Target Audience

Target Audience for Enclosed 

As a group we discussed the key aspects of our target audience. The first main topic we covered is that our film is a Psychological Thriller. Therefore we want to target a more mature audience.

"Psychological thriller is a fictional thriller story which emphasizes the psychology of its characters and their unstable emotional states. In terms of classification, the category is a sub-genre of the broader ranging thriller category,with similarities to Gothic and detective fiction in the sense of sometimes having a "dissolving sense of reality", moral ambiguity, and complex and tortured relationships between obsessive and pathological characters. Psychological thrillers often incorporate elements of mystery, drama, and horror, particularly psychological horror. They are usually books or films."


Psychological thrillers can often have an age certificate rating of 15+ or even 18+. Our trailer will mostly likely have a 15 rating as violent content is not hugely prominent, and there are no uses of bad language etc. Though some audiences might be teenagers around the age of 16, we mainly want to aim our film at adults. Adults are more likely to appreciate the drama and suspense side of the film than teenagers. Whereas teenagers prefer more horror orientated films with the shock factor, as they like to be scared and made to jump.
Another reason for aiming at an older audience is that the characters in our film mainly represents adult characters. One character is meant to represent a 16 year old, but the others are supposed to represent adults aged 30 plus. Audience members are more likely to watch films which feature characters of their own age, whom they can relate to. Our trailer also contains mature themes, which will attract an adult audience. For example the trailer shows an implication of rape, mental illnesses, and maternal love, these films are all more appropriate and understandable to the older audience.
Therefore , we are targeting our film at adults aged 25-40 years old.



Our film is directed at an audience both male and female. Though it may attract a slightly higher number of male viewers. This is because our trailer represents both genders. Though there is only one female main character, she plays an extremely large part in the narrative, and her story is absolutely central to the plot. There will also be additional female extras and patients within the asylum. However, the fact that there are more male characters may influence more male audience members to watch the film.

Our audience is more likely to be middle class according to today's occupational class system. We feel that this is more likely because the middle class audience has a higher disposable income, to spend on leisure activities such as going to the cinema. But mainly because the film represents middle class occupations. The Psychiatrist, owner of the asylum and health "professionals" are middle class roles.

Audience members are likely to:

-Be a fan of the genre
-Have read and enjoyed crime novels or watched crime dramas
-Watched other Thrillers, not just psychological/horror thrillers, such as Limitless and The Purge
-Be employed in a middle class job
-Have a family of their own
-Be married/in a long-term relationship
-View the film with a partner or a friend

Storyboarding

We have now completed a full storyboard for our film trailer.As a group we discussed what key shots we wanted to display in the trailer. Harri then drew out the images, whilst Meg and I wrote the shot type and action portrayed within it. In total there 95-100 shots in our storyboard. Though this may seem like a large number, we thought it would be better to have to take some scenes out, rather than add and draw extra ones. We are also aware that we might have to change and rearrange the order of some shots, as we may decide differently when it comes to actually filming them.

We have been allocating times for each shot, to try and get a better idea of how long each shot should last. When this process is finished we hope that the total trailer time will last for roughly 2 minutes, 30 seconds. We are aware however that each estimate may change when it comes to actually shooting, for example we might have to lengthen some shots and shorten others.

Scripting for dialogue scenes

Internal: Asylum

Shot of syringes and any other medical props being placed onto a tray. Long shot of Nurse Cecilia walking down asylum corridor. Cecilia opens cell door and turns on the light. Cecilia enters with tray and as she looks around confused and worried expression crosses over her face. Cecilia drops tray and glass smashes. Cecilia’s legs are shown being pushed apart by somebody else’s [patients], and focus on Cecilia’s arm held against the wall. Camera focuses out from the door closing back in the corridor and zooms out, as diegetic voice of Cecilia’s screaming and shouting “No” echoes.

Estimated seconds: 20



External: Asylum Grounds

Doctor arrives at Asylum. Walks up grounds steps and knocks at front door, using knocker. Knocker must be focused on ready for relation back to it at end of trailer. The door creaks open, and the doctor enters.

Estimated seconds: 5



Internal: Asylum

Shot reverse shot sequence. Over the shoulder shot of the doctor sitting down as he stares at the person’s shoulder viewing.

