Classification for my film

"A motion picture rating system is designated to classify films with regard to suitability for audiences in terms of issues such as sex, violence, substance abuse, profanity, impudence or other types of mature content. A particular issued rating is called a certification. This is designed to help parents decide whether a movie is suitable for their children. Yet, the effectiveness of these suspenders is widely disputed. Also, in some jurisdictions a rating may impose on movie theaters the legal obligation of refusing the entrance of children or minors to the movie. Furthermore, where movie theaters do not have this legal obligation, they may enforce restrictions on their own. Ratings are often given in lieu of censorship." Source - Wikipedia

Classification rating is an important area of consideration for creating a film, as it is essential to consider the effect of extreme horror on younger audiences. The British Board of Film states the guidelines of an 18 rated film:

18 Suitable only for adults. Nobody younger than 18 may see an '18' film in a cinema. Nobody younger than 18 may rent or buy an '18' rated video (These films may contain extreme gore/violence and/or sexually explicit content).
The following factors could be present in an 18 rated film:

Discrimination

The film could include discriminatory language or behaviour.

Drugs

The misuse of easily accessible and extremely dangerous substances could be portrayed within the film (for example, solvents or hallucinogens)

Horror

There maybe strong threat and danger present, which could be sadistic or sexualised.

This could include dangerous behaviour (for example suicide and self-harming)

Language

There may be frequent use of strong language. There may be repeated or aggresive yse of strong language.

Nudity

There could be nudity with strong detail.

Sex

There maybe strong verbal and visual references to sexual behaviour.

Violence

There maybe a large amount of violence present in the film.


As my film would depcit a realistic, yet explicit, portrayal of British culture, it would contain sexual imagery, extreme scenes of gore and violence and contain language would could be said to be inappropriate for younger audiences. For this reason, my film would be classified as 18, as most horrors are.

Script & shot descriptions

· Green screen, establishes appropriate audiences for viewing of the film

· Production / distribution company logo

· Establishing long shot of the front of the house & parents standing at the door talking to the daughter. Suitcase will be clearly visible in the shot.

· Close up (three shot) of girl ensuring her parents that she will be fine.

· Long shot of parents walking towards the camera, away from the house

· Long shot of parents walking away from the camera, away from the house. POV shot from Emily’s point of view.

· Long shot of Emily closing the door.

· Slide transition with text – “When the parents are away”

· Mid shot of Emily sitting on the stairs on the phone – “My parents are gone now, I’m on my own”

· Slide transition with text – “The Slasher will play”

· Mid shot of Emily sitting on the stairs on the phone – Pans up to reveal a dark figure standing above her on the stairs, unnoticed. Low angle here.

· Long shot of Emily and Michael leaving the living room, to wolf whistles

· Long shot of the rest of the teenagers sitting in a circle- Voice over – “sometimes scary movies can come true”

· Long shot of the rest of the teenagers sitting in a circle- dialogue – “Have you heard the story about this house?”

· Long shot of teenagers relaxing, can see killer at the window

· Zooms into close up of killer at the window.

· Text transition – “Don’t trust anyone”

· Long shot of Emily in the kitchen on the phone to the killer

· Close up of knife being raised

· Long shot of teenagers in circle. “Someone should look for Emily”

· Hand held camera. Point of view shot from killer running up the stairs after Emily.

· Point of view shot from killer watching Emily run into an attic stairway

· Long shot of Emily backing into a smaller door

· Close up of her face while closing the door

· Close up of her hiding, “Oh my god..”

· Close up of killer running the knife along the door

· Close up of door opening with the knife

· Long shot of door closed – A scream

· Text transition - “Don’t fall asleep”

· Long shot of killer walking up the stairs

· Emily running into the darkness

· Close up of Emily’s face after being captured by the killer

· Mid shot of Mother coming in through the door to camera shouting “We’re home..Emily?”

· Long shot of Mum walking through the house looking for Emily

· Close up of door opening to reveal bloody handprints

· Close up of handprints on the bathroom wall

· Surprise clip at the end after long transition – killer jumping out

· Text transition – “The Sleepover”

· Text transition – “Coming soon”

· Fade to black

Storyboard of my trailer

Here is my storyboard for my trailer. I do recognise that the drawings are not the best quality and I could put more detail in the descriptions. I will create another post with a more detailed version of the shots and descriptions of my trailer.

