Practical: Location Scouting - Bin Shed

The location which I explored as a possible venue for filming our Slasher trailer was the communal bin shed which I share with neighbouring flats. The flat block that I live in is around 12 years old now and thus, the bin shed outside is very old and dirty looking, which is highly applicable to our genre. The screenshots below detail the different features of the bin shed which would be ideal for filming our final teaser trailer.

 

The Location:

As the photograph details, there is graffiti on the walls, which is a common convention in many locations used in Slasher horrors. This is to emphasise that the location is abandoned and thus, ill-looked after.

The image clearly shows the dirt and filth on the walls, along with cracks and crumbling cement. This is highly appropriate for the genre of our trailer also due to the fact that, as mentioned, it represents the abandoned aspect of the story and could also symbolise the 'crumbling' mental state many killers commonly experience in such films.

In this picture, we can clearly identify bins, some of which were full of rubbish, which clearly is not suitable for the genre. However, during filming, due to the size of the shed, we would be able to move these out of frame. 

The door to the bin shed features here; the paint is beginning to peel on the doors, along with the dirty and crumbling walls which coincides well with the genre. On the other hand, the sight of the doors makes the room appear smaller than desired and thus, during filming, we would not show the door in frame. 

Another angle of the bin shed is shown in the image attached above; as can be seen in the image, there is a secluded darker corner which could potentially be used for some of the torture scenes in the trailer. 

This photograph shows the dirty, rough concrete floor inside the bin shed. There is also a hole in the floor which could be used to show blood running down to add to the gore aspect in the trailer. The fact that the floor is dirty, and made of the concrete material conforms to common conventions in terms of location for many slasher horror films.

I then also took a close up of the warning sign explaining the use of CCTV. This particular sign coincides well with the narrative of our film trailer, as our murderer likes to record himself torturing his victims, much like CCTV cameras record.

Finally, the photograph above shows a close up of the corner of one of the walls, whereby a large cobweb which is clearly old and falling apart, adhering to common conventions of slasher horror locations. 

Evaluation:

• Overall, this location is greatly suited to our genre and narrative.
• Since I am a resident in the block of flats this bin shed is used for, it would be easy for our group to film inside it without neighbours complaining.
• The natural mise-en-scene inside the shed is highly appropriate for the genre, as the dirt and crumbling walls are common conventions in Slasher horror locations. For this reason, we would not need to decorate the location as much as, for example, an empty room.
• The artificial light in the shed would allow us to successfully film all scenes to a high standard regardless of the time of day, which would be a bonus considering the time period and season allocated for filming.
• It is easy to get to for all members of our group and also, the location itself would allow us to keep any props in my house ready for filming.