Doctor:

How are you feeling?

Boy:

-Silence-

Doctor:

Where are your parents now, [name]?

Boy:

I don’t know who they are.

Estimated seconds: 15



Flashback sequence;

External: Train Station

Silence from actors. Only sound is a train arriving. Cecilia and her father the Head of the Asylum on the other side of the platform, wide shot. Cecilia hands over a baby in white blanket over to her father. Train goes past, and then once it goes past, Cecilia disappears.

Estimated seconds: 10



Present day;

Internal: Asylum: Head of Asylum’s room

Doctor is searching for documents. Finds file and opens it. Searches through documents until he finds the boy’s name with his birth certificate, showing name of the boy, and the father unidentified, and the mother’s name: Cecilia.

Estimated seconds: 10



Internal: Asylum: Head of Asylum’s room

Doctor:

You need to tell the boy who his real mother is!

HoA:

I needn't tell the boy a thing.

Doctor:

He’s going his whole life thinking his parent’s have given him up by choice!

HoA:

Leave, now!

Estimated seconds: 15

Internal: Asylum: Front side room

Doctor opens a side door after looking around as he brings the mother in.

Doctor:

Your son. He’s escaped.

Estimated seconds: 10

Montage of shots: 1-2 seconds each: Including:

-          Long shot of all the rooms empty

-          Someone running with a knife [unidentified]

-          The mother screaming “No! Stop!” [same thing she said to the patient who violated her]

Estimated seconds: 15-20



Internal: Asylum: Front room

Camera zoom out quickly from front room to outside the asylum focusing on the door as it slams, and then focus on the knocker once again [iconography]



Intertitle:

Enclosed



Intertitle:

Coming soon

[Or together instead of separate?]



Internal: Asylum

Photographs of locations

 We went visiting some sites which could be used when filming for our trailer. We took photographs to show our locations and to see how they look on camera, some of these may also be used for our animatic.

These can be used to portray gardens surrounding the asylum....

 These buildings can be used to show the exterior of the asylum.....

 This location (Llanthony Priory) could be used to show Cecilia (the nun) in later shots, receiving the letter from her son.

The Lovely Bones Film & Trailer Analysis

 The Lovely Bones is a 2009 American supernatural drama film directed by Peter Jackson. It is a film adaptation of the award-winning and best-selling 2002 novel of the same name by Alice Sebold. The film stars Saoirse Ronan as Susie Salmon, alongside Mark Wahlberg and Rachel Weisz as Susie's parents Jack and Abigail Salmon. The film also stars Susan Sarandon, Amanda Michalka and Stanley Tucci. The film received various accolades, including a Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild, BAFTA and Academy Award nominations.

My personal favourite thing about this film is the style in which it is filmed, and the effective scripting and acting. As an audience the characters are presented as extremely like-able, and so we sympathise deeply with them.
DreamWorks co-founder Steven Spielberg developed an interest in turning the novel into a film as he felt that very few films actually dealt with the loss of a loved one.

Though not a horror film, it does deal with very sensitive issues, and there aspects of the thriller genre to it. For example there are two notable "chase scenes" which are incredibly tense for the viewer. In the first , Susie's father chases after her murderer in a corn field, the corn is so high it is almost like a maze. We are willing him to find the murderer but the scene reaches its climax as he accidentally lashes out at the wrong person- an innocent teenage girl who's in the cornfield with her boyfriend. As a result, her boyfriend brutally beats him, not understanding that it was all a mistake. There is also chase scene towards the end of the film as Susie's sister breaks into George Harvey's house in order to find evidence against him. From downstairs, he hears her push down on a floorboard and desperately runs upstairs after her. She manages to escape with less than seconds to spare through a window. These chase scenes are so cleverly filmed that they do reflect similarities to chase scenes and violence from horror films.

Editing is an integral feature to the film. This is because special effects are used to portray the "in-between" version of Susie's heaven. Graphics show impossible scenes , such as a giant ship in a bottle crashing into the shore. Or Susie dancing on a giant music record. The vibrant colours here are also heavily reflective of the 70's time period in which the film is set. The "in-between" represents what Susie is seeing, sometimes it depicts her happy in heaven, sometimes the setting is miserable, such as when her family are arguing or upset.




