Research for production (Final Draft)

Research into Four Similar
Horror Genre Films

By Tom Jolliffe

Wrong Turn (2003)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=naUUyD-_oPc&feature=player
Here’s a link to the trailer…

Information
 Six people find themselves trapped in the woods of West Virginia,
hunted down and individually tortured by cannibalistic mountain
men grossly disfigured through generations of in-breeding.

 The genre for this film is horror, thriller. This film is set in the
woods.

 The target audience for this film would be teenagers and young
adults because in this film there is a group of people aged around
20-30 which is around the same age of the target audience. Other
media interests would be other horror films that have groups of
people in such as Scream, The Blair Witch Project.

Information
 Director:
 Rob Schmidt
 Writer:
 Alan B. McElroy
 Cast includes:
 Desmond Harrington, Eliza Dushku, Jeremy
Sisto, Emmanuelle Chiriquí, Lindy Booth, Kevin
Zegers, Ted Clark

Information
 Box Office
 Budget:
 $10,000,000 (estimated)
 Opening Weekend:
 $5,161,498 (USA) (1 June 2003) (1615 Screens)
 Gross:
 $15,417,771 (USA) (21 September 2003)
 Production Co:
 Summit Entertainment, Constantin Film Production,
Media Cooperation One

Information
 Censorship Issues
 This film was rated 18 by the BBFC has it
contains strong bloody violence and horror with
a small amount of drug use.
 Ratings/Reviews
 Average Rating for this film is around 6 out of
10.
 The reviews state that this film is good but just
another rip off of a classic horror film
Deliverance (1972).

Audio Codes
 Analysis of Trailer
 The audio codes used in this trailer are very conventional for horror
trailers, with the use of non-diegetic sound of a high pitch noise
which you hear straight away at the beginning of the trailer. The
next thing you hear is the sound of a car crash which makes the
audience know that something bad is going to happen. There is
diegetic sound as the girl speaks and says „Somebody did this‟ the
audience know for this point that this isn‟t going to end well. Then
the high pitch noise increases as the trailer continues with a
screeching sound every time there is a fade. Half way through the
trailer the atmosphere changes and the tension is increased as the
high pitch noise is now mixed with a loud bass which connotes a
heart beat and this sound increases pace. As the trailer comes to
the end the heart beat sound quietens down and there is diegetic
sound of heavy breathing then the sound of an axe hitting and
cutting through something.

Visual Codes
 The mise-en-scene in the trailer „Wrong Turn‟ tries to make the
trailer look quite natural, almost realistic to the audience. The use
of lighting throughout the film is natural light because of the time of
day in which this film is set, which is afternoon, so there is a lot of
bright sunshine. This could be seen as unconventional as most
horror films are set at night with little or no lighting at all making it
hard for the audience to see what‟s going on. For example of
lighting in the mise-en-scene is then the characters find the
wooden shack and as they walk inside the audience can see rays
of sunshine coming through the sides and that there is a lower
level of light in this shack compared to outside, showing a binary
opposition of dark and light. They are using natural light to
detonate that they are normal people and trying to make it as
realistic as possible. The dress codes in this trailer again denotes a
sense of being normal by having casual clothes that are modern
and are seen as normal every day clothes that anyone would wear.

Narrative Codes
 Narrative codes play a huge part in horror trailers because they need to
make the audience feel scared and want them to watch the film without
giving too much away. The trailer shows main parts and the best bits of the
whole narrative to interest the audience. It is very conventional for trailers
to show clips that aren‟t actually in the film.
 The narrative for this trailer uses Todorov‟s theory. In this trailer it doesn‟t
start of as an equilibrium but as a disruption in which there is a car crash
and this is where we are first introduced to the main characters. The
characters then find an old wooden shack to try and find a phone. At this
point the audience hope this will help resolved the situation and make a
new equilibrium but in fact this turns into the recognition of disruption. The
trailer then finishes leaving the audience not knowing if the film finds a new
equilibrium. Many effects and editing are used in the trailer to build
suspense and add atmosphere and make it exciting. For example fade to
black is used at the beginning of the trailer between shots to build
suspense and show the location. The cuts in the trailer are very fast to
keep up with the fast pace of the music.

Action Codes
 There are many action codes in this trailer. Nearer
the end of the trailer more and more action codes are
shown which is very conventional. The action code of
the car crash right at the start of the trailer connotes
surprise, pain, confusion and being scared for your
life. The turning point in the trailer is when they go
into the shack and find out who lives there and this is
when the audience realise that they are in trouble.
After finding out who or what lives there this is when
there is an increase of action codes ranging from
being chased through a field and being thrown of a
cliff edge. All of this connotes being scared, not
knowing what‟s going to happen next and that you
might not be able to escape.

