Assignment 3 - Film trailer proposal

Audience Research Conclusions

Our questionnaire results provided us with insight on how to make an effective trailer for our demographic.We will definitely try to make the majority of the favoured options appear in our trailer, those that may not appear are because we are limited with locations, such as the abandoned house that was the most favoured setting. We will try to film a girl being haunted by a spirit, as it was the most requested out of the three options we provided and as it will be possible to film. Due to the questionnaire, we now know details like what type of music (suitable for our genre) our audience prefers and which monster they find most intriguing (so we can encourage the audience to watch the trailer), because of this I think we can make an effective trailer.

Genre

Our film has the genre of horror. Our trailer will follow the genre conventions because these conventions work effectively for horror films and make them more recognisable, this will also give rough guidelines for our trailer to follow so we are aware of what we can film for the trailer. We won't be following all the conventions, like the involvement of a priest,  as it would make the audience lose interest in the plot very quickly as it would seem predictable, and the character of the priest usually used to solve the problem, if included in the trailer, I believe it will be less scary for the audience.

Content/ Structure

Our film will be called Incubus and we chose this as it was the most popular out of the options we provided when we asked our audience what our film's title should be. Our group personally liked this title the most as well as it sounds mysterious, threatening and scary, relating to the plot and horror genre itself. Our film focuses on a teenage girl who is haunted by nightmares containing the same masked killer, and it begins to come after her in real life as well. We plan to reveal a small amount of the story but enough to make sure our audience is aware of the plot. Our tagline will probably be Don't Dare Dream, to make sure the audience can remember it clearly and to catch their attention.

Audience

Our target audience is of the ages of 13 and above. The target demographic is people with the average disposable income and those who are of normal class and are actively interested in horror movies and perhaps things like the supernatural. The trailer will probably appeal to this audience because we plan on following horror conventions and the answers from the questionnaire as they were given by people from this demographic.

Representation

The main teenage girl will be seen as a vulnerable and victimized, showing how the monster affects her and her life. The monster itself is masked and wearing all black, to make him seem threatening and mysterious, and the therapist is seen wearing a lab coat and makeup to look mature and professional.

Institution

Our trailer will be distributed as a part of the film campaign and we will probably release the trailers in front of other horror film in the cinema to ensure the right demographic is watching it. 

Assignment 3 - Costume/props planning

In order to accurately portray characters on screen, costumes and props must be taken into account.

First of all, the teenage victim is always seen wearing normal clothes appropriate for today's demographic. Her outfits are always jeans and a t-shirt to relate to most of the audience, as this will then make them scared for her character more - out of a feeling of familiarity. Her clothes are always dark colors, reflecting the dark and scary tone of the trailer, and showing how the monster has affected her as well, in terms of personality reflecting through appearance.

The therapist in the trailer is seen wearing a lab coat, making the audience aware of her profession and allowing them to take her character more seriously in her approach. She also wears glasses to look mature and intellectual, indicating how talented at her job she is. The use of makeup on her face and her hairstyle also adds to her mature and adult-like appearance.










The killer is always seen masked and in black clothing. The mask causes a feeling of terror as it allows the killer to have a st
raight face, which never changes expression, this causes the audience to believe he may lack humanity of any kind for the other characters. His black clothing only emphasizes the effect of the white mask because it allows it to stand out of his outfit.
Along with this, his prop is a knife with a large and sharp blade, indicating the fact that he's a killer and intends on harming the teenage girl.

Assignment 3 - Location planning

We mainly plan on using 3 different locations in close vicinity to one another as this will allow more time for filming and less time wasted spent driving to different locations.

The first location is my house as it is the average house that belongs to a typical family and has rooms  that resemble those we picture the main character living in. This idea of a normal house and a normal family envokes more fear in the audience as it causes them to believe that the horrifying things the protagonist experiences can happen to anyone of them. We only plan on showing the interior of the house and not the exterior, as the exterior resembles houses in the Middle East which look very different to those in America or the UK, where most of the demographic live or originate from. The two rooms we have decided to film are: my bedroom, which resembles the main characters bedroom, and the living room downstairs, which has a nice antique mirror which is suitable for a scene we wish  to shoot.

The other location is the abandoned house next to my house and as it is the neighboring house and is abandoned it is easily accessible and gives the right kind of setting we need for our shots. The rooms located inside have chipped walls and no electricity. The windows are also left open which causes the curtains to blow around, creating a sinister atmosphere. The house also contains narrow dimly lit hallways perfect for filming the monster walking towards the camera.

For our therapist scenes, we plan on using the clubhouse as it has white walls, comfortable sofas and tables which comprise a therapists office perfectly, but we will most likely film at less busy hours to avoid noise in the background and to avoid disrupting people in the clubhouse.

Assignment 3 - Storyboard

Assignment 3 - Moodboard

Assignment 3 - Questionnaire results

Assignment 3 - Questionnaire

What is your gender?

Male
Female

Which of these options is the most compelling monster?

A masked spirit in the form of a killer
A creepy stalker
A creature who wants revenge

Which of these scenes would interest you most?

A girl being haunted by a spirit
A party game that is actually haunted
A spirit possessing someone

Which setting would be most effective in a horror genre?

An abandoned/ haunted house
A graveyard
An insane asylum

What kind of music would suit our horror genre?

Techno
Child-like (ie a music box)
Sinister

Should we reveal the plot?

Yes
No
Just a little

Which of these should we use

A voice over
Captions
Nothing at all

What should we call our film?

Haunted
Incubus
The Nightmare