The trailer itself lasts an average trailer time of 2 minutes and 30 seconds.
It opens conveying the life of a typical teenage girl, lusting after a boy, reading vogue, and going to high school. This displays the normality, an equilibrium. The disruption of equilibrium occurs at around the 30 second mark with the abrupt dialogue, "I was fourteen years old when I was murdered." As an audience we are not expecting such a blunt statement, which suddenly distorts the whole tone of the trailer. Especially after such light piano music has been softly playing in the background. A camera sound shortly follows along with the shot flashing against plain black, giving the effect of a snapshot being taken in time. The following shot of the crime scene around the cornfield reinforces the tragedy and seriousness of the event. A short series of lower piano notes then follow, making the tone more solemn.
The dialogue of "she's gone", followed by "what if she isn't?" begins to clarify the supernatural element to the genre. This is closely followed by a ghostly shot of Susie running past and screaming, appearing ghostly and unreal, then fading away. The diegetic dialogue of "I wasn't gone. I was alive, in my own perfect world," makes it clear that the story features Susie living on despite her murder.

The trailer then changes tone again with the dialogue, "But I knew it wasn't perfect, my murderer still haunted me." This implies an ongoing issue with unanswered questions, and the repercussions of such a horrible act. The coming scenes of Susie's dad communicating with the police officer show that the film will focus on finding her murderer, and seeking justice. The line "you have a tomb in the middle of your house," and scenes of family conflict also show that on a more sensitive level, it will portray the difficulties of dealing with such a tragedy.

The shots of George Harvey ( the murderer) in the car late at night surrounded by darkness do resemble certain horror aspects. The image is scary as he appears to watching through the car mirror to see who is in the street behind him. The image of him stood in doorway which appears to lead down to a cellar in complete darkness is also scary, these help us to see him as a frightening character, a threat.

In terms of target audience, I think this film was originally aimed at an older audience. Older adults who have children are likely to be interested in a film which deals with such a loss, and are far more likely to be able to relate to it. Also as the film is based on a novel aimed at adults, it would make sense that the target audience would be around the age bracket of 25-45. However after doing my own research, I have since found out that the film was extremely successful when it began to instead target a 13-20 year old female audience. This is likely to be the result of the main character being a 14 year old female.

Sinister Film Analysis

SINISTER FILM ANALYSISSinister is a 2012 supernatural horror film directed by Scott Derrickson and written by Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill and stars Ethan Hawke. It follows true-crime writer Ellison Oswalt, played by Hawke, as he discovers a box of home movies that puts his family in danger. Sinister premiered at the SXSW festival, and was released in the United States on October 12, 2012, and in the UK on October 5, 2012.

Sinister is one of my personal favourite horror films because of it's unique concept. The tapes found in the attic are so realistic and shocking that they have a big impact on the audience, the names on them are happy family memories, but the names are purely misleading. For example a tape titled "family BBQ" first displays a family barbecue in a park at daytime, but switches to a family tied up in a car in a garage at night, which is then set alight with them inside.

The film plays on fears of horrible deaths and yet does not portray blood and gore like a typical simple horror. The scenes of murder seem even more disturbing nonetheless, and are accompanied by unnerving soundtracks and intense close up shots. The use of 8mm film and handheld camera from the view point of the murderer is extremely effective, making us feel involved in the scene, but somehow still managing to make us fear intensely for the victims.


USP-Writer C. Robert Cargill says that his inspiration for the movie came from a nightmare he experienced after seeing The Ring, in which he discovered a film in his attic depicting the hanging of an entire family. This scenario became the setup for the plot of Sinister. In creating a villain for the film, Cargill conceptualized a new take on the Bogeyman, calling the entity "Mr. Boogie". Cargill's idea was that the creature would be both terrifying and seductive to children, luring them to their dooms as a sinister Willy Wonka-like figure. Cargill and co-writer Scott Derrickson ultimately decided to downplay the creature's alluring nature, only intimating how it manipulates the children into murder. In further developing Mr. Boogie, the pair had lengthy discussions about its nature, deciding not to make it a demon but rather a pagan deity, in order to place it outside the conceptual scope of any one particular religion. Consequently, the villain was given the proper name "Bughuul", with only the child characters in the film referring to it as Mr. Boogie. Though this may sound comical in some ways, the idea is unusual, and portraying a child to murder his/her own family is horrific in the film.