Technical Codes
 There are many technical codes fitting the conventions of a horror.
One example is the use of On Screen Graphics (OSG) of creepy
text. This makes the audience feel how scary the film is going to
be. One example of this is „Their existence is a legend‟. This
makes the audience curious and slightly worried. The effects in the
trailer are fast cuts and many OSG‟s. There are many transition
effects between shots, including fade to black and flash cut. This
builds tension. One example is in the middle of the trailer each shot
fades to black to show things starting to get wrong, whilst being in
time with the background music. This builds up suspense between
the shots making the viewer feel on edge and waiting for the climax
at the end of the trailer. There are a few close up shots of the
characters facial expressions but never many close ups of the
monsters trying to get the other characters. For example the main
characters are inside the shack when the monsters get back with a
body and the camera focuses up to the door where the others are
and zooms towards the key hole and shows an extreme close up of
one of the characters eye.

Eden Lake (2008)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6j3K4MmOKs

Information
 This is about a couple called Steve and Jenny who go away
for a nice romantic weekend at an idyllic remote lake but their
weekend away is ruined as they are interrupted at a beach by
a group of teenagers with an annoying vicious dog, and they
play very loud music and are genuinely rude towards the
couple, but refusing to let anything spoil their romantic
weekend break, the young couple confront the gang of loutish
youths with terrifyingly brutal consequences.
 The genre for this film is horror, thriller. This film is set in the
woods.
 The target audience for this film would be teenagers and
young adults. I think couples would watch this film as well
because the story line is about a couple who go away. Other
media interests would be more recent horror films such as
Devil and Wake Wood.

Information
 Director:
 James Watkins
 Writer:
 James Watkins
 Stars:
 Kelly Reilly, Michael Fassbender and
Tara Ellis

Information
 Box Office
 £192,027 (UK) (14 September 2008) (184
Screens)
 Gross:
 $5,824 (USA) (2 November 2008)
 Production Co:
 Rollercoaster Films, Aramid Entertainment
Fund

Information
 This film was rated 18 by the BBFC for strong
brutal violence, pervasive language, some
nudity and brief drug use.
 Ratings/Reviews
 Average rating for this film is around 7 out of
10.
 The reviews state that the film is good but
definitely not for the faint hearted as there is a
lot of graphic scenes which may put people of
as it is quite full on.

Audio Codes
 The audio codes used in this trailer are both
non-diegetic and diegetic sounds. The non-
diegetic music starts slow and quiet in the
background over the perfect, happy beginning
of the film. There is diegetic sound of a dog
barking and then a loud blast of rap/r&b music
which starts to change the mood of the trailer.
After this the sound changes once more to the
sound of drums which tells the audience
something bad to about to happen here. Audio
codes in the trailer play a big part with tension
building and revealing things the audience want
to find more about.

Visual Codes
 The mise-en-scene in the trailer „Eden Lake‟ makes the trailer
seem quite realistic which in turn makes it more scary. One
example of using lighting in the mise-en-scene is when the couple
and the group of youths are standing around a fire and you can see
each of their facial expressions because of the light coming of the
fire which adds a really nice natural effect to the trailer. It also fits in
with the time of day it is which is at night. There are also scenes
where the lighting is really natural for example when the couple is
led on the beach and it is a sunny day making the mise-en-scene
realistic and natural because it is denoting a normal lifestyle before
it all turns wrong. The dress codes in the trailer denotes normal
modern clothes. The teenagers are wearing normal casual clothes
that any other teenager would wear, this gives us a sense of
realism. Near the end of the film the couples dress codes change
as their clothes become dirty and muddy and covered in blood
which connotes pain and death.

Narrative Codes
 Narrative codes play a huge part in horror trailers because
they need to make the audience feel scared and want
them to watch the film without giving too much away. The
trailer shows main parts and the best bits of the whole
narrative to interest the audience. It is very conventional
for trailers to show clips that aren‟t actually in the film.
 Audience theories are used in Eden Lake. Todorov's
theory was used in this trailer, starting with an equilibrium
of the couple on there way to spend the weekend together
until a disruption is introduced, when a group of teenagers
have there music too loud and then steal the couples car
keys and try to run them over. This leaves the audience
wanting to know whether this is resolved to reach a new
equilibrium.

