HORROR GENRE: RESEARCH

Horror films are made to invoke fear and suspense to the audience often
with terror, disgust and worst fears.

Example of Character types:

The main protagonist who is often a female character, he or she must be the victim/hero since
they tend to save people or be the only survivors.
The villain, often a demon from the spiritual realm, a stalker, psychopath, zombies and etc.
The stupid teenagers that always die
The creepy kid that seems to know everything about their predator.
Themes:
Religious
Revenge
Supernatural
Beyond death
Madness
Lust
Zombie apocalypse
Title/ fonts:
Horror films titles are often customized to give it the creepy feeling before audiences watch the
film. They range from big font sizes to small however the bigger fontsareoften used.
Most horror film titles are either red, black or dark in general to symbolize danger, the
unknown or death.
Film institutions for horror genre
successful horror films are often published, distributed and exhibited by major and parentfilm
companies such Sony and Warner brothers.This means they can benefit from the horizontal
and vertical integration of these companies as well astechnical andinstitutional convergence
which benefits films from the production process to the exhibition stage. However, some horror
films can be independent. For example, "the blare witch project". With significantly low funds,
it can be difficult to produce better yet advertise their content but with the growing amount of
popular social networking sites such as twitter, advertising to their target audience becomes

Conventions:
Mise en scene
Characters are often close to each other or in contrast make stupid decisions by splitting up
Dark clothing is used for the predator of it wears clothes and often slightly brighter colors
for the victims in contrast to the predators.
Props such as old portraits and dismembered body parts are often placed on certain places
in a certain shot which is often oblivious to the characters- it also serves as a warning.
Lighting:
Low key light
One point lighting
Editing:
Fast pace cross cutting
Special effects for any supernatural events.
Sound
Non diegetic sound is used to create suspense in tens situations sometimes with the use of
pleonastic sound.
It also uses sound effects/ unrealistic sounds to increase fear in the audience.
Diegetic sound which is often ambient sound of rats or moving chairs are used to show what
the characters are going through especially since its followed by the characters.
Camera:
Hand held camera is used to create shaky movements to increase suspense and fear
especially since its often followed by jump scares.
Close ups are used to show the facial expressions of fear on the faces of the characters.
Establishing shot of the often used old mansion or cabin in the woods is used to set the
location.
Point of view shot of the both the victims and the predator is used; for the victims its often
used during a jumps care or similar to an eye line match to show what the characters are
looking at. For the predator its used during a chase or when the predator stalks its victims.

Film Analysis.

