Story Boards

I have now completed my story boards for each scene which I plan to film. The scenes which I plan to include in my trailer are the Josh's, Crystal's and Steve's deaths as well as Bethan's scream as the final shot in the trailer. These are partial storyboards for the main shots that I plan to use in each of the four main death scenes.

Script

This is a copy of the script which I had originally written for the short film, and am now creating a trailer for. The film is called 'Hush', the basis for which being that throughout the film the main character, Bethan, hums the tune under her breath, as her mother used to sing it to her when she would get scarred as a child. When the killers catch up to a character who is begging right before they kill them, they put their fingers to their lips and whisper 'hushhh...'. The target audience for this film is teenagers, as it is a teen thriller. In order to appeal to this audience, the main characters are all teenagers, which will help the audience to empathise with the emotions of the characters.

Decisions and Revisions

Originally, I had decided to create a short film in its entirety, though I have now changed my idea. The reason for this change was that, after writing the script and planning the camera angles and shots, I consulted my actors and a separate focus group, who informed me that I could find it difficult to film within the time period I was set. I acknowledged their criticisms and have since changed my idea to a teaser trailer for the film idea that I had originally drafted.

Questionnaire

As part of my research I have created a questionnaire which I have handed out to various students around The King's School and residents who live in and around Ottery St. Mary in Devon. The finished questionnaire is below:

Questionnaire: Horror films

1. What age are you?

11-15 ..........

16-19 ..........

20-25 ..........

26-29 ..........

30-35 ..........

35+ ...........

2. How often do you watch horror films?

Daily ...........

Weekly ..........

Fortnightly ...........

Monthly .........

Yearly ..........

Never ..........

3. What is the most memorable horror film you have ever seen?

............................................................................................

4. Why was it scary?

..................................................................................................................................

..................................................................................................................................

5. Which name do you prefer for a horror film?

Hollow ............

Hush ..........

Silence in the courtyard ...........

Turn ...........

Other (please state) .........................................................................

Genre

For my short film, I have decided upon the genre of teen horror, because they are quite common and I think I would enjoy creating a film that puts my own twist on a common variable in the film industry.

Main Task Brief

For our main coursework task, we were provided with several brief options, for which we were to select the one which most appealed to us to complete. I chose to create a promotional package for a new film to include a teaser trailer together with two of the following;

• either a website for the film
• a magazine cover featuring the film
• a poster for the film.

I have opted to create a website and a poster for the film to accompany my main task.

Inspiration

For my short horror film, I will take inspiration from other teen horror films , such as 'The Blair Witch Project', 'Halloween', 'Final Destination' 'The Ring', and 'Saw'. I have also found a video on YouTube called 'Lovefield'. I have taken inspiration from this, as it is a short horror film and uses various different media devices to build tension and create enigma.

Initial ideas

When we were presented with the various task options my first idea was to create a music video for the song "Boston" by Augustana. The original music video by Augustana features the band on a beach littered with broken pianos. Throughout the video the band members are sat at various different pianos on the beach playing and singing along and the tide is coming in, which is symbolic that time is running out and change is coming, a meaning echoed by the lyrics of the song.

My idea was to film a young girl playing the tune on a piano to start with and to represent her as being bullied by other students for her talent. As the song progresses I would show the girl's progression to an adult who is famous and celebrated for her musical talent. She would be popular and be living the life of luxury, which I would show with a sequence of shots of the girl getting out of a luxury car with an attractive boyfriend and walking up the red carpet whilst the girls who bullied her are dressed as cleaners in the background. This was the actress that I would have used to play the older version of the main character.

Unfortunately I have had to change my idea to creating a short horror film in it's entirety instead due to the difficulties of filming. The most prominent of these were the problems with actors previous commitments which would not fit into my filming schedule and finding a young girl who could play the song in real time speed on the piano. I changed my idea because I think that, not only will I find it more enjoyable to create a horror film, but it will also be easier to find actors, more fun to film, easier to schedule and I will be able to experiment more with conventions, stereotypes, camera angles and narrative.