women in the middle has been brightened so that all the attention when someone looks at this poster is on  her. 

What I also thought that was interesting about this poster was that the title begins with a small font and then becomes big. The 'O' in the word two seemed to appeal to me the most because the letter 'O' is placed on top of that women's head and it almost to me looks like as if it is a halo. If so then is a subversion to what we can see as that women does not seem innocent to me and looks like she is the villain in the movie. This makes me wonder and makes me want to watch the movie to find out what it is really about.

Overall if I saw this poster for the first time, I would want to watch this movie due to its simplicity which gives it that scary effect at the same time. The colours and the women being brightened in the middle appeals to me the most as it tells me that their is something scary to do with that women by looking at the way she is presented on the poster. 

Looking into locations..

I went on to YouTube to get an idea of what are ideal scary locations to film scenes whilst I am making my horror trailer. By researching into scary locations, this would help me to find alternative locations that are near by and look scary as it would fit in with the genre horror. Here is a video I found on YouTube that has a variety of pictures of scary locations.


As a whole I can see most of these locations looks vintage, old, isolated, damn, rusty, haunted, big arches, big stair ways, trees around the area and big buildings from outside and inside. Now I have an idea of what types of locations to look for (locally) to film my trailer so that I can fit in with the scenes and the genre horror. Also I was thinking it may be effective If some scenes in my trailer were to be filmed during night time as that is one of the conventions in horror (darkness) and gives it more of a scarier feel to the audience as it instantly foreshadows that in the darkness something scary/bad is about to happen.

Research Rationale

Who are the BBFC?

The BBFC is an independent, self-financing and not-for-profit media content regulator. We operate transparent, consistent and trusted co-regulatory and self-regulatory classification and labelling systems in the UK.

As a highly expert and experienced regulator, there mission is to:

•protect the public, and especially children, from content which might raise harm risks

•empower the public, especially parents, to make informed viewing choices

•recognise and respect adult freedom of choice within the law

•respond to and reflect changing social attitudes towards media content through proactive public consultation and research

•provide a cost-effective, efficient classification service within our statutory remit

•work in partnership with the industry to develop innovative service models to provide content advice which support emerging media delivery systems

•provide an effective service to enforcement agencies.

Here are the classifications:

Target Audience Plan

Target audience PLAN:

I will be exploring two different potential target audience.

Quantitative research –

·         Questionnaire which is aimed towards different age groups. The age groups involve 15-17 year old's and 18+ (adults)

·         With the research gathered up from the questionnaire create a bar chart which shows the response from those age groups.

Qualitative research –

·         Recording a focus group of a teenage boy and 2 teenage girls reaction towards a latest horror trailer (the conjuring). We also recorded him analysing two types of horror posters with his opinions on which one he preferred and which one he would want to watch. The posters we picked were ‘Carrie (2013)’ and Mama (2013).

·         Recording an adult’s (+18) reaction towards the same trailer and posters.

How can I make an effective film trailer?

Recently in lesson, we talked about ‘how can I make an effective film trailer’ and what elements are needed in order to make an effective horror trailer itself.

Mainly talking about films, when a film has about or has just been published, it needs to market itself which can be in many different ways in order for people to know more about the film and watch it. Here are the marketing campaign elements:

-         Merchandises

-         Promotional tweets

-          Magazine interviews

-         Magazine front covers

-         Magazine articles

-         Trailers

-         Adverts

-         Posters

-         Social media

-         Radio

-         Word of mouth

-         Buses and bus stops

-         Title of the film

-         Hash tags

-         Sound track

Here are some trailers that appealed to me and I felt I wanted to watch the whole movie: