GROUP Concept Development

To be honest, our mindmap wasn't very neat and, no offence to you Dan, but your handwriting doesn't seem to be legible from the photo on my phone...Despite this, Dan came up with some great ideas and together we concluded on these key points:

Opportunities for Technical Excellence

-We have decided that the main areas, from our plot so far, will be through telling the story of the film using highly effective shots, through what we show and prioritise in the frame, how the sound mix will be balanced, the effect the music playing throughout the film will have on the audience and the connotations it will make and also the level of editing we achieve through maintaining a great deal of continuity and scaring the viewers through specific cuts.

Antagonist; who?

-Possessed person potentially, illustrated in post-production effects.

-Supernatural being; strap-line 'known but not seen'.

-Strange things happening around the protagonist (Dan) connoting the presence of an unseen entity.

-The entity has been present in this place for a long time; it knows how to scare victims in the most fearful yet entertaining manner.

Location/Time of Day/Weather

-Daytime or dusk would be best; enough light to film but not dark enough to require artificial lighting.

-We first ideally wished to feature a haunted house but this now seems unlikely.

-Woods setting to be the set location (Ant Wood, Riverhead/Knole Park, Sevenoaks/Southborough).

-Weather is not an essential part of our film but we would aim for a clear day ideally to maintain continuity and reduce background noise.

Horror Visceral Pleasure

-The 'tree shot'. This featured in our trip to Wilderness Woods (see 'The Paranormal "Thing"'), and ended the sequence nicely with a jump scare. We were so pleased not only with the outcome of this shot in how it appeared in the film but also with the reaction our audiences have shown; with a laugh of shock.

-Another shot we were very proud of, this one more so, was the 'reveal running shot'. This was also in the previous horror sequence and features Dan running up a path towards the camera and then turning to reveal a figure behind him. This shot was received very well by our peers and teachers and this shows us that we should explore the shot further in our filming, specifically for this genre.

-Ambience in the background will unnerve the audience and create a tension in build-up to an event, met by a crescendo.

-Things happening in the background will entice the viewers' interest.

-Non-verbal language of Dan for example will reflect the uneasiness of the audience.

TH and DH