PRE-PRODUCTION SURVEY

In order to get more ideas for our film opening which would appeal to a specific target audience we constructed a small online survey in which people would answer a series of horror genre questions related to our film opening.
These are our results.

Our first simple question asked the age group each participant fell into. Although this seems like an unnecessary question, it helped us decide what our target audience would be for our film opening.

Clearly, our target audience consists of 16-20 year olds, so we must make sure that the opening is suitable for this age group.

 This question also helped us look at how frequently horror films are watched by our target audience so that we were then able to ensure that this specific target audience would be relevant when creating our opening. A fair amount of our answers claimed to have watched several horror films in the recent time span, so the target audience is a good group of people to base the aspects of our opening around.

This question helped us decide whether we should stick with the codes and conventions of slasher horror and film using a traditional male antagonist or female. The vote was equal for both male and female so we decided primarily to have two killers(one of each gender) but after looking through our footage we came to the conclusion that it wasn't clear that there were two killers so we decided to just have one Killer.

From this question we can gather that the killers history and back story are the most popular aspects of the slasher sub-genre. We tried to implement some jump scares in our opening where appropriate.

This question is quite important as a convention which we want to follow is the killer's mask. Because it is a film opening, including a mask with the killer allows the audience to be enticed into knowing who is under the mask. As seen here, the majority of people wanted either a simple white mask, or a gory mask. However, we feel that a plain white mask is too basic and possibly even cliche, therefore we will put some effort into designing and making our own gory mask. This will also be an important mise en scene and narrative element in the storyline.

Location is of course an important element of our film opening, and there are many various types of setting which we could potentially use. However, those who took the survey suggested an isolated town, closely followed by an isolated urban setting. When location scouting, we felt that having an urban setting would be more atmospheric, as well as being a setting in which both our first victim and antagonist would be able to fit into.

LOCATION SCOUTING

As a substantial part of our coursework research, we have gone location scouting in order to find the ideal settings for our film opening.

Firstly, we decided to use my (Imogen's) house as a starting point, with the idea that we would be able to create a powerful starting setting using mise en scene, which we could accomplish through decoration and props when we film. Our main character in the film opening will be the first victim, and so will match codes and conventions of a non-conservative victim the slasher genre by being a drug user. To make the audience aware of this, we will decorate the living room in order to make it look like some sort of drug user's 'den'. As one of the small rooms in the house is in the process of being decorated, the wallpaper is partially torn, the curtains have been removed, and the room is mostly taken up by a simple bed and mattress, we think that this will act as a good setting well suited to this character, as the room looks rather neglected and mistreated. 

Next, we went outside and took photos of a nearby road; it was dimly lit by street lamps, which would be ideal for us, as we would be filming in the evening when it is dark, as this is a common convention of slasher and thriller horror. This long road is curved, which will provide the audience with the fear of the unknown, and is surrounded by the woods, giving it a hidden appearance which will be seen as eerie to the audience.

As the road was surrounded by the woods, we decided to take photos of parts of the woods seeing as it is a dark and secluded area, which is what we ideally would like to base our film opening around. The only disadvantage of using the woods would be both lighting, as we will be filming at night so it may look too artificial, as well as the fact that we would have liked a more urban setting; something less 'cliche' than the woodland.

Once we had left the woods, we found a nearby pedestrian overpass which crossed over a road. This gave us an ideal setting point as it is both secluded and of an urban 'style', and for us was the most ideal place for the victim to be stalked and eventually captured, as there are many columns which can be used as 'hiding places' for the killers, and the two staircases can present the vulnerability of the victim as she becomes trapped between the two killers who have used both entrances.

Additionally, we wanted a location for the killer to reside in and plan his murders, etc. For this we wanted a location which we could easily make appear eerie and mysterious as well as being an interior location which is nearby and easily accessible. For this, we have decided to use the photography dark room in school, as this is easily accessible and we already have permission to use it as we are both art students. We liked the dark room in particular as it has red lighting which created an eerie, dark effect.

Luckily, all of these settings are in close proximity to one another and are also within walking distance of my house- this is a big advantage to us as we do not have to spend any money to travel to and and also to use these settings as they are all public zones, free of charge to enter.