Group Ideas for the trailer

Dan's Idea Set in an abandoned hospital, in it's past life - several children were murdered by who was meant to be their legal guardian. All the children bar one, died peacefully and was buried. One child came back as a spirit and haunted everything and anything she could find. One group of teenagers decided to investigate the hospital, and when they get there it's all fine, but as the teenagers explore one dark room to the next, one problem leads to another and no-one is safe. Main characters: Group of teenagers. Location: Abandoned hospital, late noughties, English marsh. Scott's Idea Set in the modern day in an old mental hospital, a group of teens explore as they discover the building on the way to a party. Little do they know that the past patients here were mistreated - abused by their carers. Haunted by the spirits of the mistreated patients, the teens must fight their way out and find their escape. Unfortunately for them, the cannot see what they are up sgainst. Main characters: Group of teenagers. Location: Old hospital, somewhere in the country - out of the way. Zak's Idea Set in an old care home, the spirit of an abused child haunts anyone that comes near. A group of college students venture inside, having been told that the building will be the site of a rave. Apparently having found the wrong location as nobody else turns up, the students become trapped and have to escape the spirit in order to survive. But do they all make it out alive? Main characters: Group of teenagers. Location: Abandoned buildings and college rooms. All of our ideas were pretty much the same thing, so we ended up creating a trailer we all wanted to do, and we all put our ideas together and I personally think that it worked brilliantly.

Evaluation: Question 1

Impact of research

From our questionnaire results we were able to find ways on how we could improve our ideas for our horror trailer.We managed to get 17 males and 23 females and although it isn't exactly 50/50 we still received a variation of both genders. We asked particular questions to shape our trailer suitably for our target audience. 30% of the survey said they liked horror films in general and another 30% said they liked them sometimes. This means that the majority of our target audience may go and watch our film (if it was being made) and we are not taking huge risks as people would go and watch our film. The modal age group who took the survey was 17-19 which led to deciding our film to be labelled an 18. As we only asked fellow college students this limited the age limit to 19, but we would aim our film at 17-24 year old as it will give us a larger reach. This survey allowed us to get an in site of this age group and apply this information to our products in hope of attracting this age group but on a larger scale. Our survey allowed us to gain further information on our target audience which helped us to shape our products to the preferences of our target audience.

Story boards

Pre-production planning

Our Trailer: Violet

Evaluation: Question 2

Character analysis

MICHAEL MYERS

Evaluation: Question 3

Evaluation: Question 4

eval q4

Paper drafts of films magazine and horror poster

Plan for magazine cover

Plan for poster

Original Film Idea - Individual

My Idea It was a Friday afternoon at college and a group of five teens (3 boys and 2 girls) are discussing their plans for the night ahead. They all arrange to meet up at a central point of them all and decide to take a short cut through a field on route to their party destination. They come across a desolate house on the way and some are dared to go in. One girl and one boy refuse but the alpha male and his sidekick force entry into the building followed by the promiscuous female as they make their way inside. The remaining three hear strange noises and see shadows in their surrounding so choose it is a safer idea if they go find their friends inside the building. As soon as they have all entered the building horrific events begin. Eventually they do find the two lads but not as they would have liked. They find them dead by twisted circumstances so instantly plan their escape. Unbeknown to the alive who or what caused this they quickly make their escape. During the mission of escape they meet the killer who also tried to claim these victims. They are shown visions of what this building used to be - an orphanage. They see the dreadful past of how children were tortured by people they trusted. They then come to the realisation that what is haunting them is a tortured soul of one of the children, Violet Whitlock, who is filled with rage and seeks revenge. She is only happy when she inflicts pain and upset on the living. Luckily the remaining two escape into the woods nearby but hear screams from their female friend coming from inside the building. They bravely decide to go back to find that it was a trick and they were lured back by Violet. The two are them parted and the final girl escapes and retrieves help from the police. You are never told what happens to the final male or Violet, in order to leave it on a cliffhanger for sequel opportunity.

Horror mood board for my trailer

(From l-r) The long corridor is typically used in horror films as they show the building is empty signifying vulnerability for the protagonists. As our idea is using the concept of an abandoned building in our horror trailer I feel as if a shot like this would play an effective role.

