Institution Research Final

Overall, after researching 20th Century Fox, Warner Brothers, Universal Pictures and Lionsgate, we have decided to use Warner Brothers as the institution for our horror film. We have chosen Warner Brothers because they have created a number of very successful horror films such as Orphan, Sweeney Todd and Friday the 13th. This means that they have a lot of experience in creating horror films which therefore concludes that it would be the most appropriate institution to use for our horror film. Before coming to this decision to use Warner Brothers as our institution we had other options to consider such as Lionsgate. Lionsgate have also created a fair amount of horror films such as Saw 3D, Saw 1-6, The Haunting in Connecticut, The Cabin in the Woods and Texas Chainsaw 3D. The fact that they have created quite a lot of horror films convinced us that we should use Lionsgate as our institution. However after doing more research we realised that Warner Brothers had created more successful horror films. This was the reason why we chose to use Warner Brothers as our institution. 

Questionnaire

1) What is your favourite genre film?

      A. Comedy
      B. Romance
      C. Action
      D. Horror

2) Do you enjoy watching horror films?

     A. Yes
     B. No

3) Do you watch them with friends or alone?

     A. Friends
     B. Alone
     C. N/A

4) Where do you associate a horror film setting?

     A. Abandoned house
     B. Woods
     C. In their own home
     D. Hospital

5) Do you prefer the victim to be male or female?

     A. Male
     B. Female

6) How often do you watch horror films?

     A. Once a month
     B. 2-3 times a month
     C. More than 3
     D. Other
     E. Never

7) What lighting do you associate horror films to have?

     A. Dark Lighting
     B. Light
     C. Other (Please note)

8) What props do you expect to see in a horror film?

     A. Knife
     B. Noose
     C. Gun
     D. Rags with blood
     E. Other (Please note)

9) If they victim was female what would you rather they do:

     A. Run from the killer
     B. Hide from the killer
     C. Fight the killer
     D. Let them kill you

Institution Research- Lionsgate

Lionsgate is the largest and most successful mini-major film studio in North America. It has distributed various commercially successful films including The Twilight Saga (partially), The Hunger Games, Saw and The Expendables. Lionsgate have created films that are mostly the Drama, Action, horror and Thriller genre. Lionsgate have created quite a few horror films, some being very successful and some being not as successful. Some of the horror films they have created are, Saw 3D, Saw 1-6, The Punisher, Alone in the Dark, House of 1000 Corpses, Undead, The Devil's Rejects, Hostel, The Haunting in Connecticut, The Cabin in the Woods, The Possession, Silent Hill: Revelation 3D, Texas Chainsaw 3D, You're Next, The last Exorcism, My Bloody Valentine and The Eye. As Lionsgate have created quite a few horror films we believe that it will be a good institution to use because the genre of our film horror. 

Institution Research- Universal

Universal Pictures was founded in 1912 but Carl Laemmle, Mark Dintenfass, Charles O. Baumann, Adam Kessel, Pat Powers, William Swanson, David Horsley and Jules Brulatour. It is the oldest movie studio in the United States of America and it is also the fourth oldest in the world that is still in a continuous production. Some of the films created by Universal Pictures are Despicable Me, Kick-Ass, Charlie St. Cloud, Bridesmaids, Johnny English Reborn, Despicable Me 2, Kick-Ass 2, Mr Bean's Holiday, Sydney White and The Holiday. Universal Pictures prefer to focus on the Drama, Adventure and Romance genres. Universal have however created some well-known horror films such as The Strangers, Drag me up to hell, Mama and The Purge. Despite this, it is clear that horror isn't their strong point as they prefer to focus on the Romance, Drama and Adventure genres. This means that we do not think Universal is the best institution to use because they have not had that much experience with horror films and as our genre is a horror we think it would be best to use an institution which has had a lot of experience with the horror genre.

