Film Tagline

The tagline for my short horror film is still a work in progress however so far I think I'm going with 'Knock, Knock' as my film name is 'Who's there?'. I decided on this as both phrases fit together from the joke 'Knock, knock; who's there?' but I'm going to be using them in reverse, so its almost a play on words. The tagline is also fitting to the narrative of the film as its a story about a woman who's terrorised in her own home by an unknown entity.

I decided to research into some of the most iconic and well known horror films to see what their tag lines are see if I can get any inspiration:

Nightmare On Elm Street- Sleep Kills: like my own, the headlines go hand in hand with the name of the film being 'Nightmare' and the tag line 'sleep kills'.

Halloween- The night HE came home!- The emphasis on 'he' creates a feeling of mysterious and highlights to the audience that 'he' is a force to be reckoned with and fear, contrastingly the tag line also has 'home' in it which should create the feeling of comfortability however the producers have used it to create the effect of insecurity and fear.

Paranormal Activity- What happens when you sleep?- The producers of paranormal activity used a rhetorical question to implant doubt and fear into the audiences mind, by asking 'What happens when you sleep?'. This goes hand in hand with the name of the film 'paranormal activity'. The name of the film is made out to be the answer to the question. This realisation will create a lasting psychological effect for the audience as when they go to sleep they will be thinking paranormal activity is taking place within their own home.

Insidious- It will take what you love most- The tag line begins with the word 'it' which implies that 'it'  is some form of creature/ villain. The rest of the tag line is quite stereotypical of a horror film and is kinda boring as it has no effect on the audience. This is the type of tag line I'm trying to avoid.

Characters In My Original Narrative

My film only consists of two people: The Victim and The Villain. Ive decided to keep a relatively small cast as this will make filming a lot easier. By not having as many people, I won't have to organise and plan filming timetables as much. It will also make storyboarding and screenplay easier as I won't have to take into account for too many parts to be played. This will allow me to develop and focus on the two characters better and tell their story in greater detail. If I had too many characters, I wouldn't be able to tell as good a story because its a short film and I don't have that much time for character development.

The Victim: The Victim shall be played by and will be a typical teenage sixth form girl. I decided that by casting an actual student to play the part will make performance better because as it will be just acting out her everyday life. It will also save money on props such as school bags, books etc as she will already have them, therefore resulting in a realistic miss-en-scene. This will make finding a film location easier as I wish to begin the film in our school/ on the school grounds, The Victim will begin the film by walking out of school on her way home. I will use POV and over the shoulder shots to create the feeling that the audience is in the film effect. As she gets further home, I will also shoot in areas where there isn't that much light to imply to the audience that the narrative 'is getting darker'. As she gets closer home, she will become increasingly aware that she is being followed. I will convey this to the audience via close up shots which will also highlight the fear on her face. The film will end in her house and ultimately her death.

The Villain: The Villain will appear very little in the beginning and build up of the film, and the audience won't see the Villain as Im going to blur him out to create the effect of confusion and mystery.

Film Regulations And Certifications

My film will likely be rated 12 on the BBCFC rating scale as there is no/ little violence or gore used that may upset the viewer, there will only be the use of suspense and psychological effects that will create the emotion of fear within the viewer. Im also using no drugs, sexual, or graphical scenes. There will be the presence of a knife being used as a prop however it won't be used to inflict harm upon anyone.

There may be slight gore used towards the end when the victim is killed, however as mentioned previously this will not be shown to the viewer.

Also, with my film being a short film it means it will be produced on a very little budget so there wont be any exotic props used that would create to much fear for the audience. Short films tend to have nice audiences and will only be shown at specific short film festivals where this audience gathers. An alternative way of them being viewed is through online viewing platforms such as YouTube and Vimeo. Subsequently, this makes them very hard to regulate who watches them, to counteract this I may be able to place age restrictions on the video prior to being viewed and when this isn't possible; display the age rating certificate before the film begins,.

Contributor Release Form

I made my own contributor release form for the actors staring in my film to sign. This gives me consent and permission for me to upload the film online to YouTube. This also clears me legally in the case of injury and/or death of a person during production.

Director Analysis: Wes Craven

I decided to do a textual analysis of perhaps the most well known and best horror film directors: Wes Craven.

Craven was best known for creating the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise featuring the Freddy Krueger character, directing the first installment and Wes Craven's New Nightmare, and co-writing A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors.

Craven also directed all four films in the Scream series, and co-created the Ghostface character. Some of his other films include The Hills Have Eyes, The Last House on the Left, The People Under the Stairs, Red Eye, The Serpent and the Rainbow, and Vampire in Brooklyn.

Craven's works tend to share a common exploration of the nature of reality. For instance, A Nightmare On Elm Street focused on the consequences of dreams in real life. I had a similar idea for one of my proposed films as I'm wanting to create the same effect of 'real life horror'. 

In Scream, the characters frequently reference horror films similar to their situations, and at one point Billy Loomis tells his girlfriend that life is just a big movie. This is an exceptional use of 'reverse psychology' on the audience and creates the exact effect of 'this isn't a movie, this is real life' that I'm going to try and recreate in my film. 

Cravens work tended to share a common exploration of the nature of reality. Night mare on elm street focused on the consequences of dreams in real life. In Scream the characters constantly reference other horror films that are similar to the situation they're in.
I want to do this as well as I believe true horror films leave a lasting effect on the audience and make them go home believing what they have just watched could happen to them. 

StoryBoard

I drew my opening scene of my short horror film. My artistic work is appalling so I may use another method for storyboarding the rest of the film however this was just a trial method and helps me to film regardless.  

What I've Learnt From My Music Video

Music video knowledge from 09loweja