Representation in our film

There are many types of representation and stereotypes in Horror films, this is a guide to some of the typical stereotypes that can be expected to be seen in Horror films such as Halloween:

The Female Victim-
The female victim are often portrayed as being vulnerable and in need of protection, by the films protagonist or hero, this kind of representation began in the early days of horror as the main character was often heroic and almost always male. The victim isusually young, blonde and attractive, which helps to appeal to a wider male audience. However this character is often seen as having an annoying and stupid personality, They are often the one character the audience wants to be killed. They are usually never killed first but are normally saved until one of the last victims, they will normally die in the most graphic way possible. The director will often use this character to help build suspense in the audience, as she will often be on edge and very easily scared by loud noices, this would make the audience far more jumpy.

Non-Believer-

There will also often be a character in horror films who is portrayed as cocky and overconfident, they will often try and convince others in the film that there is no antagonist and that they are overreacting. This character can be either sex but is often portrayed as a male. The characters cockiness is usually the thing that gets the character killed off, there death is oftenly near the beginning. The audience will normally be reassured by their calm attitude and belief that there is nothing wrong, however when they are eventually killed this calm attitude disappears and the other characters often become panicked and this can lead to other deaths.

 

Hero-

Almost always a male character they are often seen as strong and very masculine, they rarely show enough emotion given the situation, and are often either the only one to survive or the last character to survive. There is an increasing trend in which this steretype is being protrayed by a female lead instead of male character, this can broaden the audience and attract females and males, as females could be attracted by the strong female lead as well as the strong male lead.

Hysterical Character-
This kind of character is often female. They are normally the character who doesn't want to investigate anything suspicous, she is normally the most likely character to be left behind in a situation. This would normally lead to her to eihter being killed first or left till last. Her emotional outbursts would help build suspense in the audience and it could also build hysteria in the audience making them more jumpy and frightened.

Evil Character-
Evil characters are varied and can range from serial killers to demonic possession. If the antagonist is a human they often wear masks, so we can't identify them and it also leaves mystery as we don't know what they look like under the mask, they will also never expose their emotions which means as the audience we can never connect with them. As human's they don't react normally to injuries, and they can often reanimate after the protagonist thinks he's dead, this hints to the audience that there is something unnatural. The unnatural creatures such as Demons are known to play on the fears of the audience and films that contain these monsters in them are often the scariest because they take place in places normally associated with safety such as homes, but they also make the most innocnet looking things the victims worst nightmare. This character is strikes fear in the audience everytime they appear on screen and they are also what builds the most tension.

Practice shots

This video shows some practise shots we have taken, we think these shots were very effective and we plan to use several of these shots in our film. The first shot of the zooming in we think can act as maybe a jump scare, as someone could hide behind the door and pop out into view of the camera, this would jump the audience and at night there would be a torch adding to the tension as the camera approached the door. The second shot was a practice to see how effective the GoPro was in the dark, the door slamming shows how quickly the camera can transition between light and dark and it also provides us with a light we can use. The third shot is one of the most effective shots, this because the sheet we were using to make this effect made it appear no one was behind the sheet and it is also obscuring the area behind the sheet making it perfect for the antagonist to hide behind and in the dark it could be very effective to use as a jump scare, as seen at the 20-23 second mark. The final shot we can see using in our trailer as one of the characters run into a closet or cupboard, the idea would be the lights would turn off and then come back on and maybe books would have fallen off the shelf or there would be a character appearing behind the camera.

Film Ideas

In our film trailer we are planning to make a film similar to make a horror film, the film is going to be shot from a POV view with one of our character investigating an abandoned building, the trailer is going to be based on paranormal activity and Grave encounters, as both these films use Point of View shots, when we are filming the trailer it is likely we will have the main character holding the camera, this allows the audience to view the film from our main protagonists viewpoint, the camera we use will be crucial to having this trailer we are planning to be successful, which is why we will be using the GoPro, the view provided to us by this camera will add realism and will also make the audience more scared as they won't see any scares coming.

We have currently 2-3 location ideas although this is subject to change, our main idea is to use an old abandoned mental hospital in Epsom called West Park hospital, we want to use this because it would be the perfect backdrop for a horror movie, as its an abandoned location with plenty of real history and it also provides a tense atmosphere, the only problem we have with this location is that it has been cleared out and it is also under threat from demolition. Our second option is an old school which we want to use, this also provides us with some tense atmosphere and it also gives us much more free reign as we would have the entire school to ourselves, however the school is the furthest of all our options. Our third option is to use our current school, however this is our last option and we don't want to use this as our location however but if we have to we will.

Camera Option

This is the camera we are planning on using, it is a Gopro Hero 3 black edition, from this camera we plan to make a point of view style film, the camera itself provides high quality HD video, which is perfect for us as we need that level of detail in the film, as our tests shots will show it provides very good quality sound as well as giving the impression of a found footage film. The camera is also waterproof, which has inspired some of the scenes we are planning, we can also attach the camera to a stand or a helmet for added first person view and to get different camera perspectives. We can also use the wide angle lense we have on ours and this will help us fit a lot more footage and people into each shot. The camera also provides a low light mode as well as this the camera has a red light situated on the front of the camera which could provide very interesting effects when utilised in the dark, which is when we plan to have our film based.