Film Analysis.
Horror Genre/The conjuring
Summary:
In the first minutes of the film, three characters are shown telling someone about their experience with a girl they live with, they
tell them about how the girl they cared for wished to live inside a doll, they approve and she possessed it and has been haunting
them ever since.
Horror Connotations:
MISE EN SCENE:
The use of horror conventions such as low key lighting and shadows connotes mystery and fear throughout the opening sequence.
This emphasizes the concept of fear as the audience cant see the entire setting which can suggest an unknown object or
someone in the background. Using low key lighting makes almost the entire set black also a horror convention which symbolizes
death; this suggests that death isnt far away from the characters.
This is further emphasized through the positioning of characters as they are often positioned close to each other; by staying
together, they had a better chance of fighting of whatever they are expecting as seen in many horror films. Since this is a natural
or logical thing to do in these situations or similar, the audience can relate to the characters in the film.
The characters have uneasy and frightened facial expressions and body language as they report their experience with the doll.
During the flashback, their facial expressions they show curiosity and fear as they go to find the source of the noise.
CAMERA WORK:
Close ups are used to show the facial expressions of the characters. This helps the audience see the range of emotions felt by
each character. Depth of field is used to sharpen and emphasize the characters as they curiously search for the source of noise;
this de-emphasizes the background making it difficult to see the already dark background.
EDITING:
Fast paced cutting is an editing technique I noticed in the opening scene especially. This is helps emphasize fear as anything can
happen at any time which can be a Plaisir for the audience since its often used in horror films-jump scare.
Eye line match is a cut used to point out to the audience what the characters are looking at off screen which in this case was the
doll.
SOUND:
Slow and mysterious non-diegetic music is played in the flashback as the characters walk into the house and then into the living
room. This connotes fear and mystery on a low scale compared to when the move closer and closer to the living room when
simultaneously the pace of the music picks up as well as the volume. By doing so the audience expect something or someone to
be where they characters are headed. To fully scare the audience, a loud and sudden sound bridge is used. This can suggest the
long awaited appearance of the source of fear. The only diegetic sound heard is of footsteps and creaking wooden floors in
complete silence.
MEDIA INSTITUTIONS: The conjuring was produced by new line cinema, the safran company and evergreen Media Group
providing a budget of $20 million and a profit of about $318 million. New line cinema is subsidiary of Warner Bros which is also a
subsidiary of Time warner (parent company). It further owns castle rock entertainment, a production company making warner
brothers entertainment Horizontal integrated. It also uses vertical integration, as it is responsible for distributing and exhibiting
the film globally through its main distribution company. It allowed the film to be exhibited in cinemas, DVD and Blu-ray and
online. The online possibility makes having technological convergence on consoles with components such TV, the internet and
DVD player easier to exhibit the film. Furthermore, institutional convergence can help the owners (Sony) market the film to their
device users. For example the Play station 4.

As above so below
Mise en scene:
The use of caves or underground tunnels serves a horror convention since there is very little light (low-key lighting)
underground. This makes the entire setting dark which symbolizes death suggesting that death is near for the characters;
the concept of death is further emphasized through the use of the color red for lighting which symbolizes danger and blood.
Body language is experienced by the audience since the point of view camera is used since its a found footage film. Since
it is hand held, it creates a shaky screen as the character moves slowly through the darkness to emphasize their fear
especially when its accompanied by heavy breathing a natural response to fear.
Camera work:
The camera shot used in the extract is point of view. This allows the audience to experience the situation the characters are
in leaving them more vulnerable to an instant jump scare or sudden appearance of the unknown. Since it uses the point of
view, close ups and mid are often used to show the facial expressions and hand gestures to show how frightened the
characters in the extract.
Editing:
Found footage horror films leave little room for editing such as special effects so that it can look as realistic as possible.
Cutting helped emphasize fear it even though it was not used as often. However, the audience feel the suspense from the
perspective of the character as anything could happen at any time: this can be a Plaisir for the audience since its often
used in horror films before jump scares.
Sound:
The extract is often in silence, this helps the audience hear the loud and heavy diegetic sound of breathing of the
characters as well as their footsteps. By doing so, the create tension and panic in the audience. This is emphasized through
the use of pleonastic sound where the sound is heightened normally before a quiet which is used to create tension and fear
in the extract but is broken by a sudden loud sound to invoke fear and to surprise the audience. Fear is also emphasized
through the use of silence for long period of time followed by loud explosion or bang to match the jump scare or reveal.
More and more tension is created by the alarm which gets louder and louder as the characters. This suggest that danger is
getting closer to the characters by the minute.
MEDIA INSITUTIONS:
It was produced by legendary pictures, they provided a budget of $5 million. It owns other production companies such as
asylum entertainment which specializes in television production- a tool that can be used during advertising. Legendary
pictures is a not-so-private private production company which can serve as a selling point as low budget horror films such
as the Blair Witch Project keeps the horror film closer to reality with components such as point of view camera work and
natural prop and recording special effects.
It was distributed by universal studios. Universal Pictures owns subsidiary distribution companies such as universal
international pictures which is beneficial as they can be used to market and exhibit the film globally or through other
sources. It even owns universal studios home entertainment which distributes films to home entertainment systems
creating a variety of options by which the film can be seen. Social media was used to promote the video as trailers were
released on video sharing sites like YouTube, they even went as far as to give you tuber, pewdiepie, a chance to explore the
real mass grave setting of the film.

