TARGET AUDIENCE- QUESTIONNAIRE

This is the questionnaire conducted by 2 other members of my group and I to help us acquire some ideas and help us understand what the target audience like to see in a horror movie. The questions we asked the audience are stated below:


Please circle the appropriate

1) What is your ideal antagonist in a horror movie?

* Serial killer
* Monster
* The devil
* Ghost

2) What is your ideal protagonist in a horror movie?

* Man
* Women
* Student
* Child

3) What is your ideal location for a horror movie?

* Lift
* Graveyard
* Church
* Other (please specify)

4) What is the scariest movie you have watched?

5) What aspect of a horror movie frightens you?

* Haunted house
* Ghost
* Monster
* Serial killer
* Psychological

6) What rating should a horror movie be?

* 12a
* PG
* 15
* 18

7) How long should a movie be?

* 120 mins
* 160 mins
* 180 mins

8) What music do you think is ideal for a horror movie?

9)Who would be your ideal character in a horror movie?

* Sarah Michelle Gella
* Freddy Prime Junior
* Other (please specify)

10) If you created a horror movie what would you name it?

Results of questionnaire.

1)

* Serial killer- 4
* Monster- 0
* The devil- 4
* Ghost-2

2)

* Man- 5
* Women- 2
* Student- 1
* Child- 2

3)

* Lift-4
* Graveyard-3
* Church-3
* Other-0

4) Scariest movie:

* Final destination
* Omen
* Saw
* Park is rising
* Last exorcism

5)

* Haunted house-1
* Ghost-5
* Monster-0
* Serial killer-1
* Psychological-3

6)

* 12a-0
* PG- 1
* 15- 3
* 18- 6

7)

* 120 MIN-8
* 160MIN-1
* 180 MIN-1

8) Music:

* Fast pace
* Tense
* Slow
* Loud
* Incidental
* Scary
* Rock

9)

* Sarah Michelle Gella- 3
* Freddy- 5
* Other- 2 (Jonny Depp)

10) Title:

* Dead
* Unchosen
* Death
* Foul Stench
* The blob
* Ghost
* Run
* The mist
* A dogs lost tail
* Ghost child


We conducted a questionnaire to see what people would like us to include in our horror opening sequence, our questionnaire was all related to what people would enjoy watching in their ideal horror movie, therefore this way we wanted to notify what people would like to watch in their typical horror movie. In our questionnaire we found out that people would like to watch serial killers or devils in their horror movie, as it is more frightening to them. People suggested that the protagonist should be a man rather than a woman however we as a group challenged this convention and thought it would be more interesting for the protagonist to be a woman something different in a horror movie. Most people felt that a lift, graveyard or a church would be an ideal location for the settings. So we took this into a lot of consideration and planned the settings by a church and graveyard. Furthermore we took into consideration the different scary movies people watched and enjoyed, we looked at their opening scenes and looked at the different props they used, and the music, and tried our best to do similar things in our opening scene. We looked at the rest of our questions/answers and tried our best to make our opening scene like people would like it to be.

180 Degree rule.

The 180 degree rule is a technique used in films which states that when filming on one side of the scene you must never film at an angle or position that is opposite to it or on the other side of the 180 degree line


What did we do?
All students were put in pairs of three and then were asked to film a short movie of their 180 degree shot without breaking the rule. One person filmed the shot's and the other two members of the group took part in acting. In the sequence students were asked to pass something to the other member in their group to see if they can do it without breaking the 180 degree rule. We learnt how to frame a match on action and a shot-reverse-shot. And how to edit all the shots together to make it look continuous.

What did we learn?
We learnt how to handle specialist equipment such as tripods and the movie makers. We learnt how to do the 180 degree rule, without breaking it and if we did we now know how to correct it if anything goes wrong. It was very useful to us because if we wanted to use this technique in our film making we could simply because we knew how to do it after our practices.


180 Degree Rule - Moviemaking Technique from Peter John Ross on Vimeo.

Breif synopsis and Mood boards.

Rom Com Moodboards

Thriller Moodboards

Horror moodboards

Ideas on film plot (task 4)
Original romcom synopsis idea
Characters-

* Main character- Jonny Depp
* Major character- Sandra Bullock
* Age- 19-25 years
* Appearance- Both are trendy, smart and casual.

Main Plot-

* Sandra Bullock bullies Jonny Depp in school
* Sandra= Popular, Jonny= Geek
* Later on in life Sandra becomes a waitress and Jonny becomes a lawyer.
* Both fall in love.
* They do not realise they are childhood class mates, but when Jonny visits Sandras parents reality kicks in.
* Jonny seeks revenge but then they both realise they are madly in love.

