Public Research

In order to ensure that our media product would be as successful as I felt it could be, I decided to create a questionnaire for the general public of all ages and genders to find out their views on horror films and how they affect their everyday lives. I questioned thirty people of a variety of ages surrounding the questions that I had created, some of these include; 'How old are you?' 'Do you watch horror films, if so why?' 'Who do you watch horror films with?' 'How do you watch films? (Online, Cinema, DVD etc) etc. Here are some of the results that I gathered after entering the data into Microsoft excel in order to merge my information and create an average for each question asked. The questionnaire proved to show a wide variety of personalities and how age seemed to affect different views towards horror films and the price they would be willing to pay to watch one.

 This question proved that the majority of people who watch horror films are aged between 13-18 years old and no body that I personally surveyed watched horror films who was over the age of 42.

 This question proved that the majority of people watch horror films by downloading them from the internet and that people are least likely to buy a DVD.

 This question proved that the majority of people watch horror films monthly and that the people I surveyed least watch horror films yearly.

This question proved that the majority of people would be willing to pay £6-£10 to watch a horror film at the cinema but no one would pay over £16.

This question proved that the majority of people who watch horror films like to share/pass on or exchange their films with other people after they have watched them.

This question proved that the majority of people who I surveyed prefer a sub genre of horror comedy.

This question proved that the majority of people who I surveyed watch horror films mainly due to the suspense that they recieve by watching them whereas the least popular option was the sense of mystery.

The Unseen survey

Alex, aged 20.

1.What genre of film would you say this film was and why?
-Horror because of the scary music and the location of where it was filmed (graveyard, village etc).

2. What was your favourite aspect from the opening and why?
-The spooky music because from it you could tell what genre of film it was and it fitted in really well with the theme and storyline.

3.What areas do you feel could be improved and why?
-Add in more of the scary scenes where the character of Katie is talking to the ghost of Thomas, and also more of the shorter scenes such as the ones when she was in the bath and being dragged along the floor because these scenes built adrenaline and made the overall feel of the film more scary.

4.Do you feel that the storyline was easy to understand from the short opening that you have seen and reasons yes/no?
-Yes.

5.Do you feel that the name of the film related well to the storyline itself and why?
-Yes because it's about that the ghost of Thomas and you can't see him.

6.Did you think that the credits/editing were smoothly finished and reasons why/why not?
-Yes as it all flowed continuously together which made it easier to understand the story line.

7. Do you have any other feedback?
No.

The Unseen survey

Lucy, aged 16.

1.What genre of film would you say this film was and why?
-The genre was clearly horror because the music was spooky and the font for the title was gothic. The end of the opening was also very spooky.
-The final part where it cut quickly between the shots and the girl screamed was my favourite aspect from the opening because it left you wondering what had happened.

2.What was your favourite aspect from the opening and why?

3.What areas do you feel could be improved and why?
-A couple of the shots could have been cut more smoothly.

4.Do you feel that the storyline was easy to understand from the short opening that you have seen and reasons yes/no?5.Do you feel that the name of the film related well to the storyline itself and why?
-The storyline was easy to understand from the opening: it was clear that the story revolved around the young girl as she was the main focus of the opening. The music and editing also showed that something bad and scary was going to take place which would involve the young girl.

5.Do you feel that the name of the film related well to the storyline itself and why?
-The name of the film works very well with this opening as it is clear that the spooky occurrences are due to something which is left ‘unseen’ as we cannot see the supposed ‘friend’ of the main girl.

6.Did you think that the credits/editing were smoothly finished and reasons why/why not?
 -The credits fitted in well and were smoothly finished off.

7. Do you have any other feedback?
-This film opening was clearly showing a horror film and ended on a spooky cliff-hanger which seemed to fit the conventions of this genre well.

The Unseen survey

Georgia, aged 17.

 1.What genre of film would you say this film was and why?
-By the opening - thriller, as the music is very atmospheric.

