Ben Brown created a parody horror film project titled "How to Survive a Slasher Movie" for his college Final Major Project. He was initially attracted to the horror genre after watching many slasher films during quarantine in 2020. Through research on horror tropes, directors, and audiences, as well as 1980s-era public service announcements, Ben developed the idea to combine horror parody with a traditional PSA format. During production, Ben refined his ideas through improved planning, research, and incorporating feedback. While initially concerned it may be too difficult, Ben felt the completed project was a success due to its clear comedic horror-PSA concept and pragmatic approach to changes. He learned the importance of planning, research

1. FMP 2 Evaluation
By Ben Brown

2. Project Overview
In this section you will outline the aim of the project/task and give an
overview of the activates you undertook to complete it.

3. What was the
theme of your
project and what
attracted you to
it?
The theme of my project is slasher-horror, I got attracted to it because I watched many slasher
movies in 2020 thanks to quarantine where I was confined to my house and over the year, I
became very interested in horror movies and wanted to make my own. When I joined college, my
work always had a dark theme about it, but I was very intent on creating a horror movie for my
FMP ever since my first year, but I had a new idea about making a new horror movie: How to
Survive a Slasher Movie. I made the theme dark and scary with dark lighting and a lot of fake
blood with some realistic looking practical effects, but I also took inspiration from public service
announcements (PSAs) to make it have a more comedic theme by not taking itself seriously and
mocking the tropes of horror films. I watched many horror films in quarantine but because Covid-
19 stopped any new content from being made in the film industry, I watched older horror films.
During this time, I developed an interest in how horror movies were produced, and I wanted to
learn more about the history of the films and their directors. I was also intrigued by the scary
atmosphere of older PSAs from the 1980s and fascinated that many of their production
techniques were like horror movies. This research gave me the inspiration to create a parody of
horror film troupes with their outdated ideas with a traditional PSA format.

4. What research did you
undertake and how did
it help develop your
project?
I had to do a lot of research into the horror genre in
order to make a self-aware PSA horror movie. This
whole process involved three research topics: Horror
movies, PSAs and horror movie audiences. Fans of
horror are a big majority of film watchers, so I had to
use the internet to understand the preferences of
these horror film fans and what individual parts of
horror films were the most popular. PSAs came in later
in my research when I was interested to learn how
horror and safety videos were connected by studying
Central Office of Information videos from the 1980s. I
searched YouTube for older videos on how to survive
certain accidents and I studied them carefully to fuse
both my ideas together. The study of horror movies
was the biggest part of my research, I watched old
horror movies, read many books and internet articles
to understand the tropes, I also researched the setting
and backgrounds of horror directors. I studied several
directors and film franchises such as Halloween,
Nightmare on Elm Street, Friday the 13th and
directors such as Wes Craven. I mostly took the self-
aware horror franchise Scream as inspiration. All of
this developed my project by teaching me the
important parts of how to create a horror movie but
also to create the self-awareness and humor to make
the film a combination of a public service
announcement and parody of old fashioned and
outdated horror film troupes.

