Purpose:
I chose to situate my short film in the horror genre, this is because I have the most amount of knowledge within this area of films, I can understand the techniques used to create upmost tension and mirror them into my film, Gone. I beleive there is a lack or horror/action films where the male is portrayed as the victim, in near all films situated in this genre males show hegemonic attitudes, showing upmost dominance towards all. Therefore I wanted to ensure I institute a male victim, challenging all stereotpes that are currently in the film world; hoping to highlight the insecurities that males do show, I beleive this is important as a ideology needs to change within the horror/action genre.
Furthermore, as we know from the usage and gratifications theory the public have contrasting and varying purposes to watch a film, I am trying to highlight the need to be entertained in my film, I am doing this because I believe I can succesfully connote ideologies of gripping the audience, with techniques like long pauses to increase tension, fast paced scene cuts to increase the mood and atmosphere with the film, during the second stage of the three act structure.
Form:
As we know this film is a short film, this includes a under 30 minutes and my film fits this brief. My film is placed within the horror/action genre this means that my main priority is to grip and intensify every scene in the film, the way I am going to do this is through my pre-production phrase with the use of non-diegetic sound effects, and fast paced transitions to increase the tone of the scenes reflecting onto the viewers.
Furthermore, in most horror films you would expect to see long pauses of tension jsut before destruction of the equilibrium, I am going to ensure this is in my film as I beleive it is the most efficient way to endulge the viewer.
Treatment:
To summarise my film, in the first stage of the three act structure my protagonist, James, finds himself growing a sense of curiosity as within his hometown of Tarring various of people have gone missing, as time passes his need to investigate overwhealms him one day when he reads a ‘missing’ poster.
He grabs his bag and gains the surge of courage and walks into the unknown, the church. Panning his vision from left to right frequently and rapidy in fear and uncertainty sudden aprubt noises alert him, with one in one dirctions triggers another in the corresponding direction, instituting a high sense of confussion in James.
During the second stage of the three act structure James finds himsef deep into the Chruch with noises bouncing around him constantly it drives him into a feeling of being petrified, until the noises have led him to a dark corner, he gains courage to check it out but when he goes around the corner a large scream occurs and the outcome is unknown to the viewers, leaving it on a open narrative so that my viewers can interpret their own outcome so create a notion if social interaction with friends to debate on whagt they believe happened to James.
Sound effects:
Sound effects are instituted during the pre-production phase, for example non-diegetic, this is where the sound effects are not heard by the actors on set but it’s added during editing the scenes, within my film I will add this type of sound effects when my protagonist, James, is investigating the church and noises like howling and screaming this is because to get the upmost emphasis on this noise I will need to institute it during the pre-production phase.
On the otherhand, diegetic sound effects is the use of natural noise that can be heard during the filming stage, this therefore allows the actors to hear the noises making it more realistic when filming. This will be used during my film when the noise of wind whistling and footsteps, this allows more emphasis on specific noises so that the viewers can feel the sense of fear.
Font:
I use the font courier new this is the appropriate font to use when writing a screen play, as it is clear and precise, reducing the chnce for errors and misunderstandings.
A font that would clealry synergise with my film would be of the rustic look, this would connote horror as it would infer something has been inslated and neglected infering horror.
Examples:
There a numerous of films that istitute their filmic ideas around a missing person/people, for example The Missing, filmed in 2003 and directed by Lee Kang-Sheng, the baseline narrative is a frontine women soldier and mother, whilst on duty her daughter gets kidnapped, this is the distruction of the primary equilibrium and now the reconstruction of it is them trying to find their daughter.
As we can see their is many similarities, in mine numerous of missing reports have been occuring in Tarring in this a daughter goes missing. I want to pastiche some techniques used to show tension and grief when, for exampe when the mother understands about the kidnapping of her daughter the non-diegetic sounds are slow paced, emotive, this allows the viewers to understand the deeper meaning behind the scenario.
Screengrab script:
What is my target audience?
My target audience is mainly at people aged over 16 is because they will be able to relate to the main protagonist who is a 16 year old boy, I believe the usage and gratifications of theese viewers is to have the intent to watch and enjoy and use it as a social talking point, this is due to the open structure, where the outcome can be debated within social groups. The gender is for all but I would mainly suggest that its aimed at men this is because the protagonist is a male, therefore they would be able to relate to them more.
Promotion:
I will use mainly digital content for example social media, this is because it is accesible to most people, therefore the recognition will be greater and therefore more people will have a desire to watch the film, with this will come more views and thus more profit. Secondly, I will use posters, on bilboards this will allow maximal popularity, as most people will see them, as long as they are widespread.
Distribution:
My film, Gone, will be distributed via cross-media platforms in the sence of Youtube, this is a effective way to establish a short film due to the essence of it being widely distributed to all people to be accessed by everyone. Furthermore, the British Film Institute connnote a strong notion of of aiming the film at a teenage audience, an effective way of promoting this to them is by using celebrity endorsement, this is where the use of celebritys are used to promote a film, I would use celebrities like Zac Effron, this is because him being a global renowned actor and connotes a notion that people knnow he has been in numerous of sucessfull films, like Harry Potter. In addition, this would be done via social media, this is because it cost minimal in costs in terms paying social media platforms like Ingstagram or Twitter, the costs of paying the celebrities to publish the film.
Equipment:
There will be 3 main essenatial materials that I will use, this consist of a camera, shotgun mic and a tripod. The camera will be placed on a tripod, the tripod allows smooth and efficient pans on the shots, this alllows a clean and clinical finish on the film, ensuring I can get the most professional finish onto my film. Secondly, the use of a shotgun mic allows me to get a precise finish to the film, ensuring that a profesional finish to my film occurs, with little lapse in dialouge and noise.
Harrison Cable-Media 