2.What was your favourite aspect from the opening and why?
-I'm not sure if it's deliberate or not, but i like the crackly/bittyness of the camera quality, it makes it sort of unclear on detail and it seems to link well into the title.

3.What areas do you feel could be improved and why?
-The shots could blend into eachother abit more.

4.Do you feel that the storyline was easy to understand from the short opening that you have seen and reasons yes/no?
-Yes.

5.Do you feel that the name of the film related well to the storyline itself and why?
-Yeah, at first the storyline leaves alot to the imagination, and then when the young girl/ellie starts talking to 'no one' you realise what it's about.

6.Did you think that the credits/editing were smoothly finished and reasons why/why not?
-Fairly, all i can see that needs improvement is the transition changes.

7.Do you have any other feedback?
-The music gave me chills, i think it's really well chosen for the piece, it's really good!

The Unseen survey

Will, aged 16

1. What genre of film would you say this film was and why?
-Horror due to the spooky music in the background.

2.What was your favourite aspect from the opening and why?
-Probably the music because it helped set the scene.

3.What areas do you feel could be improved and why?
-The clarity of the video because its unclear and hard to understand.

4.Do you feel that the storyline was easy to understand from the short opening that you have seen and reasons yes/no?
-Yeah, it skimmed over a few things but it was fairly easy to understand.

5.Do you feel that the name of the film related well to the storyline itself and why?
-Yes, because the character is 'unseen'.

6.Did you think that the credits/editing were smoothly finished and reasons why/why not?
-Not really, they were all at different speeds which made some of them hard to read.

7.Do you have any other feedback?
-I really enjoyed the film and would like to see what happens afterwards.

The Unseen survey

I decided to ask a few people who were within the age bracket that we are aiming our audience to a few questions, after they had watched our film and what they thought about it. The questions that I asked are:

1.What genre of film would you say this film was and why?

2.What was your favourite aspect from the opening and why?

3.What areas do you feel could be improved and why?

4.Do you feel that the storyline was easy to understand from the short opening that you have seen and reasons yes/no?5.Do you feel that the name of the film related well to the storyline itself and why?

5.Do you feel that the name of the film related well to the storyline itself and why?


6.Did you think that the credits/editing were smoothly finished and reasons why/why not?

7. Do you have any other feedback?

The Unseen!

After all of the long hard work that we have put into our film, we have finally finished! So here is our final product:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2gtzahD0tY&feature=youtu.be

Overall, we are very pleased with the outcome of our film as we felt given the amount of time we had to complete the task and the problems we faced along the way, we have made it as good as we feel we could have and also we are proud of the ways in which it displays the horror genre by using both some typical conventions of horror and also new techniques that we chose to include ourselves.

Horror film survey

We decided to create a survey in which we would ask different people their views surrounding the horror film genre. The majority of people we asked were the same age as ourselves; also the age bracket of our intended audience. We also decided to ask an older audience member about their views on horror films to see if what they said would be different to that of the younger generation. These are the questions that we asked people:

1. Do you like horror films?

2.If you do, why? If you don't, why?
3.If you were to watch a horror film, who would you watch them with and why?
4.Have you watched any horror films, if so what oness? Or what are you favourite horror films?

This is the collected information that we gathered:

Meghan, aged 16.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_kAjr2_GFA&feature=context&context=C3c3e297ADOEgsToPDskLM6o02Ab1PXSg3oCcTrcwG

Ellie, aged 16.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuvrY-h1XY4&feature=context&context=C3c3e297ADOEgsToPDskLM6o02Ab1PXSg3oCcTrcwG

Hannah, aged 16.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_IFUTlzo0c&context=C3a97641ADOEgsToPDskLEHFtQPG2O9Goy72xuczj7

Kara, aged 17.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOM5cCLSxQc&context=C3c3e297ADOEgsToPDskLM6o02Ab1PXSg3oCcTrcwG

Calum and Hannah, both aged 16.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwV7criCyt0&context=C3e13fecADOEgsToPDskKcfyCj9WyOH8dxCxfyfhbh

