Filming The Trailer

We filmed the majority of our footage in one large session of filming, this took around 6 hours as mainly done in daylight filming. Our idea followed common conventions of the serial killer in the sticks because of this as locations we used film from a small village centre and a small house in the middle of farmer fields this allowed us to develop a great sense of isolation to increase the fear factor of the trailer and hopefully portray this to the audience.

To film the clips for our trailer we used a variety technology. This was the best way to achieve a trailer with a high quality like hollywood productions.

Some of the equipment we used;

• Cannon Eos600D; This camera features a 18 mega-pixel CMOS sensor 
• Go Pro; We used this for POV shots and exploring shot we had got ideas of using it to shoot interesting shots with water however we did not get round to this
• Camera Stand; we used this to set up shots so we had stable film of certain scenes.

When filming we ensured to use shots commonly associated with horror films however we wanted to do these in a professional manor so looked up videos (one can be found below)  and guides on good film shots to use that can; add tension, add dimension and generally pace the footage.

For the genre when going into filming we planned on getting several tracking shots to add a sense of movement, PoV (Point of View) shots to hopefully make the audience feel the fear of the character, this is also useful for portraying isolation which is something that removes possible hope that should infer more horror. 

Lighting is also very important within film production. This is due to its massive influence in setting the mood of the shot although the objects on screen also make a massive contribution. Because lighting also needed to be looked into and researched. It was apparent that our lighting setup had to reflect what mood or atmosphere we wished to portray on screen in terms of postioning and general knowledge on lighting when filming I looked and videos like the one below and certain websites like This.


As a group we decided to film the majority of footage outside using only natural light as this would suit the feel of realism we was attempting however inside we used reflectors and basic positioning like seen above to light up our actors.
Here is our shot list;

Film story

Me and a few classmates have decided to work together on this project to hopefully produce and better final product then if we was to work alone. This transition is not very difficult to overcome as we all had similar ideas we decided to discuss these and film this can be found below.

After the discussion looking into our ideas we realised how much extra we would need to do to create a horror using the zombie genre because of this we have altered our ideas and are now doing a serial killer/slasher in the woods style film like seen in Friday 13th. 

The Horror Genre

The horror genre is well known for its conventions and its standpoint in cinema. Each horror film does follow suit of a selection of conventions as this is the best way to portray the film as a horror.

Commonly horror films set to scare audiences and they do this in many ways in particular uses of Setting, Camera and sound, Iconography, The narrative and the way in which themes are portrayed. Common settings of horror films always give a feel of isolation; it is very uncommon for a horror to be set in a packed city with only one villain. Because of this horrors are commonly set in rural areas small towns or places abandoned by civilization even if the main horror only partakes within one small area (eg Paranormal activity contained within a house) the setting of the location tends to be within in this setting area. There are however some exceptions and this is when hybrid genres are introduced for example a sci-fi horror would more likely take place in a large populated area or space.  

Camera and sound play a huge part in every film even more so in horror as use of certain angles and sound can really work to create tension which horror uses a lot to grab audiences. High and low angle shots are used a lot to show fear and also “weakness” by saying the character is lower then the camera. Point of view shots are also used a lot for both the protagonists and villains as this really emerges the audience into the film increase that tense atmosphere. Sound is one of the most important factors of a horror film second to most likely lighting, sounds commonly used are orchestral pieces that give an dark feel  dead silence is also particular common in the horror genre and is not used in many other genres the silence tends to be used as foreshadowing to a dramatic event as silence tends to be a great way to add tension.

Narrative of horror films follow a similar suit there is a villain or a villainous group that prevent the main character from doing a certain thing or emplace them in a survival like state where by they need to protect their self’s and/or others. The majority of the time there is a resolve to the cause however in modern times it is a lot more common for the ending to be somewhat lose allowing a sequel to take place. Common themes that Horrors portray tend to be religious based, Good Vs Evil or a motive of revenge. These are highly common themes because in some way they relate to what the audience feels or can relate too.

The reason I have chose to work in this genre are down to my local target audience and the success of certain British horror films such as woman in black which managed to obtain around $128 million in box office sales. Horror films are also very easy to create although it has to be special to be memorable. A modern fashion of horror films feature 'Realistic' situations where by the camera is used in a way to portray a real life situation camera, This is seen in films like Paranormal activity where footage comes from rather security cameras or the actual camera the characters have set up. This method of creating a realistic horror that has proven to be  effective with audience it is not highly difficult to replicate and is something that I personally would consider using.