Short Film: Secondary Research

In my pitch presentation, I made three slides on secondary research with the topics of genre, auidence and context.

Genre

The horror genre has been relevant for centuries and explores the most taboo and horrifying themes and plots, they can have deeper meanings like attitudes towards society and personal problems or just be a straight-up gore fest. The first big horror film was Dracula directed by Tod Browning in 1931 and this paved the way for other films of this nature to flourish. The success of this movie showed companies like Universal that these movies would make a lot of money and they started to fund and produce more movies of this genre during the 40s and 50s. Over the years, sub-genres of this type of movie were developed such as Erotic Horror, Slashers and found footage.  

Found-Footage is a filming technique relating to the "point of view shot" and originated from 2006 YouTube where amateur film-makers would be putting out their original movies. They are very effective in building suspense and merge the experience of the audience and the characters. Some of the most common tropes seen in this genre of film are; the "shakey cam" which gives the sense that the character is nervous and their so scared that their hand are shaking and extreme close-ups of the character's faces to give a feel of claustrophobia and isolation. The genre was first popularized by The Blair Witch Project (1999) directed by Tom Browning. The magic of this film is that people actually thought that it was real and that the characters had actually died. There was outrage as this movie was so realistic and it eventually grew the genre even more after this great success.

Audience

My film is a horror and therefore will be more suited to teens and early adults. The genre contains a lot of themes and plot points that are not suitable for a younger audience and it may not be suitable for the older due to possible medical conditions and yet again, the themes that are explored. The found footage genre has also only been around for a short time, being pioneered by The Blair Witch Project (1999) and Paranormal Activity (2007), and therefore will be more known and enjoyed by a younger/millennial audience. A study shows that horror audiences mostly included 42% women and 58% men, it also showed that they tend to attract a younger audience under 25.​

The legend of the Skinwalker is also quite niche and not as well known as other mythical creatures so it will have to reach that niche audience. ​

Context

The "Skinwalker" was an entity believed by the Native American, Navajo tribe. In the Navajo language, yee naaldlooshii, directly translates to "by means of it, it goes on all fours." Animals associated with witchcraft usually include tricksters like the coyote or a fox; and other creatures, usually those associated with death or bad omens. They might also possess living animals or people and walk around in their bodies, be male or female. Skinwalker stories told among Navajo children may be complete life and death struggles that end in either Skinwalker or Navajo killing the other. They are feared by the Navajos and each generation or family will have their own story or account about the infamous Skinwalker.

Audience​