Treatment for Advanced Portfolio

Target Audience

Our film would suit a mixed genre audience because it contains both action and violence.

Our film trailer will be aimed at both the male and female audience and would be certified as a 15.

Appealing to Males and Females It would appeal to males because it’s a stereotypical

view that males enjoy watching these types of scenes by precariously experiencing them through film without actually being in the situation.

Whereas Females like to imagine what it would be like to be in that situation and enjoy working out what they would do under those circumstances.

Why is it a Certificate? We decided to certify the film a 15 because as the genre

is a horror it will include threatening and volatile scenes as well as connotations of murder such as blood splattered up walls and scenes of violence where there is a struggle between the murderer and the victims. Throughout the film there will be frequent use of strong language to symbolise fear and panic of victims and the cruelness of the murderer.

There will also be strong references in both the film and the trailer to violent weapons such as a knife which will portray more of a physiological aspect to the film because it will immediately make the viewer believe the murders are more gruesome than just merely using a gun, where a person can be dead in one shot.

Meeting Codes and Conventions

Our trailer meets the ‘physiological horror’ theme as from the beginning the murderer is a child and there is a brief explanation within the clip as to why the murderer behaves in this way. From his disturbed childhood this leads to becoming a man who irrationally stalks and kills his victims.

Components of the Portfolio Our film trailer will not just be a representation of the

film itself, but it will also have clear links with both the film poster and the magazine front cover.

Magazine Front Cover At the end of the film trailer the last clip will contain

an image of the black silhouette of the murderer, this will also be used on the magazine front cover because it raises enigmas as to who is this character through hiding his identity and carrying a dangerous weapon. This will make the reader want to find out more about the film because the knife suggests danger and murder which will captivate the imagination of the reader.

Poster Similarly, the poster will also link with the film trailer because

throughout the film the murderer’s identity will be hidden by a mask, and at the beginning of the trailer there will be a clip of the murderer as a child, with the mask placed next to him on the floor. This mask will definitely be incorporated into the film poster although we have three ideas at this current point.

We may also choose to use the image of the murderer as a child, as children can represent innocence and it would be frightening to think of them as evil. This would be appropriate to the genre of horror we have chosen.

We may also include a black silhouette of the murderer holding a knife to raise enigmas and terror. The background will be grey because it’s a dull, eerie colour which could imply the murderer has no sensitive feelings towards his victims, which also sets the eerie theme for the film.

Narrative Elements in the Trailer

In our trailer we want the plot of our story to come across but then at the same time not give everything away. The focus of our trailer will be on the protagonist who is the murderer and how he follows instructions from the voice in is head, named Jack.

At the start of the trailer we will start by filming a little boy sitting in the corner, banging a mask on the floor. This is going to be our main protagonist when he is younger, as by showing him at this stage it will represent that he is isolated and slightly deluded.

We have decided that we will lead up to the murders nearing the end of the trailer so this way it will create more suspense. Therefore we will follow each of the victims and then have an abrupt stop and screen-wipe, where afterwards each victim will get killed.

At the end of the trailer we want to reveal that there are in fact two murderers.

Next we will show the murderer as he is older, and we will follow some of his victims and lead up to the point where he goes into his kill. We are going to have at least three victims shown in the trailer and include conations of them being killed. With a trailer it’s easier to have clips or shots of the victim without necessarily showing their murder in detail.

Throughout the trailer we want to give the impression that the leading character is deluded and talking to an imaginary voice in his head who he names Jack. However we are later going to reveal that Jack appears to be a real person, who helps him in his murders. Closing off the trailer with this point creates suspense and raises a lot of enigmas.

Possible Film Titles Our group liked the idea of using a rhetorical

question as the film title therefore we have come out with some of the following ;

Where’s Jack? Who’s Jack? Why Jack? When Jack?

Non-Diegetic MaterialTitles No titles until the end of

the trailer. This will cause the trailer to be a series of the best images from the film in relation to the genre leading to a quick ending. Only then shall the title of the film appear followed by a quick ‘Coming Soon’ and possibly an indication of when.

Music The music at the beginning, when we

see him as a child, could be a child’s song or nursery rhyme. When he is older, the music could change to something faster paced as it reveals the horror of what he is like in the present day yet possibly include clips of the first song and it could revert back to the song/rhyme at the end as the titles appear. Also at the end when we see the silhouette the music could stop for a moment with a bang and there could be a short pause before the trailer ends.

