TREATMENT

Title: Killer Dog

Main Plot: The main storyline is about a loving dog named Louis who becomes possessed by a dark force which makes him kill people. Once was a cute loving dog, but then suddenly turns on his owner and tries to kill her.

Audience: My target audience will be the youth aged from 18-22 as I think the plot idea is quite silly and ridiculous but will still consist of killing and gruesome scenes.

Aim: The aim of my trailer is to shock and scare the audience and to encourage them to want to watch the film and see what the rest of the film is about. It is important to show evidence of blood and violence throughout the trailer as it must maintain the style of a horror film.

Characters: The characters will consist of a main villain- Louis, and a vulnerable female victim- my sister, along with other murder victims.

Setting/Locations: The trailer will be filmed around my house, that way it would be easier to organize and I wouldn’t need any transport to any places. The happy scenes will be shot in the day to contrast with the darker gloomy scenes shot in the night. The daylight will help enforce the light mood I want to show in the beginning of the trailer where Louis is shown in a positive light. It is going to be set in the present time in settings such as my house, the park and the street

Music/Voiceovers: The music of the film is going to reflect the mood of the film. I will use a royalty free music website the music i will use for my trailer. I will need to find a happy tune for the beginning of the trailer where the mood is happy and light. As it transitions between the two moods, i will need a BANG sound to create the effect of shock and fright. iMovie and After effects have sound effects available that I could use.

Text Style: The font for the text is also an important factor because in horror film trailers, there is a certain style. The style of text will need to be comical and oversized to emphasise the dramatic scenarios. Maybe red? to enforce blood and killing.

Costume and Props: I will make fake blood with corn syrup, flour and red food colouring. For the victims, they will need to be wearing ripped up clothes which I will get from an op shop and cut up myself.

It is going to start of innocent and cute and then all of a sudden change to a really frightening situation where my dog becomes really creepy and will consist of murder and killing. I will contrast cute happy scenes with bloody gruesome scenes. I will open my trailer with a production logo and establishing shots of the house and the street to establish the setting of the film. I want to start of with a happy mood and make Louis(my dog) look cute and innocent. I will establish this by using happy music and close up and establishing shots of Louis and my sister who is his master, along with text saying; MEET LOUIS. THE WORLDS CUTEST DOG... UNTIL ONEDAY..... A DARK FORCE TAKES OVER (zoom close up of Louis) then all of a sudden the music will change to something threatening and face paced cuts of reaction shots and bloody murder scenes will occur, the music will help to force a scary, fearful mood. I will also use voice overs of screams and an emergency phone call to add drama and tension. The transition between these two moods will happen quite quickly in order to add shock and surprise (perhaps with a static transition?). A point of view shot through the eyes of Louis will watch his owner(played by my sister) while she is getting home. The house will look dark and gloomy as she walks in and gets the feeling like something is wrong. The trailer will end with a close up reaction shot of my sister screaming(but not revealing what she is screaming at)  then to a black background with text saying KILLER DOG……………COMING SOON. And then social media links such as www.killerdogmovie.com and www.facebook/killerdogmovie.com will appear.

  Resources:

• Camera
• Editing Software (iMovie, After Effects)
• Locations - House, park, streets
• Royalty free music websites
• Tripod

Props + Costume

Josie, the main character played by my sister will wear light coloured clothes as she represents the innocent victim. The dead bodies in my trailer will be wearing ripped up clothes covered in blood. I will need to get old clothes from the op shop so that they can be ruined. I will create the effect of blood with red food colouring and corn syrup. I will spend an overall cost of about $15 which include the costs of old clothes, food colouring and corn syrup.

STORYBOARD

Film Promotion + Characters

Production Label

Music + Voice overs

Music is an important aspect to the overall mood of the movie trailer. I will need to have a fun, light melody to start as i am trying to create a happy joyful mood while showing Louis as a cute adorable dog. To contrast with this happy music, i will use a more threatening and darker song to convey the tension and conflict within the film. An obstacle i will need to overcome is that i cannot use copyrighted music meaning i must find royalty free music that is legal for use. I will do this by using the sound effects and music provided through imovie and after effects and also by finding music through the website http://incompetech.com. I will also add in voiceovers of screams and the sounds of a people in a threatening situation over top of the scary music. The use of voice overs will add dialogue and create a sense of jumpiness and fear upon the viewer. I want to do this by taking voice recordings of a pretend emergency 911 call and people screaming and yelling out, acted out by my sister and little cousins, and then editing it in.

Lighting + Camera Angles

LIGHTING:
The convention of Dark lighting is a commonly used convention in horror films and contributes to the overall mood of a scene. Dark lighting is generally used in horror films because fear is usually associated with darkness or the unknown. In the first scenes, Louis is going to be shown in a positive light and made to look cute and adorable. I will rely on natural lighting for these scenes, so i must film all these shots on a nice sunny day, in order to convey a light, joyful mood. As the mood begins to darken and we begin to see Louis in a negative light, the lighting of the scenes will become darker. I will do this by editing the shots on the editing software and also by shooting the scenes during dusk. My production plan will need to follow these requirements as the time of shooting is important in order to set the tone of the film.

CAMERA ANGLES 
Camera angles are an important aspect when creating a film in any genre. In the horror genre, the use of certain camera angles have a particular purpose. I will use a variety of camera shots within my trailer. The use of high angle shots looking down on a subject is used to make the character or thing look weak and powerless. In my trailer, i will use high angles to make the victims of Louie look vulnerable. In the shots of Louie(villain), i will use low angle shots to make him seem threatening and powerful.

LOCATION SCOUTING + MOOD

Location: My house and the street i live on

I have chosen to use my house and street as the main shooting location for my movie trailer. This will make it easy for me to shoot the scenes and i also wouldn't need to rely on anyone for transport. As the film is set in an ordinary house on a street, this is the perfect location for my trailer. 

The mood of the film will be quite dark and gloomy. I will do this with lighting, dialogue, music and suspense. 

Planning

Here i have plotted out some ideas for a new story line and shots for a film called Killer Dog. I have made the decision to change the overall concept of my trailer because i did not feel that many good ideas were coming to me with my initial concept.