Research

I started my research by watching films for inspiration.  I began with Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho.  I really liked the voyeuristic nature of this film, how he created the feeling of us, the audience, stalking the victim.  I wanted to use this voyeuristic style in my film  to provide a different perspective on viewing the main character.  I wanted  the audience to feel vulnerable as they can sense the main character is in danger and they are helpless to protect him.

Next I watched the Blair Witch Project.  I admired the deliberate amateur feel of this as it made it feel much more frightening, more real.  I wanted to use this feeling in my film.

I was inspired by Edgar Wright's quick pacing and how he reveals narratives.  Initially he was one of my main inspirations on how to shoot the film.  In Hot Fuzz, I liked the opening scene where the backstory of Nicholas Angel was revealed using passing transitions.  I took inspiration from Baby Driver to set tone and mood for my film by using music.  Finally I looked at Steve Neale's Genre theory to explore the horror conventions and what makes a good horror flick. 

As part of my research and preparation I continued to focus on learning new techniques in Premier Pro, following on from my "Horror Edit".  I experimented with transitions and key masking and how to create a narrative.  At school, I was given a creative challenge for my house and I used this opportunity to learn more about Premier Pro and creating a cohesive narrative.  I also researched Quentin Tarantino's work as I admire his cinematography skills.  You can view my finished video "Dicker Creative Challenge".  

I conducted a focus group at school with 6 people of my age, 17 year olds who are representative of my target audience to see if they felt that the music of my film suited the tone and to see if they identified with the music.  Our aim was to have a soundtrack that would have been synonymous with our film.