Soundtracks play a key part in the film. Unusual, fragmented non-diegetic sound accompanies the murder tapes and keep the audience on edge. The sound is not music as such , but uses single sounds or effects on repeat which almost create a rhythm. In one scene a videotape plays a happy family video accompanied with upbeat piano music, and when the film changes to the murder scene the soundtrack changes into something slow and tense.

The way in which the film is made, eg. camera angles and transitions, as well as editing techniques is very clever. There are a lot of close ups showing character expressions, and attention to detail. There are also a series of shot reverse shot sequences between the old video tapes playing and the reaction from the main character as he watches them. There is also the use of 8mm displaying the old family video tapes, to give them a home movie style appearance. This creates the effect that we are delving into someone's past, someone's private life. Editing is also cleverly used to enhance fear and tension. For example, some scenes seem to go on for longer than necessary, but in actual fact this causes the audience to fall into a short state of relaxation, so that the next shocking action then scares them even more. These kinds of techniques may be useful to bare in mind when creating my horror film trailer with my group.

The Ring Film Analysis

The Ring film analysis-
The Ring is a 2002 American psychological horror film directed by Gore Verbinski, starring Naomi Watts, Daveigh Chase, and Martin Henderson. It is a remake of the 1998 Japanese horror film Ringu, which itself was based on the novel Ringu by Kôji Suzuki (who also helped co-write both film versions), and focuses on a mysterious cursed videotape that contains a seemingly random series of disturbing images. After watching the tape, the viewer receives a phone call in which a girl's voice announces that the viewer will die in seven days. The film was a critical and commercial success.

The Ring featured a large emphasis on the psychological aspect. The key focus was solving the problem, finding out where the video originated from in order to stop the “curse” from continuing any longer. The story becomes matter of life and death as the main characters’ young son watches the tape, and she worries that it will cause both her and her sons’ death. The main character (Rachel) goes searching for answers, getting the tape analysed by film professionals and even travelling to the location from which it supposedly came.

The film uses a number of key horror conventions to scare the audience. The actual cursed tape shows a series of disturbing images which are disjointed; it’s silent and has no explanation. The black and white images and short clips consist of a mysterious lady brushing her hair in a mirror, horrible insects crawling around on the screen, a young girl near a well.  This works well at creating a code of enigma, as the audience has no idea as to why the tape exists.

There are also violent incidents which engage the audience, such as:
-A man wraps himself in electrical cords, stands in a bath and flips a switch, electrocuting himself. He thrashes violently and there is blood in the water. A woman sees this and screams. Fairly graphic and disturbing.
-A horse jumps overboard on a ferry and is sucked under the boat. The water turns bloody. Not graphic but disturbing.
-A woman smothers a young girl with a plastic bag and pushes her down a well. Not graphic but emotional and disturbing.
-A man falls into a cabinet, breaking glass ornaments. He falls onto the broken glass, cutting himself and leaving bloody marks on the floor.
-A woman holds the body of a dead girl which begins decomposing. The skin and flesh melt away until she is just a skeleton.
-A woman is hit in the head by a falling object and knocked into a well. She wakes up in the water and gasps for air.
-A woman appears in pain and chokes; she pulls a long cord from her throat with an electronic monitor attached.
-A woman is hit on the head with a heavy object and falls to the floor.
-There is mention of several deaths including suicides.
These violent incidents fit the genre of the film, they are designed to shock the audience and unnerve them. The nature of these incidents is also fairly unusual which adds to the surprise felt by viewers. For example the horse breaking free and jumping overboard a ferry to its death is not something commonly seen in scenes of violence in a film. Violence involving animals also often unsettles and upsets an audience due to the fact that animals are innocent and defenceless.

There are a few scenes focusing on a young girl in a white room in a psychiatric unit. The white walls and bare room, combined with a single chair in the middle represents a key stereotype of mental hospitals or as they were called in the past-asylums. Featuring a character with mental illness or within an asylum is also a common convention in a psychological horror/thriller. This is because mental illness can often be used as an excuse for a characters’ behaviour, and helps us understand why they have done such terrible things.