A generic convention in horror films is when the key is in the ignition as the characters plan their escape, yet the vehicle refuses to start. This builds panic in the audience as they desperately want the characters to escape the wrath of the antagonist. This is usually situated when the villain is gaining on the trail of the other characters.

The shot of the staircase is positioned from the view of somebody watching, as it is above the character it connotes the person watching has power over the over character. The old winding staircase is also a feature of old houses which are also generically used and seen as conventionally spooky.

The image of the girl on the floor shows emotion especially terror. In my trailer I want the actors used to convey similar realisten expression.

This is the icon of pegi rating 18. My trailer will target 18+ as I want it to heighten the amount of generic conventions I use which I don't thik will be appropriate for under 18s.

I want to use torches in my trailer to emphasise dark surroundings which emphasise character's vulnerability.

I would like to involve scenes of normality at the beginning for e.g. at school/college. This shows the characters used are just average people which makes it easier for the audience to relate to.

I aspire to use titles in my trailer and this particular example was very effective in Insidious. I will introduce that trailer name as a title with a sound effect in order to make the audience jump.

Add caption

Original images for horror poster and film magazine

Film Magazine analysis'

Final Magazine Cover

Final Poster

First draft of Violet trailer

Trailer conventions

• Title at the end of the trailer
• Emotive music that builds up tension
• Enigma of the film is that the family are being haunted
• Introduces characters and their relationships nicely
• Genre is horror. Psychological Documentary based
• Voice over in the trailer
• Based on a true story
• Music creates tension
• Relationship of characters seen through interviews
• Relationship of characters
• Indicates the central narrative
• Sound effects build suspense rather than music
• Leaves you unsatisfied.

Horror poster analysis'

Audience research results

Through our audience research I have found that 95% of my sample target audience attend the cinema only two times maximum. With 59% of these going once at tops! This shows that my target audiene are not visiting the cinema as often as expected. Therefore if my trailer was released many other advertising revenues must be broadcasted to attract the masses. I have also concluded from my sample that 84% can be influenced in watching a film in consideration of the actors and actressing starring in the film. Therefore, in the professional fim industry I can see it is worth spending a high percentage of a film's budget on actors as this could convince many people to watch the film, producing a larger profit overall.

Group Research and Planning: Initial Group Meeting

Film distribution and marketing

Film distribution refers to how the film is made accessible for the target audience to view, as it is responsible for marketing the product. This can be done through a number of different revenues; digital distribution, theatrical release, home entertainment or TV programmes by broadcasting trailers and posters to persuade people to go see the film.

A film distributor will be in charge of choosing the film's release date and with that deciding what revenue to choose e.g home entertainment or theatrically. Another duty they would be responsible for is picking the target audience in which the whole marketing system depends on this being suitable. They must also monitor the delivery of the films to exhibitors making sure they are delivered on time and safely. Distributors are also involved in the physical elements of advertisement such as; trailers, posters, adverts for newspapers/magazines and television to ensure they are targeting the largest possible audience.

Examples of some well knows global film distribution companies are Warner Bros, Dreamworks, Paramount, Miramax, 20th Century Fox and Pixar. Warner Bros are owned by global media conglomerate Time Warner, this results in keeping profits of the film mainly in house due to Time Warner owning magazine, DVD and cinema companies.

The reach refers to how a film reaches it's audience and the aim is to spread the film as far as possible to a large audience.This is relative to film distribution as the industry professionals aspire to gain a wider reach to achieve a larger global audience. They heighten their chance of this by sharing their products on as many media platforms as possible.

A marketing plan is constructed when film making because it helps figure out how they are going to raise awareness for their film and which way will create the largest income. The plan fully elaborates on advertisement and marketing campaigns to focus on achieving the marketing objective. With the film's target audience in mind it searches for suitable methods in which they can attract the masses. An example of this could be The woman in black releasing a teaser trailer over a year before the film hit cinemas. The ideology of this is to start a chain of people talking and building excitement for the film. Also by advertising on social networking sites this is to attract feedback in hope more people will become aware of the film.The marketing plan also contains their ideal budget and other finance expenses. Nearer the time an increase of posters, trailers and multiple forms of advertisements increase such as pairing up with other companies e.g when the NME produced a full spread of the latest Batman blockbuster.

