Inspiration for Locations

The cabin in 1981's "Evil Dead" was inspirational for other horror films like the recent "Cabin in the Woods" This was the original cabin, which was in the woods, and the entire film was inside this cabin, and we took inspiration from this by keeping the main parts of our scene by keeping them inside a cabin, and only seeing the outside in the later part of the opening scene towards the end, and just like Evil Dead, it was shot in two different locations, as Evil Dead manipulated audiences into thinking the cabin they used in the woods was the same cabin they used to film inside, which it actually wasn't, and we have done the same with the cabin being o where near the field that we used for the killer to run after the victim. The reason that we chose a small place like a cabin was because it would make sense for the killer's hideout to have some history with their family, just like Evil Dead where the owner was the owner of the book that could raise the dead, and their is unknown history with our killer and the lair that she tortures her victims in, which would of course be explained if this was actually a full film with an entire cast.
"The cabin burned down in 1982. All that remains is part of the fireplace, pieces of the tin roof and some of the foundation."

Location for Student Made production

In our student made production, the ending of our opening scene starts in a field, where the antagonist chases the tortured victim who had escaped. I live a few minutes away from a field, and took some pictures, but decided that it would be the wrong place to film this scene for many reasons.

The first reason was that it is a public field, in which some activities are very out of place for where the characters were prior to this scene, which was implied that the killer's hideout was on a field, and there is no "hideout" on this field, just objects used by dog owners to train their dogs.

The second reason is that it is right next to a residential area of mostly old people and families, so a child or an elderly woman looking out of her window to see a girl bruised with makeup, running barefoot from a disguised girl wearing a bloody sack over her head whilst chasing the victim with a hammer would cause some alarms, especially to people that might not understand, and it being a public place. 

Another issue is that the field is thick with mud, so it would be hard for the actors to run when they get their feet, and boots stuck in mud, also the sound would be just squelching due to the mud. 

The field has a lot of area, but there is a building with every turn, and it has no turns, it is simply a flat field with nothing interesting, not even long grass or trees in the way, or a path. 

 There is a forest area down below, but to get there, there are lots of stinging nettles which wouldn't be good to go through because of the actor being in bare foot, and even when they are down there, there is not much down, it is a few trees together, but you can  easily see out of the trees to a hospital and other buildings, as well as a busy road. 

Film Locations, Friday the 13th

Horror Film Locations: Friday The Thirteenth

The location for 'Friday the Thirteenth' was a fictional camp site called Camp Crystal Lake / Camp Blood. In fact, it is actually a Boy Scount camp called 'No-Be-Bo-Sco' in real life. This location is one of the most wanted to visit camps for its fan base as Camp Crystal Lake and has grown as a place for tourists who love horror films to visit. This simple camping site became Jason's playground for hunting innocent or not so innocent people that came to camp here, and has grown a large following. This is because people are impressed with these films, and love to see what is beyond the camera lens that they see on their TV screens and cinemas to go beyond and explore the camp as if they were one of the victims, but without the risk of a hokey mask swamp man and without the eeriness of non-diegetic sound as well as bad weather.  

Source: Brett McBean

The location of this camp site is in New Jersey, cabins and campgrounds from Jason terrorising and murderinf those poor teens. Yet unlucky for the countless fans who would love to explore the movie set location, it is a private camp and there has only ever been two special events to date in which fans could buy tickets and get the "Crystal Lake Experience". Both times they have sold out in hours, and this location has been made famous thanks to the movie created using this as a location. A simple camp site created into something horrific. 

Location - Killer's Lair

Locations: Killer's Lair

In our original drafts of our idea we Ideally wanted a basement for the killer’s lair, however couldn’t access one that was nearby or was cleaned out of storage. We then began looking into garages that would have the same effect as a basement would have that is somewhere dirty, cold and isolated with stone and brick walling. More people also have garages that we could use making it easier to find a location.

A relative of mine has given us permission to use their garage that is barely used. Which is in Gravesend. Although this is quite a distance from Maidstone it would be easier access for my group as my mum can drive us up there together for filming days.

I took pictures of the garage and looked at the area. A difficulty we may encounter is that outside of the garage is painted pink, this could be a problem as we preferably want dark colours to fit with the genre of horror and slasher. As we are not allowed to paint over it in a different colour, can solve this by either not filming outside or, in the editing process, change the colouring on Final cut pro through colouring masks.

The interior is dirty with grey white wooden walling. This creates an abandoned feel to it as it isn't well kept and could be set in an isolated location. to it as  There are also shelves running along the wall that we can either move out of the way or cover up with a sheet (although that might draw too much attention to the covered up shelf in the film opening and be distracting the audience) or put it to use by putting mis-en-scene from the killer’s lair on them (ie. The heart in a jar, killer’s journal etc.)

