Hurting

Group 1B: Alex S, Alex E, Raagavi

• Genre: Horror

• Sub-genre: Supernatural/ Psychological

• Target Audience – 16-24 M/F

• Secondary Audience – (Sub)Genre fans

• Certification: 15

Film Idea

Logline:

After losing her sense of reality, a mentally disturbed British girl is forced to confront her fears, which in turn become more frightening than she could ever imagine.

Synopsis:

Violet, a psychologically disturbed girl living in the outskirts of London is constantly haunted by her thoughts that have formed a life of their own. After losing her perception of what is real and what isn’t, she is forced to rebel against her own mind. The manifestation of her thoughts become something much larger than what she can handle. Her father, Dale, wants to help his daughter as much as he can but she has a hard time accepting his help as she believes he is in fact plotting against her. Will she be able to put an end to it or will her thoughts spread like wildfire and hurt everyone around her?

Why Hurting?

Common themes for horror titles:

• Very literal: 'Haunting In Connecticut' 'One Missed Call' 'Evil Dead'

• Focused on an object/person: 'The Ring' 'The Uninvited' 'The Others'

• One word: 'Sinister' 'Psycho' 'Priest'

Choices: Hurting Sad Eyes After Dark The Disturbed

Research

Distributed by

• Distributes many horror films successfully (e.g. Texas Chainsaw, Saw films, Silent Hill )

• Familiar with audience expectations for horror genre.

• Able to distribute in the UK, North America, France and Australia.

InstitutionsProduced by Dark Figure Productions• Independent UK production company specialising in low

budget horror.

• Building on female gender stereotypes: Our main character isn't the typical 'innocent' victim. She is vulnerable, but also psychologically disturbed.

• She relies on her father to give her support, but is otherwise independent and the narrative focuses on her struggle. This tackles the stereotype of women having ‘minor’ roles in films.

• Challenging racial stereotypes and going against the conventional white blonde horror victim.

Representation of Social Groups

Rose Da Silva, the protagonist in Silent Hill –a conventional horror victim

Our main actor - Raagavi

• Violet is initially the victim, but she evolves and mentally fights her possession.

• The opening will be tense and enigmatic to grab the audience's attention straight away.

• We will use a conventional horror 'haunted house' as the location.

• It will have an eerie atmosphere and incorporate a voyeuristic filming style.

Opening Sequence: Style and Form

Our chosen location for the shoot – Alex E’s house.

Research

It will:

• Shock

• Create suspense

• Create a sense of danger - the girl is home alone and strange things happen around the house

• Make use of conventional horror sounds

• Use a shaky, chaotic filming style

• The main character herself will appeal to the target audience a lot, as she is vulnerable but brave.

How will it attract the Target Audience?

• Continuity throughout the clip (set-ups)

• We will use a 'fish eye lens' effect in one of our shots

• Voyeuristic filming style to suggest that something is in the house with her

• Real-time with a few exceptions

Film Making Techniques & Technologies

An example of the fish eye lens effect.

Voyeuristic filming

• We will apply the principles of continuity editing which we learnt last term

• Use of Adobe Premiere Pro software- experience through practice

Drawing on Previous Work

• Applying and building on Horror genre conventions

• Use of Todorov's narrative theory and Propp's character roles

Role Our film

Hero Violet

Dispatcher Violet’s sanity

Helper Dad (Dale)

Villain Violet’s insanity

Princess Redeems her sanity

False Hero Violet’s insanity

Donor Dad

Levi Strauss – Binary OppositesSanity vs. InsanityGood vs. EvilWhat’s real vs. what isn’t

Opening Sequence

Flow

of

events

• Age: 17

• Character role: She is the protagonist who suffers from hallucinations and eventually loses control due to her psychological problems. While fighting for her own sanity she must protect her family from what is possessing her.

• Inspirations:

Violet

• Age: 38

• Character Role: He supports Violet throughout her struggle and seeks professional help for her. He is very precious to Violet and vice versa. Dale is one of the victims that the demon pursues and he is almost killed as a result, which makes Violet realise that it is a greater threat than she had imagined.

• Inspirations:

Dale (Violet’s dad)