School librarian, unknown age.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrzIbjuPpK4&context=C3469f8cADOEgsToPDskLcUNvUJfOZqeh1KEBlvC0t

Mia, aged 16.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_p66yWECMA&context=C3329a62ADOEgsToPDskJwfzX5j8UhB9XDRKFizrgm

Keiren, Luke and Michael, all aged 18.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_XXFXXvVZY&context=C354a549ADOEgsToPDskLk625MErVVCDQg6KBTMp_4

Character Profile

For part of my horror film survey, I have created a character profile for one of the audience members in which I feel our film will be aimed at. In my portfolio, I have written a few paragraphs about different people in which I feel our film could be aimed towards, aswell as taking a picture of each of them in a way that I feel portrays their ideas towards the genre of horror best. Here is a small section of information about one of the people I have chosen to take a picture of and analyse.

The girl in the photograph is 20 years old and is currently studying at the University of Brighton. I took the picture of her outside her house in which she shares with her friends from university. I took the photograph outside as I felt it displayed the idea of her feeling able to explore all different types of horror films and not one particular aspect in particular.

She is dressed for a themed night out in a club during Halloween and is dressed as a dead school girl. The outfit itself I feel says a lot about her views on horror films as it shows that she isn’t put off by all of the blood and gore that the majority of horror films involve. The drink in front of her portrays the idea that she likes going out and partying with friends, suggesting that she perhaps would be more inclined to watch horror films with her friends over family members or others.

Her facial expression is happy and natural possibly suggesting that she enjoys going out with her friends and having a good time. She enjoys all different aspects of horror films, but says that she is least drawn towards films involving clowns and unrealistic mythical creatures as she finds them dull and not as adrenaline fuelled as psychological thrillers and other horror films in which involve a realistic secret murderer.

She gets given money from her parents each month in which she uses to buy essentials, yet she also has a part time job selling tickets for a club in which she gets paid £3 for every ticket she sells. This enables her to have extra money to spend on going out with her friends to places such as the cinema. I have included more information about her in my portfolio to help me understand the different types of audiences that our film will be aimed towards.

Our Company Logo

H2B Productions

This is the logo for our production company. We chose to keep the general feel of our logo faily simple and non complex as we felt that this would allow the audience to fully focus on our film. The colours used are red and black which we felt not only fitted in well with the horror genre of our film but also they are both colours that can attract both male and female audiences and not just one gender in particular.

We chose to use white as the colour of the background as we felt this made the logo look fresh when it appears on the screen, as it almost widens your eyes due to the boldness of the gleaming colour and therefore will wake up the audience before the film begins.

The devil horns above the H and B also relate to the genre of our film and allow the audience to have a slight taster of what genre in particular we base our films around. But also, we like the idea of being able to change these devil horns if we were to create more films surrounding different genres, as this would then attract the audience as it would be fun to look at, and also as a way of connecting the genre to the film so that it is clear what genre of film it is.

I liked the idea that perhaps for a romantic/comedy film, the devil horns could be changed to two red love hearts positioned in the same place, as this would allow the same colour scheme to be kept in place but also for the logo to make more sense and become more interesting for the audience.

Overall, I am very pleased with the outcome of our company logo as I feel that, not only does it fit in well with the genre of our film but it is also personal to us as the letters used are the beginning letters of our first names. Which in a way, I feel is a way of connecting us to our audiences.

Company Logo research

Miramax Films

The logo for Miramax films is very simple and understated. The background is plain black, this portraying the idea that the films that they create are varied depending on the genre and the logo is not based around the films, and the films are infact based around the company.

The writing is in white, boldly contrasting to the black underneath, perhaps proposing the idea of the black and white surrounding the ideas of gender, class and ethnicity. This meaning that their company bases films to be aimed at the widest audience possibly and no member of the audience is ruled out of their films as they aim to please everyone.

The writing used is very clear and bold, this makes it stand out to the audience and also as soon as it appears on screen, people can read it immediately due to its bold lettering.