Horror Genre Horrors are often designed to invoke fear and terror

within the viewer causing their worst fears to come to the surface.

Common themes in horror can be death, the supernatural or mental illness. They can captivate and entertain in a thrilling experience and often end in some sort of shocking finale.

Possible fears they can focus on can be the viewer’s own vulnerability or fear of the unknown.

There is often a good versus evil theme where the good person is established and is the one which survives to the end of the film and the bad guy is the one that’s killing everyone else who often has a trademark that makes him stand out from other killers.

It often ends in the good person surviving to the end of the film and/or defeating the bad guy.

However sometimes there is a twist right at the end where you think the bad guy is dead but then something happens to make him think otherwise thus giving room for a sequel (eg. Friday the 13th, Halloween and Nightmare on Elm Street franchises).

Sub-genres can be the gothic horror which can involve creatures taken from literature or folklore (eg. Dracula or the Wolf-man), psychological/horror of the personality in which the object of horror is normal by appearance and only slowly begins to reveal their true nature as the film progresses, leading up to a chilling climax (e.g. Psycho)

Genre chosen for our Trailer Particularly for our trailer we are going to

use the ‘Slasher’ genre of horror. This is where the villain uses extreme violence to dispose of his victims and is recognized by a trademark way of killing or item of clothing (e.g. Freddy Krueger’s clawed glove).

It often has some sort of twisted back story that explains why they do what they do. We are going to incorporate this idea through a shot of the murderer as a poorly treated child, which gives explanation to the murderer he grows up to become.

Style of Trailer

Location At the beginning of the trailer we plan to film a little boy

in the corner of a dark room, this will give the effect that he is a lonely child that may have some psychological problems. This will then start to form part of the narrative.

We plan to film part of our trailer in a train station for one of the deaths, we hope that we are able to film it at Reading as it will give the affect that it’s a busy urban station. The station would also allows us to get a variety of camera shots with different levels.

For the death of the dog walker we will possibly film the section in a quiet fields as we wouldn’t want to do it in woods as it’s so common for a horror.

Props DRAWING- at the beginning there will be the little boy sat

drawing a picture for his friend Jack, this will give the audience the impression that Jack is either a friend of this little boy.

MASK- We will have the little boy at the beginning hitting the mask on the floor or against something which will give the impression someone is taking over, as later on in the trailer the murderer will be wearing the mask, this will give the film more a freaky view as you are unaware what the murderer looks like as his identity will be hidden.

WEAPON- We are still unsure as to what pacifically the murderer’s weapon will be, although we want it to be a defining signature image. It will either be a type of knife or sharp scissors.

Costume MurdererLittle boy- Jeans and a T-shirt to create the

impression he is just a normal young, innocent child.

Man- All black clothing with a black hood and mask to help hide the identity of the murderer.

Group of young boysDressed in jeans and hoodies. They will all be in

normal clothes to show that it’s just a group of normal boys.

Dog WalkerRaincoat and wellies. As these are normal clothes for

a dog walker we will just use them to show that it’s a normal day out walking the dog.

Logistics

Travel All of our chosen

locations are relatively near to our home area. Two of the locations are in walking distance to school whereas the train station scene we can use the train to get there or

use car transportation.

ActorsMurdererYoung murderer- For this role we have chosen Alfie

Seymour as he is Sophie’s brother, therefore he is easily available to shoot. As he is six years old, it will give it a sinister affect to the beginning of the trailer.

For the older murderer, were not sure who we are going to use but we hope to get a group member’s dad to do it, as this will give the impression of a man’s built yet with him wearing a mask, his face will not be relevant.

VictimsLaura’s brother and two friends (group of boys aged

14). We have chosen to use these boys as the murderer could treat them how he was treated when he was this age, which will hopefully give the impression of his tortured childhood.

Dog WalkerFor the dog walker we could just use a group member

or someone’s mum as you wont actually see the person themselves. Seeing as Sophie and Laura both have dogs we can use either one of theirs for filming. We’ve chosen to have a dog walker as a victim that would be in a quiet field as this would be a secluded and realistic place for a murder to happen.

Extras If we need extras then they can be someone random in

the public who has given their consent or a group of our friends that don’t mind being in the background. By having extras it creates a more realistic setting in public.