Test Audience Feedback

-The feedback from our audience survey gave us a number of ideas about what kind of things people would want to see in a horror film.
-Subsequently, we adapted our opening to this feedback, making sure to include certain elements, but not to conform to other conventions that would reduce the credibiity of our film. 

 The majority of people who answered our survey were 16-17 year olds, which is still in the bracket of our target audience. Our certificate rating is a 12, so we only sent to the survey to ages 12 and above. This made it easier to get an idea of what this teenage audience liked/disliked about horror films.

Although more people who answered this survey preferred not to watch horror films, they would still be useful in telling us what they disliked about them and what could be done to make them more appealing.

The people in our survey watch horror films fairly regularly, giving us a good idea of the variety of these films they had watched, so as to pick out the kind of things that drew them to them. 

When asked 'What interests you about the horror genre?', the top two answers were suspense and clever plots. We also thought these were essential to have in our opening, prior to even developing a storyline.The supernatural and blood/gore were lower down on the list, and since we had decided to create a psychological horror film we were not planning on including these elements. 

We found that 71% of people who answered our survey preferred the psychological horror genre to the paranormal or graphical type. This was ideal as we wanted to create our opening fitted to this subgenre as it was the one that intrigued us the most. 

A number of responses to the question 'What is your favourite horror film?' resulted in many psychological horror films such as 'The Shining', 'Silence of the Lambs' and 'Shutter Island'. This strengthened our motivation to create a psychological horror opening. 

When asked 'What do you like about this particular film?', many people referred to 'twisted plots', 'tension' and relating to 'reality'. We tried to incorpoate these elements in our opening, giving it an edge when compared to graphic films. 

73% of our surveyers thought that a 15 certificate would be best for a typical. However, we felt as our film does not contain anything violent or gory, and is more focused on psychological aspects, that a 12 would be more appropriate. 

 

The majority of people expected 'suspense', 'tension' and 'well thought out jumpscares'. Again, we made sure to include this in our opening. We created suspense and tension through long, drawn out silences with the faint murmur of eerie music over the top where nothing sinister happens, paired with unpredictable jump scares, created with glitches. 

 When asked what they disliked about horror films, the response of our audience was 'bad story lines', 'predictable elements', 'tacky jump scares' and 'excessive gore'. We tried our best to avoid all of these elements, keeping the jumpscares to a minimum, and not including any gore as it did not fit in with our genre. 

We found this survey incredibly useful with helping us to create our opening. We adapted many aspects from the audience's answers in order to help us achieve a successful and well-liked clip. 

LUNCHTIME SHOWING

We showed our opening to a group of people that were aged 16-18. They completed a sheet that slowed us to understand what was considered effective and any areas that need improvement.

Genre:	Effectiveness and what was done well:	Improvements:
Horror	Use of non-diegetic sound	Transitions Duller colour
Horror	The sound used; kettle and intense music The first appearance of masked lady	Transitions
Horror/thriller	Sound; kettle and phone call	Transition  Editing
Horror	Costume of masked figure Shot angles to show discomfort	Perhaps face on show instead of mask
Thriller/horror	The phone call voices Panning shot	Make it more jumpy Duller colour
Horror	The part where Evie is washing her face and the figure appears behind her	The sound; walking downstairs
Horror	Camera angles Sound effects	Abrupt ending Flow more Bit more jumpy

Collage of Horror Iconography

My collage of iconography mainly includes: Knifes, blood, masks, shadows, haunted houses, weapons, good and evil and dark colours. 

Iconic Horror Directors

One of the most iconic horror directors is Alfred Hitchcock. Hundreds of films have been influenced by his work, as he created a lot of sounds and scenes which defined the horror genre, and are often referenced today. Some of his most recognisable works include Psycho and The Birds. One of his trademarks was to use camera movement to mimic a persons gaze, and framing shots to gain maximum anxiety. He was often nicknamed "The Master of Suspense"

"The only way to get rid of my fears is to make films about them"

Another notable horror director is Wes Craven. Famous works include Nightmare on Elm Street, The Last House on the Left, The Hills Have Eyes and Scream. He was best known for creating "Slasher Films",usually involving a psychopath who murders several victims with sharp tools. 

"The first monster you have to scare the audience with is yourself"

Tod Browning was another important director. Alongside being an actor and screenwriter, he also directed many films including Dracula, Freaks and Mark of the Vampire. He worked in the silent and early sound eras so was very influential in his work. He experimented with crime fiction, revenge tales, science fiction and strange films that defy classification. 

"There are far worse things awaiting a man than death"-Dracula

Another famous director is John Carpenter. Famous films include Halloween, Starman and Dark star. Halloween was a commercial hit and helped give birth to the slasher horror genre. Critics have complimented him for his advanced technical skills. Carpenter is also notable for having composed or co-composed most of the music of his films; some of them are now considered cult as well, with the main theme of Halloween being considered a part of popular culture.