Story Board for

opening sequence

Screen play

ONI
PRODUCTION COMPANY
(establishing shot of the house)
SECOND COMPANY OF CREATION (fading)
(continue the establishing shot)
LONG SHOT OF ONI
CLOSING TO MID SHOT
SECOND MID SHOT WITH THE CHARACTER CLOSER
CUTAWAY OF TWO CHARACTERS RUNNING
MATCH ON ACTION ON THE CHARACTER WHO TRIPPED
MID SHOT + CUT IN + TILT SHOT (laughing sound effect)
POINT OF VIEW RUNNING UP THE STAIRS
MATCH ON ACTION (the character on the floor is being dragged)
POINT OF VIEW TURNING TO LOOK BEHIND
MID SHOT
(static transition to credits)
CLOSE UP OF THE RUNNING CHARACTER
LONG SHOT
MEDIUM CLOSE SHOT
Voice: David!?
CLOSE UP
(fade transition to credits)
PAN POINT OF VIEW
(fade transition to credits)
CLOSE UP (the character is dragging on the floor)
LONG SHOT
MID SHOT
CLOSE UP
(fade transition to credits)
PAN CLOSE UP
EXTREME CLOSE UP
(fade transition to credits)
MATCH ON ACTION (two characters open a door)
MID SHOT TO LONG SHOT (one character is being dragged back and the door closes)
PAN
(high pitch sound + fading)
CLOSE UP (scream)
FINAL CREDITS SCENE (title)
THE END!

Synopsi
s

Synopsis
In 2010 Clive Hill School was opened in Hill mount, a suburban estate
with a population of about five hundred (500) people. In the first week of
school, a mauled dead body was found in the schools Library. For In
response the school was abandoned. However, on the last day of the
eleventh month, another victim is taken.
Upon hearing this, exorcist, Jaden Basing suspects the school is haunted
by a demon. He gathers his team of six exorcists to exorcise it. However,
things dont go as planned as the team with an addition of four students
who snuck into the school on the same day is faced with constant
appearances and taunting of the victims who turn out to be ghouls
controlled by a little girl in black clothing-the Oni; now, the exorcist must
fight to survive being haunted by an unknown number of ghouls.

Treatment

Treatment
Outline:
On the outskirts of Clive Hill, lays the bodies of several victims of a mysterious
murder. Among the bodies were 56 years old Biology teacher Albert Walcott, 16 year
old student Melissa Jordan, 16 year old student Clive Yuri, 21 and 53 year old
security guards Alberto Ramirez and Curtis Gavin, and 12 year old Alice Gary were
the only recognizable victims of the Clive hill school murders. When found, the flesh
on the victims was pealed of and bodies dismembered. There was one thing they all
had in common; they each attacked in Clive hill School on the 31st of October of
2007. In response the school was abandoned.
On October 31st 2010, the dismembered body parts of three teenagers, Brad Bailey,
Christopher Hitch and Gabe Leech were found on the school playing fields. Friends
told police they were dared to go into the abandoned Clive Hill School building at
night.
Upon Hearing this exorcist, Toshi Takahashi and his team of two trainee exorcist
suspect the school is possessed by an Oni (Demon) who is often associated with
ghouls (who tend to have an appetite for humans). They are hired by the towns
mayor to get rid of this Oni. However, things dont go as planned as the team with
an addition of four students who snuck into the school on the same day is faced with
constant appearances and taunting of the victims who turn out to be ghouls
controlled by a little girl in black clothing-the Oni; now, the exorcist must fight to
survive being haunted by an unknown number of ghouls.

Title: Oni
The title was inspired by the genre of the project which is supernatural horror. Oni translates
into demon from Japanese. We chose this title because it relates to the protagonist Ben
Camper, a Japanese writer who became an exorcist to seek revenge for the death of his
family.

