Planning : Target Audience Feedback

Our group sent out a feedback questionnaire to find out peoples opinion on our sixty second pitch. We created a survey on survey monkey and sent out links to thirty random people that were in our target audience age range. We collected the results and we got some interesting feedback to look over. These are the results to each question we asked:

This question allowed our group to see if the information which is going to be given in the following questions are true or just made up.

This gave us the evidence that we were asking these questions to are target audience and not to people that ever watch horror movies, otherwise the information they would be giving us are invalid because we need to know if our ideas are good enough to work within a teen horror movie.

This question allowed us to get feedback on the ideas we had within our 60 second pitch. By the evidence given we believe nearly every one liked our ideas for the horror film.

From the evidence above it allowed us as a group to carry on the idea we originally came up with and not have to change anything because the candidates that answered these questions agree with our idea and feel like nothing should be changed.

The final question in our survey was to see if our target audience would watch this film when released and from the evidence given only 10% of the people answering the questionnaire said they would not watch this film when released.

Planning : From Initial Ideas To A 60 Second Pitch

This is are sixty second pitch for a teen horror film for are AS Media Studies main task. 

When coming to plan are pitch we had to come up with ideas for a teen horror movie. We came up with many different ideas that had similar conventions to other teen horror films. We wrote down all of are ideas and then as a group we eliminated the plans that we did not thing would be the best for a teen horror film. 

The plans above allowed us as a group to discuss which plan would be the best for are main task of making the first 2 minutes to a teen horror movie. As a group we discussed the conventions thats occur in most teen horror films. We also discussed miss-en-scene, location and the plot of the film for all of the ideas. We then came up with the chose that we are going to use a lumber jack to be are killer   and that we are going to have the characters as being teenagers where they are doing D of E, which allows the audience to have a connection with the characters. 

The picture below is the evidence of are group having a group discussion about which idea to pick and why that one would be the best. 

When planning are 60 second pitch we had to think about a production company name, we came up with 'Black Widow Productions'. We also had to come up with a working title 'The Lumberjack'. 

Research : The Importance Of Sound In Horror Films

Sound is a vital element to any film genre, the sound is what connects to the audience it is what makes the audience feel a certain way. The sound within in a film is what creates the atmosphere. In particular for a Horror Film the music is what build the tension or suspense. If a Horror Film was to just have diegetic sound then the film will not have the same effect upon the audience, this is why non-diegetic sound within any film is important.
Music may progressively build to signify that a dramatic event is about to happen or it may be upbeat to lighten the mood. 
Horror films rely heavily in sound clips to create a scary scene. Music plays a main role in a horror film because it immediately sets the tone for a certain scene. Before the actor says anything the audience knows what their fate is going to be based on the type of music that is playing in the background. The music sets the tone but it does not give away what will happen in the following events. The music must never distract the audience from the scene but intensify the visuals so that the viewer experiences fear and anxiety on a much deeper level. There are several musical cues that indicate to the viewer what is going to happen in the upcoming scene. A longer musical buildup suggests that a big event is just around the corner. A rapid sequence might suggest stress or panic, making the audience feel anxious.

For example, if you was to watch the horror film from 1980 'The Shining' when a family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where an evil and spiritual presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from the past and of the future. With no non-diegetic sound then the film would not have the same effect upon the audience.

If you was to watch the clip below without the sound and then with the sound, it will make you feel very different, when watching it with the sound you become very anxious but without the sound you don't feel much because the sound does not have the same effect because a tone is not set by the music. 







Justin Zagri is a film maker and he has produce a video with an example showing the difference between the same piece of footage without non-diegetic and with non-dieget sound to show the different effects it has upon the audience.


The use of sound in a horror film is important to the success from this form of media product. in certain films such as Psycho, Jaws, The Shining etc can elevate the film to such a iconic level that the sound instantly identifies the film.

Some filmmakers are now using infrasound to induce fear in audiences. These extreme bass waves or vibrations have a frequency below the range of the human ear.

Low frequency sounds are thought to have created fear in Paranormal Activity. While we may not be able to hear infrasound, it has been demonstrated to induce anxiety, extreme sorrow, heart palpitations and shivering.

This research will benefit me because when it comes to my filming I will ensure I record certain sounds such as a scream of the girl when she is about to be killed by the lumber jack. Also the sound of when the lumberjack is coming toward the two characters, so when filming I will get the sound of an axe cutting through as he is walking towards them. This will help me make a more effective film opening because of the diegetic sound that I have filmed my self, to create more tension for the audience. 

