Survey Responses

Audience Profile

From the responses to my Horror Survey so far, I seem to have many people that like the idea of my horror film, as they state that they're big fans of horror films. As well as this, they did answer the questions regarding the last horror film they watched and the genres they are most fond of, and I now have an idea of what my audience profile is.

People around the ages of 16-19 year old.
People who like scary characters, scary music and sound effects, blood an gore and just generally being scared.
However the people that answered this survey watched a film that isn't similar to mine at all as it was a different sub-genre to mine, although they did say they'd watch it.


This is my audience profile. I determined this from the responses I got from my survey. This gives me a good idea of where to improve/change our film and how to make it suit the audience a lot more.   

Nine Frame Analysis

Title Sequence Analysis

Title Sequence Analysis

First of all the film ‘Scream’ has quite a typical horror opening title sequence as it includes a dark background, and some animations that look like blood (making the slasher genre stand out more). Also this title sequence involves different types of musical instruments to get the full horror effect. The sounds used are often strings and synth adding depth and mystery to the sequence. This particular sequence is one of my favorites because it’s pretty simple and I think that the simpler it is the more mysterious and effective it will become in the long run.

Once again there is another horror film that is pretty similar to scream in the title sequence as it shares many of the same features, the film is Friday the 13th. Some of these features being, blood splatters, black backgrounds and really similar music of strings and synth to add an eerie effect, however the music is quite different in the speed and intensity as the movie’s story and way that characters develop and inevitably die is different from Scream.

And finally there are those title sequences that have changed over the years and have more editing and are not as simple and basic as the other ones. I feel this spoils some of the movie as they show clips of what happens in the film in some parts of the title sequence, and they show the characters etc. However there are some I quite like, for example 28 days later has a good title sequence and uses a song that is popular now since it was used, the song is not only popular but it fits the situation as it’s quite chaotic even though it’s quite slow and dull.  

Horror Survey

Genre Analysis

Genre Analysis

Horror is a genre that can be identified very easily due to the genre conventions alone. The iconography gives it away once you see the costumes and the props being used, props like sharp knives, guns, or huge chainsaws. Also the mise en scene gives away the genre straight away when you see make-up, costumes and certain parts of the setting that scream horror at you whilst watching.

Setting is also a huge giveaway in the horror genre, horror settings seem to be dark, abandoned houses, old buildings, long dark streets, empty parks and typically anywhere that has an eerie feel to it. The setting it one of the most important parts to a horror movie, without a scary setting you have no scary film, simple.

The themes used in horror usually include monsters, twists, complex psychological storylines and some good special effects. Monsters of all kinds are used in horrors to add an unnatural affect. Twists in the storylines are used to make the audience think that the problem is coming from a certain character when really the problem is the main character.

The narrative of horror consists of things like flashbacks that occur to illustrate a little bit of backstory of the characters to the audience. Also the structures of most horrors are pretty much the same, however some horrors that have a supernatural and psychological plot to them can sometimes vary in the structure adding to the affect of the sub-genre.

The styles of horror consist of different types of camera angles and a lot of editing adding special affects and music etc. Sounds are pretty important in horrors, especially if there is a chase scene or something and the slightest sound can be heightened to grab the attention of the audience like a deep breath, or a footstep… Camera angles in horror are quite vital and sometimes help convey the style of the film; some examples are long wide shots to display the character and the surroundings. Another shot will be a close up shot of the characters face to show their emotions and facial gestures. And finally editing is also really important in horror, especially in supernatural horrors that require editing and CGI to capture the real effects.

In horror there are a lot of stereotypical characters, one of these characters is the female victim. In nearly all horror films there is always a female victim as they’re portrayed as being vulnerable and in need of protection. The female victim character often puts the audience on edge, as her behavior is often jumpy and scary… Another example is the ‘non-believer’. These characters are portrayed as being laid back and at ease. These actions of the character often lead them to being the first killed and suddenly all the people he/she convinced that nothing was wrong seem to find out what really is happening. And there is always a hero and a villain, these characters are pretty similar as they always end up killing someone or something in the film.            

AS Brief

AS Brief

This preliminary exercise will involve the filming and editing of a character moving up to a park bench to sit down and discuss what happened the night before. Whilst the characters are sat down they then will share a couple of lines of dialogue. The task will also include different types of basic shots, including the reverse shot or the 180-degree rule shot.

Main Task

In the G321 task, we are making the titles and opening of a new horror film to last up to around about 2 minutes maximum. All the video and audio will be original; the use f garage band to apply music/sfx will be introduced, both of these tasks, the prelim and the G321 can be done individually or as a group, the maximum numbers of members in a group is 4. This task should use more advanced skills from what we learnt in the prelim task to make the film look a little better camera wise and editing wise.