Target Audience

We need to decide a target audience for our film as we can then focus the film on their interests and favourite cliches, making the film more appealing to them. This is good as it could help raise viewings of the film, as the target audience is most probably going to talk about the film to some people, maybe also in the target audience, making them want to go and see the film.
First we need to decide if we are going to focus the film on Female viewers, Male viewers or Both gender viewers. As both male and females usually watch horror films, we should focus on both sex's but more on the male sex as more males watch horror films. We can appeal to the male audience by using pretty female actors.
Secondly the age range, as we have decided that the film will be a 15 we cannot aim the film at a age range lower than this. The people who watch the most Horror films are 16-30 year olds. This is the age range that we aim the film at, we can do this by using actors from within this age range so the audience can empathise with them easily.
In conclusion the target audience we are aiming the film at is Male and Females from the age of 16-30 year olds.

Questionnaire

Myself and Adam wrote a questionnaire on Horror films and what people like about them. We did this so we know what to include in our clip of our film to help keep the target audience interested. Below is teh questionnaire.

We got 25 people to fill out the questionnaire, we made sure we had results from every gender and age group. We did this so we had a representative group of people who may watch our film. The results of Question 1 and 2 are below.

When we asked people to answer the questionnaire, when asking people we asked people we knew from school and our social lives. This could mean that the results could not be representative of the whole population as we have only focused on people within surrey, also the sample size is quite small. For a more accurate result we could of asked more people to fill in the questionnaire. But we did manage to get someone from both sexes and each age group to fill in the questionnaire, making the results true of every possible audience. We asked 15 16-30's because this is the target audience age range we are aiming for and we want to know predominantly what they like.

Above is the results to question 3. The question was on the Type of Horror films the person filling the questionnaire like. The favourite type of Horror films was Slasher with 14 people saying it was one of there favourite types. This means we should include conventions and cliches from slasher films in our film such as, only having one killer.

Question 4 asks about the audiences favourite weapons that are used in Horror films. The top 3 were, Shotguns, machetes and then knifes were the favourite. So maybe we should use some of these as our weapons, however maybe these are the favourites because they are all taken from many famous films, maybe the use of a new relativity unused weapon would also be a hit with the fans if the film was good.  I believe that these weapons have been rated highly as they are in the audiences favourite film, this suggests that the weapon doesn't matter as long as the film is good.

The next question is question 5, it asks about what perspective the audience like to see, and the favourite was mixed, this means that we should use a mixed perspective for our film.

Question 6 is on the type of killer that is involved in the film, one of the highest was ghosts, this is good as we have already decided that we will have a ghost as the killer in our film. This means most of the audience should like what the killer is.

Question 7 asks about the audiences favourite features in a Horror film, this question involved camera shots and other things that may feature in a film and they would tick there favourite ones. The top 2 results were Jumpy moments and the film having a killer that is hidden throughout. So it would be sensible if we tried to include these features in our film.

The next question we asked was about the audiences favourite location for our horror film to be. As we are planning to do the filming in a Forrest then we would want forests to be one of the favourates. Luckily Forests was the top answer, suggesting that the audience will like where the film is set.

Question 9 asks about the what the viewers like to see in the film. The top 2 were the atmosphere being tense and the film having jumpy moments. We should not only use these in ours films but there are a few other answers that scored high enough for us to use the, within our film.

Question 10 asked about what viewers don't like in horror films. The top 2 were a bad storyline and the second was pornography. These are 2 things that we defiantly shouldn't include in our film. As swearing didn't score at all, this suggests that all viewers believe that swearing in a Horror film is acceptable.

Question 11 focused on viewers favourite films, i put this question in so we could then maybe research the favourites and see what the did right.

The last question is question 12 and this focused on where the audience is most likely to see the film. The highest answer is DVD, so if we create a marketing scheme for our film, we should target it at DVD audience as this seems to be how the most amount of Horror films are seen.

Questionnaire

We have created a Questionnaire and have handed it out to many people. We collated the information in Excel as it is good with numbers and its capability to create graphs from data. Below is a picture of the spreadsheet I put the data into. Once we have collected and collated the results from all the questionnaires handed out I will upload the results and write about each result.

Click to Enlarge

Mock Titles

Below are some Mock Titles I made in premiere elements, that we could use for our film.

The Font I have used is called Chicken Scratch, I like it as it looks quite spooky and scary and this is the effect that I want to give off. The information it gives is that Myself and Adam Dickinson created and produced the film, and that the film is called Mine Forever.

Hybrid Genres

Film Genres can be mixed so you have a hybrid film genre, for an example an Action/Crime film. The cliches and conventions are mixed so there are some from both.

An example of a Hybrid film is Fast and Furious 5. It is a Crime/Action.

It shares cliches from both Crime and Action Genres.

For example it invloves a plotline that is about crime and theft, but it is backed up with explosions and car chases which are Action film Cliches. Having a film with 2 main genres is a clever way of broadening the target audeince for the film as people who like Actions and Crimes are liely to enjoy the film. Many films use this as the main point of creating a film is to make a profit and this way the are maximising the revenue they can gain.

Characters

Adam and I have had a meeting about the storyline and cast of the film, we have decided a basic plot for the first 2 minutes and we have also decided we will use 1 actor as Tom Nood the ghost, we will need another 7 actors as the group of friends and we will also need 1 actor to act as the police man. We will only need this amount of people because at one point in every clip there will always be one person out of the shot who can film the shot. 

