Research: Typical Camera Work used in Horror Film Trailers

Research: Typical Mise-en-scene Conventions of Psychological and Paranormal Horror Film Trailers

Below is the link to my Slideshare presentation on the conventions of psychological and paranormal horror film trailers. 

https://www.slideshare.net/secret/8wVzXTEgG349q0

3 Film Trailers I have chosen to analyse as part of my research

Below are the links to the film trailers that I used to analyse during my research:

The Babadook: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szaLnKNWC-U

Oculus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYJrxezWLUk

Don't Blink: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZrnNjHJp16U

Chosen Plot Development

From the feedback received from the focus group we have decided to go ahead with plot 1 and make some alterations to the original story line.

The basis of the story line is still going to revolve around the discovery of a relevant object, however instead of having a child character and children's book giving reference to the trip, it will evolve from the main female character finding an item from the trip which belongs to the lost girl. 

We have decided to remove the use of a child's character due to the restrictions and access of including one in the filming, and use a character aged in their teens as this is accessible and more achievable to do. 

Using an object that belonged to the lost girl shows a clear reference of how the main female character will be reminded of her which will help create a haunted effect on the atmosphere and scare the audience.




Below is the new developed plot:


A young adult female character (Silvia) is having a clear out at her house where she comes across an item which belonged to one of her childhood friend’s (Chelsie); a necklace which she wore all the time. Silvia is not aware that she had Chelsie’s necklace and so when she finds it; it reminds her of the last time she was seen; at the camping trip back in 2006, nearly 10 years ago. Silvia recalls all the events of the trip and cries in guilt. She decides to delicately place the necklace in her memory box as she cannot come to terms to throw it away or wear it herself, and so decides to cherish it. As time passes weird occurrences begin to occur; the following morning when Silvia wakes up, she opens her front door to a parcel which comes to her surprise, and shock, when she opens it to discover that the necklace is inside it. Silvia is beyond stunned and goes to her memory box to see if the necklace is there, when she discovers that it isn’t she is left horrified and wondering how this has happened, and tries to convince herself that it was all a dream as she had a bad night’s sleep the night before. Silvia then places the necklace in its box in her memory box where she knows it is safe, and not forgotten.

A week has passed and she goes out walking in her town when she passes a boutiques’ shop window. In the window is the necklace displayed on a necklace bust. Because Silvia is not paying much attention, she just takes a small glance in the window and does not react to the necklace in the window. Later that evening Silvia is relaxing in her bedroom watching the TV when she hears running water in the distance. She pauses her programme to see if she has left the tap running. She enters her bathroom to discover that the bath is full of warm water, gradually steaming up the room, with the necklace floating in the bath. She is astounded by this and feels she is suffering from mental problems having become increasingly stressed. She disposes of the water by unplugging the plug and takes care of the necklace by drying it cautiously and placing it in its box. As she does this she looks up to her mirror which has steamed up with the message written ‘I STILL SEE YOU, CHELSIE’.  Silvia cannot contain all these events and closes her eyes in hope it all goes away. Because she wants to forget about the happenings, as she opens her eyes she sees Chelsie for a blink of a second. Silvia cannot control her emotions and immediately gets into contact with the other three friends who were present on the camping trip. They set up a multi-Skype call where they all confess they have had paranormal activities occur to them also. Katriona had experienced reappearances of Chelsie’s favourite bracelet; Matt had Chelsie’s scrunchie; and Ross had Chelsie’s watch. The group of friends conclude that Chelsie wasn’t given the closure she deserved and decide to visit the forest where they camped. They establish how the following day will be the 10 year anniversary since she’s been gone. Therefore, in the early hours of the following morning they return to the forest where Chelsie was last seen and gather together to create a memorial where the four friends bury the four objects they had gained at where she was last seen to give Chelsie justice. The sun begins to rise and as the four friends depart, Chelsie makes a ghostly appearance waving them goodbye feeling satisfied with their good deeds, and is now at peace.

Focus Group Feedback

Out of the three potential plot ideas the focus group favoured plot 1; the story around the discovery of a relevant object. 

Plot 1 Feedback:
The focus group liked the idea of this plot as it can be achieved in realistic locations which can be relatable to them which adds to the scariness of the film. 

Possible problems: 

·         Having the access to a child with parental consent may be difficult to get. Furthermore using a child may be difficult to meet the needs of the filming and the effect needed to be portrayed.

Suggestions: 

·         Need to expand on the relevance of book, perhaps how it relates to the trip and that is why the mother was reminded of the traumatic trip.

·         To change aspect of using a book, the focus group suggested using an object which was relevant to the girl, such as a necklace. This could be found by the child who shows it to the mother which then recalls the trip and takes it away from the child. An alternative proposed to this was the child could find the object relevant to the girl, and has connections and spiritual communication to her as the child can see and hear her whereas no one else can.

Plot 2 Feedback:

The focus group liked the concept of this plot having a message from the past, and having it at a school was achievable however it is rather complex and may get confusing to follow especially when trying to get the message across in a trailer.

Possible Problems:

·         Having the access to various characters and ones that show ageing overtime.

·         There will be a large amount of filming to create the ideal trailer that gets the message across, fit into a suitable trailer length and have horror aspects within it to persuade viewers to watch it.

·         The story line is rather complicated and complex to the extent whereby the filming may takeover resulting in a product that is not edited well enough to be persuasive to the target audience.

Suggestions:

·         Instead of having the passing of time, use the original students to investigate the death of the teacher instead of the student’s daughters to solve the issue of making the original students and teacher show age over time.

Plot 3 Feedback:
The focus group liked the idea of using an abandoned hospital as the main location and theme of the film, with the use of an evil spirit and Ouija board adds to the scariness. They believed that with good filming and editing the end result would be effective and persuasive to watch.

Possible problems:

• Having access to a derelict, abandoned building may be hard to fulfil, especially if the building is unsafe. The process of accessing it would involve contacting several people like the council, which could refuse anyway.
• Having the access to props that would create the hospital appearance and making it look realistic may be difficult, especially if using school corridors and classrooms to makeshift the hospital interior.

Suggestions:

• Find a derelict hospital (or hospital-looking) building which has access to film the outside of, and then use alternative places, like a school where the corridors can be used, and change round classrooms to create a basic hospital room.

Presentation Pitch to Focus Group

Below is the link to my Slideshare presentation which was presented to a focus group.

https://www.slideshare.net/TashaHares/paranormal-psychological-pitch

Target Audience Research: Interview Survey

Below is the link to my video of my focus group interview

https://youtu.be/eNG9PK3pSes

From this I found out that the preferred sub-genre of horror was psychological and paranormal. The films mentioned which they liked the most were:

• Paranormal Activity
• Jaws
• The Shining
• Wolf Creek
• The Blair Witch Project
• The Conjuring
• Incidious
• Annabelle 
• Zombieland
• Shawn of the Dead