As a marketing plan is essential the company also needs a distribution plan. This is when the target audience is identified and thorough research is constructed to find out the most sufficient way to reach them and when exactly to release it. For example, even though the film may be ready to release, depending on what genre the film is they may wait until it a time of the year it more suitable such as a rom-com would peak around Valentine's Day and a horror around Halloween. This would also work if there was a moral panic in the media and a film about a similar subject was released such as Team America and the moral panic about terrorists.

Film companies use advertising, publicity and promotion to attract and persuade people to watch their films. Even though these sectors realistically all pursue the same aim, separately they play different roles. Advertising is something the company does to bring their product to the audiences attention. Publicity is not directly conducted by the company, it is due to how the media talks about their product (film) and can promote it further. Promotion is used to encourage you to engage with a film and making people remember the product.

Here is a teaser poster, teaser trailer, main poster and main trailer for The Woman In Black.
According to IMDb it was released in 61 countries. It was shown on 2,855 screens in the U.S on the opening weekend and 412 in the UK.

Audiences and Insitiutions: The woman in Black (Watkins, 2012)

1) Who do you think the primary and secondary target audience is for The Woman in Black?

I think that the primary audience for the film is for people under the age of 25 (mainly teenagers). It is not aimed at a specific gender, as there isn't any specific bias towards a certain gender in the film. But as it is a psychological/supernatural horror statistics show that psychological horrors have a higher number of female fans, but typically females will not attend horrors by themselves so typically bring their boyfriends with them. Daniel Radcliffe attracts Harry Potter fans, but they too, are of both genders. The secondary target audience is for horror film fans in general.

2)How was The Woman in Black marketed?

Firstly, there was a teaser campaign which involved a teaser trailer which was shown mainly on the internet to start people talking. Competitions and broadcasts were created and shown on Youtube hosted by Daniel Radcliffe which generated a lot of online interest, showing that web 2.0 was a beneficial influence as it was able to reach the younger generation. The film was strongly marketed/promoted by the lead star Daniel Radcliffe. Constantly doing interviews and made appearances on chat shows like The Jonathon Ross show to spread the word of his new film. Merchandising was also released such as t-shirts, mugs and a soundtrack.

 3)Do you think the marketing materials for the film were appropriate?

I think that the marketing materials for the film were appropriate as they suited their target audience well. The idea to advertise the film on social networking sites like Facebook proved to be beneficial due to it being heavily populated by under 25s. Also they very much so used Daniel Radcliffe to their advantage, as it was his first film since the Harry Potters so it attracted the millions of the Harry Potter fans. But as its pegi rating was a 12A, there were loads of complaints due to it being 'too scary' for its rating. I agree with some of the complaints, as it was very jumpy and would likely disturb a twelve year old, even though it didn't involve any traditional gore or child inappropriate issues.

4)What kind of release did the film have? The film had a successful release, reaching a total of $20,874,072 on the opening weekend in the USA, and £3,153,020 in the United Kingdom. The film was screened a total of 3267 times during the opening weekend showing how popular the movie was, showing the expensive marketing paid off.

5)How much did The Woman in Black cost to make? AND what was the industry impact of The Woman in Black? The woman in black cost an estimated approximate $17million. Their marketing budget made up around 50% of this total, leaving the other half to create the film. This as their film total worldwide gross was $127,730,736. The huge marketing revenue paid off as The Woman in Black was the biggest selling British horror in 2012. The impact this had on the industry was that it led to an increase in production of supernatural horrors because this film was in such high demand.

 6)Why do you think the film was so successful? I think a high factor to the root of the films success was due to the use of Daniel Radcliffe. The producers had obvious knowledge that Radcliffe has such a big fan base therefore used this to their full advantage to attract a larger audience. Radcliffe was THE main focus in every revenue of advertisement for the film. This was to encourage the Harry Potter fandom to flock in their thousands to see Radcliffe on screen. As a result of this appeal, the audience included a variety of ages. Even though they spent millions on marketing the film I think it was the second reason why the film was so successful, due to the profit the film produced.

