My short film proposal that I was asked to do for a project in class.

1. Proposal
1
Working Title:
The Knock at the door
Audience:
My short film’s audience is 15 or older as my short film will have a horror aspect to it. I think that teenagers around the a ge of
15 will watch this as, it won’t be explicit but may reference that something gory has happened. However, the audience won’t
see it as it’s happening off camera. My audience won’t relate to one specific gender, even though my main character in my
short film will be male, this may effect the audience in a way. However, I don’t think that any gender will affect who is going to
watch my film. That’s unless my film was about a love story, in the narrative of a female teenager. Personally, I think that my
film will not attract one specific gender, as it’s a horror. Since my short film is a horror in which contains a teenage, working
class, male. My target audience will be the working class, as the main character relates to them the most. I think one of the
reasons my target audience will be teenagersis because, my main character relatesto them, and that horror films usually
attract a younger audience. One of the reasons it’s going to be a 15 is the scare factor, as there is going to be a lot of
suspense. Therefore I recommend that people 15 or older watch it and not anyone younger.
Project Concept
My idea is to make a short horror film. I am going to make it so that someone is home alone when there is a knock on the
door. They go to answer the door and no one is there. Then there is a knock at the window, followed by a knock at the door
again. The person that is home alone opens the door stepping outside looking at either side of the front of the house, when
he hears a knocking sound coming from inside. The person then rushes back inside looking worried as he shuts the door
going to wear he heard the sound. When he goes into the kitchen where the knocking sound was coming from, no ones there
and the knocking has stopped. Then all of a sudden there is a louder knock coming from upstairs, getting worried the person
then goes upstairs to find nothing from where the knocking was coming from. At the end the person is looking worried, I will
make this bit tense, as I will get a loud heart beating sound for each scene that gradually gets louder. The clock is going to
feature on a wall at the start when you can hear the sound of it ticking. When the knocking first starts it’s silent, then when
there is a knock at the window followed by the knock at the door, the heart beating starts. The ending is going to feature the
person going into that room and either realizing that it’s just something in the house making the knocking sound or it’s
somebody making the sound. Another idea for the ending is that it’s the person’s friend or brother that’s pranking him .
Another ending is that originally it’s his friend or brother pranking him, but he finds them tied up making the knocking sound.
I will need to research Adobe After Effects CC techniques and effects to make my short film more tense.
Production Techniques (approx. 150 words)
I will need a camera and a tripod for when filming my short film. The tripod I will need so I can film steady, professional shots
and, the camera to film all of my production. I will also need to get sound effects for my short film such as a heart beating.
One of the techniques that I will be using is different types of shots in my short film. I will be using close up shots, medium
and long shots. The close up shot will keep only the face full in the frame this is important as its one of the most important
building blocks in cinematic storytelling. The reason for using a medium shot is because it’s not just that it’s in-between a
close up shot and a long shot. It’s because it utilises the most commonly used frame in movies today. I am going to use a
long shot for the reason that it depicts an entire character, showing them entirely from head to toe. Another shot that I wil
be using is the locked-down shot. This is a shot where the camera is in a fixed position, and the scene is still acting out
around the camera whilst that camera is in that one fixed position. I am also using a high angle shot, I will use this to make
my character seem vulnerable in the scene where he looks up the stairs before walking up them as he hears the knocking
sound. An high angle shot is a shot that is looking down on a character or place. This is often to make them seem less
powerful, vulnerable etc. I may also use a POV shot to make the whole scene even tenser as you are in that characters
footsteps, experiencing what they are. POV means point of view, therefore the POV shot means a shot that depicts the
point of view of a character so that you see exactly what they see.

2. Proposal
2
Evaluation
I plan to evaluate my work through using screenshots and describing what I did, when I filmed it, how I filmed it, where I filmed it and,
why I filmed it. I plan to look at my project as a whole, discussing my successes and weaknesses with the project/short film. I will be
honest and go into detail about how I have done. I will best describe how I could improve the short film, with the time I have got, and if I
were to do it again, what I would change and why I would change it. I will also explain how I have developed my ideas through primary
and secondary research. I will write and link all of the reference material that I used in a bibliography. I will als o write about what I have
learned from creating the project and how my skills have improved throughout it. I will also write about how I have created t he short
film, discussing the processes and shots I have used in my short film. I will explain this further by going into depth about how they
worked out in my short film. Another thing that I will write about is the short film itself, explaining what it's about and why I chose to pick
a horror short film than anything else. Furthermore, I would explain if I am happy with it, if so why. I would also state if there were any
camera angles, or processes that I liked the most.

3. Proposal
3
Schedule
WEEK OVERALL PLAN SPECIFIC TASKS
1 -Initial Response
-Production Experiments
2 -Product
-Audience Research
-Proposal
-Begin Pre-production
3 -Pre-production
-Filming

4 -Filming/Editing 
5 -Post-production
-Screening/Evaluation

Bibliography
At least 7 sources total and should include books, videos/films/video games, magazines and
newspaper articles etc.
1. Ben Harris (2017) Target Audience Research Survey (conducted on 30/11/17)
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUQhNGEu2KA
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_u6Tt3PqIfQ
4. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gs5zQBBOXrA
1. http://www.bbfc.co.uk/what-classification/15. Last accessed 29th November 2017.
2. http://www.bbfc.co.uk/sites/default/files/attachments/BBFC%20Classification%20Guidelines%202014
_5.pdf. Last accessed 29th November 2017.