The Great Train Robbery

The great train robbery is one of the first films with a trailer which involved the audience. The shooting towards the audience at the end helped connect the audience and the film and this was the very first example of this.

Idea 2

Story for the film –

This idea would begin with 4 teenagers in a car traveling to a large house in the middle of nowhere, that they are staying at for the night (one of the teen’s new house). The beginning of the film would show the teens filming there ‘road trip’ on a hand held camera just as the sun is setting. As the teenagers pull up to the house they unexpectedly hit something/someone who suddenly appeared in the middle of the road. They are all very shocked/ scared and get out of the car together to see what/who it was, there will be no one there. The night will carry on as normal and the teens will enter the house and set up beds and put music on. The teens will be having a fun time until a little girl appears, looking at them through the house windows from outside. She makes her way in the house without the teens knowing and begins to take them one by one. The film will show the teens trying to save each other until there is only one left. The last teen will become possessed by the girl. Towards the end of the film there will be a flash back to the beginning where the car hit something/ someone in the road, to show that it was the little girl, getting her own back. This idea also ends on a cliff hanger as this is conventional to a film trailer.

Idea for the trailer –

To begin this trailer I would give the actors a hand held camera to film the action on the inside the car while I film the traveling of the outside of the car. At this point there would be a sense of equilibrium for both the viewers and the actors until the viewers are shown a girl (antagonist) stood at the side of the road watching the car drive by at various different points on the road. The talent would only experience disequilibrium when the car hits something/ someone who suddenly appears in the road and I would show the shock of this by the hand held cameras jolting and making the sound/ dialogue louder and dramatic. Again I would make the actors not see the antagonist running towards the house however the viewers will be able to see this creating suspense. I would use various camera shots to show the actors entering the house. Once in the house I would use a stedi cam to film as this will portray calmness. Once disequilibrium is reached again when the girl is seen looking through the window I will switch to quick cuts and hand held/ unsteady camera as I think this will add to the panicked effect. When the real action (scary part) of the film starts I will use many quick edits and different camera shots. I will film some action from the antagonist’s point of view to show she is in control and powerful and I will also film some as a viewer looking in so that the audience feel involved in the film. These quick action edits will finish on a longer shot showing the antagonist and the remaining teen, creating suspense for the viewer making them want to see the full film.

Overview –

-          Teens drive to one of their new houses

-          Audience are shown they are being watched

-          Teens hit something in the road, nothing is there

-          The audience are shown the girl they hit running towards the house

-          Teens enter the house to set up their beds, put music on etc

-          Viewers are shown they are being watched by the girl from outside

-          Teens realise they are being watched and panic (quick edits)

-          The teens are taken by the girl one by one, leaving one reaming who becomes possessed.

Idea 1

Story for the film -

The concept of this idea would begin with teenage campers filming there 'birthday trip' for one of the characters to a forest on a hand held camera at night. They would set up there camping equipment in the forest. The campers would then all get into the tent and joking around would begin to tell ghost stories, this is when the trip would slowly turn from good to bad, they would begin to hear scary noises (footsteps, banging etc) The campers will realise that they are being watched by a young girl although some will not believe this. The hand held camera will be dropped out of the tent still on record to show the antagonist stood there looking at the tent (although only the viewers will see this). The antagonist of the film will appear possessed and capture one of the campers. The film will show the antagonist trying to take the taken camper away whilst the other campers are trying to find her. The ending of this idea is going to be left unknown to the viewer. 

Idea for trailer -

To begin the trailer for this idea I would start with a short clip of the antagonist heading to the location and watching the talent arrive. From this I would then skip back to the very beginning and show the talent getting ready for there trip and arriving at the location whilst filming them selves on a hand held camera. Next I would film the talent putting up there tent and sorting there camping equipment thought the trees and around the corner of objects to suggest to the viewer that they are being watched. In the tent I would go back to using a hand held camera so I think this would help to create suspense for the next part as it would show that they are alone. Once they realise they are being watched I would then use quick edits and use sound to make the action scary, as this idea ends on a cliff hanger and I am only making the trailer, I wouldn't need to create an ending so I would end the trailer on many very fast edits at the climax of music, ending on a clip of the antagonist.

Overview -

- Campers go camping to a forest

- They set up camp (tent, fire, sleeping bags)

- They get in the tent and tell ghost stories

- They begin to hear noises (banging, small girl singing)

- The antagonist appears in short/fast shots (to create suspense and draw the viewer in)

- The hand held camera gets dropped to show to the viewers that there is someone there watching the actors

- One camper gets captured

- Campers split up as some run and some try to save the taken camper

- The ending is left on a cliff hanger

The History of Horror

1890's - 1920's


The first horror genre films were beginning to be made around this time. The three minute long french film by Georges Méliès, 'Le Manoir du diable' (The Haunted Castle) is known to be the first ever horror and vampire film made. The film contains many elements similar to a pantomime along with similar elements which were intended to amuse people rather than frighten them.