The Representation of Women in Relation to The Cabin in the Woods (Goddard, 2012)

1. What were Jeremy Tunstall's 4 character roles for women and do they apply to The Cabin in the Woods? Jeremy Tunstall identified 4 main character roles for how women are represented in the media; domestic, consumer, sexual, marital. Jules was represented as sexualised as she fitted the dumb blonde stereotype whose main interests are getting drunk and having sex. She may have also have connotations of consumer as she chose to die her hair and wear more exposing clothes; to fit in with society/get popular maybe? Dana is not represented as sexual even though conversations about her engaging in the activity occurred. This is because Dana is more conservative with the way she dresses and behaves, and to fit the storyline there has to be a 'pure' female.

2. How is Dana typical of Clover's 'Final Girl' theory? Please mention: the ending; Dana's appearance and her actions during the film. At the beginning there were signs of her being a 'bookworm' as she wanted to bring her coursework with her to the cabin, which shows she is an academic, so perhaps not interested in learning and not typical teenage activities. Also being portrayed as the nonsexual female, unlike her peers who pair off with one another. Even though she had a love interest with one of the male characters, she made it clear there would be no sexual activity. Her appearance was represented as plain and conservative, no bright colours or bold clothing which connotes she likes to blend in with the background and not be centre of attention. She has brown/ginger hair which links with the stereotype in horror films of blondes being dumb, i.e Jules who gets killed due to her decisions. Throughout the film and to the end Dana fought back when she and her friends were being attacked, which shows she does not play a passive role as she is not willing to accept her fate if there is a possible revenue of survival.

 

3. Jules undergoes mental and physical transformations during the film, what are they and how do they cause her to become a horror archetype? Mentally her attitude changes as she becomes more sexualised throughout the film, as she spends more time with Curt. Until they finally are about sex with each other which is where she meets her brutal death. She gets drunk at the cabin whilst the group participate in truth or dare, alcohol fuelled Jules accepts her dares and her sexual behaviour increases (dirty dancing by the fireplace and on the males). Her intelligence seems to in fact decrease showing little common sense, but in a conversation with Holden Dana reveals Jules was a 'pre-med' student which shows before her personality transformation she was also an academic. She dyes her hair to blonde which perhaps means she wants more male attention and to stand out more, the opposite of Dana. All of these alterations to what would be the 'real' Jules have made her into the horror archetype of a dumb blonde teen who is highly sexualised. This character role is always/one of the first to die due to her decisions which she makes during the narrative.

4. Is Mulvey's Male Gaze theory exemplified in the film and if so, how? Think about framing, camera angles and POV shots. I agree that it is exemplified in the film because of many examples shown, to begin with one of the first shots revealed Dana standing in her room half dressed, and the pov of the shot is like somebody is looking into her window, something an 'appraising heterosexual male' would do/like to see. Secondly, the framing when Jules is dancing by the fireplace zooms in on her whilst the others are just watching, the pov shot mimics Curt's view, as the other males don't seem to be enjoying it. The camera tilts up/down to admire Jules' figure. Another would be when Jules walks over to the Wolf's head on the wall of the cabin. It comes from a very low angle and focuses on her legs and behind.

 

5. In the film we, as an audience, are made to be voyeurs; when does this happen and why is it important in regards to representation of character? This happens when Jules and Curt are about to sleep with each other, this part of the film has features of soft porn (showing Jules half naked), as Curt and Jules are in the height of their activity this is where Jules gets attacked. Her death is seen as important because this is her punishment for being sexually active and arousing the males in the audience. As Jules becomes the female victim, this somehow acts as a lesson to be learnt for the other female characters.

6. (Briefly) summarise the way women are represented in The Cabin in the Woods. Are they objectified and there to provide satisfaction for heterosexual males and/or do they fulfil another role/purpose? I think they are objectified and provide satisfaction for males (Jules - simply seen as a sex object) but I do think they represented in more than one way. Dana and the female technician were not sexually objectified, and were both focused on succeeding and were not giving up easily. A big contrast between these females and Jules were that they were both aware of their surroundings unlike Jules who did not really pay much attention to nearby danger. Revealing the message that if you don't pay attention, concentrate you will die - even like the female technician in the end.

