The document summarizes primary research conducted through an online survey asking questions about film preferences and viewing habits. The key findings were that action was the most popular genre, horror was less popular but for understandable reasons, and most people watch 1-3 films per week via streaming services. This research will help target a younger audience for the film as they find films by peers most relatable. The film aims to create suspense through imagination like Jaws rather than rely solely on shock, aiming for a 12A certification. Further research will explore camera techniques, editing, sound, and story influences from films like Don't Breathe to build tension without heavy gore.

1. STAGE 2
RESEARCH +
EXPERIMENTS
Your name here

2. The primary research I conducted was a survey using a specialised website. I was able to accumulate the data I
received and interpret it easily. I asked questions that would help the development of my film, such as the
platform on which most people watch films and their favourite genre.
The feedback I received was surprising, with most results coming back stating that ‘action’ was their favourite
genre. Horror was very far down the list but this was not disheartening at all. There were two explanations for
this low result. Either that horror films had become so well done that they were unwatchable or that horror was a
genre that had been done to death and now was boring. These two options were not discouraging in the
slightest.
I also found that most people watched between 1-3 films a week via the means of streaming. This would mean

3.  You MUST conduct a questionnaire/survey/interview or a combination of all three.
Summarise this and add in any other primary research you feel is appropriate
Favourite genre?
Thriller - 1
Comedy - 4
Action - 7
Fantasy - 2
Horror - 2
Sci-Fi -1
Romance - 3
What is your age?
What is your gender?
How many films on average do you watch a week?
What platform do you watch them on?

4. The Blair Witch Project
In 1999 The Blair Witch Project was released in
cinemas. It was a movie born from the idea that non-
fictional documentaries on paranormal activities were
actually scarier than horror films. Students at a
university created the film and judging by the reviews,
it was a success.
Looking at the demographics from IMDb the majority of
the audience were males between the ages of 30-44.
This does not mean that it was not highly rated by a
younger audience, or even an older audience.
Looking at the statistics from Rotten Tomatoes the
average rating has a very similar result of 7.7, IMDb’s
being 6.4.
The Consensus from Rotten Tomatoes sums up the
main aspect of the film that made it so effective, that
not showing the monster or creature can be so much
scarier than showing it.

5. Jaws
Jaws was released in 1975 and soon became one of
the most popular films ever made. Its genius came
from the innovative animatronic technology and the
amazing score.
The ratings from IMDb show that the majority of the
ratings come from males between the ages of 30-44,
the same as The Blair Witch Project. The average
rating is 8.0, 1.2 lower than the rating on Rotten
Tomatoes.
Although many under the age of 18 have not rated the
film it is suitable for those age 12 and above. This was
something that was achieved by Spielberg having to
remove certain scenes that were particularly grueling.
Like The Blair Witch Project, the film, though not
intentional, tends to stray away from showing the shark
all the time. Faults with the robotic head and body
meant that the film used other techniques to build
suspense. At one point barrels are harpooned to the
shark in an attempt to keep it near the surface, the
presence of these barrels keeps the film moving while
not fully showing the shark.

6. Alien: Covenant
Having been released early 2017, Alien: Covenant is a
recent addition to the horror/thriller genres. Being part
of a respected saga dating back to the 70s it is judged
in different ways to the other films.
IMDb’s average rating is a 6.5 with the primary
demographic being exactly the same. This, however,
may be for a different reason, being that many of the
audience may have seen the first Alien in cinemas.
Reviews were very mixed for this film but mainly due to
the legacy that it failed to live up to in some eyes.
Rotten Tomatoes described it perfectly as being a
good horror film but not an important part of the
franchise.
The main aspect of the film was the terrifying threat of
the apex predator, the Xenomorph, that has been the
focus of every Alien film. The sound design of the alien
and the horrific scenarios that the characters find
themselves in fuels the film and rarely lets the
audience rest.