"To make Michael Myers frightening, I had him walk like a man, not a monster"

Audience Expectations from genre

To gather information for audience expectations we created a survey and sent it out to years 7-13 in the school. Our aim was to see what people expected from the horror genre, and their likes and dislikes of it.
We chose 10 questions to ask and then put it on Survey Monkey:

https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/MX7F3VC

1. How old are you?

2. Do you like to watch horror films?

3. How often do you watch horror films? 

4. What interests you about the horror genre? 

5. What type of horror film do you like? 

6. What is your favourite horror film? 

7. What do you like about this particular film? 

8. What age rating do you think a typical horror film would be suited to?

9. What do you expect to be featured in a horror film? 

10. What do you dislike about horror films? 

BBFC Film Rating

PG stands for Parental Guidance suggesting the film is appropriate for general viewing but there are moments which are unsuitable for younger viewers. It should not be upsetting or unsettling for a child aged eight or over. Parents need to be able to establish whether it will affect younger children or those children who are more sensitive. 

12A and 12 are films which are generally not suitable for those under 12. A 12A requires an adult to accompany a child who is younger than 12. Cinemas are likely to lose their license if a child under 12 goes to a 12A film unaccompanied. An adult who is considering to take a 12 year old to a 12A needs to decide whether it is suitable and possible should look at the BBFC insight for the film in advance. A 12 film is part of a lot simpler system for retailers and it means they cannot sell it or rent it out to someone unless they are over the age of 12. Our opening is part of a psychological film and the BBFC states “Moderate physical and psychological threat is permitted at 12 or 12A as long as horror sequences are not too frequent or sustained and the overall tone is not disturbing.”

A 15 cannot be watched by anyone under 15 at a cinema or buy/rent a 15. These rated films may include strong violence, frequent strong language, sexual references or maybe drug taking. In a 15 there can be strong threat and horror but there can be no sustained focus on sadistic or sexualised threat.

Why did we choose a certificate rating of 12?

We chose this certificate rating because our film contains only a small amount of horror which is not gruesome nor exposed to the viewer for a long period of time. Also we believe some viewers may find it unsettling as it is a psychological thriller so is potentially more realistic than other genres because it is based on a girl who has schizophrenia, so many members of the audience may be able to relate to it.

Mood Board

For my mood board I took inspiration from a lot of horror films, particularly focusing on features that were easy to recreate for our own opening. I chose a lot of misty lakes, dark colours and isolated houses. 

Iconic Sounds of the Horror Genre

"Always make the audience suffer as much as possible" - Alfred Hitchcock 

Throughout horror films there are common conventions used for the sound, these include:

-Long, suspenseful notes that contrast with short, sharp ones that surprise the audience

-Extreme changes in the pitch of notes

-Squeaking door and floorboards 

-Screaming

-Orchestral music is the most popular sound used in horror films as it has great dynamic range, and can easily be varied in compositions for different films. It has been used since the birth of the genre and is still renowned today. 

-Films such as Psycho include infamous sounds like the violin screech which is automatically associated with stabbing in the shower scene. 

-Other famous music includes the piano notes from The Exorcist and the two low notes from Jaws. 

History of Psychological Thriller Films

A psychological thriller is depicted by the heavy focus on unstable emotions of a character or characters. It generally focuses on a person’s mental state than there physical as psychological is to do with mind and behaviour. In the film it normally involves a character having a battle with their own mind. These types of films involve suspense, tension and excitement in order to keep the viewer’s attention to make them want to watch it through to the end. Psychological films stimulate the audience’s mood from the realism of the film. 

Todorov’s Narrative Theory is present in many psychological movies. 

1. There is an equilibrium

2. This equilibrium is  the disrupted by an event perhaps

3. There is then the recognition of this disruption

4. An attempt is them made to try and repair the damage made from the disruption

5. A return or restoration of a new equilibrium is made

Psychological thrillers follow certain themes that can shape the personality of a character:

• Black comedy

• Identity

• Death

• Mind

• Perception

• Reality

• Existence

Examples of these types of films:

• Black Swan

• Fight Club

• Zodiac

• Psycho

• Inception

• The Sixth Sense

• Secret Window

Art of the Title Textual Analysis

For our chosen title we chose Se7en:

We chose this sequence as we really liked how it related to the genre as the images, music, colours and text are very unnerving. 

The beginning starts with pictures of a book which immediately creates a sense of mystery as the audience are unaware of what it is and why it is such a focal point in the sequence. All the shots are done in close ups and are done at eye level, perhaps as the director does not want anything to be revealed about the plot and to heighten the sense of anticipation and curiosity.

 The non-digetic music from the sequence creates a very eerie feeling, matching with the pictures and giving the implication of a psychological thriller genre. There are several sounds of screams which implies danger and a feeling of helplessness which adds to the horror.

There are images of surgery which gives the idea of psychological disorders which matches with the genre. The pictures are quite blurred which gives fear of the unknown, as we get the idea that things are not what they seem, including the blacking out of a picture of a person’s eyes. The credits are shown as very messy and they flicker which defines the genre and adds to the fear, as they are not stable much like the images, giving the idea that the person involved could also be unstable.

The editing starts quite slowly towards the beginning but gets faster as it progresses, then slows down occasionally to build up tension and focus on the more sinister aspects such as the needles and eerie drawings. The images which are shown in fast cuts are perhaps done to hide them from the audience so they are completely unaware about what is going on. There are often reflections of the images which again creates a disconcerting atmosphere.

The filter in the camera creates murky colours of browns and dark greens, which is often the colours that you relate with nausea and discomfort. The lighting is incredibly dark which creates an ominous feeling. There are continuous shadows throughout the clip which also creates a chilling atmosphere as the viewer does not know who or what it is. All of the writing is written in black scrawny handwriting, and black has connotations of death, which is helped by the images of blades and needles.