Mise-en-Scene-
There is a common use of stereotypes. For example the main character Rachel finds the video tape at a cabin in the woods. Forests are often a common location in horrors due to their isolated setting. The house where Rachel looks for answers is set in the grounds of a large private farm. This again puts emphasis on the theme of isolation. The house is also old and traditional, as opposed to modern looking.
Props such as the traditional mirror where we see an adult lady brushing her hair are also frequently used in this genre of film.

Sound-
One of the key sounds in the film is the phone ringing. We quickly begin to associate this with “the curse”- the sound of the ringing phone corresponds with fear and we anticipate the caller’s voice saying “You will die in seven days." There is also the sound of white noise, which occurs frequently whenever the television is involved. Natural diegetic sound such as rainfall also constantly reminds of the gloomy weather surrounding them- another typical horror convention. Key dialogue includes, " I think before you die, you see the ring..." and the unsettling conversation between Samara and the doctor, "

1. Samara: I love my mommy.
2. Doctor: Yes you do. But you don't want to hurt her anymore. You don't want to hurt anyone.
3. Samara: But I do, and I'm sorry. It won't stop." Non-diegetic soundtracks are used, but they are fragmented throughout. The use of single strokes on instruments, or single notes are used to emphasize small,specific dramatic scenes of action.

Orphan trailer analysis

FILM TRAILER ANALYSIS- ORPHAN

The Orphan trailer portrays a young orphan girl whom is adopted by a new family. In the trailer we see a nun in the orphanage talking about the girl, it seems that she is highly intelligent and will settle well with her new family. However the equilibrium is soon disrupted as strange events begin to unfold when the girl is brought home. A child falls from a slide in the playground, and the camera reveals the orphan girl stood there, so it appears that she pushed her. A montage of shots portrays other unusual and disturbing events, which the orphan seems to be responsible for. The key code of enigma is "what's her secret?"

At the start of the trailer, a soft non-diegetic soundtrack plays underneath the shots. The soundtrack is piano music, which is relatively upbeat using higher notes, though it feels slightly unsettling.
The traditional appearance of the "orphan" is in keeping with horror conventions. The costume of a dress with collar, and hair in ribbons portrays the optimum image of an "innocent girl" , however in horror films the innocent girl usually possesses some kind of hidden power or is the most violent character. The fact that she has been looked after by nuns in the orphanage would lead us to think she has been taught by religion to be well-behaved and forgiving.
There is also the typical horror convention of the victims or surrounding characters trying to resolve the situation. In the case of this trailer, we see the adoptive parents in a meeting with someone who seems to be giving advice on the child's behaviour, we therefore assume they have been seeking the advice of a psychiatrist to help deal with the child. We also see the adoptive mother researching online, it seems she is searching for information on the girls' past, and her background history.

Key imagery reflecting horror conventions include a shot of the children's tree house catching fire, and burning in flames. The girl being ridiculed in school and made fun of, resulting in her violently lashing out in the school toilets. This is the first image showing her violent tendencies. The girl being present at every scene of misfortune or disaster. Also the dialogue , "I guess I'm different" which tells a lot about her coming behaviour very early on.

Intertitles: "There's something wrong with Esther." "You'll never guess her secret." These intertitles though concise are extremely effective, they fade to black leaving us wondering about the questions given. This creates a very clear code of enigma for the audience.

Length: 2.33- complies with average time.

Editing-
There are multiple uses of a fade to black after shots. Seeing a black screen after a shot works well as it causes the viewer to reflect on what they have just seen, and await in suspense for the next shot. The use of jump cuts are also effective, appearing as though shots are flashing on to the screen suddenly, reinforcing the horror theme and the theme of fear.

Silent House Film Analysis

Silent House is a 2011 American independent horror film directed by Chris Kentis and Laura Lau. The plot focuses on a young woman who is terrorized in her family vacation home while cleaning the property with her father and uncle. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2011 and was released in United States (US) theaters on March 9, 2012.

