Genre development

Over the past week, I have made some progress, deciding on the genre and what could happen.

I'm going to follow the genre of a thriller, more specifically a pysocoloical thriller about stalkers. After the feedback I got from the target audience at the cinema, I feel that this will be appealing to them and that there is a gap on the market for this type of film.

The top ten stalker films are as follows;
1. Fatal Attraction [1987]
2. Scream [1996]
3. Taxi Driver [1976]
4. Cape Fear [1991]
5. The Fan [1996]
6. Fear [1996]
7. One Hour Photo [2002]
8. The Hand That Rocks The Cradle [1992]
9. Single White Female [1992]
10. Sleeping with the Enemy [1991]

There has been an eight year gap since One Hour Photo made the list, reinforcing the fact that there is a gap on the market for this type of film, usually released around October time to tie in with Halloween- the time for all horrors and thrillers to be released because of the connotations it will portray with the halloween holiday.

After studying the trailers, posters and other marketing techniques of these films, I have come to the following conclusion;

• I will need to use red writing on the poster, and possibly the magazine and film trailer as it signifys danger, blood and death- a typical convention of a horror/thriller
• Use young people (teenagers) as they are the most vulnerable and always the target in a horror film. (Hard Candy is similar in this meaning, a peadophile grooming a young teenage girl)
•  To build up suspense and keep the storyline a mystery, I will need to use a range of shot types such as establishing shot, wide shots,  mainly close ups to show the emotion of the characters. I really likes the trailer for Single White Female- after the credits at the 'end' of the trailer, there is an added shot on the end which makes the audience jump because it is unexpected.
• Faded transitions are very strong in keeping the running of the trailer instead of fast cuts. It builds up suspense for the films, the opposite of what would be expected. For example, Shutter Island trailer uses faded transitions which work extremely well with the close ups of DiCaprio's face.
• Music and pace would change midway through the trailer and become more fast paced which is another convention of the horror/thriller genre
• Music is usually slow paced and quiet, gradually building up, some with voiceovers- an element I would like to incorporate.