Final Idea Treatment.

This is a collaborative treatment written by Antonia Aisling and me.

Title: Seven Deadly Sisters

Log Line: Group of sisters are looking to avenge their mothers death by killing all abusive men because their father was abusive.

Characters: Gwen Scarlet, Dorothy Scarlet, Mckenna Scarlet, Shauna Scarlet, Twins Penny and Caroline Scarlet, Katherine Scarlet.

After the their father murders their mother, the Scarlet sisters form a pact to murder every abusive man they come across. Each murder is meticulously planned practicing for the "big job".  Someone seems to be picking the girls off one by one and the sisters can't seem to figure out who and why. This once tight knit group now throws blame at each other breaking them apart much to their murderers happiness.

Audience Trailer Survey Answers.

1) What is your gender?

Female: 6
Male: 3
Other: 0

2) What is your age?

12-15: 1
16-18:1
19-22:3
23 or over: 3

3) Do you prefer a realistic approach or an unrealistic approach to a horror film?

Realistic: 7
Unrealistic: 1

4) What type of horror-scare do you prefer?

Jump scare:3
Psychological: 5

5) What element in the horror film genre scares you the most?

Death:4
Darkness:2
Disfigurement:0
Suspense:2
Horror music: 0

6) What type of ending do you prefer?

Happy: 3
Sad: 5

7) How do you find new films?

Cinema/TV trailer:1
Social media: 6
Recommendations:1
Other:0

8) How do you watch films?

Online:4
Cinema:2
Subscription:2
Other: 0

9) What type of production do you prefer?

Independent:5
Blockbuster: 3

10) Out of the given choices, which horror movie is your favorite?

It: 1
Saw:0
The strangers:5
The silence of the lambs:2

Audience Trailer Survey

This survey is made up of a few questions to help me establish a target audience and give me an insight on what they would like to see in a horror movie.#

1) What is your gender?

This question is to help me understand who is more likely to watch horror films and to establish which gender would like what.

2) What is your age?

This helps me understand what to put into my trailer and what not to because if more 16 year-olds watch horror films then 18 year olds I know to not put as much gore and violence in the film as they would be the majority of my audience.

3) Do you prefer a realistic approach or an unrealistic approach to a horror film?

This can massively impact what type of horror film trailer I make because if the majority want an unrealistic approach I could make a film with supernatural threats whereas if the majority prefer realistic then I would have to do some in-depth research about situations similar to our trailer idea.

4) What type of horror-scare do you prefer?

The answer of the can help me determine what type of horror film to make, whether I make a psychological, thriller or jump scare trailer.

5) What element in the horror film genre scares you the most?

When creating a horror movie your aim is to scare your audience, so finding out which element of a horror movie the audience is scared of gives me the ability to accentuate that feature.

6) What type of ending do you prefer?

This can help me determine an ending to my film, whether I decided to make it a happy ending or a sad ending.

7) How do you find new films?

This is a marketing question, although I'm only making a trailer and don't need to market anything, this is still useful to know.

8) How do you watch films?

This is another marketing question because if I was to fully produce and market this trailer as a film then I would need to know how people watch films in order to market it correctly. It helps me decide where to promote the film, online, on T.V or in cinemas.

9) What type of production do you prefer?

There are a few different types of film and each capture something different, whether that's a real, gritty feel of an independent film or a visually pleasing, expensive blockbuster production.

10) Out of the given choices, which horror movie is your favorite?

Each answer is going to be a different horror sub-genre, and will emphasize different elements of a horror film therefore helping me finalize what type of horror film to make.

Horror/Thriller Movie Plot.

A 5 bullet point summary:

• A young adult is seen living her day to day life. Her life is pretty average, she gets up early, goes to work, comes home, eats, sleep and repeat. She lives alone and doesn't see her friends very often.
• She starts to hear voices, an occasional hushed whisper. She ignores it putting it to her imagination.
• She begins to hear the voices loudly and starts seeing things, people, creatures ect.
• These things begin to attack her and convince her to do evil things.
• Eventually you find out she is schizophrenic.

Treatment:

Name: In my head. (May be changed)

Synopsis: Set in the present, An average girl who lived in a cycle of wake up, work, come home, eat and sleep, finds herself hearing odd whispers, It wouldn't happen very often, not enough for her to question her sanity but enough for her to notice. The voices begin to get louder and more frequent and were sometimes accompanied by visuals. These things begin to attack her and taunt her. Eventually she goes to see someone about it and is diagnosed  with severe schizophrenia and is admitted into a mental hospital against her will.

