Media coursework 2015

1. Horror Movie Pitch
Group Members: Tsykeira, Tami, Patrick
Chosen Genre: Supernatural Horror
Title of Film: ‘Wicca’ (pagan, witchcraft religion), ‘The Occult’, ‘The Hidden’
(hidden derives from the translation of the Latin word ‘occultus’)
Outline of Ideas:
Basic Plot:
Teenage protagonist, Laura(??) and her friend, Amy(??) wander through a
graveyard (graveyard is known to have mysterious happenings such as people
going missing and ‘cult activities’) in pursuit of cheap thrills only to find
themselves being abducted by a cult, neither of them knowing they are to be
used in an attempt to summon an evil and reckoning spirit. Waking up to her bed
the next morning and with no recollections of the night before, she just shrugs it
off as a bad dream. But upon the sudden disappearance of Jane, the fresh cuts on
her body and the haunting visions of a mysterious girl, Laura tries to find
answers unknowing to the horrors coming her way
Tagline of film:
Keep your friends close and your enemies closer
She I will tear you apart
What type of characterization will you have?
Main Character Characterisations
Main character (girl) – Gets possessed; Victim complex; has issues with
confidence and her place in the group; outsider
Dead girl (Amy??) – “oblivious”; liked in the group; spontaneous and out
going; tries to make protagonist feel more welcome into the group which
is why she takes her to the graveyard as some sort of ‘bonding experience’
Friend 1 – Guy; friendly, ‘heroic’; has feelings for protagonist which is why
he might be defending her while the others accuse her for killing Amy
Friend 2 – Girl; unbiased, quiet (why she cannot express her opinions to
the group); tries to pull the group together
Friend 3 – Girl; accuses protagonist of killing Amy; gossips; bitchy;
opinionated; stubborn and demanding; has a relationship with Friend 4;
dominates relationship

2. Friend 4 – Guy; accuses protagonist of killing Amy; aggressive;
manipulated by Friend 3; is instigated more when she is killed; follower-
type character
Minor Roles
“Occult Detective” – geeky, bewildered
Disciples in the cult
News reporters
Ghost (discussable – her personality is not precisely shown in the trailer
other than the fact that she is malicious)
Describe Mise En Scene to be used or any visual motifs?
We will be using Mise En Scene that is very typical of a horror movie such as
 Blood and other graphic images,
 Gothic imagery such as old statues, Victorian houses (but we may limit it
as we would like the movie trailer to be in a modern setting
 Low-Key lighting
 Knives
 Isolated places such as graveyards, derelict buildings/rooms
As the story of the movie revolves around the ideas of satanic cults and the
occult, there may be some unique or rarely seen Mise-En-Scene and visual motifs
such as
 Pentagrams
 Rituals
What are your ideas about Cinematography/photography?
Collectively as a group, we have been exposed to many horror movies (and
trailers), and we have identified a couple of shots and cinematography
techniques that we may implement into our trailer
We can include close-ups of very grotesque and shocking images, to creep the
audience out and also create tension in the form of fear of what might come up
next.
During the shootings of the scenes, we might change the colour, or manipulate
the exposure and aperture settings to make the footages and flashes photos that
we may include into the trailer to create an atmosphere that is unique to the
trailer (film).
We will also use a combination of whip pans and the manipulation of depth of
field which is seen in many trailers to deliver jumpscares.

3. Conventions of trailers/posters/film mags you plan to reinforce or
reinvent?
Trailer; We plan on conforming to majority of horror movie trailer conventions
such as the constant screaming, silences, discordant sounds and flashbacks. This
will be achieved through a variety of mise-en-scene, editing skills and actors
performance. By conforming to the stereotypical horror trailers, it makes the
genre of the trailer easier to identify with the audience as the right individuals
will be targeted. In addition, it prevents confusion. Horror films are typically
watched by thrill-seekers, horror trailers aim to attract that target audience by
creating trailers that get the heart racing through tension and jumpscares within
the trailer. Successful horror movies also have compelling stories in which in
their trailers, provide insights of the story to the audience but keeps some
ambiguity to it, keeping the story vague and mysterious which can make
audiences want to watch the film to find out the story. Our plot is enough to be
an interesting storyline however we shall try to keep the story as ambiguous yet
alluring in our trailer.
Poster; When researching horror posters, we discovered majority of them use
the colour black. This is a very symbolic colour as the colour has very sinister
connotations to it. Also some film posters have very creepy imagery or symbols,
which relate to the plot and its characters. We shall try to conform to these given
ideas in order for it to identify as a horror movie but we may also combine ideas
from posters from mystery genre films
What resources will you need? (Include actors, props, costumes and
settings)
 7-8 actors
 Sharp objects; knives, saws etc.
 Hoods and cloaks for the cult seen in the graveyard
 Abney Cemetery (or Highgate Cemetary / West Brompton Cemetery)
 Greenwich Foot Tunnels
 Hunterian Museum
 Payne’s Wharf
Justification of ideas in relation to genre and recognizable film influences,
also what is your Unique Selling Point:
Our group watched a number of horror movies, in order to get an idea of the
direction in which we wanted our film to go. Three films that influenced our
storyline the most were: Devils Due, Oculus, and Insidious. We chose to look at
these 3 films as a baseline for our own film, because these films were very
successful. We got some ideas from Devils Due about Occult and Satanic worship
to integrate into our story, mise-en-scene and symbolism. Our trailer will also be
influenced by Oculus with the idea of malefic visions that our protagonist

4. experiences. And lastly our trailer is influenced by Insidious in the style of their
trailer. Horror film trailers usually start slow, where the exposition of the film is
slowly showed (without giving too much) and build up to a climatic end,
however Insidious makes the pace of their trailers fluctuate going slow and fast
consistently making their audience tense, and also creates an unsettling
atmosphere all throughout the trailer. We might include twisted versions of
nursery rhymes to create a creepy and unsettling atmosphere. This idea is taken
from games such as Silent Hill and Dead Space and several film trailers such as
some versions of Insidious. Our unique selling point is that our horror film’s plot
is based around ideas of an occult as there are not many horror movies whereby
a cult is used.