Synopsis

31 years ago in The Cherub Theatre a 7 year old boy was laughed off the stage when he forgot his lines, which led him to commit a violent suicide.
Now, in the modern day, 4 teens, Emily, Jacob, Vanessa and Vanessa’s boyfriend Morgan are sat in The Cherub Park looking for something to do. The outgoing and fearless Emily suggests they stay the night in the abandoned, supposedly haunted Cherub Theatre. The loved up couple, Vanessa, the girly girl and her handsome boyfriend Morgan are easily convinced whereas skeptical Jacob votes against it. After a while of reassuring him everything will be okay, Jacob doubtfully agrees. After telling some scary stories and eating some junk food Jacob wanders off to find the furnace. Whilst he is gone, sitting in darkness, the girls and Morgan hear crying from downstairs. The lights come on and when Jacob re-emerges he tries to reassure them that it was not him crying. They carry on as if nothing had happened, but suddenly the lights blackout. In the confusion Vanessa reveals a deep scratch in her arm. When the lights come back on they discuss who might have been the culprit and discover Emily has blood on her hands making her seem very suspicious. Now feeling very freaked out they try to leave the building but discover that all exits are now locked. The girls try to uncover how they got locked in whilst in the theatre Jacob is being possessed by Little Benjamin (the boy who committed suicide 31 years ago). The girls go back into the theatre to find Jacob sat in the front row of the audience. They ask him 'what's wrong?' and he replies in a whisper. 'I'm rehearsing'. The girls go to get him some water but when they return to the theatre he is gone. They hear a noise from upstairs. Thinking it might be Jacob they go to investigate. They look everywhere but cannot find him. They decide to split up. Finding nothing, they all come back together. At this point the real chase starts as they see a masked figure standing on stage. Running, tripping, crying, they all try desperately to escape this hellish building. Emily has found herself back in the main theatre on stage alone. Breathing heavily, Emily backs up towards the wall as she hears a voice reciting the opening prologue of ‘Romeo and Juliet’. As the voice reads the line ‘A pair of star cross’d lovers take their life’ the camera reveals the masked figure standing behind Emily. Finally finding a quiet and safe looking room, Vanessa and Morgan realise Emily is no longer with them. Morgan tells Vanessa to stay where she is and hide while he goes to rescue their friend. Meanwhile Emily finds a secluded room, in which she enters, to find many pictures of Little Benjamin all over the room. When Vanessa is on her own she gets brutally murdered by the masked figure. Finding Emily with a room full of Benjamin pictures Morgan states how much Benjamin looks like Jacob when he was younger. Realising Vanessa is alone they rush to her aid. Emily and Morgan find her dead and the killer is nowhere to be found. Jacob comes in and immediately starts reassuring them that it was not him that murdered her. They all try hysterically to escape the theatre. Jacob gets possessed right in front of them as he finds a weapon and immediately starts trying to kill them. There is a struggle but eventually Jacob kills Morgan. After the deed is done he stands in the middle of the theatre with the two dead bodies lying around him and recites the opening prologue to Romeo and Juliet.

Location

The number one most important thing for creating atmosphere in a horror movie trailer is the location. Our film is set in an abandoned theatre. We both attend regular classes at the Young Actors Theatre in Islington. We have asked permission to film in the theatre after the classes have ended one weekend. We are also going to set a couple of scenes in the old adventure playground across the road from the theatre. The theatre from the outside has a very institutional feel, similar to a prison. It is also fallen into a state of disrepair making it look as if it has not been used for many years. The inside interior is very dark and old-fashioned. There are a lot of hidden doorways and dark corridors which will provide an effective backdrop for trailer. The theatre in real life is supposedly haunted and definitely has the feel of a haunted building. The park across the road has also fallen into a state of disrepair. It has a very depressing and haunting feel to it because it obviously used to be a fun child friendly play area but in recent years has become rotting and dangerous. This reminds me of the location in the film House of Wax because that to used to be a happy, family friendly place but in the film has become a wasteland of hellish nightmares. This is the feel we want to replicate in our trailer.