Elements of horror

Horror Genre:

A horror film seeks a physiological reaction such as a increase in heart rate. Their aim to to unsettle the audience. They do this by manipulating the audience's fears usually with jump scares. Frequent themes used in horror movies are the supernatural and death.
There are many sub genres of horror including: action horror, comedy horror, body horror, disaster horror, holiday horror, horror drama, psychological horror, science fiction horror, slasher horror, supernatural horror, gothic horror, natural horror, zombie horror, first-person horror and teen horror.

As a horror movie is designed to induce fear, there are many ways in which this is done. Some of these way are:

1. Fear of death- This is an extremely common fear. Horror movies play on this by making some characters deaths really long and painful.
2. The Dark- Another common fear. Fear of the dark links in with fear of the unknown because you can't see in the dark therefore it is unknown what is in the dark.
3. Location- This scares the audience because of its negative connotations. Many people believe evil is in old and creepy places. especially in places like cemetery or a place where someone was murders. This links into the fear of death. Also, having it set in the subjects house brings to life a real fear of a monster or killer invading a place you presume to be safe.
4.   POV- Point of view shots are fear inducing because it places the audience in the scene and inserts them into the story. Having the POV from the predator also makes the victim look powerless and weak
5.  Disturbing images- This induces a weird curiosity and the images stick in the audiences mind
6. Shot duration- Having the audience uncomfortably look at the horror subject creates suspense leading up to a better pay off.

Doctor! Doctor! Practicing film techniques

After learning about the 180 degree rule and match on action , I create a short film using a doctor doctor joke making sure to follow the 180 degree rule and film for a match on action shot. I am happy with the outcome of my short film as I feel it flowed smoothly. The only thing I would change is the audio and to get better shots. I would change the audio because it breaks up the scene instead of making it flow nicely and I would change the shots to be more visually pleasing, like having a closer shot so the background is blurred.

Horror & Thriller movie research: Trailers.

1. 47 Meters Down

Notes on the trailer:

•  The trailers starts off with two girls going on holiday. This leads the audience into a false sense of security before jump scaring them.
• The trailers has a realistic portrayal of things which makes it even scarier as the audience believe it could happen to them.
• "Its going to be the best vacation ever" leads a false sense of security because it ends up being the worst vacation ever. 
• Tense atmospheric music. This puts the audience on edge making them easier to scare and *kind of* manipulate.

     2. Til Death Do Us Part

Notes on the trailer:

• Trailer starts off with a happy married couple. This gives the audience a feeling of sadness as they know that things are about to go down hill.
• The trailers shows that one thing can completely change a person or bring out their true self. This gives the audience a subconscious distrust for people momentarily making them questions their friends and family. It gets into their mind.
• The trailer starts of bright, colourful and well lit but as you get further into the trailer the lighting dims.
• There is tense atmospheric music.
• The editing isn't smooth which builds on the fear and unease

     3. Wish upon

Notes on the trailer:

• Lullaby music. This is a sadistic way to scare the audience as lullabies imply innocence and purity but the audience know that its not innocent as its a horror movie. Slowed down, a lullaby creates tension and puts the audience on edge which is why a lot of directors slow down lullaby.
• Edit of action syncs with the turning of the key sound effect as the whole film is based on the mysterious musical box that can grant wishes.
• The whole trailer is like a music box, the key sounds, the reversing because in order for a music box to work, you have to turn the key the opposite way.
• A loud and chaotic trailer.

    4. Friend Request

Notes on the trailer:

• Starts off happy with the protagonist celebrating with friends. Bright lighting, nothing is hidden. When it starts to get scary, the rest of the trailer is mainly dark/ has dim lighting.
• When the horror starts, the editing becomes quite chaotic and the audio is loud.
• The main thing you hear is screaming, this scares the audience as screaming has negative and fearful connotations 

     5. Annabelle creation

Notes on the trailer:

• The first shot is an establishing shot with the only sound being crickets. This shows they are alone in the middle of nowhere. A common fear that people have is being alone. The trailer plays on peoples fears.
• The next thing you hear is a child humming. Out of context this is innocent and sweet, but because the audience know that its a horror movie, there is a sinister feel to this.