Narrative Theory in Relation to Halloween (Carpenter, 1978) and The Crazies (Eisner, 2010)

Todorov's theory suggests that stories begin with an equilibrium where any opposing forces are in balance. This is then disturbed by an event which sets off a chain in a series of events. All issues are then resolved so that order can be contained along with a new equilibrium. Halloween does not follow Todorov's theory on narratives as it does not follow the 'classic Hollywood' or 'classic realist' narrative structure, which are based on Todorov's theory. This narrative follows as; normaility (initial equilibrium) -> enigma (disequilibrium) -> pathway to resolution -> closure (new equilibrium. Halloween does not conclude with a new equilibrium as there is no closure due to Michael's wherebouts being unknown, but with the knowing he is still alive. Propp's character theory results from him examining hundreds of folk tales in the 1920's. He identified 8 character roles and 31 narrative functions.

The character roles being: 1)The villain - 'baddie' 2)The hero - main protagonist 3)The donor - provides an object with magic property 4)The helper - who aids the hero 5)The princess - reward for the hero/ object of the villains schemes 6)Her father - who rewards the hero 7)The dispather - who sends the hero on his way 8)The false hero - the double agent who hinders the hero instead of helping them Halloween applies to this partly as there are some evident character types which Propp had identified being; The villain (Michael Myers),The hero (Laurie), The helper (Dr. Loomis). The character role of Laurie is also relevant to the princess, due to being the object of the villains schemes, but her personality defies the generic representation of the stereotypical princess character. The donor, father , dispatcher and false hero were not involved in Halloween's narrative. Levi-Strauss focused on narrative structure in terms of binary opposites which are sets of values which reveal the structure of media texts. A plain but obvious example would be good vs evil, as it is understandable that good is the opposite of evil. Levi-Strauss was not so interested in the order in which events were arranged in the plot, but more intrigued in the arrangment of themes. For example, this is evident in Halloween as there was a strong representation of good vs evil with Laurie and Michael. The film also used the binary opposites of day/night (light/dark) which enabled the connotation of Laurie being 'safe' in the day time, but in danger at night time. Bordwell and Thompson defined narrative as 'a chain of events in a cause-effect relationship, occuring in time and space. In their opinion, a narrative typically beings with one situation, a series of changes arise according to a pattern of cause and effect, to conclude a new situation occurs that brings the end of the narrative. Narrative can shape material in terms of time and space - it defines where things take place, when and how quickly they happen. The use of techniques in narrative can manipulate our awareness of time and place (flashbacks, replays of action, slow motion, speeding up, jumping between places and times. For example, in Halloween the beginning situation of Michael killing his sister, sets off the chain of events which happen in the film. Michael kills his sister -> As a result of killing his sister, he then meets Dr.Loomis -> meets the nurse, where he escapes -> he fleas to his old home -> Laurie's father (an estate agent) gives her a key to put in Michael's old house -> Michael spots her doing so, then makes her his target etc. This snippet of Halloween's plot shows how one event can escalate to many more events in the future.

1) Does The Crazies follow the classic Hollywood narrative? Why or why not? I would agree that The Crazies follows the classic Hollywood narrative because it begins with normality (the preview of everyday life of the town, showing their jobs and home life). Then the enigma (the rise of the infected) -> pathway to resolution (quest to escape the town and to survive)-> closure (David and Judy surviving and moving on to the next state. The plot pretty much follows the classic Hollywood narrative until the very end, where the cliff hanger turns out to be the government wanting to infect the next town where it says 'initiate protocool'. Furthermore, the film does not conclude with a type of closure like the classic Hollywood narrative.