Project type:
A hundred and twelve (112) minutes film which will start with a two (2)minute opening
sequence about recent murders which is an enigma code (the identity of the killer) followed
by introduction of the main characters and their role in the film.

Genre:
The genre for our project is a Horror (supernatural). By doing so we have to follow the unique
codes and conventions of horror since they are meant to play on curious and common fears,
shock or scare. For example, Isolated locations, nave teenagers and lots of non-diegetic
sound to set the mood. Target audience:
Our target audience is mainly teenagers to young adults of both gender since they often
enjoy, are curious or are dared to experience the scary atmosphere in dark cinemas where
they are most likely to watch it with the amount of spare time they have.

Character breakdown:
Toshi Takahashi
A 21 year old Japanese writer who lost his family to a gruesome murder. He suspects an oni is
responsible for their deaths, after days of research he finds out about an oni from an old book
from his locale priest whose victims are left in a gruesome state similar to that of his family.
Since then he has trained and searched for the oni responsible for the death of his family. Now
46, he finally gets information about similar incidents at Clive Hill school.

Two Trainees
Toshi Takahashi and Jermaine Thompson are 21 year old student exorcists who hope to become
full fledged exorcist.

Teenagers
18 year old Ace Donald, the captain of Russell Grey school football team who is sneaks into the
school to show his confidence to the entire school. (Hebdiges theory that youth is fun and
trouble so they resist hegemony (control) through style). He lost his parents in an accident
when he was ten so he lives with his uncle, coach of the football team.
17 year old Jane right, cheerleader and Aces girlfriend who joins his quest. ( stereotype of
the male gaze theory by Laura Mulvey )
17 year old David Brown, president of the game club who joins Ace and Jane to show his
confidence to Jane and hope she notices him. Only child of the Brown family.
17 year old Guy Graham, Davids best friend who joins him in hopes of protecting his friend.

VISUAL ELEMENTS:
LIGHTING, EDITING, CAMERA AND MOVEMENT, COSTUMES, SETTINGS, PROPS, ACTORS
COSTUMES: Costumes are used as representation of the character and their personality. i
believe for our demon, and 3 school children's costumes, they will have very contrasting outfits.
the demon would wear something very dark, black and scary. and the kids would wear, casual,
typical school bright attire. this would help the audience to differentiate the villain from the
victims
PROPS: props wouldn't be essential in our film. because as they're are used as extras to
enhance the drama in a film, or try to identify characters with. it wouldn't be necessary in our
film as the monster and children's outfits will be enough to help the audience with identification.
ACTORS:
CAMERA & MOVEMENT: With the use of extreme close ups on our protagonists (gull's) face, this
will allow the audience to clearly identify the villains dark and gruesome face, and perhaps even
begin to wonder and try and to figure out what sort of expressions he makes over the course of
the sequence. As the character also partakes in any sort of activity, the camera will follow his
movement dolling, and titling to allow the audience to monitor his behaviours. this does create
tension, with them wondering what will be his next move.
LIGHTING: Using low key lighting, with lots of shadows will help make our locations and
characters appear, dangerous, untrustworthy and unsafe.
EDITING: it would be great if we used cross cutting as an editing technique. it would be great for
our film as the theme is horror and helps to emphasize on fear. The fact that anything could
happen at any point in that time would be a Plaisir for the audience, would erupt tension c dark
atmosphere for our audience, preparing them for that dreaded "jumps care".
SETTINGS: SCHOOL

Lighting
Low key light will be used to create fear as the characters arent able to see their surroundings; this leaves
them vulnerable to an attack so they will have to always be on the look out for the ghouls. Key and back
lighting will be used for the demon and ghouls to bring out their dimensions and structure. It also casts
shadows on certain parts of their body, this suggests that they can easily blend in with the already dark
setting.
Other forms of lighting will come from torch lights held by the characters. This further emphasizes fear as it
produces very little light compared to the darkness in the setting.
In contrast, high key lighting can be used for scenes before the characters go into the school.

