Short Film: Primary Research

Director's Statement

I have always been interested in the paranormal and stories of the unexplained. The "Skinwalker" was believed by the Navajo tribe to be the most evil entity in their religion and there have not been many on-screen adaptations of this terrifying beast. I have always followed the stories of the legendary "Skinwalker Ranch" and hunters on YouTube telling their own terrifying tales of their adventures in the deep forests of the world. By use of first person and the found-footage style, I can portray these stories in a realistic and true-to-life way. The horror genre is strangely enjoyed by many and we still don’t really know why this is the case, the word "Enigma" means a person or thing that is mysterious or difficult to understand which directly relates to the legend of the Skinwalker and the phenomenon of the horror genre.

Primary Research

One piece of primary research I conducted was a questionaire.I sent it out to my classmates and peers to get their opinion of my film idea and to make improvments to my plan.

The first question I had asked is "Are you a fan of found footage and why?" Some answers I received were; "Yes if it's done well because sometimes it looks really stupid but when it's done well, it can be really scary because it feels realistic" another said, "can be confusing if not done right, however like the idea is interesting" and another said "yes, it creates a different sense of horror." This showed me that my idea would be effective as the majority of people enjoy the genre.

Another question asked was, "Would you prefer a found footage horror or an actual movie style film? and why?" 7/9 people said that they would prefer a found-footage style movie with some answers including, "definitely found footage, creates a different sense of horror" and "found footage, there's more of a story behind it" However, two people that were asked would prefer an actual movie style film instead and they responded "Actual movie style. Found footage you can be quite limited, and a lot of people can get sick or feel sick from the shaky cam." And "I would prefer an actual movie style film because I haven't watched found footage horror." This shows that most people would prefer a film in the found footage style, but it also shows that this genre of movie is not as well-known and respected by all audiences.

After this question, I had asked what peoples favorite horror movies were. Some of the answers included, "The Shining", "Bird Box" and "The Conjuring 3" which all include paranormal and unexplained happenings much like the legend of the Skinwalker. Interestingly, one response said "Blair Witch" which is a pioneer in the found footage genre and brought the style into mainstream media.​ This improved my confidence in choosing the found-footage style.

  As you can see, all people that I asked agreed that sound is important in horror. This led me to think carefully about what foley sounds and other sound effects I could create during this project.

I also asked, "When watching a horror movie, what would you expect to see/hear?" And I had an overwhelming response of tension/ build up and jump scares. Others said that screaming and gross sounds should be heard especially when you see a crazy wound. One person said "if in the woods tree creaking the wind whistling leaves crunching but in a house silence footsteps on wooden floor and breathing" This is helpful as my film is set in the forest.​

When asked if my colour palette was good for a day time forest, all people said yes as it included earthy browns and bright blues for the trees and sky.

I also added a influence clip to ask if it would be a good one and people said that it was great at building tension and that you can only see the Skinwalker for a small moment which also builds tension and makes the monster scarier.