Where music will be placed in our film

For our film we will be using non copyright music.

This music will be applied to the opening titles (text over a black background), and it will be a soundbridge onto the first scene, the main character walking through the street. The music will be non diagetic, meaning the characters cannot hear it but the audience can. It slowly fade out for the diagetic sound of shoes to be heard by the audience.

Music will also be applied to the shot where the main character is walking once again, to the woods.

Conclusion of questionnaire

By producing a questionnaire we can see what type of audiences would want to watch our type of film.
From our graphs we can see men prefer horror films over women. Also our graphs show the fact that people would prefer the age certificate to be 15 rather than 18, which shows how a younger audience enjoy horror films and would prefer to be able to see them in the cinema.

Charts on questions

Questionnaire on horror film audiences

By asking the below questions, it will become apparent to us what type of audience will want to watch our genre of film.

Questions

Q1 What minimum age do you think the certificate of horror films should be? 

15

18

Q2 Do you enjoy horror films, or would you prefer to watch something else? (Female)

Enjoy horror films

Prefer something else

Q3 Do you enjoy horror films, or would you prefer to watch something else? (Male)

Enjoy horror films 

Prefer something else

    

Conclusion of audience profiling

In conclusion, by looking at my audience profiling below it is clear certain people watch horror films. So this creates a target audience for my group and I.
The research showed that for all of the films:

Gender

•  The percentage of men watching horror films was higher than the percentage of women 

Age

• The highest percentage of viewers was the age bracket of 15-24
• The second highest percentage of viewers was the age bracket of 25-34
• This shows how horror films are directed at young adults/adults. 

Audience Profiling - 28 Weeks Later

28 Weeks Later Audience Profiling

• The image above clearly shows the percentage of men watching this film is higher than women (56% male, 44% female)
• The image above shows how the age bracket with the highest percentage of viewers for this film is 15-24, and the second highest percentage is 25-34.

Audience Profiling - Creep

Creep Audience Profiling

• The image above clearly shows mostly men watched this horror film (67% men, 33% female)
• The image above shows the highest percentage of people who watch the film are in the age bracket of 15-24, similar to the highest percentage of audience age for Silent Hill.
• Also, the same second highest age bracket is 25-34, similar to Silent Hill once again.

Audience Profiling - Silent Hill

Silent Hill Audience Profiling

• The image above clearly shows mostly men watched this horror film (68% men, 32% women).
• The image above also shows how the highest number of viewers in the age category consists of the age bracket of 15-24. The second highest percentage age bracket is 25-34, showing how this horror film appealed to young adults, and not so much anyone older. Statistics cannot be shown for anyone younger than 15 because of the certificate on the film.
• This gives my group and I a good idea of who would want to watch our film, and who our target audience is.

Audiences for horror films

Target audience for horror films:

• For horror films, there isn't a specific gender for the target audience. This is because both male and female enjoy watching horror films, though it may be argued men enjoy it more, as stereotypically women are scared of many of the scenes.
• Horror films don't have a specific target audience in regional target audiences, or ethnicity, as anyone can watch them and enjoy them.
• Horror films will be aimed at an young adult/ adult audience, as scenes will be too horrific for young children, which is usually stated on the back of films, along with the age rating. For many horror films the age rating is 18, as the producers recognise their type of film will scare younger viewers.
• All of the above points will be shown and proven in my Audience Profiling (above).

Certificates on Horror Films

• An example of the age limit on horror films is Paranormal Activity. This film has a certificate of 15. By choosing the certificate for this film to be 15 means that more money can be made, as there is now a larger target audience. So if the film can be risked to be certificate 15 instead of 18, it is effective.
• Paranormal Activity 2 is also rated a 15 once again, even though it has been commented on, stating that it is a lot more scary than the first film, it's still a certificate 15. Again, this is effective as more money can be made with the wider target audience.

                                                                      

Some people may question why anybody would want to watch a horror film, below is a quote from a website giving ideas as to why this is:

" Some studies suggest that the real draw to scary movies is the feeling of relief when they are over.

Other research, especially a 2007 study conducted by Eduardo Andrade and Joel B. Cohen, argues that the reason people like watching scary movies is that they are a way to experience both positive and negative emotions simultaneously. At the same time negative and sometimes absolutely horrific images play across the screen, the person watching the film is also experiencing positive emotions. This dual emotional state may reinforce the need to continue to watch horror films since it is an instance where it is acceptable to feel in two contrary states. "

Analysis of Opening Credits

• There are two different types of opening credits. The first is credits on a plain background, and the second is having the credits over the top of the opening scenes of the film. Both of these types are effective.
• Having the credits on a plain background  (for example a black background with white text for the credits) is effective as instead of being distracted by the opening scenes of the film, the viewer will be able to focus on the credits, noticing who the directors, actors etc. are.
• Having the credits over the top of the opening scenes is effective as then the audience will not get bored of watching the credits, and will straight away be able to view the film. Though the negative side of this is the fact that the viewer will not notice who the directors, actors etc. are, they will be more interested in the film itself.

An example of credits on a plain background is The Grudge.

• This opening clearly shows how effective it is to use a plain background with text over the top for the credits, as the focus is on the credits, instead of being distracted by the film on screen when using the credits over the top of the opening scenes idea.
• Also, what is effective about the opening of The Grudge is that the text is edited in a way so it looks like hair is moving over it, relating to the character in the film.
• The colouring of red is chosen to relate to the killings in this film. This would be a good idea to use for our film credits, as it then shows a relation to the film and makes it interesting, already showing to the audience that this film will be scary. The credits are also quite mysterious, in the way that the audience doesn't know what is going to happen, as there is a lot of hair affects being shown, and a sudden hand print over the screen. But the colour red obviously shows it is something negative.
• At 2:55 there is the title of the film, but also with a black to red gradient as the background, this is effective once again as there is emphasis on the colour red, but now also black, which is seen as a negative colour, giving the audience something bad is going to happen.
• This film also shows once again how by using the colour red is effective in showing fear, and making the audience feel tense even before they have watched it. This is shown by at the beginning of the film, text is used to create fear. Also, words are left behind in red font. Words such as "curse" and "death" are in red, highlighting this is what the film is going to be about. By using this idea, it gives away what the film is about, but doesn't say who are the characters or what is causing all of the deaths.

An example of credits over the top of the opening scenes of the film is The Ring.

• This clearly shows how by using credits over the top of the opening of a film, the viewer will not get bored. But it also clearly shows the fact that the credits aren't noticeable, as the happenings in the scene distracts the viewers eye away from these.

Script Ideas

The only dialogue in the opening of our film will be when the main character is talking to a parent, discussing if she is going to look for her lost cat.


For example, the dialogue could consist of:


(The main character comes through door)
Parent: Is that you Lucy?
Lucy(main character): Yeah
Parent: Are you going to look for ____?     (Cats name)
Lucy: Yeah, in a minute
(Main character is seen getting coat)
Lucy: Bye
Parent: Bye




The beginning of our film will not have a lot of dialogue, this is so the audience cannot be certain as to what is going on, or what is going to happen. Meaning that tension is built up, which is effective in horror films.