Action Codes
 There are many action codes in this trailer to
connote how scary the film is. Nearer the end of
the trailer more and more dramatic action codes
are shown. The action code of the couple
playing around with each other and having a
little muck about connotes being happy, love
and enjoying yourself. You then see the group
of teenagers play fighting and smoking which
connotes violence and trouble making, this tells
the audience that something could go wrong
here.

Technical Codes
 There are many technical codes fitting the conventions of a horror.
One example is the use of On Screen Graphics (OSG) of creepy text.
This makes the audience feel how scary the film is going to be but in
this trailer there is next to no OSG accept at the in of the trailer when it
says „Eden Lake‟. This is very unconventional of a horror trailer as it
doesn‟t set the mood straight away for the audience. The effects in the
trailer are fast cuts and tension building music. There are many
transition effects between shots, including fade to black which is used
to build suspense. One example is in the middle of the trailer each
shot fades to black to show things starting to get wrong. This builds up
suspense between the shots making the viewer feel on edge. There
are lots of medium and close up shots of the characters facial
expressions to show the emotion that is going on in that scene. For
example there is a medium close up of the leader of the group of
teenagers and like his side kick, just after they have stabbed the
husband. The camera then zooms up to the side kicks face and shows
the audience that the boy didn‟t want to do what he just did because of
his facial expressions.

Scream (1996)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTWf9QGdJCQ

 A killer known as "ghost face" begins killing off teenagers, and as
the body count begins rising, one girl and her friends find
themselves contemplating the Rules of horror films as they find
themselves living in a real-life one.

 The genre for this film is crime, horror and mystery. This film is set
in around the house.

 The target audience for this film would be post teens to young
adults because this is an old film but because this film is about
teenagers they may like it but because this film is old they may not
like it because of the different style compared to the modern horror
films with better special effects. Other media interests they would
like include other older horror films such as The Blair Witch Project
and possibly the newer more modern films such as Wrong Turn.
They almost may like more films in the mystery genre.

Information
 Director:
 Wes Craven
 Writer:
 Kevin Williamson
 Stars:
 Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David
Arquette and Drew Barrymore

Information
 Box Office
 Budget:
 $15,000,000 (estimated)
 $6,354,586 (USA) (22 December 1996) (1413
Screens)
 Gross:
 $161,600,000 (Worldwide)
 Production Co:
 Dimension Films, Woods Entertainment

Information
 This film was rated 18 by the BBFC for strong
graphic horror violence and gore, and for
language.
 Ratings/Reviews
10.
 The reviews state that the way the film has
been written is amazing and that there is a
range of scream moments that keep you on the
edge of your seat and funny moment to keep
changing your emotions.

Audio Codes
 The audio codes used in this trailer are both non-
diegetic and diegetic sounds. The trailer starts of with
the phone ringing and you can hear a voice on the other
end of the phone. This is crucial audio code to tell the
audience there is something weird going on. In the
middle of the trailer a voice over narrator is used
denotes telling a story. Audio codes in the trailer play a
big part with tension building and revealing things the
audience want to find more about. For example the
diegetic sound when the girl screams tells the audience
that this film could be scary.

Visual codes
 The mise-en-scene in the trailer for „Scream‟ makes the
trailer scarier. For example the use of the telephone call at
the beginning makes it seem creepy.
 One example of using lighting in the mise-en-scene is
when the girl is in her house walking around on the phone,
its looks very realistic. The lighting is meant to be natural
to fit the setting and time of the day. Although it could have
been artificial making the effect they wanted. Other lighting
in the trailer is natural because they are denoting a normal
lifestyle at the beginning which then turns wrong. They
want it to appear realistic so natural lighting is used.
 The dress codes in this trailer are just normal clothes. The
film was made over 10 years ago so fashion has changed
but back then they would have been wearing modern
fashionable clothes denoting every day lifestyle.

Narrative Codes
 Narrative codes play a huge part in horror trailers
because they need to make the audience feel scared
and want them to watch the film without giving too much
away. The trailer shows main parts and the best bits of
the whole narrative to interest the audience. It is very
conventional for trailers to show clips that aren‟t actually
in the film.
 Audiences theories are used in the trailer of „Scream‟.
Todorov‟s theory was used in this trailer, starting with an
equilibrium of the girl making some popcorn until a
disruption is introduced when the phone rings and the
unknown voice starts asking questions. This leaves the
audience wanting to know whether this is resolved to
reach a new equilibrium.

