Location Ideas

Previously I only really had ideas for close up and extreme close ups of the characters face to be in my teaser trailer, inspired by the trailer for Godzilla. I knew this was too short, and so have been thinking of other shots to include. After some research on slideshare and google images into locations, I found some conventional locations used in horror films. The slideshare which helped is embeded below.

Codes and conventions in Horror Films from kbamediastudies

Horror Film Forms and Conventions from lalaland_xo

Overall I found locations that are isolated, and away from the city are most commonly used in horrors, as they are unfamiliar, secluded areas that if anything or anyone were to be or go wrong, the victim could easily get lost. Also, as they're areas that are unfamiliar, how would the innocent person know there were trouble round the corner?

The most common areas are abandoned houses, malls and other buildings and the woods or other countryside places. Examples of Horror genre films and tv series that include these locations are listed below, and I used this website to help find this info.

Examples of abandoned areas:

• Silent Hill
• The Abandoned
• I Am Legend
• The Walking Dead
• 28 Days Later
• Chernobyl Diaries

I love the idea of using shots from an abandoned area, it gives the audience an unsettling feeling that the character will go through misfortune, as they're isolated and alone. 28 Days Later is one of my all time favourite horror films (I have to admit I like the sequel, 28 Weeks Later more) and so if I were to shoot sections in an abandoned area, I'd take inspiration from this film. To get an abandoned location is hard however, it's all down to luck and filming when there happens to be no one there, and it's definitely too difficult to try and film an abandoned city like in 28 Days and Weeks Later, so I can't try this. An abandoned building will be a lot easier, but I still find this to be difficult.

Website used

Examples of woods and other countryside areas:

• Sleepy Hollow
• Friday the 13th
• Blair Witch
• Wrong Turn
• Texas Chainsaw Massacre
• The Hills Have Eyes
• Don't Go In the Woods

Personally, filming shots in the woods will be a lot easier for me as I live right next to Mousehold woods. As it's more convenient for me, I can do this quicker! The only problem about this is lighting, as I'll need to be filming in the dark, I'll need to film in early evening so it isn't too dark to film. Over the summer holidays, I will borrow a camera from school and take some test shots and stills of the location, as it gets dark a lot slower and later in the summer than any other season, and so this will be the perfect time!