From undergoing extensive genre research to understand the forms and conventions of the slasher genre I went on to decide in which ways I should use what I had learned and in what ways I should challenge it. I researched codes and conventions of the slasher genre by watching various trailers of the genre on websites such as youtube and taking notes on them. I also looked at which production companies all the films were produced by to give me a sense of the type of company's who commonly work in horror and to give myself an idea of which companies may work with my film (http://brear-sophiea2.blogspot.com/2009/10/codes-and-onventions.html). For my genre research I made notes on 3 books about the genre (Slasher Movies by Mark Whitehead, Legacy of Blood by Jim Harper and Men, Women and Chainsaws by Carrol H Clover) and thought about how I could apply what I had learned to my own work (http://brear-sophiea2.blogspot.com/2010_01_01_archive.html)
Untitled from Sophie Brear on Vimeo.
Characters and Location
I decided, because of my target audience of socio economic groupings C2DE, to develop conventions by using scream queens and a group of teenagers as my central protagonists. I also challenged some conventions such as using a blonde actress to play the final girl. My intentions in doing so were to widen the appeal of my product to higher class groupings such as C1. By adding a counter type this added complexity to my product which I hoped would broaden the appeal but still appeal to my target audience. Another way in which i did this was by adding a news report to give exposition. From my genre research I found films such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Tobe Hooper 1974) are seen as higher culture rather than popular culture. It uses techniques such as opening with a police investigation which gives a documentary feel which appeals to higher culture audiences, therefore I incorporated a news report in my product to achieve the same effect.
I used counter types for all the female characters as the two scream queens who are stereotypically blonde had brown hair. I looked at the parodied aspect of scream queens as shown in Scary Movie 3 (2003 Keenen Wayans) and used this to juxtapose my character Lucy with. She is slimmer with short brown hair rather that having a fuller figure and long blonde hair like the typical scream queen (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhb64fV12do).
I cast myself as the final girl because I have blonde hair but I gave firm anchorage to the audience that I am by showing my character refusing alcohol and hinting that I survive the killer, a common convention of the final girl. This technique has been used in films such as Halloween 2 (2009 Rob Zombie) where Laurie Strode is presented as blonde.
For the location I got my ideas from my genre research, particularly Legacy of Blood (Jim Harper) and Slasher Movies (Mark Whitehead). A Legacy of Blood depicts the 3 main locations for a horror film to be set and as I was conforming to horror codes and conventions I followed this and set my film in the wilderness. I then went on to research this in Slasher Movies and found another common convention is teens breaching wilderness and the expectations of their parents and as a result being killed which my narrative fits.
Editing and Cinematography
Whilst editing reflected on my research of common codes and conventions in mind and used these in my own work. I decided my establishing shot should be a point of view shot walking towards the house to give the audience a sense of where the action happens and it also fits well with the voice over which is talking about the asylum. This is comparable to the shot in Halloween (1978 John Carpenter). When Micheal Myers is walking towards the house there is a point of view shot however from researching this I found a Steadicam was used to create the fluid smooth movement rather than a jerky one. To recreate this smoother movement I attempted to film with a tripod on a skateboard to get a smoother movement however weather conditions restricted this as it was snowing so I used a jerky handheld shot.
I used titles in between shots to give a small amount of exposition to the plot but leaving some narrative enigma to keep the audiences attention. This technique has been used in the trailer of Triangle (2009 Christoper Smith)
I framed the shot of the axe being taken off the wall at a slight dutch angle to signify something is wrong. I got this idea from the opening of Bride of Chuckie (Ronnie Yu 1998)
The shots I used of the teenagers at a party are similar to the party scenes shown in the trailer of Donkey Punch (Oliver Blackburn 2009) as they are fast paced short takes which signify time passing and establish the couples the teenagers split into and set up a more cautious character who is the final girl.
I inter cut the shots of the axe being taken off the wall throughout the party scene and the shots of the killer walking forward throughout the second half of the trailer to show he is moving closer and build tension. This was an inter textual reference to the trailer of Babysitter Wanted (Jonas Barnes 2008) which uses ideas such as the blue truck being seen a number of times and things being disrupted in the house such as the phone line being cut to signify the killer is moving closer. The trailer also incorporates a similar effect as I did using inter cutting to create tension, as I inter cut the axe between scenes of the party they inter cut shots of knives and weapons throughout the police hearing.
This trailer also gave me more ideas as to how I should portray my news report, as they use the technique of a investigation hearing I decided this would be difficult in my work to create the verisimilitude of police officers and reporters and decided it may be too long for a teaser trailer so used the radio broadcast instead.
I used the shadow of the axe in the final shot as an inter textual reference to Friday the 13th (Marcus Nispel 2009) as there is a shadow of Jason in the tent which I thought was an effective way to leave narrative enigma to the audience and keep violence off screen as it is difficult to make this look realistic. It is also similar to the trailer of Jenifer's Body (2009 Karyn Kusama) which uses a shadow effect to show the transformation to a vampire, rather than directly showing it on screen.
Lighting and Soundtrack
I largely gained inspiration for the lighting in my trailer from Friday the 13th (Marcus Nispel) as I thought the use of torches and silhouettes was effective and appropriate for my trailer as the majority of it is set outside. It also helped in keeping violence off screen as I used silhouettes to show people being killed.
This trailer also gave me the idea to have someone running towards the camera with a torch which gives a sense of disorientation. I also felt it helped in giving verisimilitude and making more effective point of view shots such as when the killer discovers the two teenagers initially.
This was also emphasised in tracking shots such as the shot of the "Danger" sign.
For the soundtrack I used the audio of a news report to give basic exposition to the narrative, a technique used in Prom Night (2008 Nelson McCormick) to show past events quickly which is necessary for a teaser trailer. I used a heartbeat underlying in the final shots. This makes the audiences heartbeat subconsiouly faster making them feel tense and on edge, a technique used in Scream (Wes Craven 1996) and Halloween (John Carpenter 1978).
I used two different tracks for the music. I began with a slow track with long drawn out strings to create tension and put the audience on edge. I used this track first as from my research of codes and conventions I found the music and action always begins slowly and increases about halfway through, such as the trailer for Sorority Row (2009 Stewert Hendler). I used a second track to fit with the action which is fast paced.
Narrative
My narrative reflects Tordorovs narrative theory which involves the narrative beginning in a state of equilibrium, this equilibrium being disrupted then restored. This is shown in my film as it begins with a state of equilibrium at the party, then moves to the hospital where it is disrupted. It is restored again when the final girl defeats the killer. I also applied Strauss theory of binary oppositions to my narrative which is "a pair of opposites" used to highlight the differences between each other. I used this in the form of the two promiscuous brunettes juxtaposed with the innocent blonde final girl. My initial narrative of the main group of teenagers hearing a story about a previous group who strayed into the asylum and were killed is similar to Friday the 13th (Marcus Nispel 2009) as the main group hear about a previous group who have been killed.
Mode of Address and Layout (print)
I followed the layout of other popular film magazines, mainly Empire to ensure my front cover conformed the codes and conventions of similar products therefore making it realistic. I also found I had to use a certain style of language to relate to my wide target audience of 18 to 40 years old, for example the use of "hottest" rather than more formal language. My initial magazine cover incorporated a plain black background however from looking at other real magazine products I found they often have a back ground in fitting with the main person pictured therefore I used the background of a forest as most of my film takes part in a forest.
My poster is an intertextual reference to the poster of Cherry Falls (2000 Geoffry Wright) as I incorpartate pictures of the central protagainists faces and a picture of the weapon used.
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