I have chosen to analyse this film because I was really interested in the way it was filmed, it had a manufactured appearance of one continuous take- throughout the 87 minute film. This became a unique selling point , using the catch phrase to entice the audience, "experience real fear, in real time."
This style was extremely effective, as a viewer I felt gripped as we followed the main character around the house. The single continuous take appearance meant that the viewer watched the events through the main characters perception alone, and therefore fear was created as we did not want her to get hurt, we wanted her to escape alive.

Typical horror conventions used included a huge emphasis on darkness. The main character (Sarah) walked through the house mostly in darkness. At one point when the lights cut out, Sarah had only a polaroid camera to provide light, it created almost a strobe lighting effect, leaving the audience in suspense whenever the flash stopped. Through the flashes, we are shown an unidentified man and a little girl, which is clearly unsettling as we are given no explanation for their presence. There were also a selection of unexplained photos left by the camera on a table, photographs that we could see Sarah had not taken. This clearly led us to believe that someone else was in the house.
There is also a prominent use of violence. In the beginning, Sarah finds her father lying unconscious with a severe head wound. She later finds him tied up in plastic, he begs her to free him. Once freed however, he viciously beats her with a belt. By the end, after realising what her father has done, in true horror film style, she bludgeons her father to death with a sledge-hammer. These acts of violence are shocking and gory.
Elements of both psychological and horror conventions were used in Sarah's paranoia and psychosis as she experienced flashbacks. The flashbacks are unexplained and disturbing , seeming to depict traumatic childhood events. Images we are shown included blood stains, a young girl in a bath with beer bottles and bloody water, and a toilet spewing blood. The connotations of blood are death,violence and suffering, and the use of it is almost compulsory in horror films. The psychological element is apparent through these flashbacks, as Sarah is clearly suffering trauma, and we attempt to figure out why.

Sound-
A large proportion of the sound in the film is diegetic. As we follow Sarah around the house, there is minimum opportunity for any diversity in sound effects. Most of the sound is natural, for example breathing, panting. There are also the typical screaming sounds, and occasionally a loud "bang" or "thud." Dialogue through the film is mostly fragmented. The actual amount of diegetic dialogue is very minimal, as very little is explained to the audience. This is also a result of having very few main characters, as Sarah does not really have anybody to talk to her, except from her Uncle occasionally. Another key sound is the flash of the polaroid camera, which places even more emphasis on the silence accompanying the darkness which follows each flash.

Mise-en-Scene-
 Lighting in the film is minimal. As for props and costume, characters wear casual modern day clothing. However the decor in the house is old and worn down. It is boarded up on the outside (creating yet more darkness), and as Sarah and her father are supposed to be renovating the inside- it is in an obvious state of distress. The house is not furnished, and serious work needs to be done. This creates a horrible atmosphere- of a setting which has been isolated for too long. There is nothing friendly or charming about it.

Target Market-
The target audience seems to be at a 15-25 age range. This can be concluded as the main character is a young adult female. The film discusses serious issues, but the typical conventions advertised in the trailer such as a spooky house and the gore and violence attract the older teen market who are interested for the "scare factor". 

Location Research

We knew that in order to clearly display our plot, we would have to find some good locations to film at. We need exterior shots of an older building to convey an asylum, and interior shots which look similar to a hospital. We also need to think about some effective locations to set the flashbacks in.

We created a list of potential locations for our filming:

Exterior Shots

-The Drama Centre
-The Conference Centre (abandoned, unused.)

We tried to think of somewhere which looked a little more realistic and impressive for the asylum exterior, as we wanted our establishing shots to have an impact. We began to research local older buildings online and came across the website www.welshruins.co.uk
From this we were able to select our local area and find disused buildings in our area. The two best potential locations are (to the right), Pencoed Castle,and Malpas Court. Both buildings have a grand yet traditional appearance. Though it may be difficult to transport our actors to the locations, the impact of them would be worth it, even if there were only a few shots displaying. The effect of using buildings such as these would be far higher- as they would make the trailer appear more realistic and authentic.











Other Shots

-Inside the Drama Centre , for example using the corridors to portray the inside of a mental hospital.
-Inside a school, again the corridors add to the portrayal of a hospital
-The use of classrooms to portray conference/meeting rooms
-The use of a library/canteen to act as a meeting place for the patients of the asylum.

-A short shot of a train station to show the mother giving away her child and leaving him behind.