Initial Ideas

Production Companies!

It's time to create my production company! I have researched the names of the production companies for Paranormal Activity and The Omen and found that they don't have much in common (20th Century Fox and Blumhouse Productions). I then typed in 'Supernatural horror production companies' and found nothing therefore I have decided to just create a name that is catchy and sounds professional.

My favourites from above were:
- Panicshack Productions
- Jittershack Productions
- Shockshack Productions

Target Audience for Supernatural Horror's in general!

The typical target audience for a Supernatural Horror depends on a number of things.

Male or Female? Supernatural Horrors can be aimed at both males and females, however men are more likely to go for a Slasher. This is because men are often more attracted to films that show blood, guts, and lots of killing; whereas females are more likely to go for a horror that is scary yet has a complicated story-line that they can engage with. 

This brings me onto the next characteristic of typical Supernatural Horror fans - intelligence. Supernatural Horrors tend to have complex story-lines and are aimed at people with a certain level of intelligence in order to keep up with the story-line and not get bored. 

Age wise, these films as a whole are aimed at quite a wide ranged audience, for instance 14-30. However, it does depend on the story-line. Films such as Paranormal Activity which have a simpler story-line are aimed at the younger side of the age range. Films such as The Omen which incorporate different and controversial themes such as religion are aimed towards the older end of the age range.

To a certain extent, the viewers have to be gullible and superstitious. They have to have a genuine belief in the supernatural, or the Horror will have as much effect on them as the dementors in Harry Potter - yeah, not much. 

The target audience for Horrors in general depends on the main characters. If the audience can relate to the character on screen, the fear will be much greater. This is because they start to believe that it could be them in their place. For example, if a new mother chose to sit down and watch The Omen, it would have much more of an effect on her, than if a man in his 40's with no children decided to watch it. 

Box Office Statistics

As you can see, Paranormal Activity's total gross from theaters is a lot higher than The Omen's. This could be due to the target audience age because Paranormal Activity is aimed at a younger audience who are more likely to go to the cinema for a social event. This could also be due to the time in which each film was released - the 1976 The Omen was in a completely different time to the Paranormal Activity series which started in 2007. However, if this was the case, the second The Omen would show a higher total gross because it was made in 2006. It could be due to the fact that The Omen 2006 was a near exact replica of the 1976 version and so people didn't want to see it.

Existing Film Research - Paranormal Activity

So far I have only looked at existing films that use children as the supernatural being. Therefore, I have decided to watch some film trailers that don't. I chose Paranormal Activity.

Most of this film is made to look as though the actor is filming it himself. This helps the audience to engage with the characters and more importantly makes the happenings seem very much more realistic.

The main character Katie says ''It's not the house, it's me.''  This plays on the stereotypical idea of a 'haunted house.' However, the demon has not possessed and taken over her body (unlike the character of Damien from The Omen), it seems to just be following her wherever she goes - there is no escape.

The fact that it is happening to an adult could be perceived as scarier because Katie shows her emotions and fear through speech and facial expressions, whereas Damien from The Omen doesn't show much emotion other than the devil's. The fact that Katie is an adult, and that she has not literally been taken over by the spirit work side by side to create an exciting yet fearful trailer.

The Amityville Horror - In depth Film Analysis

The lighting and colours used in ‘The Amityville Horror’ trailer contributes to the way in which the audience view it and helps them to understand which genre the film belongs to. Right at the beginning of the trailer, before the family have moved into the Amityville house, the lighting is very bright and colours such as green are used through the trees. The colour green connotes nature and health, which is exactly what the family have at the beginning of the trailer. The family are ecstatic to be buying the new house and this is demonstrated through the colour green and bright lighting. However, green could also connote sickness or bad health which could symbolise the upcoming events in the film trailer.


Another part of the trailer where lighting and colour is used effectively is the shot where the lightning is surrounding the house. The lighting here is generally dark, but is brightened up by the lightning. This could simply be a device to make the audience have negative feelings towards the house. Darkness connotes death and evil; therefore by using a shot of the house in a dark setting, the audience are more likely to believe that supernatural beings haunt the house. Subtly, the lighting in this part of the trailer allows the audience to get an insight to the mood of the film.