7.  For this you should summarise your primary and secondary research, through this
you should then be able to produce an audience outline that you intend to target.
For this you could also produce an audience profile.
Having looked at three different horror/thriller films that have collectively received a mix of results. I am fond of the
idea that a younger audience may be able to see the film in terms of gore or violence. This said the certification of
films takes into account the amount of stress and distress that a movie may cause, an aspect I hope to
incorporate. Jaws did a good job of keeping the audience terrified and in suspense while keeping it suitable for a
relatively young audience.
Looking at the demographics of the films, the majority of the audience seems to be males between 30-44, however
this may be just the demographic of those reviewing it online. All of the films appealed to a younger audience than
what the websites showed, specifically Alien: Covenant which came across heavily as a film for teenagers. This
may have been partly due to its 15 age rating or the fact that it had a sci-fi theme.
My own film will not be set in an future civilisation but it mainly appeal to a younger audience due to the actors
starring in it. Everyone seen in the film will be peers and friends, all having similar ages to myself, so those most
relatable will be teenagers and young adults. This is not to say that older audiences will not find it entertaining but
those my age will find it most relevant.

8. All films produced and intended to be released in a cinema in the UK must be classified by the BBFC, the British
Board of Film Classification.
Films classified as Universal tend to stray away from drug use and sexual content. They skim over violence that
is not cartoon or overly dramatic. Discrimination is not allowed unless shown to be condemned.
The Parental Guidance certificate is slightly more lenient. It is targeted to not unsettle a child of around the age
of eight. It stresses the important of a lack of behaviour that might be imitated, along with a tendency to have
mild but infrequent language. Discrimination is allowed in a historical context or if it appears as unappealing to
young children, the same goes for violence.
If the film is rated a 12 it must condemn anti-social behaviour such as drug usage or discrimination but can show
it. Instructional depictions of drug use is not allowed. Sexual content is allowed as long as it is discreet. Violence
is allowed if justified by the context but must not focus heavily on blood or injury.
A 15 can contain most of the categories, sex, drugs, violence as long as it does not endorse any action taken
involving any of these subjects. Threats and violence must not be advertised as acceptable. Drugs must not
been shown in the same way or any instructional depiction of consumption.
An 18 can shown most of these subjects in any light, apart from those seemingly educating the viewers on sex.
As I stated before my film will not be as gory or horrific as recent horror films that seem to only rely on the shock
factor to capture their audience. I wish to create something similar to Jaws in the way that it heavily relies on the
audience’s imagination to create suspense and tension. This may influence the certification as it takes into
account the whole horror aspect, but I am certain that it will not be unsuitable for those above the age of 12.

9.  Research potential production techniques you might want to use
or feel would be most appropriate – these can be related to
camera, editing, story, sound, etc
 You should look at a minimum of 3 related products in your
research.
 You should collect clips/still images/how to guides/etc that might
help you. When watching scenes from films, etc you could also
ask potential target audience what they think.
 You will need to add extra slides!
 With each technique you should assess whether you can use it or
how you might employ or why you may want to disregard it
completely

10. There is a particular scene in the horror thriller film, Don’t Breathe, that stands out in my mind for its cinematic innovation.
The film centres around a group of burglars who decided to invade the home of a seemingly helpless blind man. During one
sequence the man turns off the lights in the house, giving him an advantage over the now equally blind intruders. Instead of
the film showing complete darkness or showing the action in a dimmed level of light, the entire sequence is recorded with
infrared cameras.
The image shows the actors and their surroundings in a ghostly white colour, this is already unsettling as it is so abnormal.
In addition to this the camera’s range is significantly shortened, meaning that things that are in the distance are not shown.
The film utilises this to create suspense and scares. The old man is shown to suddenly lurch out of the darkness due to this
which is a very powerful technique in a horror film.
The picture returns to colour briefly as the thermal imagery style of camera is punctuated by occasional gunshots fired by
the old man. The illuminates the scene for a split second, not long enough for any details to be shown apart from the
panicked sprints of the characters.
The music is very powerful in this scene. It is very intense yet does not drown out the noises made by the characters, which
is quintessential to the sequence. Ambient noises of people breathing and knocking into things are painfully audible as the
tension rises and the man becomes closer and closer to finding them.
At one part the music completely stops as one characters fumbles through the darkness and the outline of the man
appears. The character almost bumps into him before he fires at the other intruder, alerting the first to the mistake they
almost made.
This camera effect is something that would be interesting to incorporate into my own film. Whether it be a practical or digital
effect, the outcome is the same, throwing the image into a world of the whites and greys and turning the distance into
complete darkness.