Research : The Importance Of Opening Titles

The first thing we had to do was watch a brief video of the history of the art of titles. This then gave me an idea of the different types of titles used for different film genres. I  then watched the opening credits to Se7en and when watching this I had to stop every time a new title came up I paused the video and wrote the time of when it was on the screen and then wrote the title in the format it is presented. I then watched the opening again but this time without sound this was so I could write down all the visual elements of the opening. I then had to watch it over again but this time I did not watch the opening I just listened I wrote down all the sounds I could hear. Then lastly I watched the opening for a final time and looked at the typography of how the titles came up, for example if they was capitalised, bold etc.

This is the opening credits to the film Se7en which I have used to look at titles to see how effective they are for when I produce my main task.

This is a video of the history of Title design.



From going through this process I have learnt that Title design is very effective on the audience because the audience can tell a lot about the film through the titles. The ways in which the titles is formatted has an effect on the audience, for example if the title is wrote in blood then they are going to know this film is going to have blood in. I have also learnt that the elements of sound within the opening to a film is effective to the audience because the non diegetic sound and diegetic sound will change the way the audience feels about the film. By doing this I have also learnt that the visual elements of an opening to a film has the most effect upon the audience because this is what the audience is paying the most attention to. So when producing my own opening to a teen horror movie I need to ensure that the visual elements of the opening are effective enough to ensure my audience keep watching. 

Research Essay : Codes and Conventions of Existing Horror Films

When you watch a teen horror genre, there are codes and conventions that are related to the specific genre. The two types of codes are technical and symbolic:

Technical codes in a horror film include things such as a camera shots, angles and movements, lighting, titles, editing and non diagetic sound and diagetic sound. The technical codes cover the technical aspects of filmmaking and creating a piece of moving image.

Symbolic codes in a horror film include the main elements of mise-en-scene within a film. There are many different aspects of mise-en-scene such as, costume, make-up, setting and props. For example if the leading man in the film is wearing a bright shirt and acting a fool, the audience will make assumptions about his character and traits. The audience does this because of the symbolic value attached to the clothing and the makeup.

Conventions take a big part within what attracts and audience to view a horror film:  Conventions are the things which are seen by the audience and are expected by the audience when watching a specific and certain genre. For example a common convention in a teen horror film is there being no signal at the point of the character needing signal, or another convention is the character being in a secluded environment.

Three films that represent similar aspects to a teen horror movie are: Wrong turn, Dead Wood and Dead Marry. All three opening use the same convention of having female victim who is dependent on a male. In ‘Dead Mary’, represents the female waiting in the car alone in a secluded environment. This character is represented as a vulnerable character as there is no sign of help.  The director then reinforces her vulnerability through the convention of the radio having no signal and her phone having no signal as well. This shows the limited source of contact and communication this then shows her isolation from any safety. After the audience are shown her vulnerability her male companion then returns with the fuel for the car, this shows that she relies on him, because it was him that went and got the petrol and she stayed there waiting for him to come and save her. This is also shown in ‘Dead Wood’ when the girl comes out of her tent, as her male companion has been dragged down into the bank. But then she starts to call his name showing that she needs him to be safe, this is because she is shown to the audience as a vulnerable character and the male is seen to be the brave one. For the opening of ‘Wrong Turn’ there is similar convention throughout.  The female character is represented as the weaker character because she is struggling to climb up the rocks, whereas the male climbs up with no struggle. However, the audience could see his character as showing off and confident. Throughout horror movies the female is often displayed as more vulnerable and weaker to the male characters in the opening.  All teen horror films use similar conventions because the audience expects to see these things within the film; this is because the conventions used seem to be the most realistic to the audience. Also the characters are used in a certain way so that the audience can connect to them through their roles within the film.

Through the symbolic codes of mise-en-scene of costumes and make up all three women in these opening seem to be very exposed through their clothing.  For example, in ‘Dead Mary the female is wearing a dress that is blue, however she is not wearing any shoes whilst she is in the car waiting. This represents that she does not believe anything is going to happen, and she believes that she is not going to have to get away from any danger.  Then in ‘Dead Wood’ when the female comes out of the tent she is wearing a black knee length skirt which has a split down the front and the back, so the first thing that the audience see of this character is her legs. She is also wearing heeled boots which shows that she does not have much experience with camping and being in the woods. The audience would judge her character through the clothes that she is wearing, so because they have seen her male companion being dragged down they could not see her as an easy target for the murder. Then lastly in ‘Wrong Turn’ the female character is also exposed, even though she is wearing appropriate clothing for what she is doing. Her clothing is still exposing because she is just wearing a sports bra and latex shorts as these clothes do not offer much physical protection for this character. This is because throughout teen horror films they use similar symbolic codes to represent female characters as weaker than the males in the film through their costumes.