Shortly after the first 'monster', Quasimodo was shown on screen,  and the first film with this character in was released in 1906, however three more films featuring this monster followed in 1909, 1910 and 1911.

German Expressionist film makers strongly influenced the horror genre. This in effect sprouted the release of the film 'Nosferate' made in 1922. In effect this was an unauthorized adaptation of Dracula. It took time for people to connect with this genre, however by 1923 Hollywood had recognized the genre, creating versions of 'The Monster' in 1925 and 'London After Midnight' in 1927.

1930's - 1940's

Universal studios had caught onto the new genre in the early 1930's and began to make there own horror films like Frankenstein, The Mummy and Dracula. Universals horror film making continued into the 1940's when they produced The Wolf Man in 1942, and this film was seen as the most influential werewolf film, however it was not the first to be released. Around this time actors like Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi began to be recognized as well know for appearing in horror genre films.

1950's - 1960's

Two sub-genres of horror were allowed to become more apparent in this time period due to advances in technology, these were the horror-of-Armageddon and the horror-of-the-demonic films. Great Britain began producing horror films during the late 1950's, where actors like Alfred Hitchcock created the first slasher film called 'Psycho' in the 1960's. 'Night of The Living Dead' was another highly influential horror film of the late 1960's and managed to make $30 million internationally.

1970's - 1990's

Paranormal horror films began a rise in popularity with the public around this time. In 1973 the Exorcist was released and was followed by many films in which the Devil represented the antagonist/supernatural evil, further more factors such as reincarnation became popular followed by evil children which also became a popular theme during this time. 

The Omen in 1976 was also incredibly popular. Through the 1980’s more violent and slasher horror movies were made including Friday the 13th and A Nightmare On Elm Street.

The slasher theme was carried through the first half of the 1990’s with sequels being made for A Nightmare On Elm Street, Friday the 13th, Child’s Play and Halloween. Candy man and The Dark Half became part of a mini-movement described as meta fictional horror films. These types of films mixed fictional horror with real life horror, however horror took a down turn during this time due the reels and reels of slasher movies that were being made in the 1980's. It was found that the teen audience who enjoyed these movies so much had now grown up and moved on and to reconnect with this audience horror became more ironic and to some extent even parodic in the mid 1990's. The Scream movies began being released in 1996.

2000 - 2013

 Psychological horror became popular in the early 2000's with the likes of The Ring in 2002 and The Grudge in 2004 being released. The most popular sub-genre of the 2000's however was by far, zombie themed films, where the likes of 28 Days Later and Dawn of the Dead both did extremely well at the box office. A return to graphic violence came around in 2000's with the Saw franchise being the most famous. Updated remakes of older horror films have also proven worthy with today’s horror audience with Friday the 13th and A Nightmare On Elm Street remakes doing well.

Mind Map

This is a very basic mind map of many typical horror genre conventions which I have created. Creating this has allowed me to get all of my thoughts and findings onto paper so I can begin to think of different and effective ideas for my film/trailer.

Definition

The internet - 
The definition of horror: an intense feeling of fear, shock, or disgust.

The Oxford Dictionary -
[mass noun] an intense feeling of fear, shock, or disgust:children screamed in horrora thing causing a feeling of horror:photographs showed the horror of the tragedy[count noun]:the horrors of civil war
a literary or film genre concerned with arousing feelings of horror:[as modifier]:a horror film
intense dismay:to her horror she found that a thief had stolen the machine 
[as exclamation] (horrors) chiefly humorous used to express dismay:horrors, two buttons were missing! 
[in singular] intense dislike:many have a horror of consulting a dictionary
(the horrors) an attack of extreme nervousness or anxiety:the mere thought of it gives me the horrors

Wikipedia - 
Horror is a film genre seeking to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's primal fears. Horror films often feature scenes that startle the viewer; the macabre and the supernatural are frequent themes. Thus they may overlap with the fantasy, supernatural, and thriller genres.

Horror films often deal with the viewer's nightmares, hidden fears, revulsion and terror of the unknown. Plots within the horror genre often involve the intrusion of an evil force, event, or personage, commonly of supernatural origin, into the everyday world. Prevalent elements include ghosts, vampires, werewolves, demons, vicious animals, monsters, zombies, cannibals and serial killers. Conversely, movies about the supernatural are not necessarily always horrific.

Brief

Create a promotion package for a new film, to include a teaser trailer, together with a film magazine front cover, featuring the film and a poster for the film.