11. A scene in The Woman in Black stands out for as very effective in my mind due to its camera work and audio. In the scene
the main character, Arthur Kipps investigates a noise coming from the upstairs of the house containing legal documents
needed by his estate agency. The noise becomes apparent as a rocking chair coming from inside a locked room.
This scene is so effective because at this point in time no real threat has been shown to Kipps in the story. He has been
warned of Eel Marsh House but the audience has not been shown an enemy to direct their fear towards. Long shots are
used to great effect as they show the size of the corridor that Kipps has to travel up and down as he attempts to open the
door. In addition to this medium and close-ups dominate the screen, showing Kipps’ emotions as he approaches. A long
shot is used at the end of the scene, showing the door ajar, a very unsettling image.
The Foley work in this particular scene is very well done, with the noise not being apparent as first and Kipps’ reaction
alerting the audience to some sort of disturbance. The noise becomes recognisable and as the character approaches it
becomes faster and more intense. The tension is built upon the sound design and the tempo of the rocking. Only until the
character retreats to find a hatchet does the music get introduced in the scene. A short blast from a trombone or trumpet is
used as Kipps climbs the stairs for the second time. This particular instrument is used frequently in similar films due to its
unsettling sound.
The whole scene is orchestrated in such a way that it avoids clichés and habits of previous horror films. The long shots of
the corridor makes the audience feel vulnerable and especially like they will be jump-scared by something in the shadows.
Instead of Kipps having to axe down the door, it is shown open as he climbs onto the landing again. The rocking chair noise
is expected to stop as his presence is noted, but it continues throughout, even speeding up at one point.
This avoidance of horror film traditions makes the scene creepy as it does not go in the way that it is expected. The audio
aspect of the scene is something that I will definitely try to incorporate into my own film as it done so well.

12. An effective scene that demonstrates effectively the use of creepy imagery is one in the film, Annabelle. One scene depicts
an encounter with a demon in the basement of an apartment building. The scene is intriguing as it uses a combination of
long shots and genuinely scary scenarios.
The general gist of the scene is that a woman comes across a pram with a baby crying inside, upon investigating a
shriveled and blackened hand grabs her. She sees a tall figure and she bolts it to the lift. The scene employs a number of
techniques to keep the tension building and to stop it from becoming boring. One of these techniques is that the scene is
deliberately ambiguous. The demon figure is only glimpsed once in the entire time that the woman spends in the basement.
Because of this the audience has only one view of the demon and for the rest of the scene that memory is what their fear is
targeted towards.
The film also lures the audience into a false sense of security. Once the woman spots the demonic figure, standing at an
unnaturally tall height, she dashes off the to the lift. The lights turn off one by one, with the darkness following her. She
reaches the lift and the audience assumes that she is safe from the demon. The lift however remains at that level though,
even after multiple attempts to make it ascend. With each opening of the door the audience braces for another reveal of the
demon, but none is shown. As the scene progresses the tension rises until the woman is forced to run into the darkness
and into the stairwell.
During this the film uses a continuous shot from inside the lift, showing multiple times that the door opens and even the
lights inside flickering. This use of unedited footage keeps the tension going in different manner. The audience is not
relieved through the comfort of cuts.
The audio of this scene enhances the visuals. The wailing noise coming from the pram very well engineered as although it
does not sound any different from a regular cry, it has a terrifying echo added to it that makes anyone cringe. The noise of
the demon creature is a low, rumbling growl that appears to be used many times in the scene, even incorporated into the
rattle of the lift door opening and closing.
This use of ambiguity is something that I would very much like to have in my own film. It is much more effective for the
audience to not see what the threat to the character is. The sound design is again something that I will take into account.
One specific detail that will be something that will feature in my own film is the use of continuous shots as they show raw,
unedited footage.

