Planning: Location

It is important to have a good location when it comes to horror films because in horror films, most of the locations are secluded to create a sense of insecurity so that there is no escape and that the victim will struggle to get away meaning that the killer can easily single out people to kill and people will not know.

The first location is Bramble side woods and is a wooded area and is very suitable to film because  the location is quite big as  so there will be  more than one specific area where we can film. The large area is possibly the area in which we are going to film because there would be so many different areas to film in case one area isn't good enough. But this location can be quite bad because the main road is quite close to the area meaning we are going to be hearing a lot of cars go by. Also there is a wooded area behind the area near the main road but cars may still be heard but if we go further into the woods, the traffic won't be heard as much therefore we will most probably like to use this location just because of how close it is to where all of our actors live.


Our second location is is going to be in Corby, this is because there is an area that is wooded and would be good for filming in as well. Also Corby isn't too far away meaning that all of the actors will be able to get to Corby.  As you can see from the picture, there is a large area where we are able to film and is secluded as well meaning it would be a good location. But this location isn't very good because there are not many trees around meaning we can't really make the audience feel like it is a secluded location. Also the other bad factor about this area is that the area is a nature trail meaning there are going to be a lot of people there and we may be interrupted.

We have one more location  which is possibly the best one of the three as well which is also in Corby and is a much better location than the other ones because there is not a main road nearby and the area is very large as well meaning that we can film in more than one place. It is quite a secluded location as well meaning that we may not get interrupted when filming as much as we might in the other locations.

Planning: Storyboard and the importance of storyboarding

The importance of storyboarding

Storyboarding is very important in the pre production stages, this is because before the filming actually begins, the storyboard is a very good way to plan for what is going to happen in the film because of how simple the process is but how effective it can be. storyboards also cover a lot of different aspects  such as the shots, the movement, the angles etc. These are really helpful because instead of doing the filming without any planning, it will look quite bad because no thought has gone into it whereas if there is a plan such as the use of storyboards. The whole filming process will be much more easier and the production phase will be effective and done in a quick time as well meaning there will be no time wasted on one scene. 

Planning: Target Audience Feedback

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/BR5LF3Q

My group made a survey about our film openings and what people would think of it. Our survey also included about peoples fears, what conventions they think are most important and if they like horror films overall. This will give us an idea of what people will like our film and if they would go and see it or not.

I have also analysed the results i got from asking some people and i will be using the results to see if we can make some slight changes that may make the film better.

This is the first question and out of the 6 people i asked, all of them were between 16-21 and our film is aimed at that age range as well so most of them may seem interested when answering.

The second question was the gender and all of the people i asked were male, this is a mistake by me because i think i should've asked a few females as well because they may have different views.

This is the third question which was asking people what opening they preferred and majority of the people preferred the first one and people have gave their reasons for choosing the specific opening in the next question.

This was the fourth question which is carried on from the third question which is their reason for selecting that opening. There were different types of feedback but majority of the people said that the first one looked better than the second one or they said the first one seems like a good idea and very interesting.





This was the fifth question and this was about how important the conventions given and the other image is what people answered what and most people think that a secluded location is very important, this may be because there is nobody around to help them if they get in trouble. But most people think strange are not important, this may be because strange noises are very predictable because when there is a strange noise something can happen. I myself think it is important.

This is the sixth question asking people what their fears are and there were some weird fears that people have, an example would be someone is scared of octopuses but some are quite expected for example a crazy killer and ghosts.





This question was about how many times people go to the cinema per month and everybody put 1-2, this may be because they want to go more but may not be able to afford it or there are no films out that may appeal to them.







A lot of people liked horror films because they liked some of the conventions that were involved that may possibly make the film even more exciting for the audience, one person put no because they may not like all the blood and gore that gets used and other conventions.

This was the final question and it was to see what are peoples favorite horror movies, i asked this because then i will get a good idea of what i can use I,e the conjuring and the woman in black have a lot of jumps in and some people said that, so by asking this question, it can help us when creating so we know what to go for and try and make it enjoyable but scary for the audience if they were to see it.

Planning: Who Are The Target Audience?

Our film opening is targeted at people within the age range of 15-21. This meant to be aimed at people who like films that are unexpected with jumps because a lot of people like getting the feeling of being jumped because some people find it a lot more exciting than a lot of other films.

For example a person like Kiain would like this because Kiain enjoys horror movies and likes the uncertainty of what may happen such as jumps. Kiain also has a job so he can afford to go to the cinema to watch these types of films. He is also 16 so he would have no worries into getting in the film which has a certificate rating of 15.

Planning: Potential Openings

Our task was to discuss 2 different film openings. The picture shows the ideas.

Opening 1

The first film opening was an establishing shot of the dense forest which shows the location and it is set in the past. Its is about a young vulnerable character who decides to go into the forest and then they start to get chased by an unknown killer and the character gets caught after trying to escape the killer.  We have chosen to do this because it is meant to make the audience a bit frightened because the audience are meant to feel that more people are going to die in this film. We are going to use diegetic and non-diegetic sound throughout the opening because it will give it a better effect.

Opening 2

The second film opening we came up with was that a group of friends are watching TV and the TV starts to flicker black and white with some white noise we are going to use to make seem more uncomfortable for the audience and to make it even more uncomfortable, a silhouette walks past and the audience sees it but the characters don't. This is in one of the characters house before they go camping and this is meant to represent the dangers of each character as they go out into a dangerous place.