Audio:
For the soundtrack of the opening sequence we are going to use non diegetic material as it fits the genre of
our film, horror. We are also going to use ambient sound effects such as wind, dripping water and footsteps.
The effects we are sure we will implement are sound bridge when the video disappear from the screen but
the audio continues.
Pleonastic is another technique we will implement.

Effects:
Before each moment which contains a scare jump our group has decided that the sound will be abridged
to create the effect of calm and relaxation in a moment when this is practically impossible. This effect will be
used so we intensify the tension between characters and also the emotions transmitted to the audience.

Non Diegetic Sound and Music:

During the trailer there will be different pieces of music to help create the atmosphere and give certain
emotions for the scene. Each piece of music will have to fit in with the mood of the scene and the correspond
with the attitude of the characters.

Rationale:
As a group we came up with the idea of creating the opening sequence for a supernatural
horror as we all had an interest and good knowledge of horror films and the key aspects an
elements they incorporate from small film productions to big movie franchises such as
Saw. We wanted to put a modern twist on our film so we decided that our main
characters would be a group of teenagers around the same age as us and the key location
being a school.
For this production we will all be using our current knowledge of horror films along with
basing characters on how a modern day teenager would possibly handle the situations
they may encounter.
As a group we all have had experience with acting, filming and also video editing; some of
us specialize in certain areas such as video editing and so tend to adopt these roles more
however we all bare skills in every role and will be able to further develop ourselves.
Requirements & Resources

Equipment:
Video Camera
Tripod
Dolly
External Microphone
Adjustable Lighting
Locations:
School
Classrooms
Hallways
Playground/Field
Eastbury Manor House
We chose locations that would best reflect a modern urban area.
Budget
For our budget we did research into all the equipment, props, travel and any other expenses
we may encounter.
Our final decided budget was: 23. A breakdown is given in detail below:

Problems We May Encounter:

Filming locations changing
Equipment failure
Time Management
Accessing Locations Out-Of-Hours
Legal Issues
Ethical Issues
Religious Issues
Rating
To overcome problems such as filming locations changing we have tried to choose locations
that we can control such as classrooms and school playgrounds.
We also decided to create a production schedule so that everyone knows what is planned and
when deadlines are so that all work can be completed on time.
For legal issues such as copyright we've tried to make sure not to use any copyrighted music
or display brand names unless permission was obtained prior to filming.
We considered ethical and religious issues with our production as it contains supernatural
creatures and references to demons we tried to make sure we kept it within strict boundaries
as not to offend any possible viewers. As a group we decided that the film should be rated an
18 due to the violence and content.

Opening sequence research examples:

Responses To Question 2.
Rating
Frequenc
y

Target audience research

Target audience research

Gender: Male
Age: 18
Occupation: University Student
Joseph is a university student who often hangs out with his friends at the local skate park. He
shares a flat with his friend and has a lot of spare time on his hands. He prefers violent and
horror orientated films as well as listening to loud music; groups such as Skrillex and Iron
Maiden are high on his preference list when it comes to music choices. This person also pays
very little attention to fashion tastes, often wearing band tops, black clothes, canvas trainers
and spikey bracelets. He has a very rebellious personality and challenges modern society and
mainstream norms. He enjoys an array of horror films that involve twists of both a
psychological and supernatural nature, as well as ones based on true stories such as
Paranormal Activity, Insidious and Saw.

After we presented our treatment we were met with mostly positive

reviews, however, a class mate asked us if we would show the ghouls. At
the beginning we decided not to show the ghouls to further emphasize
the enigma code, make the audience wonder why and what was hunting
our characters but upon the review we decided to show the first stages
of the ghoul transformation (the living dead).
We also had suggestions to change colour schemes to represent the
different time lines however we decided to make the whole opening
sequence black and white to symbolise darkness and the past.