Location research- Used in films

Location research- Locations used in films

Friday 13^th location

Many horror fans would recognize this location from the horror film ‘Friday 13^th’, which involves the iconic antagonist, Jason. This location was used throughout the film, where its final appearance was were ‘Jason’ was ‘killed’ by the protagonists. Although it doesn’t look like a scary setting in this picture, when nightfall this is where the horror begins. Having broken and rotted section of wood, could connote to something trying to get out to escape which makes the cabin seem frightening and horrid. Having the stable surrounded by blocks of trees, makes the wooden structure seem secluded. This creates an unnerving atmosphere as it seems to be in the middle of nowhere. The whole wooden structure seems odd and mysterious, especially only having one window, as if someone doesn’t want people knowing what is in the stable. This tells me that a secluded building may make our location seem more frightening, and therefore follow the conventions of a horror location.

Insidious location

This location is from the horror duo

‘Insidious’, which features Patrick Wilson. This location is very effective as it looks exactly like any other house you see. Having used such an ordinary house would make the audience feel as though what happens in the film could happen to them, therefore they associates themselves with the film. Also having horrifying event occurring in a household, the same from as any others, would increase the scare factor of the film. This means it would attract the target audience, horror fans. The house is every day like, which also gives an insight of the protagonists but gives no insight of what the antagonist will be like.

The Hills Have Eyes

This location is from the films ‘The Hills Have Eyes’, which is about when a family breakdown in the middle of what seems to be a desert. This picture trailers.

shows us a memorable place within the film, where the owner of the petrol station leads the protagonists to their deaths. As you can see the film was set in a very dry rural location, which is in the middle of nowhere. Using such a secluded place would increase the scariness of the film as in these locations there is usually no signal to contact for help. For our trailer this sort of rural location will be hard to find, however we could use woods which still follow this rural environment. The use of the petrol sign being worn away and dirty suggests that it is deserted or not well visited, which makes the building seem creepy. This would the audience uncomfortable and telling the protagonists not to go in, (which they do). This old, worn creates an old, eerie unwelcoming atmosphere, which we could use within our locations for our

The Silence of the Lambs

This location is from the hit box office horror film in 1991 ‘Silence of the Lambs’. As you can see, the location of some of this film is from a prison block, where the antagonist is locked up behind bars. This automatically creates an enigma on how is the film a horror when the antagonist has already been caught. This could be a clever location to use within our film as it can create an automatic enigma of who is in the prison, or why is the antagonist already caught? Due to the dim lighting it creates a daunting effect, which would make the audience feel uncomfortable which we want to achieve. Overall a location like a prison creates an unwelcoming atmosphere as nobody wants to be in one of those, however, this location may be more suitable for an action or drama film. This means it may be hard to portray a horror through this location, especially as it’s a trailer which gives minimal information about the film, but just enough to get the gist of it. On the other hand, we could make this location seem part of a horrifying house, maybe a basement. The layout of the location is long and narrow, which we could make horrifying as one of the protagonists could be running down there and tortured people could try to be grabbing them through the bars. Realistically, we would probably find no place like this for our trailer, but we could use the ideas of a dim lit alley

way, similar to this layout.

Nightmare on Elm Street

This is the house which made its appearance in the film, ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’. Although it has been sold now and had a renovation, this is what the house was like during the filming of the

horror. This automatically creates an unwelcoming atmosphere, just from the rotting structure and the panels covering all the windows. The panelling over the windows suggests that the owner doesn’t want anyone to see what’s inside, or for someone not to get out. The audience would feel uncomfortable from just looking at it let alone going inside. The dead trees hanging limbly reinforces the emptiness and unwelcome sense the house brings. This use of the environment expresses the nature of the location, which is very effective and an idea we could use when researching and choosing our locations for our trailer. The use of colours, for example, the red door connotes to danger and blood, which signifies this could be a place where blood is spilled…