I like the possible ideas behind the Miramax films logo that they are aimed at all audiences, and that the colours are kept simple with no fancy pictures or writing, as I feel that this makes the audience focus fully on the film they are about to see and not get distracted by the un-needed over customised logo's.

Company Logo research

Paramount

The logo for Paramount includes a background made up of mixture of colours; orange, pink, purple, blue. These colours could possibly be suggesting that their films are easily enjoyable during any time of day as the colours used make it appear as a sunset; this being a time situated between day and night. But also, the colours of the background could possibly be representing the audience in which their films are aimed at; pink and blue stereotypically representing men and women, suggesting that film is aimed at both mixed genders and not one specifically.

The fact that logo is situated on top of a mountain could be portraying the idea that by going to see one of their films, you get the chance to relax and be free; not have to worry about anything. This personally is what I feel generally is the overall feeling of what audiences are intending to achieve by visiting the cinema.

The white circle of stars that are surrounding the company's name could perhaps be proposing for the audience to focus on the name of the company and by surrounding the name in the middle of the frame, it immediately attracts the audience's attention towards it and makes a memorable picture in their mind of what the company logo is.

I like the possible ideas behind the Paramount logo of the audience being able to unwind and relax whilst watching their films as I think that this puts the audience in a clear mindset just before the film begins.

Company Logo research

20th Century Fox

The logo for 20th Century Fox includes a dark sky in the background possibly reinstating the idea that the majority of audiences visit the cinema or watch films during the evening/night time.

The gold writing allows the company to not aim their audiences at one gender in particular as the gold/yellow colour could attract both mixed audiences. The font of the writing is also plain, simple and easy to read possibly so that not only it is the main focus of the logo but also to perhaps suggest that people with not so good vision will easily be able to read it and not feel discriminated with the use of fancy un-readable writing.

The building that the text is based on appears to be fairly exclusive, as there are spotlights surrounding it and focusing on the text that is in the middle. This possibly suggesting that by seeing a film that has been produced by this company, you will be given an experience like no other and each audience member is thought about within the film individually.

For the different genre of films, 20th Century Fox adjust their company logo ever so slightly to make it fit in the with specific genre of the film that is to be shown. I think that this slight alteration makes it interesting for the audience as they wonder what the logo will look like for the film that they are seeing.

20th Century Fox has made me want our group company logo to be able to be varied and altered depending on the genre of film in which we create, as I feel that this would make it a much more interesting experience for the audience and would attract them to visit another film made by our company.

Our chosen production company- Hammer Productions

The company that we have chosen to both produce and distribute our film is a production company called ‘Hammer Film Productions’.

Hammer Film Productions is a film production company based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1934, the company is best known for a series of Gothic "Hammer Horror" films made from the mid-1950s until the 1970s. Hammer also produced science fiction, thrillers, film noir and comedies – and in later years, television series. During its most successful years, Hammer dominated the horror film market, enjoying worldwide distribution and considerable financial success. This success was due, in part, to distribution partnerships with major United States studios, such as Warner Bros.

During the late 1960s and 1970s the saturation of the horror film market by competitors and the loss of American funding forced changes to the previously lucrative Hammer-formula, with varying degrees of success. The company eventually ceased production in the mid-1980s and has since then been, in effect, in hibernation. In 2000, the studio was bought by a consortium including advertising executive and art collector Charles Saatchi The company announced plans to begin making films again after this, but none were produced. In May 2007, the company behind the movies was sold again, this time to a group headed by Big Brother backers, the Dutch consortium Cyrte Investments, who have announced plans to spend some $50m (£25m) on new horror films. The new owners have also acquired the Hammer group's film library.

The reason why we have chosen to use Hammer film as our production and distributing company is because we feel that as they are specializing in horror films in particular, it enable us to get the best outcome from our film as they would know how to produce and distribute our film to its full advantage to make it as successful as we hope it can be. Also, they have produced extremely popular horror films and have gone on to extend these film and make many sequels from them.

