Planning: Choosing an idea

What idea have I chosen for my main task? 

For my main task, I have chosen to go with the horror parody idea. This idea, as stated in my pitches, will be in a similar genre to films such as the "Scary Movie," franchise and "The Cabin in the Woods." In other words, it will be in the same genre as films that mock the horror genre. These films tend to make out that the horror genre is bland and predictable, and features a bunch of cliches that crop up in almost every film, such as victims running in the woods, answering the phone to strangers, talking to reporters and generally making stupid decisions so they end up getting killed.
I would exploit these conventions in my final piece, making sure to make the film trailer seem as cliche as possible. As such I would use some of the classic cliches that are found in horror movies. My plot would probably revolve around a pair of teenage boys who are driving before their car breaks down. Realising they have no cell reception, they get out of the car and wave their mobiles around to try and pick up a network. They hear noises in the woods around them, and one of them decides to investigate. This person is killed, and the other one is left stranded at the car. He has a gun on him and fires it, yelling at whoever is in the woods that they are armed and dangerous. The villain would then emerge right behind him, attempting to strangle him. The villain would then get blatantly shot in the head but would simply stand up again to attack him as if nothing has happened. The trailer would end on some kind of cliff-hanger, such as the remaining victim running away into the forest or the villain pulling the victim into his own car and tying his hands together.
I would make sure to exploit the comedy aspect of the trailer to a high degree, whilst at the same time still making the trailer tense and atmospheric. This is important as both the horror and comedy genres have to be exploited in order to yield a successful product within the comedy-horror genre. I also need to make sure that the trailer is not overly cheesy and keeps in line with real movie trailer conventions. In other words, the trailer needs to be made as a serious product and careful attention to detail needs to be applied in order to build atmosphere, even though the trailer will have slapstick elements to it.

After we have made our main task we have to make some ancillary products to support it. As I am doing a trailer, I have three options to choose from for my ancillary products, which are a website, a poster and a magazine front cover. Out of these three options I have to choose two that I will go ahead and make. I am not yet sure which two options I will choose, as I first want to focus on making the actual film trailer. I feel that after making the trailer, it will be easier to decide which two ancillary products would be most suited for the trailer.

(Below, my 100 word breakdown summarises the story of my trailer)











What idea have I decided to go ahead with?

As stated in my previous, introductory post, I have decided to make in the comedy-horror genre.
I have come to this conclusion through audience feedback as well as basing it off of my own preferences. Out of my three initial ideas, I felt this one had the most versatility in terms of how it can be made and structured. I found the connecting of comedy and horror genres quite interesting, and feel there is a lot that can be done within the genre.
I feel comfortable working with the horror genre, as this is largely something that I investigated last year when I made my thriller piece "Unresolved." However the comedy genre is not something I am so comfortable in making in. The reason I have decided to go ahead with the comedy aspect of the genre is because I think it will be more interesting than straight up horror and gives me the opportunity to research into other conventions and come out with a better understanding of how film trailers/openings work generally, rather than just those representing a specific genre.
If I find the comedy aspect of the piece too difficult I can always switch to purely horror, which will probably not be too difficult concerning the script and the props as the horror aspects will be there anyway. If I shoot the trailer and watch it and find it not to be very funny, then I can simply switch the genre of the piece from comedy-horror to simply horror. This way, there will be no confusion in the possible genres involved and there is less risk with making the trailer in the first place.

When I shoot my final trailer I will make sure to incorporate certain shots into it so I am sticking to genre conventions. From my timeline analysis of "Scary Movie," as well as general research into the genre, I can infer that a mixture of close shots, medium shots and long shots are used throughout. An establishing shot should be used as well to build atmosphere. These are shots that are often used in comedy-horror movies, and as such act as conventions of the genre.
For scene-setting I will make sure to have creepy locations to show that the genre does involve horror, while also giving away that comedy elements belong in the genre as well, perhaps through having cheesy props or a creepy environment with light visible in the distance. I will have quite a simple narrative which will be easy to follow (again sticking to the genre conventions) with few characters.
For lighting, I will have a mixture of dark and bright lighting (again referring to the timeline analysis for "Scary Movie.") This is to help show the contrast between light and dark, and thus the difference in the horror and comedy aspects of the trailer.