Clips From Other Films (Inspiration For My Short Film)

Below are the trailers of two of the films I am looking at for inspiration within my film, both visually and technically. I will be adapting some of the camera angles and shots from these films, and introducing some of my own to create a more original film, whilst still trying to maintain the same style and 'vibe' created by the clips below. Both of them also represent the same sub-category of horror/thriller I wish to recreate, in that the film is more psychological, subtle, and paranormal as opposed to violent and in-your-face gory, which I find that, whilst it is shocking and disturbing, does not unnerve the audience as effectively as 'haunting thriller' films seem to do.

Below is the trailer for 'Paranormal Activity'.

Below is the trailer for 'The Blair Witch Project'.

I will focus on both of these films heavily for inspiration as they use techniques which I wish to recreate within my short film, the most notable and obvious being that they both use handheld cameras to portray character's points of view. Whilst my film will use this technique to establish what the main characters are seeing through their handheld camera, I am hoping to make my film somewhat more unique and original by introducing still cameras into the scene as well, to create a mixture of handheld and still shots. This is done to establish the scene as well as see things that the character's POV cameras may not have noticed, creating tension as the audience may know something that the main characters do not.

Predicted Target Audience

The target audience for my media product will be approximately 15-25. Because of the content being moderately unnerving because of the horror/thriller aspect, my film product would be rated 15 for safety.
Because of the main characters being portrayed as teenagers, it is likely that the majority of the target audience will be teenagers and young adults. This is also a quite likely audience age as the horror/thriller genre typically appeals to younger ages as opposed to more mature audiences, who may prefer films of a much higher culture or maturity.

Film Titles

Below are the titles from the films that my media project was influenced by, 'Paranormal Activity' and 'The Blair Witch Project'. Both have black backgrounds and use text in relatively bright colours to contrast with this. Both of the titles are in capital letters, probably because capitals seem more urgent and eye-catching to the audience. Both of the titles have an eerie sort of 'glow' effect to them, adding to and hinting at the thriller/supernatural themes within the movies.

 Here I have created some titles using the working title for my media project 'Entity'. They show major similarities to the above films used for inspiration in that I have used all capital letters, a variation between red and white text, a slight 'glowy' effect (though mine are more similar to the subtle glow effect in the 'Paranormal Activity' title as opposed to the less subtle glow used in 'The Blair Witch Project' title.


I also asked a few of my classmates which title they thought was the most effective considering the context of my short film.

         

    < One of my friends told me that both the red and the white version of this font was professional-looking, but perhaps too plain for a thriller/horror film.

< Three of my classmates said that this was the most effective, one of them saying that 'the text looks slightly blurry and that makes me wonder about the film,' which is the effect I wished to achieve with this film, whilst another said that this title reminded him of the title of another horror film, 'Insidious', and that the red colour effectively portrays a horror film.




 






< One of my classmates said that the white colour was 'nice, but looks more appropriate for an action film as opposed to a horror film, which is portrayed better with the red font'.

After taking into consideration the feedback I got on my titles, I will use the one that the most people agreed was the most effective considering my film content (shown below).

Working titles

The title of the film is very important, as it not only gives a hint as to what the film is about, but it can single-handedly establish the genre without even a movie poster, and also pique the interest of the audience before they have even watched the film.

Because my film is supernatural and thriller-esque, I wanted potential titles to reflect this, but I also want them to be short, snappy, one-word titles. I went to www.thesaurus.com and typed in the word 'paranormal' to see if I could potentially use any synonyms as a film title.

From this, I found a few words that I could use for the film title:

• Transcendental
• Spectral
• Unearthly

I also thought of a few words that relate to the genre and context of my film, such as:

• Lurid (shocking, gruesome)
• Funereal (bleak, depressing)
• Sepulchral (gloomy, horrifying)
• Captive
• Entity

I have decided from this that the most likely titles I will use for my film are either 'Captive' or 'Entity' because they both convey a sense of fear and mystery without being overly-complicated words that the audience may not understand.

Short film synopsis

In my short film, two teenagers take a video camera into a derelict and dilapidated building that is rumoured to be haunted, hoping to entertain themselves by getting scared. Once inside, someone - or something - locks the door behind them, and unexplained and terrifying things start to happen to them. Once they realise that there is no way out of the room, the film becomes a desperate struggle, not only to escape - but to survive.


Judging from the above synopsis, the film should be appealing to people because horror/thriller are such widely enjoyed genres of film. Also the main characters are teenagers, which is probably a large percentage of the audience of this film so they will relate to these characters, making the film more unsettling for them, which is what I want to achieve from this short film.
Because of the use of handheld video cameras, the film is more realistic and this, in turn, also makes it a more marketably 'scary' film for the audience.

Initial idea for film

From creating my mind-map (below) I have a vague idea of the content of my first short film I will be creating shortly. 

My short film will:

• Be a horror, particularly focusing on the thriller and supernatural aspects of the genre as opposed to gore and violence.
• Be filmed with a mixture of handheld and still camera shots (handheld camera to portray the character's POV and still camera to establish the environment and events in the film that perhaps the characters POV would not see.)
• Be influenced by and filmed similar to the style of films such as Paranormal Activity, The Blair Witch Project, and reality shows such as Ghost Hunters and Most Haunted, all of which use handheld cameras to establish POV and all have a sense of realism within the thriller/horror genre.
• Use very little non-diegetic soundtrack to maintain this realism I wish to establish within my film. What little non-diegetic sound I use will probably be to create tension and unnerve the audience.
• Be primarily filmed in a friends' basement as this setting requires little dressing to achieve the desired effect, although I will have to be careful with lighting, as since there is no natural light down there I will have to create my own, but I do not want to use too much lighting as aesthetically I want the scene to still be somewhat dark to maintain the 'dark thriller' aspect of my short film.

Mind-map of initial ideas for film

Above is a mind-map detailing the initial ideas I had for my film.