Practical: Location Scouting

The Location of any film is a key feature necessary for setting the scene and creating the desired atmosphere. The location must correspond with the narrative of the film, for example, a possession film set in the local shopping centre would not make sense nor set a suspense and tension filled scene. 

Common conventions of slasher horror locations include being isolated from civilisation, to portray the idea of being trapped; some examples are listed below:

• Graveyard
• Forest/woods
• Abandoned house/cabin
• Old Farm House
• The Modern Mansion, e.g. in The Purge

The genre of our group's film opening is also genre and so I went and explored the Sutton Valence Church and Graveyard, which as mentioned above, is a common example of location. The images that I captured are attached below. 

The Location:

This shows the entrance to the graveyard itself. There is a sign placed in the floor of the walkway, which looks scary when onlooking, however what the sign reads itself is not very scary (Designated rubbish zone); for filming purposes, the text would not be seen and so the horror could still be portrayed.

Here we have a long shot of the Church, with some Grave stones in the foreground. In darkness, this location would create an eerie atmosphere suitable for most horror sub-genres. The grass is slightly over-grown, as shown, which could suggest that the Church is abandoned, which adheres to common conventions in slasher horror. 

This shows a close-up of the grave stones present in the graveyard. Unlike in more modern Church grounds, the stones are faded and worn looking, with the righting barely visible suggesting the age of them. This look adheres well to the horror gene, as the locations are typically abandoned and hence, old. 

Here shows another angle of the church, with the token stain glass winder present. The over grown look of the grass surrounding the building coincides well with common conventions of horror movies. 

This final angle of the Church Graveyard shows the abundance of old, damaged grave-stones and over grown landscape, which in darkness, would create an eerie and creepy looking location, appropriate for the genre.  

Evaluation:

• With the right lighting (darkness), the location would effectively create an eerie and scary atmosphere, creating tension and suspense for the audience. 
• On the other hand, churches are locations commonly associated with the supernatural genre and not slasher horror, however, the overall atmosphere generated can be applied to the horror genre in general.