5. How did you develop and improve
your ideas throughout the project?
My plan for how to film and produce my movie changed several times during my project and
through researching and filming the project over several weeks, I learned many ways to develop and
improve my project. At the beginning of my project, I planned to film 9 to 10 horror film troupe
scenes and to spend a longer period filming the project than editing or making changes and re-
shotting scenes. I learned at the beginning of production due to the length of the film and
sequencing of the scenes that my film would be improved by limiting the number of scenes and
focusing on detailed editing and a longer opening and ending sequence. I also developed my
understanding of using sound effects, music, different camera angles and editing to create tension,
suspense and generate humor. For example, I had intended to shoot a scene of a "nerdy" character
being bashed to death with his computer however this scene didn’t work in the sequence of other
scenes, so I cut it from the production. Also, I re-edited the opening scene of the girl running
through the house to be a cut scene from the killer walking after her and her running in fear which
created a greater sense of terror and humor. My ideas also developed when I thought about how to
edit the film, I learned that I needed improved sound effects, music, and good transitions between
scenes. I faced limitation in terms of a limited number of actors and a lack of access to sophisticated
special effects, so I took these limitations and tried to turn them into a positive by developing the
focus of my film as a parody of horror film troupes and outdated ideas with less horror and more
humor in the scenes. I changed my film to produce a slogan ‘Stay Alert, Don't Get Hurt’ which made
the film more like traditional public service announcements and included this slogan in the film. I
altered the lighting and music in my film to create a greater sense of horror. The other major
improvements that I learned were to carefully plan my production schedule, add additional detail to
my storyboard and allow time to edit both my film and the script. I initially was falling behind
schedule in my filming and my storyboard was not detailed enough to include all camera angles and
shots. I took time to plan my production schedule and to complete a more detailed story board with
less scenes but more thought as to the camera shots. These changes allowed me to have a clear
schedule for filming and very clear conception of the sequence of my filming and what I wanted to
accomplish in each scene. I also learned that allowing enough time for editing is a key factor in the
success of a film and an essential element of making a high-quality production. I changed my plans
and spent much longer editing, adding music and cutting scenes which improved the final
production quality. I also learned to be flexible in terms of my approach and to learn lessons during
filming and production. The Final Major Project and process of planning my production has greatly
helped me for future projects learn how to take an idea and develop it into a high-quality film.

6. Personal Response
This section will explore your thoughts and feelings about the
experience. This will help gain a understand of how your personal
feelings may have impacted the final outcome.

7. How did you feel about the
project before you started?
I developed the idea of making a comedic survival
slasher movie at the start of 2022 and I was very
intent with that concept being my Final Major
Project for the next two years. When year two of
my college course started, I became disillusioned
with the idea of making a complex horror film as
my previous attempts at a horror film were not
successful due to the lack of access to special
effects and high number of actors needed. I didn’t
feel that I could make a high-quality horror film.
However, after researching horror films and seeing
the use of horror techniques in the Central Office
of Information 1980s public service
announcements as well as the original Scream film,
I was inspired to make a parody of horror film
troupes in the style of a PSA. I felt it was possible to
make a great film using the resources that I had
and after researching the production of horror film
parodies.

8. What do you think about your project
development and how did it help you to
refine your idea?
My project developed fundamentally over the
course of my planning and filming of the project
but through constant change and refining my
idea, it help me to film a much higher quality
production. By researching and experimenting
with different filming techniques. By
researching, filming and revising scenes, I was
able to change my original idea to create a less
lengthy production much more focused on
humor and poking fun at outdated ideas and
horror film troupes. By focusing on the project
development stage such as my storyboard,
script and filming schedule more closely, it
allowed me to have a much clearer plan and
view of how to film and edit the FMP. I learned
that planning ahead and being willing to revise
your idea can lead to success.

9. How did you feel when the project was
completed and why?
Prior to starting my project, I was concerned that it
would be too difficult to film and not match my original
artistic concept, however on completion of the project, I
feel that my project was successful and one of the best
films that I have made. I feel that it was successful due to
a clear concept of a horror film public service
announcement and within this concept trying to have
a pragmatic approach to make changes when things
didn’t work such as shots, sound effects, and editing.
Also, I feel that the project was successful as I took more
time to listen to feedback, plan and research my project. I
enjoyed working on my project and I learned valuable
lessons in how to manage a productions schedule, edit,
and make constant changes to improve the film.

