We have decided to set it in an isolated house near some woods where a boy decides to have a small party when his parents are away. We will start the sequence with a handicam shot with everyone arriving at the house. Throughout the party, a female guest begins to think she can see something suspicious outside. This is laughed off and the party carries on as normal. The female guest continues to see suspicious movements and suspects that someone is outside the house. It will then cut to a static shot for a few seconds when suddenly the power shuts off. Then to a POV shot of a man outside watching the party whilst heavily breathing. The other guests immediately know that the girl was right and someone is watching the house. Two of the boys decide to go outside and take their motorbike into the woods to see if they can find the person who is watching them. The rest of the party guests are left at home worrying as they don't come back for some time. The screen then cuts to black. The boys return to find a wrecked room completely overturned with no one to be seen. They walk into another room and see something horrific, however, the audience will not know what this is as only their reaction is shown. The title will then come in on a black screen.

If we were to gain investment and go ahead and make the film these are our predictions:

Budget: £50’000

The reason we have come up with this figure is by taking into consideration tax, actors, equipment etc. We believe this is an adequate amount to produce a feature length film and a respectable quality.

We would be employing amateur actors and paying them a low wage compared to other independent films. Also the cost of costume and make-up would be minimal as we wouldn’t be employing make-up artists or costume designers.

Equipment would take the biggest chunk of the budget. No-one wants to see anything less than a high definition film these days and we believe this is a must.

Finally any other cost (i.e location, tax etc) will be fixed costs, as we have to pay them.

Dogwoof Pictures is a film distributor company based in the United Kingdom. The reason we would try and acquire the services of this company is because they are an acclaimed distributor of independent films. They are based in the UK which is what we wanted, not a foreign company.

Island Pictures is an independent television and film production company, based in London. Island’s mission is to produce high-quality popular drama and horror for both film and television.  “We nurture our projects and the writers, authors and creative talent with whom we are privileged to work.” The reason we choose island pictures is not only because they are local (London) but that they specialise in all fields of filming.

We have taken inspiration from Cloverfield (Reeves, 08) mainly due to the fact it uses handicam thorough out the whole film (first person narrative). Also the party scene at the beginning of the film has many similarities to what we wish to achieve in our sequence. The rumble of the party sound, the orange tint lighting, the acknowledgment of the camera (as he goes around the party recording goodbye messages for his friend) and the smart casual clothes they are wearing.

The Blair Witch Project (Myrick, 99) has given us a huge amount of inspiration for our sequence. Firstly in this film, like Cloverfield, they also use handicam throughout the film. Another key point of inspiration this film has given us is the location. The film is filmed mostly in woods, we hope to include scenes in woods, just like this.

Paranormal activity 2 (Williams, 10) gave us one main inspiration. That was how the film cuts from static shot to POV/handicam, we wanted to include this technique before we found out it was in this film. Another thing we looked at was the use of night-vision, we thought it may be a good idea to include it in our production.

These two trailers have also given us inspiration:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxhXj5UgpbU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VD88EFBFuos

These pictures show the outside wooded area which we will be using in the opening. It is dark and eerie, poorly kept and there is also a feel of isolation. Again the space is very open and easy to utilise in terms of both acting and filming.

These pictures show inside the house we are using as our set. They have been taken with flash on to make the lighting have a more moody feel about it, as we plan to on the night. There is plenty of space to use. The open plan of the house is a convention of horrors, also. It is difficult to see from the pictures but the house is a bungalow and has many huge glass walls/windows, which we felt would be interesting to film in.

Although the picture on the left looks the same as the previous photo, it is a different room. This room is where the gathering of people will take place. The lighting is dim and moody and sets a relaxed vibe for the opening. The picture on the right shows the courtyard, another interesting set feature. We are unsure whether to use this or not, the courtyard is boxed in the middle of the house surrounded by glass walls.

These are pictures of groups of friends who are the kind of characters we are going to have in our opening. They are also wearing casual clothing as the characters in our piece will wear.

In this picture there is a face in the shadows behind the girl. We are hoping to achieve this kind of effect of someone watching what’s happening in our piece.

These are the different props we will use in our opening. The torch will be used not only for a lighting effect in the house but also as a prop when the boys go looking for the mysterious thing. We will be using the gas mask with the antagonist to alienate him from the rest of the characters. The cans of drink will be used at the party.

From what we have gathered in our audience research (survey) we have come to these conclusions:

•The majority of participants were 16-17 (our age).

•80% of the participants were male (main horror audience).

•It seems that it is important for our sequence to be set at night (conventional of horrors).

•To a certain extent it matters to not reveal the full identity of the antagonist.

•The most popular choice of disguise was a gas mask.

•The title that was most popular was ‘The Unknown’. However we had not added our new idea of ‘Lights out’ to the survey.

•The audience believe it would be scarier to have a tall, menacing antagonist.

•Also it is recommended that we use a set/location that audiences can relate to.

From this research we can improve the concept behind our opening. We know that it will appeal mainly to males our age. We will definitely be filming at night in our chosen location – an isolated modern house. The antagonist will be wearing a gas mask and will be kept as unrevealed as possible, he must be tall and sinister to give the best effect. Therefore our audience research, although ideally we would have wanted more data, has helped us confirm our ideas.