Location in Horror
Setting infers more emotion than many realise. If a film opens on a warm, sunny field of flowers, chances are your audience will immediately feel calm and safe. If you open on a dark forest filled with mist and menacing shadows, your audience is immediately tense.
So many horrors occur at night because of the immediate and natural psychological fear it instills in everyone. Large empty houses make us think of ghosts; woods make us think of wolves; dark streets make us think of murderers. These settings are a staple in the genre because they do a lot of the scaring job for us, without us having to tell the audience “oh by the way, you should be scared right now”.
Alternatively, you are allowed to break the rules, if you’re clever about it. Ari Aster’s Midsommar completely flipped the horror location trope on its head by setting his film in a sunny, field with lots of flowers. The twist? It’s always light. To an invasive and anxiety inducing degree - there is no end to this light.
When you film a horror, pay extra attention to what your audience will see for the first time and what emotions this setting will trigger within them
Building Buzz for your script
If you want to get your script noticed, you need to get folk excited about it in advance.
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As we mentioned before, networking for writers is important and through this you can drop your script idea into conversation. Who knows, the right person may hear it?
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You can also do this online. Show your journey through the writing process, discuss characters or plot points, maybe even ask your followers for advice and let them contribute slightly to the process. Building a community around your script will build excitement and support. Having an audience already interested in your story can be extremely useful when selling your script
Script to Screen
See how a script translates to screen
Script to Screen
Check out how a script is translated to screen
Why Formatting is Important: Setting
When you sell your script, you’re going to need to upload it to a programme, which helps the organisation of the production. These programmes pick out key information such as location, props, and character, which can then be easily distributed across the production to key departments.
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Some of our favourite free or cheap software available for this are Final Draft, Celtx and Setkick.
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For the uploading of your script to run smoothly, you need to make sure your script is formatted properly. When it comes to location, the most important part is making sure you actually include scene description every time your characters change location.
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If you have two characters walking down the street to a coffee shop, you can’t just say “They walk down a street and into a coffee shop”. Firstly, when they’re outside you say “Ext. Street” and if you wish to add any important descriptions for the street, you put them here. Then, even if your characters are mid-conversation, the moment they step into the coffee shop, you have to write “Int. Coffee Shop” along with any needed additional description, such as “small”, “dirty” or “bougie”. These details are important for location scouting and set design.
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If you properly format your scripts, not only will you look professional but you’re sure to be popular among filmmakers
What is a Macguffin?
A macguffin is something that motivates your character but which is also shrouded in mystery. It’s the inciting plot point that may initially draw in audiences to the story but which isn’t actually that important to the story as a whole. Another term for it could be a red herring.
The term was popularised by Alfred Hitchcock. He described it with this story:
A man on the train turns to the second man next to him and asks him what’s in the parcel he’s carrying. The second man proudly exclaims “It’s a MacGuffin”. The first man asks, "Well, what is a MacGuffin?" The second man says, "It's an apparatus for trapping lions in the Scottish highlands." The first Man says, "But there are no lions in the Scottish highlands." To which the second man concludes, "Then that's no MacGuffin."
Still a little confused by that description? We don’t blame you. A clearer way of looking at it is that it’s something the characters care about but which the audience don’t. For instance, consider the Heart of the Ocean in TITANIC - it’s something the characters care immensely about, it’s the only reason they are all together. However, the audience doesn't care about this object, they care about the love story between Jack and Rose.
How to Write a Subplot
A subplot is like a mini plot that runs alongside your main plot. There isn’t a limit to how many subplots you have but you should be wary of not distracting too much from your main plot.
Subplots are important because they add depth to your characters, they help build your world and they can expand on the main theme of your film.
You should structure subplots similarly to a simple main plot structure - there needs to be a beginning, a middle and an end. Don’t leave any plot lines hanging just because you got distracted by the main plot; this will leave your film feeling unfinished and prompt the audience into feeling unsatisfied or cheated.
Salvius Tattoos
You may have noticed our character, Salvius in WOLF having unique face tattoos - this video explains why.