13. EXPERIMENTS
Camera/Editing/Audio Experiments
Be prepared to add extra slides

14. Out of all tasks filming was the one that I was most in need of experimenting with. I knew that trying out different angles and
techniques would be good practice for the actual short film. Sticking to the shot list was challenging as specific requirements
and needed to be met.
We began filming the exterior of the building for the Extreme Long Shot, or Establishing Shot. This was done first as a
location for the actual filming had not been decided entirely yet. A variety of ELS were taken so that the perfect one could be
chosen later. Some were stable shots of the exterior of the building and some were pans and zooms. These were difficult to
perform manually, using a tripod, but was good practice.
We gave shooting the in the car park a trial. It was nearby to our previous filming location and would have been an
interesting setting. Multiples issues appeared in the first minutes of shooting there. A major issue was that voices echoed
throughout the entire structure, lowering the audio quality. I also forgot to manually change the ISO and aperture on the
camera, giving the scene a very dark image. This is something that I must remember for the filming of the actual film.
We moved to a stairwell very shortly after and although the audio quality didn't’t improve by much there was much better
lighting. We recorded all the dialogue with the microphone built into the camera which is why some of the conversation is
difficult to distinguish at times. The stairs were a perfect place to record without much disturbance from other people and
gave us a large area where the collision between the characters could be filmed.
Something that was noted when editing was that the scenes where the third character is running did not vary very much at
all. It is difficult to determine what is going on in the film due to this.
A number of techniques were put into practice. The 180˚ rule was followed and the dialogue looked smooth due to this. The
shot list was followed and the specific angles and shots were used.

15. From this experiment I have taken away a lot of valuable information. The most important is that a storyboard or a more
detailed shot list is needed. I learned that for the filming to be efficient a more coherent plan is needed.
In this filming experiment we decided to film within the college building but we had not pinpointed an exact location. This
meant we spent precious time trying to find a suitable location. Filming locations depend entirely on the amount of people in
the area when filming in the building and so finding a deserted area was a struggle.
Also things such as the additional scenes had not been planned at all, along with the dialogue. This was not essential to the
film but it slowed production down as we had to decide what the characters were saying.
The shot list was not to everyone’s taste as it was bizarre and clearly not something that would be made for the final product.
Things such as the camera movement and angles were experimented in the task, though most were not included in the final
draft. For the ELS I tried different ways of showing the exterior of the building, most of them looking respectable and
something that I would happily carry over to my final product.
I have learned a lot about audio during these experiments and have noted that sound quality is important. Although there will
be no dialogue in the final product, having loud and echoing environments is not something that is desirable.

16. The editing process was a much more relaxed part of the experimenting. Having previously used the software and gotten to
know the way it works it was an easier task.
A few problems quickly arose when it came to editing. The main one being that we did not have enough footage to create the
short film we had intended to make. Certain scenes did not last as long as we had anticipated and others were completely
irrelevant. As I stated in the filming process the scenes involving one of the characters running were confusing as they did
not differ from where the dialogue was taking place. I flipped one of the shots to give it some variation from the others, but
ultimately it was the same shot repeated several times.
The audio quality suffered due to our filming location. The voices echoed and were not easily distinguishable from footsteps
and other ambient noises that were audible. The close-up shots of conversation were much better than the long and medium
shots, though they still were not perfect, in terms of sound quality.
Some parts of the editing process helped fix scenes that involved things such as pauses in actions and dialogue that was
spoken too quickly. The editing fixed these problems and made them seamless.

