Storyboards.

"Fear be my friend" newspaper article, The Guardian

Before reading the article I thought that horror was a wide, full of variety and unlimited genre.The endless ideas of monsters, zombies, psycho killers and abandoned houses, deep dark forests have given film makers thousands of ideas to scare the public once again. However after reading the article, Wes Craven the Director mentioned that horror is a limited genre because everything included in a movie has to appeal to its target audience. Therefore he can never really put any other new ideas in because the target audience (15-25) have a set scare factor that they look for when watching a horror movie. He quotes "You cant put anything in that they don't recognise" as if the target audience will not read the symbols intended from the movie if they are not familiar with some of the plot. This also made me question that audience sophistication may not be growing to the extent in which we first believed. If the target audience of this genre are still scared by the same things then it takes very little for a film maker to make another horror movie. They do not need to subvert the expectations of the audience as perhaps they first thought they should. This has influenced me and my filming because it showed me that successful horror movies can be created from something very little, a simply idea that triggers numerous fears in your mind. A silent room, or a point of view shot are examples of some of the simple ideas that create this uneasy atmosphere. As in my teaser trailer it influenced me to use simple factors, such as flickering lights, a door slamming to grasp the audiences attention. Combining reality and unreality and merging them together also disorientates the viewer into feeling scared by what is on the screen in front of them. It makes it a safe way for viewers to experience the horror of reality mixing with the supernatural because once the film is finished they know that it didn't actually happen to them.

Examples of horror films which use children characters

These are some images from various different films which have used little girls as a way of portraying the horror. Films such as 'The Shining' have influenced my film because the paranormal factors of the film have been illustrated through the use of children. Danny, who is the son of the protagonist in the film, starts to see visions of the ghostly dead twin girls. This contributed to the illusion factor of our film. Leaving the audience to question whether the figures of the children are actually there or whether it is the everlasting 'mind trick' or their imagination running wild.

The Ring was another film which contributed to our teaser trailer. Samara is the paranormal protagonist who develops this killer videotape to haunt and kill those who watch it. This idea has influenced my film because of the 'haunting' aspect from a child. Again it plays on the idea of taking the innocence from the nature of a child and turning into a twisted, horrifying tale.

The Amityville Horror was probably the biggest influence on the idea of our film, this used not only the ghostly child aspect but also the haunted, abandoned, history-filled house. The idea of history repeating itself because of the evil this house possesses. It is a classic convention used by horror movies, a tragic accident which happened years before repeats itself in the modern day. This type of story line still grips audiences fears as well as subverting their expectations because of the haunting techniques which are used. A simple empty room with a open frame which leaves space for something to fill can leave viewers in suspense and on edge. Or a heart-pumping, frantic chase scene where the victims will forever run but the villain will only slowly stalk behind them.

Evaluation of first attempt of filming

On set while filming (Monday 6th December) we always felt that there was something missing, our understanding of a teaser trailer was to use quick edits from various parts of the film. However when attempting to do this too much of the plot of the film was illustrated and not enough scary bits were portrayed. When filming we were very organised, as we manged to source a set of twins as well as finding an adequate location while gathering suitable props e.g boxes and candles. When filming we already had an established shot list which allowed the flow of filming to fun smoothly.  

 Once uploaded onto the computer we realised that some of our shots were held for too long and certain titles e.g "she only last 28 days" and "but how long will she last" were misleading. Therefore we decided to change the titles to make it more clear to the audience the message we were trying to get across, without giving too much of the plot away. Such films as "The Amityvile Horror" influenced our decision to use a wide range of titles in order to let speak for the film. The title of the film "The Illusion" when added into the film came across too 'bouncy' as it shot in and out of the screen, so in order to emphasis our genre  and create a more macabre effect we used a soft edge title.

Overall filming was successful , however we have made plans to re shoot certain scenes where the acting was poor as well as adding in additional more horrific scenes. 

Influences on my film

The production of different horror films have made the horror genre a broad, open idea. The human fears range from something as little as a spider, to the fear of the unknown, this making horror accessible in any form. The wide variety of ways horror can be created on screen has forced the genre to be divided into sub-genres. The three main types of sub-genres, including, slasher horror, psychological/ supernatural, thriller have proved successful in targeting certain types of audiences. While deciding on the type of horror movie I wanted to make I watched a number of different types of horror films. These included The Shining which represented the supernatural/psychological type of film and I also watched Halloween which was a mixture of a slasher and thriller. Both of these films influenced my choice because I was able to compare the conventions of each and decide which would be scarier. As audience sophistication has grown it was important that I made a film that would both shock and use the traditional ideas that are considered scary. Halloween, for example, took the convention of a monster figure and made it more scary by Michael Myers being a human being. As he is turned from an innocent child to a psychotic killer that 'couldn't die' it subverts the audiences expectations and plays on their minds because the killer after-all is merely a human.

Halloween starts with Michael Myers as a child who killed his sister, by taking this innocence and turning it into a brutal, menacing killer attracts viewers. This film is psychological and also gory, the blood and slasher-like scenes attracts viewers to see how far film companies will go in order to shock them. The settings of which most of the blood and gore happen in are houses, this is a factor which I particularly considered to be effective for my own film. By bringing the horror away from predictable settings such as: graveyards, castles it immediately creates suspense and fear because a house is the one place a character or a viewer is supposed to feel safe and protected in. The shots used in certain scenes of Halloween are also effective to creating suspense and fear. By leaving large amounts of space in the frame for something unexpected to fill it puts the viewer on the edge of their seats waiting for something to appear. This is  commonly used convention in supernatural films too, by leaving large amounts of space in the frame for a shadow to appear, or a ghost to be standing, it is a clever way to engage the audiences full attention and leave them in suspense if the director continues to leave the frame empty.

