Why young people like horror films

Research done by Nobuo Mosataka show that children as young as three have an easier time spotting snakes on a computer screen than they do spotting flowers. Research by Christof Koch show a portion of the brain associated with fear learning, responds more vigorously to images of animals than to images of people, landmarks or objects even though those are much more dangerous in our civilised world.

This may explain the shape of our movie monsters: creatures with sharp teeth or snake like appearance. The fear of being eaten alive also explains the cannibalistic traits of human monsters like Dracula and Dr. Hannibal Lecter.

Target Audience

I think the suitable age for our film would be 15 years and above. I feel this is the suitable age bracket for our film because it contains dangerous threats of death using weapons that could be used to kill. The age of 15 is suitable because they have been educated about the awareness of these topics and have seen a lot of it in other films as well as on social media.

This age is suitable for the content displayed in our film because the youngest people allowed to watch have been exposed to this sort of graphic content before and i feel they would be able to handle it mentally as it wouldn't be a completely whole new experience for them as they are used to seeing these sorts of things on social media and video games.

The age bracket for the film isn't higher (18+) because no actual death takes place and only the threat of death occurs. Throughout our 2 minute clip, only threat makes it eligible for a 15 however if we were to show the gruesome scenes of death then we would be coerced to raise the minimum age that would be required to watch the film. Furthermore, it is 15 because it doesn't contain any sexual content or bad language that would be of a bad influence to a 15 year old.

Our film is not suitable for 12-14 bracket because aspects of the sequence contain the threat of moderate violence with the use of blood to imply that death will take place.

Risk Assessment

Stepping on glass - High risk as this can be dangerous due to glass being sharp. we will be careful as the actor will have slippers on and we will insure they remain on the entire time so no harm is caused during the filming of the sequence.

Wires from camera - May trip over the whilst filming and injure yourself. We will make sure this doesn't happen by constantly reminding each other throughout filming that the wires are there so no damage is done whilst filming. Low Risk

Danger from knives/hammer - Very sharp so might scratch yourself. We will make sure no damage is done by constantly holding the knife downwards in between filming scenes so no accidental accidents occur. This is very high risk and one we will constantly monitor throughout.

Falling downstairs with camera - Camera is heavy so risk of losing control of feet and falling. We will make sure this is not done by walking carefully with the camera tightly gripped to our hands. Maintaining the quality of the camera is vital as we don't want to pay for any damages. Medium Risk

Putting up tripod - Can cut yourself or hurt yourself when putting it up. We will construct the tripod slowly and carefully to ensure this doesn't happen. Low Risk.

Shot list

1. Extreme close up of man waking up, confused and scared (about his dream). Looks to the side at alarm clock.
2. Eyeline match on alarm clock (03:17)
3. Close up of man 'sighing'
4. Wide shot of man going back to sleep... *Noise heard*
5. Close up of man shooting up out of bed, wide eyed/scared
6. Extreme close up to emphasise facial expression
7. Wide shot of man putting slippers on
8. Medium close up of man reaching the hammer
9. Extreme close up of hand grabbing hammer and torch
10. Tracking shot behind man walking in hallway pans towards the front of him, as he shouts 'Ben'
11. Close up of man looking to side
12. Eyeline match of Ben's door shut
13. Close up of mans face to show apprehensiveness
14. Over the shoulder shot as man reaches stairs
15. Tracking shot of man walking down stairs
16. Side on tracking shot of man walking in hallway, reaches for a door
17. Extreme close up of hand opening door (slowly)
18. Close up of extreme anxiousness
19. Over the shoulder shot of man searching room.
20. Wide shot (from inside room) of man leaving the room.
21. *Glass smashes* Medium close up of shock and change of movement, looks towards location of sound
22. Tracking shot of man walking into room where sound came from
23. Close up of hand opening door slowly.
24. Eyeline match of dark room with diegetic sound of man panting
25. Side tracking shot of man cautiously looking around
26. Medium close up of man walking towards separate room inside kitchen. As he leaves the shot, it focuses on the knives on the table in the background.
27. Tracking shot of man opening the door to sub room, steps inside
28. Close up of slippers stepping on glass, whilst ball hits his foot
29. Tilt panning up body until you see the man's face being shocked. In the background of this, we see the scary man holding a knife. Continuing this shot, the scary man lifts up his knife.
30. Birds eye view of house whilst hearing diegetic screaming.

Similar film

The film similar to mine is Scream - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1262416/


This is similar because they are both in a dark location and based around fear of a vulnerable person. They both use props to represent danger indirectly and a range camera shots are also used to show many things including power and authority.