Action Codes
are shown. The action code of an objet getting
thrown at the glass door and breaking connotes
fright, danger and being scared. This tells the
audience that something very wrong is about to
happen and then feel for the girls life. The main
turning point in the trailer is when the voice over
starts and shows the other teenagers talking
about scary movies and then cutting to
someone being chased. Shows the audience
that this film is going to be confusing but good.

Technical Codes
 There are many technical codes fitting the conventions of a
horror. One example is the use of On Screen Graphics (OSG)
of creepy text. This makes the audience feel how scary the film
is going to be. One example of this is “Don‟t answer the phone”.
This makes the audience curious and uses the creepy text. The
effects in the trailer and fast cuts and many OSG‟s. There are
many transition effects between shots, including fade to black
and flash cut, which builds tension. One example is in the
middle of the trailer each shot fades to black to show things
starting to get wrong and showing the things that will happen
but haven‟t yet. This builds up suspense between the shots
making the viewer feel on edge and makes them unaware of
what could happen next.
 The camera shots are never really close up, but close
enough to see the facial expressions. For example whenever
'the ghost face' is on screen the camera is never fully close
up on his face.

Shutter Island (2010)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iaYLCiq5RM

Plot of the Film…
 It's 1954, and up-and-coming U.S. marshal Teddy Daniels is
assigned to investigate the disappearance of a patient from
Boston's Shutter Island Ashecliffe Hospital. He's been pushing
for an assignment on the island for personal reasons, but
before long he wonders whether he hasn't been brought there
as part of a twisted plot by hospital doctors whose radical
treatments range from unethical to illegal to downright sinister.
Teddy's shrewd investigating skills soon provide a promising
lead, but the hospital refuses him access to records he
suspects would break the case wide open. As a hurricane
cuts off communication with the mainland, more dangerous
criminals "escape" in the confusion, and the puzzling,
improbable clues multiply, Teddy begins to doubt everything -
his memory, his partner, even his own sanity.

 The genre for this film is thriller, mystery and drama. This film
is set on an island away from civilization which is a great
setting for a thriller.
 The target audience for this film would be 16-35. The reason
for this is because the film isn‟t a conventional thriller because
it is a mystery, drama as well, which gives it a different edge
by tricking the audience with lot of red herring‟s. I think other
media interests would include other mystery films or
programmes that challenge the viewer, and make them really
think and pay attention.
 This is what I would love my film to have and make the
audience really think about what‟s going on and what could
happen. As I think this is a great effect to have in a film
because it‟s so easy to have a twist in it and change the
emotion of the audience in a flash.

Information
 Director:
 Martin Scorsese
 Writers:
 Laeta Kalogridis (screenplay), Dennis
Lehane (novel)
 Stars:
 Leonardo DiCaprio, Emily Mortimer, Ben
Kingsley and Mark Ruffalo

Information
 Budget:
 $80,000,000 (estimated)
 $41,062,440 (USA) (21 February 2010) (2991
Screens)
 Gross:
 $294,804,195 (Worldwide) (10 June 2010)
 Production Co:
 Paramount Pictures, Phoenix Pictures, Sikelia
Productions

Information
 This film was rated 15 by the BBFC for
disturbing violent content, language and some
nudity.
 Ratings/Reviews
10.
 The reviews state that this film will leave you
asking yourself questions that can be only
answered by watching the film again and again.
Overall its mind blowing.

Audio Codes
 The audio codes used in this trailer are both
non-diegetic and diegetic sounds. The non-
diegetic sound starts of with a quite drum
beat. There is diegetic sound from the main
character as he says „For the criminally
insane‟. Then the drum beat becomes louder
and the beats start to increase. This connotes
that something isn‟t right here. It tells the
audience this could be scary. Audio codes in
the trailer play a big part with tension building
and revealing things the audience want to find
more about.

Visual Codes
 The mise-en-scene in the trailer for „Shutter Island‟ makes
the trailer scarier. For example the use of the crazy lady
when she looks at the main character „Teddy‟ and tells him
to be quite makes it seem creepy. One example of using
lighting in the mise-en-scene is when Teddy is
investigating around the grounds. The lighting is very
natural and you can tell what time of day it is by the
lighting. This denotes normal outside life even though he
is on an island full of mental people. The dress codes in
the trailer are set to the time of the film. The film has be
set in 1954 so the clothes fit that time of year. The inmates
are wearing all white clothes and the guards are wearing
what looks like police outfits on. This is a binary opposition
of good and bad. Teddy is wearing a long coat and normal
trousers and shirt. this connotes he is some kind of police
officer but undercover.