Institution Research- Warner Brothers

Warner Brothers have created a variety of different films in different genres such as comedy, action, horror, romance, adventure and fantasy. Examples of the films they have produced are, Valentines Day, Clash of the Titans, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Sex and the City 2, Inception, Crazy, Stupid, Love, Final Destination 5, Happy Feet 2, New year's eve, The Hobbit: An unexpected journey, The Great Gatsby, and The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. They are very dedicated in producing a variety of films in different genres. The fact that they create a variety of different genre films show us that Warner Brothers is a potential institution we will use for our film. Some of the successful horror films Warner Brothers have created are Orphan, Sweeney Todd and Friday the 13th. This shows us that they are successful in creating horror films so, therefore, it would be a good institution to use for our horror film.

Institution Research- 20th Century Fox

20th Century fox was founded on May 31st, 1935 due to the merge of 'Fox Films', founded in 1915, and '20th Century Pictures, Inc, founded in 1933. 20th Century Fox has mainly created family family and comedy genres. Examples of these are Dr. Dolittle, Dr Dolittle 2, Big Momma's House, Big Momma's House 2, Ice Age, Ice Age: The Meltdown, Cheaper by the Dozen, Cheaper by the Dozen 2, Garfield: The Movie, Night at the Museum, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Marley and Me and Aliens in the attic. Some of the films they have created are drama/thrillers but the majority of them are non- scary. Despite the fact that some of the most successful films were created by 20th century fox, such as Avatar and Star wars, we have decided that it is not the most suitable institution to use for our film. We have decided that 20th Century Fox is not the most suitable institution because the genre of our film is a horror. As our film is a horror we have decided to use an institution that has focused more on the horror genre. Despite this, 20th Century Fox has created some horror films, such as Wrong Turn 2, Shutter, taken 2 and Devil's due, which has only recently come out in cinemas. However, we still believe that we should use another institution which focuses more on the horror genre.

Initial plot ideas

Initial Ideas:

Our horror film begins with a teenage girl walking through the village with her friend. However, she does not know that she is being followed by a mysterious figure. The village is busy so our victim has no idea she is being followed. As the victim and her friend approach the woods, our victim decides to take a short cut through the woods as it is a cold night and she wants to get home quicker. Despite her friend advising her not to take the short cut she goes ahead and takes it anyway. As she walks further down the path she begins to get the impression someone is following her. She keeps glancing round to see if anyone is there but she cannot see anyone.

We have two main ideas as to how our opening two minutes should end. Our first idea is that the girl is murdered in the woods and our second idea is that she is followed all the way home and her and her house is being watched by the villain. We are still not entirely sure which ending to go for but we are going to film both scenarios and see which we prefer.

A Boyfriend and Girlfriend are walking home through the woods.  The Girlfriend breaks up with boyfriend and he gets really angry. He forces her against the tree. The force is so hard she starts choking and blood starts spewing from her mouth. She is lying on the floor when two girls walk past. They notice her covered in blood but run off and leave her as they are too shocked to do anything. They don not even call for help, they just leave her. The boyfriend then realises she is dead and tries to wipe away the blood with a rag and drag her body under a bush so no one finds her. The two girls walk back to their houses but what they don't notice is that the 'dead' girl is not actually dead, she is watching them both. She appears in different places as they walk home.

Consideration of Representation and Stereotyping

The usual stereotypes of a villain are male, sinister, mysterious, unknown identity, dangerous and powerful. In our film the villain will be male which is conforming to the stereotype of villains being male. We will also represent the villain as sinister and mysterious as the victims will not expect anything to happen to them. This, again, is conforming to the stereotype of villains being dangerous and mysterious. The villain also conforms to the stereotype of men being more powerful as he murders the victims without them knowing. This is showing the audience that our villain has power because he is able to commit murders without himself being hurt in anyway. Also he is in control of the situation which shows he has all the power. This also conforms to the stereotype of  men being more powerful than women. This therefore means that the female victim is conforming to the stereotype of women being weak and vulnerable. Also, as she has no idea what is about to happen, it could represent her as quite ditsy and unaware. This then conforms to the stereotype of women being much weaker than men. We have not subverted the stereotype of women in any way as we have only conformed to the stereotype. However, we have two victims, one being a girl and the other being a boy. The boy victim is conforming to the stereotype of a victim but is also subverting the stereotype of a boy being strong and powerful. The boy is conforming to the stereotype of a victim because he was unaware of the events that were about to take place which shows he is very vulnerable and also perhaps a bit ditsy because he hasn't even realised that he is being watched by the murderer. However he is subverting the stereotype of boys being strong and powerful because he is the victim in all this and even though he had no idea that he was going to be murdered he could of perhaps tried to fight off the murderer.

