Assailant (Final Product)

Radio Advert Script

After analysing typical conventions of Movie radio adverts I have created a 30 second advert of my own. I have put in the timings of each input in the left hand column. (The name Bob from the actual movie script has been replaced by Sully, the name of the actor)

Stunts

In my short film the main character is attacked by the Assailant in his house. The attack itself is a figure spearing the main character into the room, the door slamming closed and the lights going out. This involves the main character being slammed into by the Assailant at a very fast pace. I wanted it to look as realistic as possible so I had my actors just perform the stunt as it would have been in a real situation. This would involve both of the actors crashing to the ground violently and could potentially lead to serious injury for either of the actors.

Therefore I laid out a bed mattress as a make-shift crash matt to cushion the fall of the actors and prevent injury. This meant that the actors could perform their stunt knowing that they were going to fall onto something soft, which in turn gave for slightly more realism because the actors are in the right mental state to perform the without hesitation, meaning the biggest impact possible was achieved, whilst preventing any serious injury.

Target Audience of Horror

I did research on the website about.com which gives decent profiles about different genre followings and demographics. My research on the horror genre showed that there is no specific or defining qualities about the horror genre; Horror's main following ranges from teenagers to late middle aged men and women. The specific audience depends on who is being asked. Middle aged men and women tend to prefer zombie and slasher films because of the large surge of successful horror films of those genres through the 1970s and 80s such as Friday 13th, Dawn of the Dead, Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Nightmare on Elm Street. Younger audiences like horror films because they are more likely to thrill seek and the shock factor of horror films gives home the adrenaline rush which young people like. However the dedicated followers of horror tend not to be largely outgoing or have a large social life. Hardcore horror fans tend to be enthusiastic about all forms of horror, including remakes which they inevitably hate, and when they run into a stranger who also likes horror they tend to talk enthusiastically about it together.


I created a survey and asked 100 people on their horror movie preferences. 33% of people said their favourite form of horror was physiological horror like films such as Black Swan and Silent Hill. Where as 22.2% of people said supernatural horror films such as The Omen and The Shining were their favourite. I also asked what people didn't like about Horror films; 43% of people said predictable endings and 30% of people said stupidity from the characters was the most annoying thing in Horror movies. Lastly, approximately 57% of people asked were under the age of 30 which shows that horror films generally appeal young people in the UK.

History of Horror

Horror movies are suspenseful films which intend to create fear and trepidation in the audience through undesirable situations (Murders, Sadistic torture), supernatural events (Ghosts, Possession) and grotesque monsters such as zombies or vampires. The first successful horror film was Nosferatu in 1922, a classic monster based story inspired by Dracula. Early horror is usually inspired by other books involving monsters such as Frankenstein and Faust. The introduction of sound and dialogue into film greatly improved the horror industry because scenes could be more atmospheric through music and sound effects which could include monster or ghost noises. Alfred Hitchcock revolutionised the Horror industries in the 1950's with Vertigo, Rear Window and The Birds, which culminated with his most successful piece in 1960, "Psycho" which to this day is considered a Horror classic.

Then in the 70's, the Horror genre saw a huge surge in popularity after the proliferation of good horror films such as The Exorcist, The Omen, Halloween, The Wicker-man, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Alien and Dawn of the Dead, with The Shining and Friday 13th Marking the end of this Golden Age in 1980, after this, Horror films had an unsuccessful period for the next two decades with the exception of Nightmare on Elm Street and Silence of the Lambs. This bad period lead to spoof and non-serious films such as Scream and Scary Movie.

Horror was revived somewhat in the late 90's and early 2000's with films such as Saw, The Blair Witch Project and Ring, and this period of decent Horror films has continued over the last decade with successful films such as Cloverfield, The Conjuring, Insidious and Silent Hill. This was due to advances in technology, being able to make more realistic monsters or ghosts and better script ideas which were more unorthodox and less predictable. Blair Witch project encouraged a large genre of found footage films within the Horror genre such as REC and Paranormal Activity. Horror films in modern times are generally hit-and-miss in terms of box office success with 2014 film Annabelle doing poorly but 2015 film It Follows doing well.

Radio Advert Analysis

Gravity
The advert starts with urgent sounding dialogue and a narrator quoting critics calling it a cinematic masterpiece. Dialogue in the advert alternates between the narrator describing how good the film is and quotes from the movie, usually building suspense. Half way through the advert suspenful music plays in the background which leads up to an explosion. Then epic music is played while the narrator talks about actors and directors.

Pacific Rim
This advert has a quicker beat which ends every bar with a loud explosion like sound with trumpets. The narration goes in unison with the music, the narrator says a line promoting the movie, then there is a quote from the movie which goes in time with the loud surge of noise. There is also the sound of monsters in the advert to show the genre. The advert also brings attention to a competition which the film company is doing where someone can win a prize.