 2)How many of Propp's character types can be identified in the film? In my opinion there are 5 of Propp's character types displayed in the film, with some these types being represented by two characters. The Villain can be displayed by government as they are the force of initiation for all the events which happen. They are the ones that were root cause the tragedy of the town dying. The soldiers were also seen as the villain as they were following the orders of the government and killing the innocent people of Ogden Marsh. The crazies were also seen as the enemy, but were in fact not to blame as all they done was drink the contaminated water, so I do not think I would class the crazies as villains, but merely obstacles which the hero had to defeat. The hero was mainly represented by David as he lead the quest being a typical alpha male and saved Judy and Becca whom mimicked the stereotype of being 'damsels in distress'. Russell also showed some characteristics of a hero as he saved David's and Judy's lives three times, and gave them an outlet to escape which lead to his own death. The Donor could be seen as Scotty as they hide in his barn when the soldiers come, and Russell as he has a gun which saves them in a fair few scenarios from the crazies. The helper can represented by Steve and Judy. As Steve, being David's deputy, occupationally plays the helper to David on a day to day basis. So this role comes naturally to him and protects him as much as he can throughout their journey together. Judy being his wife is by David's side was his companion throughout the whole of the storyline, and they done what they could to stay together and fought to not be separated. The princess was shown by Judy as she was number one in the list of David's priorities. All he done was for her, and he was even prepared to die for her. 

3.List five examples of binary oppositions in the film and explain them briefly. Day and night; in the day time it wasn't always 'safe' but as soon as the morning came a sense of security was established if only for a little while was given, because as soon as it was dark a sense of danger overwhelmed and the majority of horrific things happened. Normality/chaos due to the perfect town image which runs smoothly, to the complete destruction of the town. Uninfected/infected as there are evidence of both throughout the film, the differences are astounding as the infected completely lose all morals. Past/present as we are shown the future and then shown the past as a flashback. 4.Identify the three ‘durations’ and give an estimate of the time each duration covers. The screen durations is approx. 92 minutes. Story duration about 2 years. Plot duration 3 days. 5.Give two examples of events that cause later events in the film but which occur before the film ‘starts’. Judy's pregnancy is already known before the storyline begins, and this affects the whole story as it is why she gets sectioned in the first place. The plane crash was not visible to the audience either but is the whole reason why people become infected. 6.List two events from the 92 minute film that happen in a different time and space to the one we are shown. Firstly, when David and Judy return to their home after escaping the camp, we are unaware of how the infected mother and son got there, as they are waiting for them. Secondly, when Becca and Judy meet in sectioning, as the capturing of Becca was not shown.

Horror conventions

D = Don't I = Ignore S = Setting Small communities or isolated places - more rural/suburban than inner city. This offers more opportunities for a sense of isolation, or for a whole community to harbour a secret. Often places with a “past” which will return. Abandoned house, old lunatic asylum etc. Homes, usually with different levels and cellars and attics – places for secrets and the past to inhabit. Basements connote our primitive instincts and attics our repressed terrors? Night-time/out of hour – often places of “innocent” daytime fun Religions/medical institutions – possession, demons, psychosis. Dreams and the unconscious mind “The East” –strange, other cultures with weird traditions

  T = Technical codes Camerawork is expressive rather than naturalistic. Weird high and low angles. Canted camerawork common – disorientating. ECUs on victim to enable audience identification with terror and to exclude threat from frame (more scary as you don’t know where it is). Sudden ECUs on monster to connote invasion of our personal space. POV shooting very important – subjective, hand-held or steadicam camerawork often places audience in monster’s eyes – raises issues about audience identification. Clover (Men, Women and Chainsaws) argues this usually switches to the victim/protagonist/final girl as the film progresses. Again raises issues about audience identification. Camerawork often makes use of depth of frame – protagonist in foreground, unaware of monster emerging in background. Editing may create unsettling jumps from LS to CU, rather than smooth use of MS. Editing pace may be used to create suspense. Sudden increases in editing pace when there is no apparent threat creates feeling of jumpiness – something must be about to happen… Sound may be very important. Ambient sound for atmosphere, footsteps, heartbeats high in the sound mix.

  I = Iconography iconography: Visual conventions of genre.. The colours black and red (obvious connotations of darkness, evil, blood and danger etc). Lighting expressive and non-naturalistic. Motivated, low-key, high contrast, chiaroscuro, to emphasize shadows. Lighting direction often from unexpected angles – e.g below, to create unfamiliar shadows (and connote hell, bonfires, primitive instincts etc, as natural light - sunlight, moonlight, room lights - is always from above us). A selection of the commoner objects in the mise-en-scene would include weapons, (particularly bladed), blood, masks, icons of the supernatural (ghosts, moving objects) and religion (crucifixes, pagan symbols). Iconography of childhood/innocence –dolls, playgrounds, clowns – children’s songs (see Barthes structuralist narrative theory of binary oppositions).