The mise en scene also contributes to the way that the viewer sees the trailer. Dark make up is cleverly used on the little girl (Jodie) to make the audience fear her. This completely contrasts the idea that little children are innocent which is represented by the other little girl in the trailer. Put next to each other, there is a noticeable difference in the way that the audience view each child due the dark make up on Jodie. This symbolises the loss of innocence in Jodie which makes the audience sympathise with her a little bit. However, the audience don’t trust her with the other little girl, and fear that she may corrupt her also.


Another element of the mise en scene that adds to the meaning of the trailer is the props used. Guns are used in the trailer which connotes violence and paired with the facial expressions of the actor connotes insanity. This furthermore helps the viewer to understand the extent to which the house has destroyed this family, and how bad their situation actually is.






Facial expressions are essential to films and trailers to help the audience to connect with the characters. In this case, camera shots add to these. The close-up shot of the mum talking to the priest allows us to understand her situation and sympathise with her more than any of the other characters. This emphasises her fear about the house and therefore emphasises the audience’s fear.


Another way that camera work has contributed to the trailer is when using a shot-reverse-shot of the man of the house and the ghost man. This highlights the contrast between the two in terms of what they are and what their intentions are. However, it could be argued that this shot shows how similar the two have become due to the male protagonist’s insanity because of the happenings in his house.






The editing in terms of text creates a certain mood for the trailer. The text is white which connotes innocence and peace. The peace could represent the family before they moved into the Amityville house, or the children’s innocence. However, the white writing is placed upon a black background which could symbolise the supernatural and evil looming over the family. It could also symbolise the corruption of the children’s innocence.


In terms of editing, the fades used throughout the trailer help the audience to understand the trailer. They are constantly building up tension throughout, and put the audience on edge and make them uneasy. The audience almost expect something to make them jump, but nothing ever does. This ultimately makes the audience want to watch the film to find out whether the tension ever climaxes to anything.






Lastly, diegetic sound also plays on the idea of change throughout the trailer. For example, at the beginning of the trailer, sound such as laughter and speech are used effectively to create positive emotions in the audience. The woman exclaims ‘This is the deal of a lifetime’. This challenges the conventions of a supernatural horror film and is not what the audience would expect whilst watching one. However, that soon changes; as soon as the move happens, things are much quieter and not very much speech is used from then on. This adds to the tension already created by the fades.





Another example of diegetic sound that helps to create tension is a rapid knocking/ticking noise towards the end of the trailer. This presents the idea that time is running out, and emphasises the desperation of the family trying to escape from the supernatural. Home is the place that you are supposed to feel safe in and this family lack that; they have nowhere to run to, and this is made very apparent in the trailer. This ultimately means that the audience sympathise more with the characters and become more involved in the trailer/film.

Existing Film Research - The Amityville Horror

I have decided to look at supernatural horrors in which the demon/ghost is not doubled up with the victim. From research that I have already done I have realised that there seems to be two recurring themes in supernatural horrors - a possessed spirit taking the form of a human, or a demon roaming the house of their victim. This particular film was made quite a long time after the first version of 'The Omen' but a mere year before the second (2006) version.

This is a very typical image of a haunted house. This has deliberately been used in the trailer along with the dark setting to create a sense of uncertainty in the audience. I have learnt that uncertainty and 'the unknown' plays a big part in the plot of supernatural horrors based on a house - it adds to the vulnerability of the characters.

What I've picked up on in this trailer is the text used. The text here mirrors the idea of 'the unknown' and plays on the audiences minds - it's all a big mystery!

Although the demon is not possessing the main characters here, it is still taking the form of a little girl - a child. Children seem to be a recurring theme in horrors such as these because they evoke pity. I believe that although the audience are intended to hate the child for inflicting horror on the protagonists, they are also supposed to pity the ghost's situation.

The Omen 2006?

I have just come across the newer version of The Omen and I did not think it much better than the first one that was made in 1976. This shocked me as I was expecting it to be a lot better due to improved technology. I decided to look upon some reviews to see what other people thought.

Well this review obviously agrees with me in the sense that the film 'doesn't go berserk with visuals', but then justifies it straight after. I can now appreciate that this film would not be half as good had they put 'lightning zaps from little Damien's ears'. I wonder then, what was the point in making such a remake?

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I think that the point of this post is the highlight the fact that simplicity in a supernatural-horror is key - it works really well. I have learnt that I should take a small concept and turn it into something much, much bigger.

