Character Development

In order to establish what characters I am going to have in my trailer, I have done some research in to this as well as existing films of the same genre.

http://www.themovieblog.com/2007/11/12-characters-sure-to-die-in-a-horror-movie
I found a blog post that has stated a list of characters roles that are likely to die in a horror film:
The "Shover"
Slasher movies always point out to the audience how to separate the strong from the weak as soon as the horror begins. It’s very easy to determine who the cowards are, and they usually make themselves known right away. Cowards usually pad the numbers early on for the killers, but sometimes the coward will redeem themselves by eventually fighting back. However, there is one type of coward that never makes it to the end of the movie, one that will never be able to redeem himself. This character is the "shover". The shover is the person in the group who will literally shove another character into the killer’s direction simply to create a distraction and to buy some time to run away and hide. This person will always get their well-deserved comeuppances, and usually in a horrific way that makes the audience cheer.

The Non-Listener
These are the characters that act as if they are completely deaf and ignore whatever the main character says they should be doing, which is always the right thing. This is because they think the easier and faster route is the best chance to get out of harm’s way. They are selfish, stubborn, and usually suggest things such as the group splits up.

Forgettable/Generic/No-name Characters
If the horror film has a group of people, and in that group there is a character where their name isn't memorable or even known, they talk a lot but the information isnt relevant and you refer to them as a stereotype or number such as blond #2, they are most likely to die out of the rest of the characters.

The Prude
A prude is different from a virgin, another charcter type often used in horror films. A prude in a horror movie is someone who doesn’t drink, smoke, do drugs, or have sex and they judge everybody around them that has a vice. They are usually snobbish and arrogant, but also usually the first ones to go.

The “Vice-Abuser”
In earlier days of horror it used to be if the character took drugs, drank alcohol or had sex they would definitley be a character that was going to die. However in modern horror films you can be this character and still conquer, but when the character has more than one "vice" they are most likely to die before the end of the film.

The “Turning Point” Person
In almost every horror movie, there’s always a point of no return. There comes a time where a crucial decision has to be made, and it’s always the wrong one made by one person. Be it taking a short cut, getting into a preventable car accident, staying at a creepy motel, or going back to help someone in need, this character is responsible for the horror that is to come. Even lead protagonists are not safe if they make this mistake.

The Best Friend
Best friends to the hero/heroine are almost always going to die. They provide the moral support for the lead, and in a horror movie, that needs to be taken away as soon as possible. If they don’t die, they are most likely to be the killer or involved with the horror that is occuring.

The “Too Interesting/Funny” Character
When a  supporting character stands out amongst a group of more boring characters, is stealing every scene they’re in, the audience is should be ready for disapointment. Because the audiecne grows to like the characters, it has more of an effect on them when the character dies.  This character also  needs to get dispatched due to the fact they are stealing the film’s main focus.

The “Gimp"
This is the character that usually gets severely injured be it getting shot, stabbed, or merely just twisting their ankle very badly, which means they will not make it. This character is a "dead weight" to the rest of the group, meaning they will need to be killed off, or that fact they are injured will mean they have less of a chance of getting away.

The “I can’t!”
This character is usually whiny, helpless female that are most likely to be found frustrating to the audience. However, in modern horror films, the helpless can emerge into the vengeful heroine at the end. But if a female in a horror film stops running, starts to cry, and screams out repeatedly the words, “I can’t!” they will not survive the movie.

The “Famous Person without Top Billing” Character
This character will be played by a high profile actor/actress but they will not have a lead role against the rest of less well-known actors/actresses. Most cases, these characters don’t even interact with any of the other characters in the movie. They are usually offed in the prologue, simply to start the film with a bang. However in some cases, celebrities are killed halfway through the movie to provide shock value. (Take Samuel L. Jackson’s demise in ‘Deep Blue Sea’ for example)

The Horror Aficionado
When ‘Scream’ came out, horror fans finally got to see a character onscreen that they could all relate to-the horror geek named Randy Meeks. This was a huge leap in the evolution of horror movies because before that, characters in slashers seemed to live in an alternate universe where horror movies didn’t exist. Since then, Aficionados have become an important part in horror films, unfortunatley they're not usually big parts.

I feel that it is important to include atleast two of these characters that are likely to die as it seems to create structure to horror films and make them more interesting to the audience.

 http://www.slideshare.net/guestfa571e/horror-2977621
I also found this slide show that states on one slide the types of characters that usually occur in horror films, as well as the visual aspects of the killer, monster, ghost etc.

Antagonists
Ghouls, zombies, monsters, murderers, psychiatric patients, mentally disturbed, convicts, animals and even the enviroment or as demonstarted in "Final Destination", fate.

Protagonists
Dumb character who falls straight in to the trap or gets captured at the very beggining to provide entertainment for the audience.
Clever character who that figures out clues or how to escape the clutches of the killer.
Always a main character or a main set of characters that are hunted down.
The rescuer who helps out .
The girl who gets to the end and either defeats the killer or gets killed after making it throughout the entire film

Typical clothing/props
Clothes are often torn or dirty. If there is a killer in the horror then they are sometimes wearing things to disguise themselves such as masks. For example, Michael Myres in Halloween wears a boiler suit and a white mask. Weapons are often used such as bloody knives, guns, clubs and general house hold objects.

After reading all this information and from my previous research, I have come up with some characters that I will incorporate in to my story idea. Their role will be explained in my Film Treatment.

Protagonists For My Film
Group of friends:
Cathy - More of the main character.The smart girl and one who films throughout that realises first there is something wrong. She makes it to the end of the film and is the last person we see at the end of the film.
Joan - The "best friend" and "I can't" girl. She is the weaker character throughout the film, but still manages to make it to the end with the other remaining characters.
Jason - The heroine. Not the main character but the one who leads the two girls one the character Tommy (see below) goes missing.
Tommy - The "Non-Listener". Cathy and the others try to tell Tommy to stay in the tent, but he still goes out meaning he is taken by the antagonist creatures. He is also the more confident character that is arrogant.

Antagonists
The muted, monsters left in the town which used to be the people living there before the medical experiments (will be expalined in my film treatment). We never see these characters in the film, just hear them and see silhouettes, which I feel creates more fear.