The Blueprint

The Location: Fairlight Firehills. We chose this location as it is isolated and has both clear, vast fields and heavily wooded areas. Also the cliffs and sea adds to the sense of isolation.

The Filming: We will film it by giving a basic plot to the actors and then let them improvise, using handheld cameras. The filming will be just as though they are filming their party, for fun.

Sound: On the trailer we want a song that will start slow, gradually getting faster as the pace in the trailer grows.

Text: Small text will be used. 2 lines at maximum throughout the trailer, as we do not wish to give too much away.

Editing: Start off slow and it will pick up as it goes on, it will be very fast towards the end of the trailer, followed by a silent finish.

Film Pitch analysis

I think that my pitch went okay, I believe that the class knew what our film was about and we expressed our points clearly. I made a couple of technical errors, such as forgetting how to turn the music up etc. but overall I am happy with the pitch. I believe that we chose an appropriate, captivating trailer to show the class that related well to our genre and film idea.

'Firehills' Pitch

The Horror Genre

Horror films are movies that strive to elicit the emotions of fear, horror and terror from viewers. Their plots frequently involve themes of death, the supernatural or mental illness. Many horror movies also include a central villain. Films often leave their audience feeling vulnerable and the experience should be thrilling and exciting, an audience should not feel comfortable during a horror film. Another reason is a masochistic desire, a lot of people don’t necessarily ‘enjoy’ horror films, but love putting themselves through watching them, and the rush/ thrill that is brought with them.

Plot/ Synopsis of my Film

A group of teenagers decided to go camping in The Firehills, a valley in a near by village. They go up in three cars and set up camp.
As the party gets into full swing, the group gradually start to disappear one by one, whilst going to the toilet, for walks etc. They realise that something is wrong. Suspicious, they go back to the cars, in the hope that the others will be there.
When they reach the cars they are astonished to see that the cars have been sabotaged and their friends are nowhere to be seen. Realising that the cars are not drive-able they panic and start to turn on one another. They split up, losing their way, they get picked off one by one.
One girl is found the next morning by a dog walker.

Todorov's Theory/ Propp's Theory

Todorov's theory Todorov suggested that stories have an equilibrium, that is always broken by a particular event, which breaks the peace and normality of the piece, this sets off a series of events. The problem is resolved and the normality of the piece is restored.Valdimir ProppPropp was a Russian critic who examined hundreds of folk tales to see if they shared any similar structures. His book, ''Morphology of the Folk Tale'' was first published in 1928. He identified 8 character roles and 31 narrative functions.

• The 8 character types.
  The villain
  The hero
  The doner
  The helper who aids the hero
  The princess - reward for the hero and object of the villains schemes
  Her father - who rewards the hero
  The dispatcher - who sends the hero on his way
  The false hero

Some of these character types apply to the horror genre. Particularly The first four, all of which can be found in many films. All of which will probably be used in my film. I will also use Todorov's theory.

Review of Eden Lake Trailer

The first shot of the trailer is of a close up of a man and a woman kissing, this immediately lulls the audience into a false sense of security, as if this film could even be a Rom Com or another genre than Horror. These two characters are mid twenties - early thirties, possibly the audience who they are trying to aim at. But there are younger characters in this film, teenagers, so I believe the audience that they are aiming at are 18 - early thirties. There is a non diagetic sound, the main character, Jenny, talking about how her friend is being taken to Paris for the weekend, yet HER boyfriend is taking her to ''a disused quarry'', these final words may begin to create a sense of doubt in the audience's mind.. a disused quarry not being an ideal setting for a Rom Com but a typical Horror movie setting.

The word that sticks out for me is 'disused', this to me suggests that the couple is going to be isolated from the rest of the world, this is a typical theme thats runs throughout many Horror films. There is a quick shot of a town, then of a car driving towards a bridge.. I noticed that this image had more foliage and made it clear that the characters were 'going away' from normality, to somewhere in the country.. somewhere isolated. We then see several nature shots, of trees and their car driving through a forest. This now makes the audience feel more isolated and vulnerable. But shots of the two main characters smiling creates a contrasting image. It leaves the audience unsure of how to feel. We then see thick, white writing appear on a black screen reading 'OUT OF THE CITY', followed by another image of the car driving away from the audience, followed immediately by a shot of their sat nav telling them to 'turn around', this makes the audience feel on edge.. wanting to tell them to in fact 'turn around', but we then see them giggling. This tells me that they aren't going to do so.

Another piece of writing on a black screen reads 'OFF THE MAP'. The sense of dread and danger is thickening. This is followed by a shot of the characters kissing in the water.. telling us that they are blissfully unaware of the danger they are about to face. This is follwed by a close up of the leading lady asleep, but there is a flash on the screen with a non diagetic, unnatural sound attached to it, this could either make the audience jump, or merely break the (brief) illusion of peace and quiet. We then see a close up of a large Rottweiller barking. Rottweillers aren't usually considered friendly animals and often receive bad press, and are often used as guard dogs. This adds to the sense of dread that has been building throughout the trailer so far...