Godzilla trailer

The Godzilla trailer uses extreme long shots as the trailers establishing shots, this shows the audience a plane crash on a highway this could make them confused because they don't know how it crashed or what caused it, we also have an extreme long shot of a power station being destroyed, this would continue to confuse the audience posing questions like what is causing these disasters? The narration at the start of the trailer gives exposition, on what was going on at these disaster areas, it could also hint at the power of Godzilla without actually showing the monster. For transitions they appear to use fade in shots, this makes the transition seem as if we are watching some kind of chase as we see multiple areas attacked. We also see the statue of liberty damaged, this could be seen as symbolic because it is not the real statue as it is in the middle of the desert, and it is damaged possibly suggesting the USA is being attacked as a whole.

The trailer also shows the main protagonist, Bryan Cranston, this provides a huge unique selling point because he is a very well known awarding winning actor, he is also very popular, this is likely to draw a large number of people to the film because his appearance as a main character. The audience is also given several glimpses throughout the trailer of Godzilla, the first is it swimming underneath some ships and causing a tsunami, this gives an idea of enormity and size to Godzilla. We then see Godzilla revealed at the end of the trailer during a montage of shots, this would make the audience very excited because Godzilla is a kind of cult movie character and, this film seems to show a realistic twist on the monster.

There are several shots in the trailer suggesting the film is a action film these include the large fire seen behind the hill, which suggests there has been some fighting in the film, another clip is the Army in the boats at see, this suggesting they are waiting to attack something, this kind of action is what we expect to see from action films like this. We are alos shown an extreme long shot of San Fransico which conforms to the idea that this film is in the action genre because the this shot shows us destruction on an enourmous scale, this could also be used to show the size of Godzilla which would awe the audience.

The trailer would also make people think about themselves as Humans, as the "Arrogance of Man" line in the trailer makes us think about our place in this world and it also seems to point out that we are not the only ones who live on this planet and we should respect that idea. The trailer itself is slow paced with a gap of around 5 seconds on most clips, however at the end of the trailer we see the gap between clips decrease to show us a montage of action clips, this hints at the danger and the action in the film, however the film doesn't show to much otherwise it might give away some of the key moments. The sound in the film, is a kind of howling and choir singing louder and louder, there are also brief interruptions of the 'inception howl,' this brings more tension to the trailer until the end montage which is fast paced sound adding the excitement to this trailer.

The Hobbit trailer

This trailer starts with several establishing shots, which helps the audience identify that the setting is not modern, it also suggests the film is set in Middle Earth because the audience might also see similarities between this and the original Lord of the Rings, with the large landscapes and enourmous mountain ranges. The narration heard over the clips is non-digetic as it is clear they have been cut from other scenes, this introduces the audience to the premise so they have an idea of what the film is about.

The trailer itself has an normal layout with the start introducing the main character who has a normal or boring life, who then gets thrown into an adventure, this is shown by the appearance of Gandalf and the dwarfs, the audience would find the behaviour of the dwarfs very strange as they wouldn't expect such bad behaviour from guests, there behaviour also acts as comic relief as their actions appear comedic, this could suggest to the audience that the group do not take themselves too seriously. The props and costumes used by the characters in the trailer seems to be basic clothing with some of the characters wearing armour and some wearing large jackets, this suggests the film contains action, added to this the use of swords and other weapons we would expect to be used in the medieval era, however we do not see any fighting scenes until at least half way through the trailer suggesting there isn't much action but more adventure and danger. The dwarfs and Gandalf are shown often either from low-angle shots or high-angle shots depending on perspective this gives us an idea of what the characters are seeing from there view, it also often leads to the dwarfs being looked down on throughout the trailer.

The lighting in the trailer is dark and often takes place at night, or in poorly lit locations, this provides a sense of isolation from the rest of the world, the darkness could also be hinting at potential evil as we see several antagonists throughout, but they all appear to be working for an unseen antagonist, suggesting the film will have sequels.

In addition to this, there is also an appearance by Golem, who much of the target audience will remember from the Lord Of The Rings trilogy, this provides the audience with some comic relief as he his often portrayed as clumsy and stupid, it also provides a kind of tribute to the previous trilogy and also reveals the ring, which also featured in the Lord Of The Rings films, it also suggests to the audience that this new trilogy is a prequel, to those who have only just seen the trailer.

The text on screen as well as the title, are all in the same font as the original Lord Of The Rings films, again paying tribute to the trilogy, the background to this text is a map of the land, this suggests to the audience that the film is likely an adventure film, as this is what we would expect from using maps in a film. The music in the background is tense, this builds tension and it suggests to the audience that the film has danger, but it also has a sense of awe about it as we see many extreme long shots, showing the landscape.