17. Having learned about the different ways of editing and the styles of cutting between scenes editing will be something that
I will look forward to in the final product.
I tried experiment with things such as L-Cuts. This was used to transition between the establishing shot and the first
scene of the short film. This was the first time I had experimented with this style of editing and it was seemingly
successful. I also used quick cuts in the parts leading up to the collision to emphasise the speed that the character was
travelling and the time until the impact.
Things such as the 180 degree rule were experimented with and turned out extremely well. All dialogue was spoken line
after line by each person and then the camera moved to capture every line by another. This was something that I had
not tried before but it worked very well. It was good to practice as to try it for the first time in my final product would not
be comforting.
A pattern that is emerging when I begin to edit is that I don’t have enough footage. This is more of a problem when it
comes to filming, but it directly affect post-production. In future I need to make sure that I have more than enough
footage as ideas that I once had while filming may not work and have to try a different way of editing. New ideas may
come when editing and I regret getting only just enough footage every time. Something I need to keep in mind when it
comes to the final production is that a sufficient amount of footage in not sufficient enough.

18. The Foley task was the hardest out of all the three, but it was essential to the production of our actual film.
The task was based around creating all the sound for a short scene in Shaun of the Dead. All the audio was recorded by
ourselves using microphones. We replicated the actions in the film, such as the walking, the running and the ambient noises
that could be heard.
Some noises worked extremely well, whereas some failed due to the location of the source and poor surroundings. The
microphones tended to pick up the environment rather than the thing we were trying to record, leaving us with clips such as
a whole café of talking rather than a rattling of cans on a fridge shelf.
In addition to this, I was not adept enough to manipulate the sound in post-production. Some clips would have been usable,
after having treated them with the software, but not being familiar enough with the program I could not use some recordings
at all. Some clips were ruined by a slight gust of wind or an echo of a voice, that may have been corrected had I been better
with the software.

19. The audio aspect was something that I had done before. I think I handled the task well for a first time experience and I
feel mostly comfortable with the overall nature of the task.
As I stated before, during the filming process audio was not a concern and this resulted in the sound being of very low
quality. This is something that I will be very aware of in my final product, as even during the Foley task things such as the
wind ruined a lot of the recordings.
The task has given me a useful insight into how sound is recorded and implemented into films. These skills can be
transferred into my own production.
A problem I noted before was that wind and other environmental noises kept ruining recordings. I stated that I was not
adept enough to remove these errors digitally, but there are other ways of stopping this problem. When we went to
record the audio during the Foley task we brought a microphone, a microphone without any wind protection. The air was
just hitting the mic and causing these issues, but had we taken a foam covering this could have been avoided entirely.
This is something that I will prepare myself for during my production of my actual film as disturbances in audio ruins one
of the two main sense used when watching a movie.

20.  List all the potential constraints that might affect or limit your production, you
should consider issues from each of these categories:
 Time/Personnel/Cost/Technical/Location/Organisational
One aspect of filming that will definitely be a constraint is time. The film will be have to be shot in a whole
day preferably due to the radically changing weather at this time of year. There are to be no continuity errors,
such as wet ground, snow or even the amount of daylight, things that vary from day to day.
Personnel and cost will be things that I don’t need to work around. The film is to be very grounded and
realistic in a sense. There will be no cost on props and costumes as these are things that are already owned
by the individuals taking part in the film.
The location is something has to be specific, as my film will revolve around the exploration of a woodland, it
will take place there. It does not have to be a specific woodland, which is convenient as there is a large
amount in the surrounding area.

21. Time will be a constraint on production. Although I do not need to film anything, provided I have all the
footage needed, it will still take a large amount of time to edit it into a coherent film. This will take a large
percentage of the time spent on this project. However, if footage is missing or cannot be inserted coherently
into the film it may have to be reshot. If this was the case it would cause many problems as there would be
many continuity errors, such as weather, time of year and environmental factors.
There will be no cost to production but organisation will be a constraint. I will need to organise all of my work
before I start to edit it together, locating files and compiling them into one place.