10. Evaluating the project
In the previous sections, you have been commenting upon the project
development. The evaluation may include some similar information, but it will
also include critical comment. An evaluation must include information about
the good and bad points of the project, and it is important to be honest.
Finally, you should make a judgment about the effectiveness of the success of
the project

11. What were the good points
about the project and what did
you learn from them?
1. Camera shots: It was very hard to accomplish the
cinematography but after extensive editing I was able to create
a tense and scary atmosphere thanks to well edited camera
shots like the girl running away from the killer in the opening. I
learned the importance of camera work from this project and
that it can create the atmosphere you want to make, and it can
be very effective.
2. Practical Gore Effects: Even though the effects were messy
and got everywhere, the practical effects perfectly resembled
the over-the-top gruesome deaths a victim gets in a
horror/slasher movie. I learned that having a prosthetic wound
matters because it’s more effective and believable than fake
blood or any blood at all for that matter.
3. Humor: Due to many of my movies ending in unintentional
comedy I made this project to not take itself seriously and be
funny for example by getting my dad to dress up as every
character (mostly females) mocking the horror/slasher outdated
stereotypes. I learned that none of my projects should take
themselves too seriously, to be willing to change your original
idea when needed and that a parody can be a powerful form of
expression to challenge existing idea and attitudes.

12. What challenges did you face and
how did you respond to them?
1. Cast/Crew: My cast/crew was only limited to me and my parents, me and my
dad had to constantly play the same characters and we all had to juggle the
other parts of filming (make-up, filming, etc). I responded to this problem by
making an organized time-table/schedule to assign and plan specific tasks
during the duration of the production.
2. Lighting: Creating a dark atmosphere was key to get the scarier side of the
project across to the audience but we always had to film in the day or the
evening when it wasn’t very dark and darkness filters were limited to make
everything look darker. I responded to this problem by filming most of the
scenes with the location’s lights turned off, I also found the best filter I could
to make everything look darker and did what I could to film dark scenes at
the right time of day even though it was difficult.
3. Location: The location was always a difficult part of my project because I was
trying to find a house on its own to create the illusion of my film taking place
in an isolated location, but there were few locations to achieve this and even
fewer places with isolated looking interiors. I responded to this problem by
searching York for the most isolated looking house in the city, and after a
long search, I found one close to my house which made the perfect
establishing shot, and I decided to use my house as the interior but use a
variety of cameras shots to create tension.

13. How would you rate
the final piece?
I would rate my final piece as very good
as it had a very clear and novel concept
of a horror film public service
announcment, it was well edited and
achieved the aim of making a humorous
horror PSA of horror film troupes. I feel
the background research, planning and
editing of the film were very good and
that it was very funny. There are areas
to improve such as the lighting, the
need for more sophisticated special
effects and some sounds effects
however these are areas that I can
learn from and improve for my future
projects. Overall, the film was well
received when shown at the college
and I feel the final production was very
good and well executed given my
limited resources.

14. How well did your project apply
the characteristics and
conventions of the medium you
worked in?
The project applied the conventions of my medium well as I
created the gory and dark setting of a horror/slasher movie to
the best of my ability with the dark but old setting of PSAs in a
humorous way. The film parodied horror film troupes in a self-
aware and comical way. I used a darkness filter on iMovie to
create a scary atmosphere were everything seemed like it was
at night in an isolated location, and I had convincing brutal
practical gore effects to look like the deaths of horror/slasher
movies. I recaptured the accuracy of the over-the-top danger
in horror/slasher movies by having a stern narrator with
1970s/80s looking title cards and showing rule breakers
making bad decisions and being killed in violent ways. I also
used the PSA convention of an easy to remember slogan "Stay
Alter, Don't Get Hurt" and a variety of camera angles and
scenes to replicate the typical PSA. I feel my project
successfully applied the conventions and characteristics of this
film medium and my original idea for the project.

15. If you were making a similar
project in the future, what would
you do differently?
For a similar project in the future, I would work hard to
use the correct lighting in terms of using light filters and
filming at certain times of day to achieve the best
atmosphere in the film. Also, from the beginning of the
project, I would carefully plan my storyboard and
document the camera shots in detail as I had to revise my
storyboard and add detail. I would also allocate a large
amount of time to editing the film which I did in this film
after my initial filming. I would seek to get access to more
actors and sophisticated special effects through the
college or local productions companies.