HORROR MOVIE PITCH

QUESTIONNAIRE To begin my research I created a questionnaire to figure out the target audience for the movie. I asked questions to get a general idea about the subgenre and plot of the movie. The questions I asked were: ‘What is your gender?’ ‘How old are you?’‘What was the last horror film you watched? Did you find it scary?’ ‘What do you expect from a good horror film?’ ‘What do you like about horror films?’‘What do you dislike about horror films?’ ‘Do you enjoy a film that follows the conventions/stereotypes of a horror or one that breaks them?’ ‘What do you think is the most important aspect of a horror film?’‘What do you think is the best kind of horror?’‘How do you usually find out about new horror film releases?’

QUESTIONSAs the aim of theses questions was to find out my target audience and the things they want I started the survey with this question. The result was half and half, this was good because it meant that I got equal answers from both guys and girls.

QUESTIONS This next question was to get an idea of the age of the target audience. The majority of the answers were to the option ‘17 and under’. If people this age are the target audience for my movie then the age rating of the movie would have to be at most a 15.

QUESTIONS

The films that are brought up here are very well known and largely advertised horrors, ‘The woman in black’, ‘Paranormal Activity’ and ‘Insidious’ therefore it is probably best to go for a more high concept idea rather than something niche and arty. Younger people tend to want to watch the overly advertised films that are very popular rather than something that would focus on character development and cinematography.

QUESTIONS

The keywords I took from these answers were:

ScaryJumpTenseSuspenseEeriePsychologicalSurpriseNightmares

These words are what I will use as the baseline of my plot.

QUESTIONS

The main words that I noticed from these answers are:PsychologicalAdrenaline UnexpectedSuddenGhosts

QUESTIONS

The answer that stood out to me here was ‘I dislike poor acting when female characters are scared or being victimised and the uselessness of some characters because it is unrealistic’. This points out the stereotypes of female characters in horror films, in my film I would like to go against the stereotype of the woman being the weak victim because not a lot of conventional horror films do this and I believe it would provide a unique selling point.

QUESTIONS The majority of the people answered this question saying that they prefer a film that breaks the conventions/stereotypes of a horror film. Due to this I will attempt to create my trailer in a way that goes against conventions through the use of the storyline and characters.

QUESTIONS

Here the most popular answer was plot, this further adds to the idea that the target audience of the movie would be more focussed on something high concept and popular rather than niche, with no one answering with ‘sound’ or ‘lighting’.

QUESTIONS

From this question it is obvious that the subgenre for the movie will be ‘Psychological’. This will also be an easier subgenre to film as there is no need for any slasher gore or any kind of special effects or makeup because it can all be about fear of the unknown.

QUESTIONS

Social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook are very large nowadays and this makes them the best media platform to promote the movie on. This also shows that because younger people are the more prominent users of such social media sites that the target audience is going to be reached easily.

CONVENTIONS OF HORROR

Setting:Isolated places and small communities. These places often come with a dark history, (something terrible happened there a long time ago)

Camera work: Unnatural, shaky, off angle. High and low angles. Extreme close ups for dramatic effect.

Iconography:Dark colours red colours, low key lighting, shadows, unnatural, unfamiliar shapes in the darkness, fire, sharp weapons

Characters:The villain (often a monster, outcast, serial killer or ‘freak’, little emotion or wears a mask so audience doesn’t empathise and has no connection)Female victim (weak, annoying, needs to be saved)Non believer (often male, convinces everyone they are overreacting, cocky and at ease, first to be killed)Hero (predominantly male, strong, show little emotion, brave)Hysterical character (predominantly female, often breaks down, always killed)Loved up couple (usually all over each other up until the point that they are killed, predominantly heterosexual)

The trailer is going to be for a psychological horror film, I chose this because it was the most popular subgenre in my survey.

CHALLENGING/STICKING TO CONVENTIONS AND STEREOTYPES

Due to the results of my survey I have decided to challenge certain conventions of the horror trailer.

Female characters, it is conventional in a horror to have a female character who is portrayed as the weak victim not always the first to be killed but when they die it is gruesome. They are portrayed as being vulnerable and in need of being protected. Often young and attractive to appeal to the male audience (male gaze).

Ethnic minority characters are often underrepresented in horror films and, although it hasn’t happened on a few occasions, are usually killed of before the end of the film.

PLOT OVERVIEW

A group of young students move into a creepy house that they are going to be living it while they are at Uni. When looking around they find lots of strange things like weird knives and creepy dolls, most of which is in the attic. What they don’t know is that the previous owner of the house was a serial killer who had just recently been convicted. They find out somehow that the killer has escaped and think that he is going to come back to the house. The killer returns at night and cuts the electricity of house. People start getting killed one by one but they are yet to have actually seen the killers face.

STORYBOARDThe trailer would start with the group being shown around the new house with a voice over of someone telling them who owned it previously with flashes to the past with the serial killer and people screaming. People are freaking

out, flashes to people being killed one by one and them trying to escape the house everything goes black.

Says the name of the movie and there is silence.

Final scene of man turning on the torch of his phone to see a dark figure in the doorway, with a weapon, that comes towards him, screams.

Shots of the empty attic to flashes of what it looked like when the killer lived there, him standing in the room, red light and lots of shadow

On the radio in the morning they hear that he’s escaped prison.

Its night time nothing has happened the non-believer character goes for a shower and the electricity is cut off.

Everything goes black and silent again.

CHARACTERS

The antagonist: A serial killer, a man, emotionless, seen face to face very little, hides in the shadows, silent

The protagonist: The hero, female, strong willed and brave Victim: Annoying, winey, needs to be saved, slightly useless, a man Non-believer: Male, tries to convince everyone that nothing is going to happen and that its ok, cocky, first person to die

Loved up couple: Perhaps a gay couple rather than heterosexual

LOCATIONS

An old, creepy house but looks like students live thereA dark and dusty attic A shower