Assignment 4: The recipe for the perfect horror film

A step by step recipe for new film writers on how to make the perfect horror film 


In order to make the perfect horror film you will need to identify what makes the perfect horror film for your audience to love & enjoy. First thing you will need to know are the key ingredients for a horror film.

Ingredients

1) The setting of the horror film is commonly used as the base of the perfect mixture. Without the            base the film will lack in flavor.

2)  3 or more tablespoons of themes that will tickle your taste buds,

3) You will also need a dash of a good daunting sound track

4) A couple of characters to tie the whole story together

5) And last but not least a delicious narrative that will have the audience on the edge of their seats.



Method
Step 1:
Firstly you will need to pick what type of setting the horror film will be, the usual settings for a horror film are normally
- Small communities or isolated places
- Urban environments
- Dark streets
- Narrow alleyways
- Large cities
- New house

Step 2;
After picking a setting you will need to toss it into a bowl and give it a quick mix. Then you will need to choose a narrative. Picking a narrative shouldn't be too hard after picking your setting, once you have the setting, the story can easily be made up based around what setting you have chosen. Say if you chosen 'new house' for your setting normally the narrative would be about a new family moving into a haunted house. An example of this would be the films 'Insidious' or 'The Haunting.'

Step 3:
Now that you have both the setting and the narrative in the bowl whisk the two together to give it a creamy texture.

Step 4:
The next thing to throw into the mix would be the themes. Now choosing the themes is a very important step to take in the process of creating a perfect horror film, if this step is missed out the whole thing could turn out like a disaster. With the theme you will need to choose it wisely by considering what you already have. An example would be: say you have chosen the setting 'new house' with the narrative with a new family moving in to a haunted house you would need to think about what sort of theme the story line fits into where its a 'Good vrs Evil' or a religious based film or a film that portrays depression. Choosing the right theme for your film will give it the right flavor and the right colour so your target audience will enjoy it more.

Step 5:
Next you need to start chopping up some human flesh and add 8 pints of blood to form your characters. The formation of character creating is the longest step because you have to choose each of the characters personalities and what actor would suit the characters look and be able to act the characters personality as well. This is a lengthy process because you will need to cast auditions so you get to see how each person acted and then at the end choose the best person.

Step 6:
Now that you have the setting, the narrative, the themes and the characters its time to bake your perfect horror film mix in the oven for a good 45 minutes until its a good deep red with blood oozing out of the top.

Step 7:
After the perfect horror film is ready leave it to cool for 10 minutes and then after sprinkle a dash of a
daunting, eerie soundtrack of your choice to tie the whole film together and bish bash bosh you have the perfect horror film.


Just because you have the perfect horror film doesn't mean its all over just yet, there are a few things you need to do to share the perfectness of your film with the public... and that is to advertise it correctly. When advertising your film you want to grab the audiences attention without giving away too much.

Here are some good examples of ways other films grabbed their audiences attention.

This trailer was promoting the film 'Carrie.' Its about a girl who has telekinetic powers just like the way this video was filmed. This grabs the public's attention because its funny to see peoples reactions and for the people who witnessed this happening this will definitely stick to their minds and when they see the film is out hopefully they will go to watch it.

A trailer isn't the only way to grab your audiences attention another way would be to create a whole load of different posters that could also grab peoples attention.. here are some good examples:

 The image is the thing that really grabs the audiences attention, this image is unusual because the girls body is bent in an abnormal way also her body + shadow together looks like a 2 which is also quite interesting.

If you're a Harry Potter fan then you will know what this is about, this poster didn't even need a title because everyone knows about it, this will get the fans talking which will get it more publicity,













Other ways you can get publicity is through
- Merchandise
- Media ( Twitter, Facebook, YouTube.)

Some horror films are influenced by true stories like Annabelle was and the conjuring.


So that is the way you could make a perfect horror film. I hope you enjoy creating a story that will make you sleep less at night.