Overall the garage is quite large but with the added storage in there, there isn't much room. We’re able to move out of the way into one corner of the garage or outside for the day of filming. This is handy as if we use a 360 degree shots, we won’t show the other half of the garage. This gives us space to put our own props in as we need enough room for a full length table to have a ‘dead body’ as well as space for the victim to investigate the room. There area also clothes that are handing down on a wash line in the garage . This could further add to the idea that this is the killer's lair where they live.

Location scouting: field

Part of our idea is that the victim will run out of the 'lair' and into a field. She has no goal but just wants to get away from the killer.
 

Near where I live, there is a large field and forest area. The road up to it turns into a track that gets thinner until it gets to the field.

I think this location would be effective because it is large and very empty. When it is darker it looks gloomy and cold, adding to the darkness of the scene.

 
 

Deconstruction of Killer's lair

Deconstruction of Killer's lair in Creep

Creep was a 2005 UK film and is a horror with a sub-genre of slasher and psychological. It is set in the London undergrounds at night when a woman falls asleep and gets trapped, discovering experiments have been done down there on new born babies, the killer now living in the experiment room.

There is a scene where the protagonist enters the killer's lair, which is in one of the underground tunnels.

Before they enter the room we get a sense of danger and horror as we see the feet of a dangling body with blood dripping own their leg, showing someone has been hanged there. The body dangling has also been made to look aged to make it seem like it has been there for a long time, signalling to the audience that where they are about to venture is close to where the killer my lie as well as the killer having been causing death for a long time before. This use of mis-en-scene with the dripping blood links with the idea of a slasher.

The first clue we see of discovering it is a experimenting room is the close up of the door as it swings open saying 'Medical personnel only''Surgery site 12' linking to the killer's obsession with these experiments as his 'hide out' is where the events happened in a medical room.

As the characters are exploring the room, we see a glimpse of the area around them but not in too much detail as the main focus is on the character's. This is due to the help of lighting as the detail in the background is faded in a yellow wash, whilst the characters are in a deep blue showing our focus is meant to be on them. It also leaves the audience in suspense as they want to see what the characters are seeing to discover the mystery behind the killer.

The first close up detail shot we see is a crib with a name on it. Unfolding the shocking story as the audience discover this is an experimenting room on babies.

One of the characters knocks over a box of medical equipment which clatters to the floor. This is a nice piece of sound as it breaks the silence, and worries the audience as we wonder whether the killer heard or not and if he is going to catch them or not. We see from the mise-en-scene of the medical equipment that the items are rusty and not in use, but are also out ready to be used on a tray. This shows the killer is still using them despite not being in the best condition, leading us to wonder what he is using them for.

The camera then goes into a close up of babies in jars. This is clearly showing the obsession of the killer with the experiments on the babies as he has collected them for display in his lair. This obsession is



From this deconstruction I learnt that use of mise-en-scene is important when creating a lair as well as giving lots of close-up shots in order to reveal information about the killer and the meaning's behind their actions but still leaves a mystery as we don't see everything. The killer's lair must also link to the genre of the film (in this case a slasher/psychological horror)

Location Scouting

Finding Locations

Our group wants to do an opening scene for a slasher film, so I thought that the location should be ominous and dark, but also must have good lighting for better quality filming. It needs to have enough space for all of our props but not too much space that it looks too empty and bare.

I thought of as many places that I know of that would be possible to film in and also asked my friends if they know of any good locations then narrowed it down to the best ones.

One of my friends has a basement in her house which is currently almost empty and is a perfect size and layout for what our group wants because the walls are white painted brick and there is bricks and stones on the floor which gives it an abandoned feel and would add to the terror shown in the scene and would then conform more to the slasher genre. However, they are soon going to be turning the basement into a wine cellar so it would become completely unsuitable for filming in, so they may have changed it by the time we have to film our opening scene. Another downside is that the only light is from a light in the room with no natural light, this could cause a problem with the quality of the lighting when we film it.

I know another person who has a loft which has a small amount of space that we could use, even though there is quite a lot of stuff in there, it is all on shelves and it wouldn't be hard to move anything that wouldn't be possible to cover up. We could also make use of the shelves by clearing them and putting props on them to add to the mise-en-scene. The space is quite small and might not be big enough for what we need but the small area could increase the amount of fear in the scene.

I also know someone who owns a small barn like building which has woods behind it and stables next to it. we could use either the stables or the barn but I think the barn would be better because it is bigger and the lighting would be better because it is quite open. The woods behind could be used as well because the barn is visible from the woods so it could add dramatic effect to the scene. The problem with using the barn outside is that we would have to film it when the light is good enough for filming but not too bright that it means that it doesn't seem scary enough, so we would only have a small section of the day to film it and it may affect continuity if we film on different days and the lighting is different in some shots.