Representation- Location and Lighting

Whilst making my short film i had to consider many different factors such as location, lighting etc. as these all lead to different representations. Firstly I will talk about the location of my film. I chose to have the first part of my film take part in an urban housing estate for a few different reasons. It is a very common convention for horror films to take place in very isolated, large houses however I decided to subvert this stereotype by using an urban and busy area. This should make the viewer think that nothing very bad will happen, which will make the shocking moments more surprising and so they will have a greater effect on them. My second location goes back to following the popular conventions of horror films, as it takes place in a forest. I decided to do this as I thought that the contrast between the two environments would work well.

Estate Location

Forest Location

Deciding on the lighting for the film was another decision that affected representation. I decided to go with the normal horror conventions and film in the dark. Darkness was crucial as some parts of the film (e.g. the monster appearing at the door) wouldn't of worked in daylight. Darkness makes the film a lot more scary as you cant see everything- the antagonist could easily be lurking in the shadows and the viewer wouldn't be able to see him. Filming in the dark was a lot more challenging as it makes it very hard to keep good lighting continuity throughout the film and it also meant I had to try and use artificial light sources effectively.