Subgenres of horror films

Cannibalism or Cannibal Films
Classic Horror
Creature Features
Demonic Possession
Dracula
Erotic
Frankenstein, other Mad Scientists
Ghosts
Gore
Gothic
Haunted House, other Hauntings
Halloween
Macabre
Monsters
Older-Woman-In-Peril Films ("Psycho-Biddy", aka 'Hag Horror' or 'Hagsploitation')
Psychic Powers
Psychological Horror
Reincarnation
Satanic Stories
Serial Killers
Slashers or "Splatter" Films
Supernatural Horror
Teen Terror ("Teen Screams")
Terror
Vampires
Witchcraft
Wolves, Werewolves
Zombies

Audience research

It is essential to carry out audience research in order to find out the preferences and dislikes of your audience, and establish which features to include into your media product. I created this questionnaire and gave it to 20 people who were willing to answer it. I think this quanity is enough. Most questions will result in quantitative date as this is easier to put into graphs and analysis. This is a form of primary research which is beneficial as it comes straight from the source and is more reliable. This was also a quick and free method of researching audience opinions.




I wanted to ask an equal number of males and females in order to find out what both genders want, as this is my target audience. The number of males and females is almost equal, however I don't think this small difference will have a huge effects on my results.



Most people said that they preferred an orchestral score in a horror trailer. This may be because the music can change tones and suggestions very suddenly; a piece of music can be calm at the beginning of the trailer but then get louder or lower at scary moments, increase the shock response from a loud bang etc. Music from established artists can work sometimes to create a certain atmosphere, but I think this is preferencial for genres such as romantic comedy, not horror.



A large majority of my particpants preferred the human villain (the murderer). I established when I gave out the questionnaire that I meant which would be a scarier character, as my question was printed out quite vaguely. I think that the reason for this is because horror films play on the innate fears of society. Many people are very sceptical about other worldy phenomenons such as ghosts, vampires and aliens. The fact that many people find a human killer more scary is probably because it is more realist, and easier to invoke a personal fear that something bad could happen to them. The human killer is something that does occur in real life and the audience would have heard of examples, whereas ghost stories and alien stories usually recieve a response of disbelief.



Most people preferred a female main character, although quite a few participants still did like a male. I think the reason for the majority result is that females can often be portrayed as vulnerable and naive in the media; this makes better criteria for an audience to watch someone in a dangerous position and fear / panic for them. It is essential for an audience to empathise and sympathise with characters, which I think is easier to do with females.


All of these results are generally popular horror movies and I have seen most of them. I will remind myself of these films and try to include as many features as I can from these films. Many of these film include isolated settings, torture/gory deaths and mysterious/dehumanised murderers. Therefore, it seems that these are the features in horror films that scare an audience the most, therefore I aim to include these features in my trailer. Teenagers are a very common character victim group in these films.


The majority voted that they prefer to watch anonymous actors in horror films. In the general film industry, a huge amount of production costs will be paid to famous actors because it is well known that including these actors will attract a much larger audience and therefore larger revenue. However, I think this is not the case in the horror genre. A sense of realism and belief it the storyline very much amplifies the audience response of fear, therefore having unknown actors would allow the audience to believe more easily that the characters and the storyline is real. If a very successful actor is used, the audience may find it difficult to distinguish the character in the horror film from another role they have played.


Most people prefer a horror film to be shot on a tripod, with a smooth effect. This non - shaky effect on the footage is clearly much easier to see and the audience is suggested to be omniscient - they can see the plot happening from different angles, locations and points of view. However, I do think that some hand held camera technique in horror films is beneficial because this increases the sense of realism by far, thus increasing the fear response from the audience, which is one of the main aims of a horror film. From this feedback, I think I will shoot most of my film using a tipod but include a short amount of hand held camera, too.



Before I gave the paticipants I made sure that noone who never watched horror films filled out my questionnaire - this would be pointless. A huge majority of my participants watched horror flims at least once a month, therefore they will be very qualified to answer the questions reliably because they have a high exposure to horror films.



I intentionally asked a much larger number of people in the 19 - 25 age range to answer my questionaire because this is my main target audience. I did, however, still include participants from all age groups so that I could get an idea of what different groups of people prefer in horror trailers.


I will use this audience research to plan for my trailer and hopefully include the most popular features of horror films.

