Analysis of Idea 1

Halloween is a typical occasion that horror films use in order for the real horror to take place. This is because one associates Halloween with fear and evil, as usually people dress up as evil, demonic characters such as the Devil or Grim Reaper therefore it is a good basis for horror to occur.

High school is the American term for secondary school/6th form. The school is a typical location used as it relates to teenagers as they can associate with certain character types portrayed.

As he is disliked by many students, it shows that in horror films, with the feeling of hate towards someone it can provoke them to kill as many people whom they have anger towards, even those that are innocent.

The jock is a typical character seen in horror films. Usually the promiscuous girl is the first to die, however it shows that boys who mess around will be punished as well and in this case, he has been, as he is the first to die.

When the lights go out and the student is found in blood, this can be seen as the moment of disequilibrium as it marks the danger that something bad has happened, which then leads to chaos occurring at the party full of students.

By the character dressing up as horror villains at the Halloween party, this aspect would make it a post structuralist horror film. This is because existing horror films are not usually mentioned or seen in new horror films.

Set in high school, the current students are organising a Halloween party in the school. The theme is famous horror villains. Students are allowed to dress up as any character from horror films, with the winning prize going to the person best dressed as a horror villain, as voted by the students.

Many of the students attend and the party seems to be a success. However just as the host announces who the winner is, the lights go out causing fright and panic. When the lights go up, the student who was the winner is found lying in a pool of blood in the middle of the hall. He was dressed as the villain from Scream and is revealed as Johnny Smith a typical jock boy whom is adored by all of the girls but loathed by many students.

The element of being dressed up as horror villains, and being killed is post structuralist as it is showing that villains, although not the real ones, can be killed and defeated. However it contrasts with the innocent students as they are only dressing up as them and are not evil.

This is the period of disequilibrium as the natural order has been disrupted because the students are being killed one one by.

Chaos then begins to ensue as one by one the students dressed up as villains begin to die. When some take off their costumes believing that they will be saved from death, they eventually suffer the same fate.

Though they take off their costumes in the hope of not getting killed, it shows that no one is safe, no matter how hard they try.

The nerd or geek in horror films are usually portrayed as creepy and not to be trusted. This is because they are usually seen alone, and not socialising with other students.

The plot takes a surprising twist when it is revealed that Melissa the school nerd is responsible for the killings. She reveals that her sister who went to the same school seven years earlier was killed as a practical joke from being locked in a room, and had to escape by the window to which she met the same group whom had locked her in, were nearby taunting her to jump.

As her sister was killed due to a practical joke, it presents a reason why someone would want to kill others who were associated with the killers. It explains her revenge to the innocent, because though they were not responsible for what happened, they were associated with the people that killed her sister.

As her sister was killed by the bullying of others, the feelings that Melissa felt would be hard to control which is why she would have used this to take revenge. Her motive is that she is troubled by the past and has enacted her revenge.

Five of them were the brothers and sisters of Melissa's classmates, whom then became her victims.

This reveals that they were innocent, however died as a results of their brother's and sister's actions. It conveys that history can continue in the present if not resolved in the past.

Practical Issues

It would be difficult to organise the Halloween party as many people would be needed for the scene.

It would be extremely hard to re shoot any errors as we would have to set up everything again which would take too much time.

The costumes would cost a lot as people might not have them. It would also be hard to successfully get the costumes for different villains or characters as we do not know exactly where we could get them.

We would need a hall for the main scene, and school may not let us use their hall as we would need to be supervised, especially if it was after school hours.

Analysis of Idea 2

Darkness is usually an indicator for something bad to happen. It sets the atmosphere in being tense as it is the beginning of the film, and so a calm, relaxed atmosphere has not been presented. This would suggest that something is going to happen.

Set in secondary school, the film begins fifteen years earlier. A student is quietly revising in a small class by herself. It is dark outside and nearing the end to school closing. A practical joke occurs as one door slams and is securely locked.

This conveys the idea of being trapped as the doors are closed and tightly shut. This is a common paradigm used in horror films for when an event is about to takes places such as the villain appearing as this scenario isolates the victim from everyone else so no one can help them thus conveying a sense of being trapped.

The idea of a practical joke in horror films usually evokes punishment to those who carry out the act. This is because if someone sins in horror films, they usually suffer the consequences for their actions. As this event happened fifteen years earlier, the punishment has not happened and so when in the present, the horror will begin to unfold in order so that someone pays the price for this action.

Cries for help represents panic and worry as the feeling of danger can be felt to the victims life as the audience are aware that the person is in trouble.

The voice over of laughing represents bullies as they are taunting the student and find it funny that she has been locked in.

This is an event in the past which is shown at the start of the film. It sets up a tragic occurrence which would be solved in the future. This type of scenario usually presents a motive for when the film is in the present as past issues would not have been solved.

The second door closes and is shut tight leaving her locked in. Laughing can be heard from a few students as well as her shouts for helps as the screen fades to black.

There is a time shift to the present to fifteen years later. The fast forward in time leaves us wondering what happened to the student who was locked in. As it was left unsolved and nothing was revealed about what became of her, it suggests that we will find out from events that will now start to happen in the present.

Fifteen years later the school year starts with a new group of students. During their first day of school they decide to bunk lessons and look around. A teacher sees them lazing around in the common room and orders them to get to class. They ignore him but eventually leave to go wondering further elsewhere.