Planning: 60 Second Pitch

We were asked to pitch our film idea which was called "The Watcher". In this pitch we mentioned what the film was about, who it was aimed at and why people should go and watch it. We also used our planning ideas in the pitch.

Planning: Initial Ideas

The task we were given was to brain storm our ideas for a Teen horror movie. We wrote down ideas that relate to horror movies such as the different conventions and codes we were going to include in our film. We had the idea of a mysterious figure in the woods where a group of friends are camping and the characters are at threat but they don't know about it. We wrote down several ideas such as a lot of locations, a lot of genres, a type of killer and we narrowed down the ideas that we had. I think this is a pretty good first idea.

The working title for the film would be "The Watcher"

Research: The importance of sound in films

We looked at how important sound and music can be in films and we looked at Foley artists, Diegetic, Non-Diegetic sound and how it can change a persons mood very quickly in terms of the type of sound that they hear.

We first  listened to a a radio clip of Mitchell and Webb with Arthur Smith and we listened to this because it can shows us how music and sound can affect a persons mood. An example would be that a deep sound can make a person feel scared because it can make a person feel uncomfortable and make them a bit nervous because of the deep tune.

Foley Artists is what we looked at next. This is where a person watches the clip and then makes that sound that an actor/actress would've done in a film but the foley artist gives it the full effect. An example would be something simple such as taking out the keys out of a pocket and the foley artist would make that sound, possibly with a different object and then they would watch the footage and copy exactly what the actor/actress does to give it the full effect. We also watched a clip from the TV programme QI and this was about foley artists and then theca cast were asked to close their eyes and listen to the clip and then they had to identify what the objects were and what the sound was actually creating. An example would be that a guillotine noise was actually made from a cabbage being cut, so using different objects can create a much different effect that a lot of people don't realise.

We looked at a scene from the film Pulp Fiction and this is where Vincent goes to Mia's house to pick her up. As Vincent gets out of the car, the sound of cicadas can be heard which indicates that it is night time. Also the director of the film (Quentin Tarantino) played with the audience because he tricked the audience into thinking that the song was not actually in the scene (Non-Diegetic) but really at the end of the scene the needle is taken off the record player and people actually realised that the song didn't get included in post production but in the real scene it self.

One of the best sounds in horror movies can be silence. This is because the silence builds up the tension of something that is going to happen. Then normally a sound is after the silence to make the scene even more scary for the audience. This is because the whole cinema is quiet and nothing can be heard, then a loud sound can make the audience jump when it is unexpected, making it more frightening for the audience to watch.

We also looked at the famous Psycho shower scene and the music that there is and we looked at the composer of it as well which was Bernard Herman.  There were 2 different clips, one was with sound and the other one was the same clip but with the sound taken out. This is because it would give the audience a different feeling in terms of their reaction and how that when there is sound it makes it more intimidating and more disturbing. But without the sound, it doesnt make it as scary. The screeching sound was the violins and that created a better effect because a lot of people hate the screeching sound so it is to make them feel uncomfortable. The video below shows 2 variations of it, one with sound and one without and how different the music can make to one particular scene. The sound can make more scary for the audience because the music is intimidating and can make the audience feel the sense of danger. Also the one without sound makes the scene more gruesome because you can hear the slashes but the effect isn't the same as the one version with sound.

Research: The importance of Titles in Films

Titles are important in films because just by the titles, the audience are able to tell what type of film it is going to be just by looking at the titles, an example of really good opening titles are the titles in Se7en.  which was directed by David Fincher who did a really good job when it came to the titles. This is because the writing is very scratchy and the titles are in black and white as well. The font changes as well to try and create confusion amongst the audience. The image on the right is an example. As you can see, 2 of the words are normal whereas the other 2 are in a different font and this can be used to try and create confusion for the audience and make them feel a bit scared.
Also there is another example and this can be seen within the flashes and this looks quite random and the audience may not be able to understand what it means.

The image to the right looks really confusing and unusual as well because the audience may only understand the 7 dashes but the rest of the image looks very confusing and people will be wondering what the words and symbols are about. Also the writing is very sketchy as well.








But Se7en was one of the first films to start using these titles but time has gone on,  a lot of films are starting to use the techniques that were used in Se7en meaning that the effect on the audience can no longer be there because it is getting over used now so the audience are not intimidated by the titles anymore. Also since the improvement of technology, the titles are much easier to replicate meaning that the hard work the producers of Se7en did doesn't really mean a lot now because titles are much easier now.

The good thing about the titles is that there were no computer effects being used which made the titles even better. The titles were made by the production designer John Sable and filled in dozens of notebooks and pages with a lot of writing and images to make the titles been more intimidating.

In Se7en, the first title to appear is New line cinema present. Unlike other titles, this is located in the corner. But after that there is another title that says "an Arnold Kopelson Production".  Then the director comes third in the titles and says "A film by David Fincher"



There is now just one title on the screen and it is  "Brad Pitt", this is because he can be seen as the most famous actor throughout the film. This is the same with Morgan Freeman as well. Many films just start off with the title whereas Se7ens title appears much later on and it is in the corner of the screen. But later on in the titles, the not so popular actors are further down and normally there are 3 different actors on the same screen. Also later on down the line, Arnold Kopelson and David Fincher get another mention.

Research: Examples of 60 pitches