Assessment point 2 The pitch

Outline of concept A short psychological Horror film which is based upon a teenage girl who is bullied by her friends and suffers from Psychosis - a mental illness which stops her from meeting normal life's demands. While the Protagonist’s exploits are mainly understood from the background story, this is hinted at throughout the film to build levels of sympathy from the audience for this character. The aim of this film is to create a sympathetic atmosphere for the Protagonist which will proceed throughout to the end of the film where an execution of a Jump-Scare or creepy ending will take place.

Run time 3 Minutes Why? Because the short horror films which I had analysed such as Lights Out, (2 min, 41 secs) The Moonlight Man (2 min, 42 secs) and a student short Reticence (1 min,36 secs) All of these being short time durations which all excellently execute their jump-scare at the end. It is a time duration which isn’t too long nor too short, – more than enough time to build little character development and sympathy for the audience to build upon. All while leading up to an unexpected Jump-Scare that will be tampered with in Post-Production. It is not definite that a Jump-Scare will happen as a creepy ending may be more appealing for my stories entailment.

Target audience Gender – Females Social Demographic – C2DE Psychographics - Explorers Why? Because looking at films such as The Conjuring 2, and channels such as The Horror Channel, I had found that the popular gender was Female within the age range of 25-39 with social grade of C2DE and ages18-24 with social grade C2DE. I did not choose the gender nor grade because solely of what these stats told me, these only helped me along the way with helping me understand what would be appropriate. Explorers are my Psychographic aim as their seek for difference within the world relates directly towards my short film as my film is a short horror which is set out to take place within its individuality, its not to be expected. To show different experiences within a horror film. Something these types of people would enjoy.

TARGET AUDIENCE Female – because the characters involved are Female, stereotypically stating that this will appeal to more females than males. Social Grade C2DE – Because people with these social grades are those with skilled manual occupations, Semi-skilled, Un-employed, In education or are retired. These are people who are more than likely to sit down after a day of work or a day of no work and to turn on the TV or go to the cinema to watch a film – While those with higher skilled grades such as AB-C1 are higher working classes which will not have enough time to sit down or go to the cinema to watch a film, they will be more focused with their work life.

Inspiration David F. Sandberg My idea came from when I first saw his short horror film “Lights Out” It was a horror which scared a big horror fanatic like myself, a film which Was so perfectly executed that I couldn’t help but be inspired to create My own short horror film which could execute something so brilliantly but with its own individuality, like “Lights Out”. Not copying a film or show. His work is different compared to other short horror film-makers, he Was picked up by James-Wan for a deal to direct his own short film Into a feature… his first ever feature and time on any film set

KEY CONCLUSIONS FROM RESEARCH Horror films: Lights Out, The Moonlight Man, The Conjuring 2 & Mama. Similarities: Deformed and dead human-like appearances. Familiarity to the audience but with manipulation, something scarier to see than something like a “Slime monster” from Ghost Busters, for example. Audio: Audio plays at a high role, it may not be scary at all without the audio. Audio manipulation and SFX can help build tension for the audience.

KEY CONCLUSIONS FROM RESEARCH Lighting: Lights can and do make a huge impact within Horror films, with the Low-Light being so hard to capture good quality, I had done several test shots with a 3 POINT LED Lighting Kit which had helped me secure an more professional image and helped me understand some of the basics within the use of Lights. The same had helped me within a Green-Screen test, it allowed me to understand the diffusion process within shadows that are projected onto a green-screen and how I could work around it.

KEY CONCLUSIONS FROM RESEARCH Psychology: As referred to in my production journal, my exploration into Asian Horror Films and their American Remakes had given me a good understanding of how psychology has a huge impact within horror films. Such as familiarity, in the film JU ON: The Grudge in 2002, it was so popular it was remade in America as “The Grudge” in 2004. The same scenario and Antagonist was present although the Protagonist was replaced with an American girl instead of Asian – while the mis-en-scene of being in Asia and having that cultural background was all still present. Putting someone we would be familiar with, in an unfamiliar culture. What has this to do with my film?: Familiarity and empathy for the character. My character is bullied and in an unfortunate situation which would not be nice for anyone, the antagonist is seen to be a very unfamiliar and mysterious character that the audience will be introduced to first – making the atmosphere for concern of the protagonist intimate. While the scene is modern and relatable to the audience, this film will be highly relatable to my audience throughout watching – making the film not only more familiar, but to grasp the beginning of a creepy atmosphere which provides the feeling that a jump-scare may happen.