Poster

Here is the start of a poster I tried to make. I made it on paint, using images from the internet, but i started to have problems with precision of the tools as paint is free. I will try and complete the poster in a software such as Photoshop as this would allow more control allowing for a more professional finish.

Film Title

Myself and Adam have decided to call the Film "Mine Forever". It took us a long time to decide this, as we wanted a name which related to the ghosts mining history and something related to the woods and the ghosts love for the fore mans daughter. Mine Forever has many meanings, the first word mine, relates to the fact that he was a miner in his life, but it also has a split meaning of mine as it objectively and that someone owns something. This represents the ghosts love for the fore mans daughter. An the second half 'Forever' suggests that something has been there a long time and will be there eternally.

We also decided to call the ghost of the boy Tom Nood.

WaterBoy - First 2 minute Review.

Waterboy is a comedy film that was created in 1998 by Frank Coraci, and featured Adam Sandler, Katy Bates and Henry Winkler. The story is about a boy who works as a water boy for his local football team and by chance discovers his talent for tackling and is put on the team, the rest of the story is about his rise to fame.

The film starts with a Touchstone Pictures title, as this company helped produce the film, in the background is the sound of someone scratching on vinyl decks. You then hear a noise that is associated with Australia, a bouncy sort of didgeridoo noise. A bass line then joins this and the first shot is shown. It shows a river on a sunny day, the camera is panning up to show the forthcoming river, it then flashes to the next shot, which is of the trees on the side of the river. Some of the producers name is shown on screen as well. The upbeat song, does suggest to the audience that the film is a comedy as the music isn’t quick, which would suggest Action, or scary, which would suggest Horror or slow and mellow, which would suggest Comedy. This then is taken of screen using a ripple effect, this links in with being on a boat. The next shot is looking down on the river, which is moving, suggesting that the audience is viewing from a boat. It then shows the directors name, and uses the same ripple effect. It then also shows Adam Sandler’s name, it does this as he is a famous actor and showing this to the audience might attract their attention even more as they know he is a good actor. The camera then pans up to show a football stadium and the title the Waterboy rush’s at the screen. The font is blocky, and reminisant of American Football team logos, but the colors do not correspond to any actual teams. The colors are bright and clash, which do give off a comical vibe. The next camera shot is then on the inside of the stadium, you can tell the team is training as a man runs across the pitch with equipment in the background and the stadium is empty. The music fades out quickly as the player runs past the camera. The camera slightly follows him to stop panning on to coaches. You can tell this from the way they are not wearing any football gear and they are holding a stopwatch and clipboard. The man says something, from this you can hear that he is from America and this suggests to the viewer that the film is set in America. You see a quick shot of some players training with some dummies. The shot after this is a group of cheerleaders practicing their routine. The rest of the shots until 01:03 are footage of the team training. While this is shown some more names are shown discreetly at the corners of the screen. This means that they are less important than the people at the start. A convocation then occurs between 2 men, the second mans accent is American, confirming that the film is set in America. This is strange, as you cannot really tell that the film is a Comedy as nothing comidical has occurred so far, this could mean that some comedy fans may loose concentration from the film. The 2 men’s conversation carries on until 01:27 when the shot changes to the tunnel. You can see the teams Waterboy walking out, this shot is used in many actual Football games, making the audience guess the plot a bit, and that the Waterboy will one day become a Footballer. The music starts again, but this time is a bit more rocky, as it is played on an Electric Guitar. The Waterboy sort of staggers out of the tunnel. The shot then switches to a huddle of team members. This is reminisant of what they do at the start of a game when they form plans, this suggests to the audience that they are plotting something, and as the way the camera shots are putting together it makes it look like they are looking at the Waterboy. It then goes back to the Waterboy and you see the first sign of it being a comedy. The Waterboy’s facial expression is crumpled as if he is making a face, but it looks like it is his face. Also the way he comically pumps his water machine suggests that it is a comedy. He then takes a sip of his water and tastes it as if it was a glass of wine, he then starts describing it, his voice is high and in a funny tone, making the audience laugh at him. The way he also describes it makes the viewers laugh as well, “its clean. Its cold. Now that’s what I call high quality H2O.” This last bit shows for sure that the film is going to be a comedy. I like the start of this film as it starts not showing that it’s a comedy and then at the last few seconds of the first 2 minutes, they show that it is a comedy. 

Crime Cliches and Conventions

Possible Fonts

For a Horror film there are many possible fonts that we could use. Fonts are very important we creating a film as they are seen many times, usually at the start, they can help give a lasting impression of the film on the audience. It also helps people choose to see the film in the first place as the font will be on tech poster and if the font looks scary then it is likely to bring in more Horror fans Some have been used before, meaning we cannot reuse them, below are some fonts I found that I like.

An example of fonts used in Horror films is that for in the Film posters below, they all have a unique font that they use for this title which are sometimes similar but are never the same unless its a sequel or prequel. 

 

 

Actors

For our film we need actors to play the roles of some of the characters that are in the scene. For our scene we need several actors, one to be the ghost (Male) and several others to be the group of friends out camping (Mixed sex).
Below we have people from our school and area who may be able to star in our film: