Research: Shot List

Planning - Story board

Genre Research Summary

Having done lots of research into my genre of horror/thriller movies, the most obvious titles used in a eery film opening is big bold letters, this is to make the titles stand out and look important, I think this is a good way to get your creators and the names of the film  company across and give them credit for what they have produced. This is useful to me as i think it is an effective way to make your opening seem powerful which i will try to do in my film opening. Also the pace that the titles enter is very important as it gives the audience an idea of the pace of the forthcoming film and creates excitement which is always good to get your audience in the mood. The colour of the titles is also important as it gives a clear notation of the theme of the film and makes the titles stand out even more.
Often in film opening there will be text that says 'This film was inspired by true events' which I feel is enticing for the audience and automatically makes it more interesting as they know it is a true story.
The type of music used in this type of genre is quite slow but effective to create an eery feeling and represent the films genre, but also in this genre of film, very fast and upbeat music is used in particular pasts of the film to make it exciting and build up tension. Most often in Horror/thriller movies non-diagetic music and sounds are used to create a scary effect and make the film seem more interesting. Diagetic sounds are also used; things such as screaming and howling are also used in many films of this genre to build up even oree tension and make the audience feel involved and close with the film.
The type of character we expect to see in a film opening of this genre is a victim or the 'bad guy'. The attacker is usually in normal clothes but turns evil further through the film, and they do not seem to fit into the setting they are in. We intend to use the victim for our filming.
The mise-en-scene is important for films of the horror genre because it helps set the atmosphere. The lighting is dark and minimal, and the setting for the scariest bits are usually at night or in the dark to create tension for the audience.
The narrative code employed is the action code; tense music and fast editing is used to create this, but sometimes slow editing can be used too. Barthes' Enigma Code is used a lot to create a sense of mystery for the audience.
Popular shots for the horror/thriller genre are close ups. By getting close up to normal everyday objects, they can be made to seem sinister and this is very effective. Close ups are also used to make the audience feel more involved with the characters and build relationships with them to make their time watching the film more interesting. Jump cuts can also be used to create a sense of confusement of the characters and excitment for the audience. 

Audience Research Focus Group.

I have set up a research focus group on facebook to gain knowledge of the type of things our target audience look for and are interested about in  a film. I have invited many people in the range of 15-25 which is our target market therefore their feedbacks will be very useful to me. 

I asked my focus group. 
1. What are your favourite genres of film? 

2. What would you expect to happen in films of that genre?

The responses of theses questions have been very useful and I have found out that the most common type of genre that most people prefer are comedy and horror. They watch these types of films for a very specific reason. Whilst watching a comedy, I have concluded that everyone expects there to be funny scenes and situations and just general funny things that can make them laugh. However in a horror movie, peoples expectations completley change, my focus group expect to see general evil within the world by seeing scenes of different crimes such as murder and rape. also they look for blood and gore and an overall eery feeling and a snse of mystery. They also expect a film of this genre to frighten them, they predict that they will have nightmares and wont be able to sleep with the lights off.

Audience Research Focus Group.

Jemma Wheeler: 
Jemma lives in Bromsgrove and attends South Bromsgrove sixth form and she is sixteen years old. She likes going out with her friends and generally having fun. She likes listening to R&B and Pop music, her favourite act is the wanted, a boy band who have recently become famous.  She likes to eat KFC chicken with gravy and her favourite drink is wkd. She tends to watch very stereotypical programmes that a teenager would watch. Things such as `The X Factor` and `I'm a celebrity get me out of here`

Jack Whitehouse: 

Jack lives in Frankly, Birmingham and he goes to Bromsgrove new college and he is seventeen years old. He is a very outgoing person and very typically likes to party and drink alcohol. He likes to listen to drum and bass and R&B music. His favourite drink is beer and his favourite food is a Chinese takeaway. He also very typically watches shows such as `The X Factor` but he also watches other programmes such as `The Inbetweeners` and `Misfits` which he finds hilarious. Jack is very addicted to playing video games on his x box and his favourite game to play is Call of duty black ops; a war game. He also likes going shopping to spend his money that he gets from working in a pub called the Victoria in Birmingham. 

Gary Jones: 

Gary is twenty-three years old and has a full time job at a club, working behind a bar. He likes to have fun and go out regularly with his friends. He also likes to shop a lot and spend lots of money on things such as new clothes and weird glasses. He is interested in quirky things such as sci-fi films and lady gaga. 

Gary is more comfortable working alone than with other people and finds himself not usually as sociable as others. However, around the people that he knows well and is comfortable around he is very confident and an outgoing person. 

He likes to drink coca cola, however, on a night out he likes drinking cocktails. His favourite food is sushi as he adores fish. Gary likes watching programmes like `CSI` and `Star trek`. As he finds them interesting and he likes solving puzzles. 

Target Audience

We are aiming our film at people of the ages of 15-25, and mainly aiming it at males throught this age group but also particular females too. This gives us a wider target audience and more viewers. We are also aiming it at a social grade of B, C1 and C2, and our psychographic segmentation target it mainly at rebels, but also mainstreamers and hedonists.

This mood board represents the type of people we are aiming our film at. The things the like, enjoy, do, watch, wear and generally act like.