  N = Narrative narrative structure: Classic realist/classic Hollywood narrative structure (normality-enigma-path to resolution-closure, or hero-agent of change-quest- resolution-closure) largely applicable to genre, although there may be “false closures” and the real closure often left ambiguous for two reasons – 1 to suggest mythic quality of the monster and 2 to enable a sequel. This conception of narrative structure is based on Todorov’s theories. The clear, unambiguous hero of the classic Hollywood narrative is somewhat problematic in many horrors – as a main protagonist, the “final girl”of the slasher and many other horror films is a victim/hero rather than a simple hero, and thus provides a point of masochistic identification for the spectator which is more complicated than in many other genres. The narratives of some sub-genres, such as the slasher, are very formulaic. Childhood psychotic event creates killer who return to a past location on an anniversary to kill again – usually a group of stupid, “immoral” teenagers etc, with one (virginal, slightly masculine) female character who survives – the “final girl”. Propp’s theories of narrative? We will try to apply them to our next film… Barthes’ and Levi Strauss’, structuralist narrative analysis – not so concerned with linear development but more with underlying mythic structures – works particularly well with horror. Binary oppositions abound, for example innocence/evil. Horror often plays on this by developing very sinister atmospheres through a reliance on our awareness of the existence of the “opposite term” to innocence. Hence the use of dolls, fairgrounds, nursery rhymes, children etc.

 C = Characters character types: Main protagonist often “victim/hero” – see points on narrative structure. The Final Girl, androgynous, virginal. Monsters with a hidden secret or made psychotic by an earlier event. Stupid/”immoral” teens to get killed Children. Ineffectual police and “normal” law enforcers (horror is not containable through normal channels). The “have a go” hero who will get killed Scientists who do stupid things or over-reach their powers People who refuse to believe T = Themes Themes: Binary oppositions – natural VS unnatural; good Vs evil; known Vs unknown. Return of the repressed – Freudian theory… horror is often close to sex in some way… The hidden evil inside. Science out of control. What lies on the other side of death?

The History of Horror

Gothic horror and 19th century horror stories: Frankenstein - written in 1818 by Mary Shelley, responsible for scifi genre Dr Jekyl and Mr Hyde - written by Robert Louis Stevenson in 1886 Dracula - produced in 1913 and directed by Todd Browning Monsters and Mad Scientists 1930s: Monsters and mad scientists trended as main character roles Universal studios began in this era and were responsible for Frankenstein and Dracula Depression of the war lead to 80million people visiting a cinema weekly Werewolves and Cat people 1940s: Due to the war there was a fear of humans being the scariest 'monsters' so this helped develop human hybrids (werewolves, cat people) Adolf means 'noble wolf' in old German, the media played on this by using werewolves to scare people in this era, as they could bite you and pass on their condition (similar to Nazi behaviour) Cat people's plot consisted of females dominating males by seducing and killing them. Females were seen as cats because they were both known as gracious and sly Mutant creatures and alien invaders 1950: The first alien invaders film was in the 1950's; a low budget film called 'Rocketship X-M' Monster movie films came from fears of the atom bomb Invasion of the Body snatchers was one of the popular 1950's films and focuses on the concept of communism Ghosts, Zombies, Satanism and your family 1960-70s: Low budget gore films increased as people were used to seeing news of the war War made films like this most relatable Hammer Horror: Hammer Horror is a British film production company which started in 1934 They were big in the 1950's yet decreased in popularity in the 60's It made eight Dracula films Director Terence Fisher created the first Dracula film Gore returns 2000's: Edelstein suggested we watch these films for the physical reaction rather than the emotional - like porn. The 2004 reports of the US Army being accused of torturing prisoners meant these films became a part of reality. In 2007, the film Captivity was criticised for going too far with its graphic images of a tortured woman. Gorenography could be viewed as 'fizzled out' by the end of this decade.

Practice horror trailer