Short film: Planning

Setting

My film will take place in an empty forest as to the audience it connotes a gloomy deserted place but filled with trees and obstacles in which things could be lurking. I feel it is a good space to film as I could create many interesting and different shots within a forest to improve the quality of my film.

Sound

There will be no dialogue in my short film to create suspense and enigma. The audience will therefore have to work out what is happening in the scene as no character is informing them. No dialogue will leave space for an eerie ambiance which will create the horror effect.

However throughout the short film I may include non-diagetic music to enhance the suspense at certain points.

Costume

I have decided that the costume will be casual clothing as the film is based on a young girl. I have come to this conclusion as using this girl in casual every day clothing will mean that the audience can relate to her and therefore create empathy towards her. This means that the horror elements will have a larger impact on the audience as they would feel they are in the film also.

Lighting

I have chosen to have natural lighting for my film as it is set in a forest which is known by most people and is a natural place where no artificial lighting will be portrayed. Also, having natural lighting will present the film as realistic and relatable to the audience making them feel more involved in the plot.

Plot

I have decided on a plot that is simple with the use of Todorov's equilibrium theory, however, with a twist. My previous research has informed me that some people feel the plot of horror films can be quite confusing, therefore, that is why mine is simpler. The young girl is walking in the park and gets followed by something unknown, she is then chased through the forest and just as the audience are expecting something to happen she wakes up as it is a dream. However, a man (shadow) appears in her house and she gets killed. As many have said they do not enjoy the gruesome side of horrors, I have not included any as you do not see the killing, only the shadow.

Audience research analysis

I asked a variety of people about their personal opinions regarding horror films through a questionnaire and received results that are able to help me produce my short film.
I found that the most popular film genre is romantic comedy, however, there is a niche audience who have a strong enjoyment with horror.
I also found that about a quarter of the people who completed the questionnaire watched and were familiar with short films where as the remainder were not due to reasons such as that they are not as advertised, they don't have a very good plot and because they were not aware of them. Finding this, I know that in order for my short film to be successful I will have to make it more accessible for the and create better advertisements to be recognised by the audience. As well as this, regarding the comments about the unappealing plots being featured in many short films, I know that I am going to have to be certain that my film has an interesting story line, perhaps with a twist.
In addition, I have also found that viewing films online is very popular. I will upload my product to a website featuring short films so people can access it as they do with other films. This means that more people will be able to view the film as it is easy for them to get to.
Through the feedback, I observed that the top three media platforms that films are advertised on are television, online and film posters. If I was to advertise my short film I would use these methods so that it is well known and the audience are aware of it.
The majority of the people that answered the questionnaire agreed that they do enjoy watching horror films with a few stating they don't. This suggests that using horror as my film genre is a good decision as it is popular. The reasons why some of the audience did not enjoy horror films was because a lot of them have predictable plots, they are too gory and they sometimes go "too far" in terms of seeing deaths on screen. I can take this information to ensure that my short film is not similar to many already created and that it is not too violent or gruesome.