Product:
We will be creating a short film, with the genre of a horror and the sub genre of a psychological horror.
Genre:
Throughout our primary research such as creating brainstorms, we decided that we wanted to base our film within the horror genre. We decided to go with a Psychological horror based on our own interests, coming to the conclusion that these were the sort of horror films that we were most likely to watch. We followed our personal interests as this factor was important due to the fact that are target audience will be around the same age ranges as us. We had chosen the horror genre because we believed it was the most challenging and interesting to do, having the ability to come up with various unique ideas. For our research, we also looked at other horror films such as 'The Ring' and 'The Grudge' as they are known to be two very popular films within the film industry. We watched these films as well as other short films that were on YouTube and looked at the conventions that we could incorporate into our own piece in order to draw out the horror genre such as the location, Time, Characters, Costumes and Props. As well as looking at these conventions we also made note of the various shots and angles that were used so that we could portray to our audience the same creepy, chilling effect.
Target Audience:
Our film is aimed at a 15+ audience because we believed that this would be the most suitable rating for our film. We took into consideration the idea that viewers younger than this age may be frightened by the content that will be displayed. The age range of 15+ are the ages of viewers which would be interested in this type of film, also being an appropriate rating due to there being no aggressive language, sexual content or blood and gore. Our protagonists will be aged around 16-18 which means that are target audience will be able to relate to them. There is not a specific gender that are film is for, although horror films are generally aimed at young males, we will be catering for both genders.
Context:
Our film will be available to view within cinemas as well as TV channels such as Film4 and Sky Thriller. Our film will also be uploaded onto YouTube for our audiences to watch.
Representation:
Within our film we have used two young females showing them as fragile which reinforces the stereotype of women being seen as weak and vulnerable. We done this based on the idea that we wanted to follow the conventions of known horror films. We also want to show a contrast between both good and evil with our main protagonists and antagonists.
Media Language:
Throughout our film we will want to create visual language through the use of Mise-en-Scene. For instance through the location due to it being an empty, detached house, we believed that this alone would allow the audience to establish our film as a horror. Other aspects would consist of the costumes that our characters will be wearing, especially the protagonist as she will be wearing a blood stained nightie. She will also have white and black makeup on in order to give her the ghostly creepy affect. These will be following the conventions of a typical horror film such as 'The Ring' and will allow the audience to establish genre and narrative. Other visual language that we want to convey throughout our film is the aspect of lighting, conveying a dark creepy atmosphere to reinforce our horror genre. A great aspect of our film will be consisting of Aural language from the use of non diegetic sound such as the music and the sound effects. We will be using a lot of chilling sound effects such as the sound of footsteps and breathing to enhance the suspension as well as slow creepy music to bring in the atmosphere. Throughout our film we would like to also use zooms as the transition from one shot to the other in order to portray the intense emotions of fear that the characters may be feeling. As well as all of these types of media language, non verbal communication will also be highlighted. For example through the use of the characters body language, such as constant fidgeting and gripping of one another or themselves in order to keep the audience frightened and enticed.
