This is my annotation of my first designs of characters for my short horror film.

1. This design of character does hold some gothic
traits such as the mouse skull on the character’s
head however, some may associate him for a fantasy
character, due to the characters wings and how he is
dressed. As my target audience is 12, the aesthetic
needs to be clear to interoperate and be easy to
understand.Therefore, upon development I must
use clear horror codes and conventions to apply to
my aesthetic, this way this ensures that I maintain an
obvious indication of the genre through my
aesthetics and characters that my target audience
will understand.
One of my main focuses of my characters was introducing a state
of realism and making sure that my characters would be able to
relate to my target audience; especially the protagonist of the film.
As my plot of my film introduces and explains rules, morals and
life lessons, it is important to introduce realistic standards within
my aesthetic, setting and characters.This helps the audience
understand that the situations and scenarios included within my
storyline can happen towards my audience members, making the
overall message of my film have more of an impact.Therefore my
characters are mainly based within the 12 age range rather than
adults and teachers, and are dressed similarly than some of the
audience, ensuring a strong connection between text and the target
audience.
After finding our target
audience of the age certificate
rated 12, I found that this
character may be too
inappropriate to be associated
with a school setting. Although
according to the British Board
of Film Classification, ‘There
may be nudity, but in a sexual
context it must be brief and
discreet’. I found that in a
school environment nudity of
characters is inappropriate and
may show the wrong message
about the school rules.
Therefore, although nudity and
overly sexualised female
characters is a key
characteristic portrayed in
many horror films, I not use
this character within my film.
Although, I find that the
contrast between the
characters uncommon and
unnatural skin colour is very
effective and the character’s
hair flows very well and gives
an effect as if underwater,
therefore I may consider her
under development to include
this character within the
swimming scene is she is
covered up enough. I will
also need to consider
introducing another key
convention of the horror
genre to introduce within
the aesthetic that will be
appropriate for the rated
12 certificate.
This design was inspired
with a wolf-like character,
often found in horror
classics such as ‘An
American Werewolf in
London’ and ‘The Wolf
Man’. Despite my target
audience possibly not
getting this reference, I also
considered parents
watching my short film, and
used this character as
nostalgia for an older
audience, who may
understand the reference.
As this character’s basis is
featured within another
horror film, I find its
monster features are easy to
associate within my film.
Overall I have decided that I will not
use the characters that can be
interoperated as fantasy characters
such as the ones below, as they do not
have a realistic interpretation of a
human, therefore making a strong
connection between audience and text,
however, I will focus and develop on
the more realistic children figures,
which will be easier to sculpt when
making my figures due to the lack of
strong detailing. Additionally, I find
that the story behind the characters
death which relates to the overall look
of the character is more effective on
the audience, not only as a backstory
but in development upon
identification of the horror genre.
Like the other characters that relate to the fantasy
genre, I also find that this character is associated
with this genre instead of horror. However, I find
that the facial expression of this character, holds a
gothic characteristic that is similar to those shown
within Tim Burton’s characters. I will later
develop some of my characters to contain some of
the characters features in order to create enigma
of characters facial features and body language.
I find these characters the easier to associate and
connect with, as they look the most normal, yet
due to the aesthetic linked with morals and the
characters death, still give an association to the
horror genre. For example, the character with the
eyepatch represents the lesson of ‘Don't run with
sticks’ and the women represents greed.These are
all results of bad morals and are effective
aesthetically towards my target audience.