For example, the ever so popular film ‘Frankenstein’ was created, and Hammer film productions went on to produce a further six sequels in which were all fairly successful and after each one, left the audience wanting more. Six sequels to The Curse of Frankenstein were produced between 1959 and 1974. These sequels included:

· The Revenge of Frankenstein (1959)

• The Evil of Frankenstein (1964)
• Frankenstein Created Woman (1967)
• Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969)
• The Horror of Frankenstein (1970)
• Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell (1974)

All of Frankenstein sequels starred Peter Cushing as Baron Frankenstein, except The Horror of Frankenstein (not a sequel, but a tongue-in-cheek remake of The Curse of Frankenstein), where Ralph Bates took the title role. The Evil of Frankenstein stars Cushing but has a re-telling of the Baron's history in flashbacks and a Baron Frankenstein with a very different personality and thus is not a sequel in the sense of a chronological continuation.

Hammer also produced a half-hour pilot titled Tales of Frankenstein (1958) that was intended to premiere on American television; it was never picked up but is now available on DVD. Anton Diffring played Baron Frankenstein. Hammer also produced eight other Dracula films between 1960 and 1974:

·         The Brides of Dracula (1960)

·         Dracula: Prince of Darkness (1966)

·         Dracula Has Risen from the Grave (1968)

·         Taste the Blood of Dracula (1969)

·         Scars of Dracula (1970)

·         Dracula AD 1972 (1972)

·         The Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973)

·         The Legend of the 7 Golden Vampires (1974)

The first five were direct sequels to the original film. Brides of Dracula did not include Dracula himself, but Peter Cushing repeated his role as Van Helsing to battle vampire Baron Meinster (David Peel). The Kiss of the Vampire did not include Van Helsing or Dracula, but continued the theme of Brides of Dracula, showing vampirism as a plague infecting other pockets of unfortunates. Christopher Lee as Dracula returned in the following six films, which employed much ingenuity in finding ways to resurrect the Count. Hammer upped the graphic violence and gore with Scars of Dracula in an attempt to re-imagine the character to appeal to a younger audience. The commercial failure of this film led to another change of style with the following films, which were not period pieces like their predecessors, but had a then-contemporary 1970s London setting. Peter Cushing appeared in both films playing a descendant of Van Helsing.

It is worth noting that while the contemporary films featuring Dracula star both Lee and Cushing, they are not the same series due to the lack of correspondence to the Victorian-Edwardian era films. The first film is set in 1885, whereas the flashback sequence in Dracula AD 1972 is set in 1872 – long before the first meeting of Van Helsing and Dracula in the original film.

Christopher Lee grew increasingly disillusioned with the way the character was being taken, and with the poor quality of the later scripts – although he did improve these slightly himself by adding lines of dialogue from the original novel. (Lee speaks at least one line taken from Bram Stoker in every Dracula film he has appeared in, except for Prince of Darkness – in which the Count does not speak at all (Lee had been appalled by his dialogue in that film). He was also concerned about typecasting. After Satanic Rites, he quit the series.

As well as horror films, Hammer film productions also produced psychological thrillers. Hammer also made a series of what were known as "mini-Hitchcocks" mostly scripted by Jimmy Sangster, and directed by Freddie Francis and Seth Holt. These very low-budget suspense thrillers, often in black-and-white, were made in the mould of Les Diaboliques, although more often compared to the later Psycho. This series of mystery thrillers, which all had twist endings, started with Taste of Fear (1961) and continued with Maniac (1963), Paranoiac (1963), Nightmare (1964), Hysteria (1965), Fanatic (1965), The Nanny (1965), Crescendo (1970), Straight on Till Morning (1972) and Fear in the Night (1972).

Therefore, after a lot of research into white prodcuction company would be best to produce and distribute our film, we came to the conclusion that Hammer Film Productions would be our best option as it had a lot of success behind it and we felt that this was exactly what our film needed to be able to move on and do as well as we feel it should.