The hand held camera

The hand held camera

Hand held camera is a filming technique where the camera is held in the hand of the of the camera operator, as opposed to the typical filming technique of using a tripod in order to achieve steady footage. The tripod allows camera shots such as panning and tracking shots due to the smoothness of the mechanisms which allow the camera position to be altered. The hand held camera would create a more shaky effect, yet also more realistic.

This is a common effect is horror films for 2 main reasons. Firstly, using a hand held camera is much cheaper and therefore would be appropriate for production companies making a low budget horror film. Also, using a hand held camera can be advantageous for the overall effect of a movie. Those movies wishing to create a constant ‘point of view’ focus, as if a character in the film is holding the camera, would use this technique. This creates a more realistic view of the storyline and intensifies the feeling of fear due to the suggestion that the audience is watching real events.

Recently in the film industry, the hand held camera has been an effective profit building technique. Due to the low costs of this way of filming, if a film is relatively popular in cinemas and receives a high revenue, the profit will be much larger than if costs were high. The most notable films that use hand held camera is ‘The Blair Witch Project’ and ‘Paranormal Activity’. Both films use the camera to suggest that the characters are simply documenting normal stages of every day life (a camping trip and moving into a new house), then begin to capture scenes of unnatural horror with them. The authenticity of the character reactions are heightened by movements in the camera, for example the character holding the camera jumping when in a frightening situation.

Also, the quality of the footage is generally worse using hand held cameras. The gritty, vintage effect of the images may be preferable for films aiming to seem realist or unconventional. However, many prefer the flawless depiction of events from conventional filming methods. I plan to use this technique in my film as well as camera shots using a tripod to achieve a mixture of effects.

Essay - Explain how the horror genre represents women

How are women portrayed in the horror genre of film?

Gender roles in horror films throughout time have been extremely stereotyped. Most villains in horror films are men, and prior to the 1970s, women were simply characters to be victims. Almost always in these films, women were shown to be domesticated and sexual, with no intelligence. Scenes of these seemingly weak, dumb women often consisted of them suffering a brutal death or hiding from the killer in an obvious place. This supports the traditional representation of women in the media some decades ago; male dominance was clear in politics, family dynamics and opportunities; women were simply mothers and wives. An example of female stereotype if the opening of ‘Scream’; Drew Barrymore opens the film as a ‘ditzy’ blonde, who stabbed to death in the shower by the killer. This is a very conventional death for the ‘dumb victim’ stereotype of women: the naked woman represents vulnerability and also sexuality, which is often punished by murder in these horror films.

However, the 1970’s saw the rise of the feminist movement, which has important implications for the representation of women in horror films. The role of ‘the final girl’ emerged. This is the main character in a horror film who manages to outwit the killer and evade death, surviving at the end of the film despite the deaths of most people close to her. There are typical characteristics of this role; the girl refrains from sexual activity, does not include herself in the illicit behaviors of those around her and has an essence of intelligence and strong morals. An early depiction of this role, and a perfect example, is Jamie Leigh Curtis’ character in ‘Halloween’.



Her androgynous look and lack of sexuality is noted as a key feature in her survival. This could be a suggestion that women who partake in sexual activity are ‘immoral’, supported by the fact that women who have sex in horror movies are often the first victims. An example of this is in the modern film ‘The Nightmare On Elm Street’. This could be seen as a male fear of feminine sexual power.

Another key element in horror films linked to sex if the form of death that the women victims suffer. Women are often killed by a sexually repressed male with a knife, axe or other penetrable object, and very brutally. This has said to be an act of ‘sexualized terror’ – representing the act of sex or sexual power being taking from a woman. The ‘Slasher’ movies are the most common films that feature this.

Another role of women in horror films is the stereotype of the ‘possessed female’. In films such as ‘The Exorcist’ and ‘The Exorcism of Emily rose’, the main character is female. She is usually religious, innocent and seemingly harmless, then slowly becomes possessed by the devil or demons; which are always represented as men. These women take on the victim and villain role, although the audience pities the character when she is in her own personality. This stereotype could be a suggestion that women are weak and easily dominated by men, or by evil. This is the only role that has not been changed or developed throughout the development of the film industry, perhaps due to the consistency of interest in religious topics such as possession.

Very recently in the film industry, the role of the Female villain has emerged. As women become more and more equalized to men, the power they have seems to increase even as characters in the film industry. A good example of this is ‘Jennifer’s body’, where Megan Fox is a female killer and the victims are innocent high school males.