Certificate Research

18 Certificate: The 18 certificate means that only adults can view or buy an 18 rated film. It can contain strong issues such as very strong use of violence, frequent strong language such as 'f***', high levels of blood and gore, strong portrayals of sexual violence and very strong horror.
In an 18 film there is no limit to the number of uses of strong language e.g. 'f***' or even stronger language e.g. 'c***'. The gore which is usually shown in extreme graphic detail, this is not suitable for a 15 rated film.


15 Certificate: A film rated 15 is not suitable for any children under the age of 15. A 15 rated film usually contains strong violence and frequent strong language is used e.g. 'f***'. There could potentially be a lot of strong language used in a 15 rated film and there is no limit in which bad language can be used e.g. 'f***'. In a 15 rated film violence may be strong but strong gory images are unlikely to be acceptable. Also if there is a child actor it may not be appropriate to set the age rating any higher.


We think our film should be either a 12 or a 15. It will definitely not be an 18 because there is not a huge amount of gore.We think it should be a 12 or a 15 rated film because we are going to include some scary/violent scenes and there will most likely be some gory parts which could make it a 15 rated film. These are only are initial ideas we have got so far.

Film Diaries

In this film diary we are explaining how the weather is going to effect our filming. Due to the strong wind and rain we thought that we would not be able to film because the wind would effect the sound of the film- like it did in this film diary. However, when we actually began filming, luckily the wind wasn't as strong as it had been so we were able to film without the wind disrupting the sound. This was a huge benefit for us because it meant we did not have to go back and re-film again. This saved us a lot of time and meant we had more time to edit the film.

In our second film diary we are only really showing just how windy it is and how much the wind is effecting the sound. We filmed this before we filmed and as you can see the sound is awful because of the wind. Thankfully the sound in our actual filming was ok and wasn't disrupted by the wind.

In our third film diary we are on our way back from filming. We had completed the film however we were not happy with it. We thought that our film was rushed. This was partly due to the fact that the weather was awful. It was extremely cold so it was hard to concentrate and because of the cold weather it meant we wanted to finish it quickly so it made us rush through the filming. Also, this was really the only day we could film so we had to get it done

 In this film diary we are talking about how our film could of gone better. We did not use any clear high angle or low angle shots in our film. This means that our victim and our villain may be harder to establish as there is no clear shot type which will identify one as vulnerable and one as strong.

Actors

We will have two main actors in our film who are teenage girls. We decided to use teenage girls as the main actors because they will act very vulnerable when walking through the woods. Actor 1 will be Georgia, who is the main victim in the film and Abbie, who seems like the victim but then ends up being the villain.
The other character in our film will be the villain. This is the figure that walks past Abbie in the background. As we don't actually see their face they won't be considered a main character for obvious reasons.

Location Research- Initial Idea

Initial idea:

We have chosen Ashtead to be the location for our opening two minutes. We decided to choose this location because it is quite busy as you can see from the picture. As it is busy it means that no one would expect they are being followed, like the girl in our horror film is. This is effective as the audience will know what's going on but the characters won't. This will leave the audience feeling tense and scared for the victim as the victim doesn't have any idea what is going on. The main part of our film will be filmed in Ashtead common. As Ashtead common will be really quiet at night it will be good to contrast the two different locations, one being busy and the other being really quiet. This will emphasise just how alone our main character is when she decides to take a short cut through the woods. This is effective as it will show the audience that something is going to happen because it is dark and she is alone. Our starting location is Ashtead train station. This is where we will be first introduced to our antagonist. We decided to introduce are antagonist here because it is busy so no one would think that they are being followed. This means that when the girl chooses the walk through the woods it creates tension for the audience because they know something will happen.

Final idea:

We have now decided to film the whole of the two minutes based around Ashtead common rather than the victims house. This is because it will be more frightening for the audience if the murder takes place in a deserted woods rather than in the comforts of her own home.