Conventions of a Supernatural-horror!

Characters

I googled 'conventional characters of a super-natural horror' and found these.

The demon: This character can be in the form of a ghost/demon etc. In some supernatural-horror movies the demon is the possessed spirit of a child eg. The Exorcist's Emily Rose and The Omen's Damien. In other supernatural-horror's such as Paranormal Activiy the ghost is more of an unknown character often without a body or identity.

The main character: The main character is usually a harmless victim, except for in cases such as The Omen and The Exorcist in which case the demon and main character double up as one.

Other characters usually consist of family members/helpful friends of the main character. Supernatural horrors usually revolve around the demon and it's victim.

Settings

Supernatural horror films are usually set in the protagonist's house. The majority of the films usually happen in the setting which the main character is usually comfortable with. This is because the main characters are more likely to be scared of supernatural beings within their comfort zone and personal spaces. This intrigues and adds to the fear of the viewer because they are introduced with the idea that supernatural things such as demons and ghosts have access to their own homes.

Costumes

Supernatural horrors tend to try to be as realistic as possible (obviously excluding the supernatural ghost/demon). Therefore the costumes used need to reflect real life; they need to be as normal as possible. The reason for this is that the characters facial expressions are more important than their clothes, so in an attempt to draw attention to face expressions, costume and makeup needs to be as simple and natural as possible.

Existing Film Research - The Omen

Instantly it is obvious that this is quite an old film, dating back to 1976 when technology was not as it is today. Therefore the ideas in the film may be quite dated and may not be perceived as scary by people in society today as people would have in 1976. You can tell that this film isn't exactly new not only by the obvious '20th Century Fox' text, but by the grainy, old element to the picture. 

 However, I am shocked by this film trailer's ability to scare the audience. I admire the simplicity in this trailer/film even more due to the lack of technology involved.  and I am immediately inspired to create something so simple yet creepy of my own!

I like the idea of using a child because children are usually seen as innocent and harmless. However, by demonizing something so innocent it somehow plays on our minds more than anything else. I want to take a simple idea and play with it to create something original and scary!

The Horror Genre

I decided to search 'conventions of the horror film genre' on google. To my surprise I found that there are a number of horror sub-genres.

These consist of...

Source

Decision time!

I have chosen a horror film! I am very excited to take this on and feel it will be challenging yet very exciting for me to do! 

Things I am excited about:

• Experimenting with make up to create a scary character
• Creating a scary storyline
• Learning more about one of my favorite genres
• Using different elements of the software (Serif MoviePlus X6) 
• Aiming for a new target audience

Horror - Pros/Cons

Pros

• The idea of doing a horror film excites me because it is something that I have never done before!
• A trailer tends to cram all the exciting parts of a film into about two minutes - I feel this would be easier if I was to do a horror film!
• Settings/costumes/props easily accessed

Cons

• It will be harder to see where I have improved from my AS work because everything will be so different!

Romantic Comedy - Pros/Cons

Pros

• Romantic-Comedy was the genre that I chose last year when doing my AS level, therefore it would be (in some ways) easier to accomplish based on my existing knowledge of the genre
• All of the props/costumes and other mise en scene elements would be (again) quite easy to achieve

Cons

• Although the fact that I did this genre previously could work in my favor, it could also end up boring me which would result in less motivation to get tasks done
• Less opportunities to take advantage of the serif movie software
• I feel as though I have learnt enough through this genre and wouldn't benefit much more from doing it again
• Camera angles would be much the same which wouldn't give me much variety

Choosing a Genre!

First thing's first! Choosing a genre is possibly the most important decision I am going to make during my whole project. Therefore, I need to make sure I have done enough research to be sure whether or not I have chosen the right one for me. Instantly, two very different genres come to mind - horror and romantic-comedy. I plan to think about both genres in detail and then make a decision based on a number of things.

Who Am I Going to Work With?

Due to a number of reasons, this year I have chosen to work on my own. After working with a partner last year, I now know the benefits and losses of doing this. Firstly, I definitely want more freedom in my work this year; last year we had a hard time arranging times to film that we could both comply to. Although we were both committed to the task, it was hard to fit in due to our busy schedules.

Also, working on my own will allow me to create something that is completely made up of my own ideas. I like the idea of this because it will give me a better sense of achievement at the end of the project.