Narrative Codes
 Narrative codes play a huge part in horror trailers
because they need to make the audience feel scared
and want them to watch the film without giving too much
away. The trailer shows main parts and the best bits of
the whole narrative to interest the audience. It is very
conventional for trailers to show clips that aren‟t actually
in the film.
 Audiences theories are used in the trailer of „Shutter
Island‟. Todorov‟s theory was used in this trailer, starting
with an equilibrium of Teddy arriving on the island until
there is a disruption of a inmate escaping so the
audience are wondering whether this is resolved to
reach a new equilibrium.

Action Codes
are shown. The action code of Teddy being
attacked connotes pain, danger and being
scared. This shows the audience that things are
very different in this place. The main turning
point in this trailer is when Teddy looks in his
notebook and sees the word „run‟ written in
there and the audience knows that something is
definitely not right here.

Technical Codes
 There are many technical codes fitting the conventions
of a horror. One example is the use of On Screen
Graphics (OSG) of creepy text. This makes the
audience feel how scary the film is going to be. One
example of OSG is one of the actors names „Leonardo
DiCaprio‟.
 The effects in the trailer are fast cuts, log tension
building scene. There are many transition effects
between shots, including fade to black and flash cuts,
this is used to build suspense. One example is in the
middle of the trailer each shot fades to black to show
things getting from bad to worse. This builds up
suspense between the shots making the viewer feel on
edge. There are lots of close ups of Teddy‟s facial
expressions so the audience can really begin to feel
what he feels so they can get the full effect of the
trailer, in which makes you want to watch the film.

Survey Results
The first question I asked
was to find out the gender
of my audience. They are
mostly females but it is
pretty even, which is good
as I want to attract both
genders with my film. The second question I
asked was to find out one
of the most important
aspects when working
out my target audience
and this was what age
range are they. From my
results it looks like I have
a age range of 15 to 20.

Survey Results
I asked this question to try
and work out how many
people do like horror films
compared to other popular
genres. From my results I
have found out that most
people preferred comedy
but do like horror aswell.
This could mean that I tried
and put a bit of comedy in
my film to attract more
people.

Survey Results
Looking at the open ended
answers I received I
focused more on the
answers from the horror
genre to see what kind of
horror films people like. As
you can see Paranormal
Activity has come up a few
times suggesting my
audience like a horror film
tat makes them jump. This
means if I can make the
people who watch my trailer
jump then maybe they will
be more interested to come
and watch it.

Survey Results

This is the last question I asked in
my survey. The reason for asking
this question was to find out what
other media interests my
audience liked. By doing this it
gives me a better view on how I
could advertise my trailer. The
information from this question
means that I should be looking at
showing my trailer on TV as this is
what almost all of my audience
use.

Results Analysis
 I have learnt from my survey results that
the age of my target audience is 15-20 and
that their gender is more female but pretty
close on the male side of things. I know
what kind of other horror films they like to
watch and the best way for them to see my
trailer which is on the TV. These results
have influenced my idea by giving my a
better picture on my target audience in
which to build my trailer around.

Audience Theories Applied to
My Text
 Hyperdermic Syringe
My trailer is injecting the idea of it being scary
and leaving you on the edge of your seat.
 Uses and Gratifications Theory
My trailer would be used for information about
the characters, personal identity to see how
they would feel in the same scary situation and
if they could see themselves in the characters,
also for social interaction to talk about it with
friends and the main use is for entertainment to
feel scared and excited from the trailer and
wanting more.

My Text
 ‘Two-Step Flow’ Theory
The audience will be filtered information
from the trailer because they have trust in
the producer. The producer being the
opinion leader controlling what information
is filtered to the audience. From my trailer
the information which the audience are
likely to trust is going to be pasted onto
their friends which in turn will be pasted
again and making them opinion leaders.

My Text
 Polysemic Readings
 Preferred reading: That the trailer is
scary, interesting, exciting and makes
the audience want to watch the film.
 Oppositional reading: The trailer
doesn‟t have an effect on the audience,
it doesn‟t make them want to watch the
film and they think its unrealistic, fake
and not scary.

My Target Audience Profile
 Age: 15-20
 Gender: Female and Male
 Occupation: Students mainly, part-time
jobs etc.
 Income: Low income can afford to go to the
cinema
 Demographics: E - working class –
Students, Unemployed, Casual Workers
 Psychographics: Mainstreamers, Trendies,
Drifters.

Research for production (Final Draft)

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