Their stereotypical character traits are presented as they are unruly and disrespectful. Therefore we immediately know that they will be at the centre of trouble due to their typical character types.

This can be seen as the equilibrium stage as presents a good atmosphere by showing achievements and success of students and the school.

This is the moment of disequilibrium as the teenagers have destroyed something for their own personal pleasure. This type of act is not only disrespectful but in horror films they would be punished for being so unruly and horrible to commit such an act.

They finally arrive at a hall of achievements which include a range of certificates and awards placed on the walls. One of the students sees a plaque which has In Loving Memory of Alicia Jones and the group ridicule it and say that it is out of place. They leave but return the next day and vandalise it with spray paint and paint.

The place where the students die are both in school and out. This shows that even in a school environment where it is meant to be safe for students, can turn into a deadly place as here the teenagers are met with their deaths.

Shortly after, one by one the group members start to die, with some dying in the school, and the others outside. The last two are convinced that it is the spirit of Alicia that has been awoken and they frantically try to get help to stop the spirit.

The teenagers think that the student's spirit has awoken. Spirits is a convention used in horror films as it makes use of the unknown and can haunt the living if they have done something wrong. In this case the teenagers had vandalised her plaque which then would make sense that they disturbed her spirit and caused her to awake and punish them.

However the ending reveals, that the real villain is the teacher whom had told them off right at the beginning. He reveals that it was his sister who had died and that he wanted to punish the students who vandalised the plaque that was in memory of his sister.

The ending is quite unexpected as one would have thought it was the spirit that was the cause of the deaths. However it reveals that the teacher was the brother of the student whom had tragically died. This shows that the event in the past had not been completed because although he works as a teacher, he would have had feelings of revenge and hate to those who killed her. The new students who vandalised her plaque opened his intent to kill and gave him a motive.

Practical Issues

There is the possibility that we would be unable to get a plaque and engrave it as this would cost a lot of money.

An alternative would be to film an actual headstone but this would be extremely disrespectful that none of us would do.

We could make a pretend gravestone or plaque however this would be time consuming.

Analysis of Idea 3

This is a typical feeling that many teenagers have during their time at school. Therefore this idea would relate to the intended audience of teenagers as they can associate with such feelings.

A teenage boy has had a crush for many years on his good friend Charlie. She is very popular and liked by many. He finally gets the courage to ask her out however she gently refuses him as she would rather be friends.

Although he moves on, the ridiculing that he suffers from Charlie's friends is enough for him to feel the pain he first felt when he was rejected. This, added with anger and feelings of revenge would present him with a motive to kill.

This behaviour from teenagers is quite common and when used in horror films they are normally penalized for their actions. This is to portray that wrong doing can lead to bad consequences such as death.

Teenagers can also relate to this feeling. However in horror films it can be used as a motive for the villain because someone has hurt them. Therefore they would suffer the consequences in a deadly circumstance.

He is crushed and extremely heartbroken that she has rejected him. However he begins to get over her and move on. His hurt however is further fuelled by anger when her friends find out that he asked her out, and they begin to ridicule and mock him for doing so.

This would be the period of disequilibrium as this is when the chaos starts to happen due to one of the group failing to return. This leads to the others looking for him, which in turn results in their deaths as well.

A few days later, the group are revising in the study room after school. One of the boys leaves to go to the bathroom but he does not return. His friend goes to look for him, but she then is faced with a masked villain who brings her to her death. The killings continue as one by one the other group members leave to look for their friends.

The use of a mask is a paradigm used in horror films. It makes the villain unknown and is a sign of horror because in horror films we associate masks as concealing someone's identity due to them being the one causing the deaths and malicious acts.

Horror films usually have a final girl. This is to represent women in being strong and able to survive. It also enables the audience to sympasize with her as we tend to do this with females more than males due to stereotypes in seeing that men should be strong and not weak.

With the use of technology it would make sense that the victim could call for help. However in this case she cannot as she is fearful that her action could cause her friends to die. Though they are already dead she is unaware of this.

The ending relates to the start, as it is revealed that Charlie's friend that she rejected was the person responsible for killing her friends. This shows that feelings of hurt and revenge are alone enough for someone to take revenge in a horrific manner. This is especially highlighted in horror films as it is a typical scenario that teenagers and even adults can associate with.

Practical Issues

In the end she finds out that it was her friend whom she had rejected, that was responsible for the murders of her friends. She pleads with him and tells him that she did not know they were horrible to him and that she would have stopped them if she knew.

The last girl left is Charlie. She looks at her phone and sees that she mas many miss calls from one of her friends. She was unaware as she had been listening to her music. As she receives a text telling her to come to the bottom classroom, she is fearful for her life but believes her friends are still alive, which is why she mustn't call the police or they will be killed.

Even if the police were called, their powers are usually helpless in horror films. This is to show that no one is safe and that there is no hero that can actually save the victims apart from the last person standing who usually survives by defeating the villain themselves. Or in some cases everyone dies at the hands of the villain.

This would mainly be shot in the school. The lighting would have to be consistent as in the morning it could be really bright, whereas in the afternoon it would be more dark.

We would have to shoot most of the scenes after school as they would mostly include isolated scenes with the characters, therefore our arrangement of time and actors would have to be very organized.