Original Horror Synopsis Idea- FINAL IDEA
The mis-placed spirit of Emily Karter fails to find comfort in young Vinnie. In a desperate attempt to find solitude Vinnie attempts to banish the spirit but finds herself in an unfortunate deathly and mind blowing experience.

Plot-

* Death of a little girl in the 90's, possibly murdered. (Visible through newspapers.)
* Haunts the house in which her sister lives- tortures sister.
* Appears in every mirror that the sister looks into. (blood hand prints)
* Through the mirror the sister visualises a gateway to the dead- possibly a dream but becomes reality.
* Deathly experience which ruins the families life.
* 'TWIST'- The sister is mental.

Main Character-

* Main- Sarah Michelle Gella
* Age- 23
* Gender- Female

Appearance/ costume- black clothing

Christian Metz model of genre development.

In lesson we identified films in the horror genre and used Christian Metz model of development to recognize the horror genres existence and development.


Introducing Metz theory;
Christian Metz in his book LANGUAGE AND CINEMA (1974) explored the development of genre film and suggested that genres pass through four phases of existence:

1) The experimental- The cabinet of Dr Claigan (1919), Nosferatu (1922)
2) The classic- Dracula (1931), Frankenstein (1931)
3) The parody- Abbot and Costello meet Frankenstein (1948), carry on screaming (1968) scary movie (1998)
4)The deconstruction- Se7en (1995), The sixth sense (1999), The Blair witch project (1948), Scream (1996)

Explanation of 4 phases;

1) By experimental we mean the phase of early films which explored and experimental with horror themes in its narratives. Films such as the cabinet of Dr Claigar (1919) and Nosferatu (1922)

2) By classic we mean the phase of films which established the narrative conventions of the horror genre in its most successful and defining period. Hollywood films such as Dracula (1931) and Frankenstein (1931) made by Universal.

3) By parody we mean films that have mimicked the horror genre in some comical way. Films such as Abbot and Costello meet Frankenstein (1948), carry on screaming (1968) and Scary movie (1998)

4) By deconstruction we mean films which have taken the generic elements of the horror genre amalgamated them into varying sub genres. Films such as Se7en (1995), the sixth sense (1999) The Blair Witch project (1998), Scream (1996).

Se7en

Genre: Mystery suspense and drama.
Synopsis: Police drama about two cops, one new and one about to retire, tracking a serial killer using the seven deadly sins as his motive. Police drama about two cops, one new and one about to retire, tracking a serial killer using the seven deadly sins as his motive. 

Rated: R
Running Time: 2 hr. 8 min.

Distributor:New Line Cinema
Directed By: David Fincher
Written By: Andrew Kevin Walker

Main Cast; 

• Brad pitt - As David Mills.
• Gwyneth Paltrow- As tracy Mills.
• Morgan Freeman- as William Somerset .
• R.Lee Ermey- as Police Captain.
• Kevin Spacey- as John Doe
•  Richard Roundtree- as Talbot
 
Analysis; The starting scene starts with an extreme close up of the pages of a book, the names of the actors, and titles are all over the screen and not in one particular spot. There is a montage of scenes put together, most of the images are threatening either of people or newspapers, books magazines. The music is thumping and frightening, half way through the starting trailer the music's frequency and tempo increases. There is blood covered hands shown, and also horizontal tracking of loads of books. The pre title sequence is established by James Bond films. The titles also jump on.
The opening scene of Se7en; As the scene opens it unfolds a man who looks around about in his 50’s, names William Somerset who is very smartly presented, stereotypical look of a detective, its an ironic costume of detectives from 1030’s. He has everything he needs neatly laid out, as shown by the close up shot of a knife, badge, pen and a handkerchief, which shows how professional he is. A military look is also displayed which is methodical and stereotypical of a detective badge. He has his clothes set out neatly on his bed. He also has a chess board in his house/apartment which show his intelligent and competitiveness. He drinks coffee as shown, and also lives in the city implied by ambient sounds like the car noises and people driving.
 
However there is a big difference between Somerset and another detective present in the scene. Who calls him self “Detective mill’s” who is portrayed of being the total opposite of Somerset. He is shown as scruffy and very UN kept. He walks in chewing gum in a very important case, with rather messy hair, wearing very unprofessional clothes like Somerset. He is very formally dressed wearing a leather jacket shows youth and rebellion. He also walks in late during the case which shows he is not good at time keeping. There are a lot of differences shown through the opening scene between the two detectives, and the “tick tock” of the clock symbolizes how the scene is going to now unfold into more dramatic and tense atmospheres.