Horror practise shots with Gopro

This video shows some practise shots we have taken, we think these shots were very effective and we plan to use several of these shots in our film. The first shot of the zooming in we think can act as maybe a jump scare, as someone could hide behind the door and pop out into view of the camera, this would jump the audience and at night there would be a torch adding to the tension as the camera approached the door. The second shot was a practice to see how effective the GoPro was in the dark, the door slamming shows how quickly the camera can transition between light and dark and it also provides us with a light we can use. The third shot is one of the most effective shots, this because the sheet we were using to make this effect made it appear no one was behind the sheet and it is also obscuring the area behind the sheet making it perfect for the antagonist to hide behind and in the dark it could be very effective to use as a jump scare, as seen at the 20-23 second mark. The final shot we can see using in our trailer as one of the characters run into a closet or cupboard, the idea would be the lights would turn off and then come back on and maybe books would have fallen off the shelf or there would be a character appearing behind the camera.

Camera for our film

This is the GoPro Hero 3+ Black Edition. This is the camera we will be using for our film, having this camera is a massive improvement from last year. The quality of the GoPro is very good, also it has a wide lens which enables it to capture more of what it happening. I feel that the improvement in camera quality will massively benefit us when filming the trailer.

When we are filming, most of our shots will be point of view shots. We want to have a similar style to the movies Paranormal Activity and Grave encounters. These films are almost filmed like a vlog, we feel that this is the best way to film our trailer.

Targets for Film Trailer Analysis

Target: try and use key terminology such as, technical, verbal, symoblic and engima codes.

Are there puzzles and questions left unanswered in the trailer that create an enimga for the audience?

Are there symoblic codes that create certain connotations and impact the audience?

Could you comment on the narrative structure of the trailer according to Todorov's theory of narrative?

Film ideas

When filming our trailer, we are trying to do the same sort of lay out as the horror films Paranormal activity and Grave Encounters. These films both are mostly point of view shots. When filming, the main character will most likely be holding the camera and the audience will see from their point of view.

We have currently been looking at three locations, one of which is the abandoned mental asylum in Epsom, which we are planning to check out this weekend. While we are there we we will take some pictures of the buildings and if we believe that there is potential for some good filming shots then we will locate our film there. Another location we have looked at is St Peters hospital in Chertsey. This is an option for us as we have researched it on the internet and seen some good pictures of the hospital. Finally the last option is a school in London. We know a current caretaker of this school so we will be able to go inside and film. At this moment in time we believe the abandoned hospitals are the better options, but we haven't checked them out properly yet.

When filming we will film in both night and day. The introduction of the trailer will be shown in the day light, this will be when we show the audience the location and the characters will explain their motive of going to the location. At night, we will film the main part of the trailer, this is when all the creepy, scary shots will be shown.