The Shining is a supernatural, psychological film that uses these types of screen shots to make the characters look vulnerable against the greater space in the frame. The demented and possessed feeling of Jack and the hotel throughout the movie chills viewers to feeling on edge. The use of using twin girls in this move has significantly influenced my film, this is because the eery innocence from a child, contrasted against the evil they possess now they are dead make viewers to feel like they shouldn't be scared because they are only children by they can't help but feel spooked by the eery, creepy voices and pale faces.

Horror - The genre

Horror as a film genre has gripped audiences from its early beginning. From the late 1700s and 1800s the success of the Gothic novel inspired readers everywhere to feed from the scary genre. The success of the books and the obsession and love to be terrified meant that film makers knew that by transferring the Gothic or the horrific to the screen would be a lucrative business. The demand for more led film makers to create a visual world for viewers to lose themselves in. Bringing the books to life drew in audiences to feel the adrenalin rush of fear, excitement and anticipation which were evident in these films. This led to film companies continually making more, making it a never-dying genre. The genre itself tests our fears and puts them on a screen for us to visualize. However one of the main reason's horror is successful is because of the unpredictable, anticipating, suspenseful atmosphere created. With growing audience sophistication film directors have to go beyond our expectations to shock us. There are many conventions that make up the horror genre. The traditional fear of a monster figure has been outgrown by other conventions more of a psychological nature. Audiences have hungrily grasped the graphic, petrifying story-lines of horror movies over the years, the obsession we have of our own mortality as human beings acting as a main contributor. Our love of being constantly terrified and asking ourselves the questions of "what if?" has drawn in audiences again and again. Our masochistic obsession of wanting to put ourselves in impossible situations and thinking up never more terrible ways to die has made horror an existing successful genre.

Film Synopsis

The film opens with Eva townsmen and Katie Mill two 18 year olds university students moving into their new home. They are confused yet pleased with the cheap price of the house and are unaware of the previous events that took place. While unpacking and settling in Katie leaves a wary and anxious Eva to look for blankets. Upon opening the cupboard she comes across various newspaper clippings from years ago. She reads on and notices that every article is about the same family, the family who lived in the house she moved into. She flicks through the clippings uncovering a bloody, chilling, horrifying story that terrifies Eva. The twin daughters were brutally murdered by their mother in the house around 30 years ago. The story unfolds that the mother, a keen religious, superstitious figure heard voices in her head, ordering her to kill her children. To kill them as they have sinned and must be punished. The repeated line “kill them before they kill you” serve as the slogan for the film. Each character uses this line in a way of foreshadowing the coming events. A scared Eva brings the spine-tingling story to Katie’s attention, who quickly dismisses it and thinks nothing of the past events.
As Eva starts to research into the family and the story of what happened in her house she starts to grow more and more paranoid. As Eva attempts to sleep, blocking out the information she now knows she hears hushed whispers, a tune of a nursery rhyme and children singing it. The slow chants scare Eva into approaching a cynical Katie who again jokingly teases her and repeatedly pranks Eva, using her fear of the previous family. As Katie leaves to visit her boyfriend for the weekend Eva is left alone, plagued with vivid dreams of the little girls. Keeping herself awake to avoid the dreams she again starts to hear the chants and nursery rhyme tune. Eva’s obsession with uncovering the truth of the twins progresses into seeing glimpses of them. Visualising the girls standing in the hallway the palpable tension smothering Eva, Katie returns and attempts to soothe her petrified friend. Convincing Eva that the glimpses and chants are all in her head and its just due to homesickness. Once Eva begins to conquer her fear and move on Katie’s mind is overcome with violent and sadistic thoughts of hurting those close to her. The thoughts leave Katie to feel overwhelmed with a strange presence slowly filling her brain, resulting in Katie having a violent fit on her bedroom floor. Eva manages to save Katie leaving the girls to console each other with worry. As Katie begins to feel better the thoughts return, pushing her to violently kill Eva’s cat by heartlessly hanging it from the chandelier. A worried Eva seeks help, turning to the one person who truly knows the story. The father of the twin girls, he informs Eva that in order for her mind to be free of the thoughts another must take her place in that haunted home, he explains the house possesses evil and in order to escape it they must leave. Eva worriedly returns home to an ignorant Katie. She attempts to explain what they must do but Katie shakes her off, ignoring her friend and being oddly rude.
Katie’s mind starts to fill with violent thoughts, thoughts of hurting her friend. Eva sinks into a pit of depression, unable to get her friend to leave the house and still feeling paranoid of the little girls Eva commits suicide. Giving up on her life and feeling trapped by the presence in that house, a grief-stricken Katie attempts to move on from the tragic decision of her friend. Noticing her violent thoughts have disappeared, the whispers and rhymes have stopped playing, Katie believes Eva’s death has intervened and got rid of the presence in that house. Katie invites her boyfriend Stuart to live with her, keeping herself in company and busy she moves on. As things become more positive and Katie’s life starts to move forward, she wakes one night to hushed whispers, and a violent dream, this time concerning Stuart. . . . the girls didn’t get to leave afterall.