During the night-time the scary atmosphere is enhanced and will provide the perfect location for a trailer.

Props

These are images I collected to create a kind of mood board of some of the commonly used weapons in horror movies. The research showed me that the weapons are often things found around a household or garden shed. This might be because it adds to the realism of the danger in horror movies. Our horror movie is going to be set in a theatre so it is important that the weapon is something that could possibly be in theatre. The use of blood in a horror movie is also very important. Blood is iconic.

Target audience research

Target Audience on Prezi

this is a pressie I made to show what my target audience might be like and what they might be interested in. Doing this research gave me a better idea into how to build characters that will appeal to target audience. I'm now a better idea of how I might want to portray young adults because I know what they are into and have a better idea of how their mind works.

if it does not work here is the link; http://prezi.com/hwzyt2znl1ip/target-audience/

Conventions of Horror Movie Posters

Conventions of Horror Movie Posters on Prezi

Recognising plot conventions

I went on to IMDB and printed out part of the synopsis to the 2009 film 'Jennifer's body'. Then I went through it using different coloured highlighters and highlighted the key elements of the horror movie genre. Including stock characters, plot and stock situations, themes and backgrounds and decor. I realised that most horror movies contain some kind of mystery. This is so that the audience feel anxious which sets them up nicely for any scary moments. I then sat down with my other team member, Jessica, and we looked through the differences between a movie she had highlighted, 'Nightmare On Elm Street' and 'Jennifer's body'. Both plots included are lots of gore and blood. They also both had main protagonists who seemed harmless and defenceless. The villain in both films was someone out seeking revenge and at the beginning they seemed unstoppable. During this lesson I found out that all horror movies that their characters in a situation which seems impossible to get out of because this will always build a lot of tension.

Applying recognisable conventions of trailers

In order to play with the recognisable conventions of trailers, in groups we came up with the idea about how to market and promote a new horror film called Bloodshed High. To begin the task we made a list of all the conventions we saw in a typical movie trailer.

-Highlighting the best bits of the film (whether they be very funny, very sad or action packed)

-We are not necessarily shown the story in chronological order

-The famous actors or director in the film are always highlighted. This is a very effective way to get the fans of the stars to come and see the film.

-We are normally given a small glimpse into the character's personality through one line soundbites

-At the beginning of the trailer we are often shown the normal day-to-day life of the main protagonist

-So that the audience gets a good idea of the genre the production company is always highlighted somewhere in the trailer.

-Voice-overs or text often pop up on screen. They are often in the form of a rhetorical question. This builds anticipation.

-Music plays an important role in creating atmosphere and building a strong sense of the genre.

-The title never appears until the end. This is so they know they have the audience's attention by the time they give away the title.

-Trailers in nearly always builds to a climax where it will end. This builds anticipation and makes the audience wants to come and find out how it ends.


After we had built up a substantial list we started to think about how we could challenge the conventions to promote a unique selling point.

We began our trailer with a shot of a production company Twisted Pictures. This will immediately draw the attention of horror film fans because this production company is well known for making the best horror films. After that we were going to have a slow fade into an establishing shot of a boarding school on an island. The next shot will show our main character going through a normal school day. It is important to show these shots because it sets the scene and gives the audience an idea of the norm. This will give the action more impact when it begins. The young boy who plays the main protagonists will be played by a rising young British film star for example Nicholas Hoult. Because he is considered a serious actor he will appeal to the film's demographic. The shots start to get faster after the boy discovers someone dead at this point the pace of the trailer begins to pick up along with the action. The music which before now was very slow will start to build in volume and tempo. This makes the action more thrilling and sets the atmosphere perfectly. We have decided not to use voice-over because they are quite outdated and we want to sustain a sense of realism. We will not give away who the killer is or whether the boy lives or dies because this will make the audience curious and more likely to buy tickets.