2.2: Horror Genre Research

Horror Genre Research

We decided to create our movie in the horror genre. This captivates audiences of our age 14-19 years old as we like to experiment with the unknown. The horror genre was created from 1890’s onwards, adapting to the times as it progressed, becoming more and more horrific. The horror genre is associated with developing a negative emotion from the audience and viewers by making the audiences primal fears seem real.

Horror came around from literature from authors such as Edgar Allen Poe, Bram Stoker with Dracula and Mary Shelley with Frankenstein. These were written to startle the readers and future audiences. Macabre (grim atmosphere) and supernatural elements usually feature in these literature or films. Horrors can overlap with fantasy and thrillers, and sometimes comedy.

When creating an opening sequence we would have to make sure we create the same macabre atmosphere and initialize the audience’s terror of the unknown. When researching plots with a horror genre, they usually consist of an unusual event, intrusion of evil forces. 

Regular fears consist of;

-       Ghosts

-       Aliens

-       Vampires

-       Werewolves

-       Demons

-       Gore

-       Torture

-       Vicious animals

-       Evil witches

-       Monsters

-       Zombies

-       Cannibals

-       Murderers and serial killers

Many horror movies generate from myth or true stories exaggerated. This scares the audience further as there is some element of truth which makes the audience feels anxious of how true the plot is. This has the audience thinking ‘What if…?’ which should be the element we need in our opening sequence.

1920’s

The era of silent movies.This is where the visual element of horror was all they had. Many supernatural movies escalated around this time, such as 'Nosferatu'. Many films came from gothic literature and myths and legends from Europe. Audiences were captivated by how ‘ghosts’ could be captured on film or how producers used lanterns for ‘supernatural’ experiences. The black and white technology of the times was played on, by making scenes darker with more shadows by doubling the filters. Audiences found a special interest in vampires at this time. Many of the conventions and filters are still used today. Many of the horror films produced in this time have been lost due to no way of copying and storing back in this time.

In this screen shot, we see a young woman playing with a pet cat. We associate cats with luck and other fates. They are seen as quite a give away in horror movies. This may indicate the young women is associated with magic for instance a witch as the connotations for a witch is to have a pet cat.

1930’s

This is the time when sound first came out, reinventing horror movies having a huge impact on this genre. The silent movies consisted of just visual arts, now contained more growls, grunts and horrific sound. Vampires and ghosts become less popular and monsters became a new fad. Sound became a new dimension for terror and music was experimented with to create tension or presence of evil. Basic sound effects were introduced into the cinema world such as echoing footsteps. Horror was created for escapism for the audience. During this time for instance, the Great Depression was in America, which made movies popular in this time for a few hours to escape the real world.

The movies started to create a sense of fantasy mixed with horror, taking the audience away from life as we know it. Now using deigetic sound, actors put on exotic voices to make the escapism more authentic. Again, the use of gothic literature sparked many of the movies ideas.

Audiences seemed more enthusiastic in this time period than 1920's as horror movies were becoming quite popular as time went on. This appears to be the case of wanting to forget the realism of global events and The Great Depression.

80 million people attended the cinema on a weekly basis, 65% of the population from the US. 

An example of a popular movie of this time was Frankenstein (1931).

The power of speech was new to the 1931's as seen in the above clip. By scaring the audience before hand was a way to put them in the right mindset for the movie. The way the introduction has been done, leaves the audience questioning what will happen that is so shocking in the movie. By using vocal in our main task, we could also put our audience in the right mind set, with the use of deigetic sound.

1940's

Wartime horror movies circulated America at the time as horror movies were banned in Britain due to Europe being busy with war and not importing or exporting anything they didn't need to waste money on. Also, Hollywood was the main audience for movies and film due to their culture so stayed mainly in this area for a couple decades before becoming worldwide. This was the time of experimentation, and limits due to the war having impact on many people's lives.

One theme experimented with at this time was animals and understandings of them. Films such as 'The Wolf Man' and 'The Cat People' became popular as this intrigued the audiences by seeing their own race merged with ordinary creatures, and revolted many people.

The Wolf Man (1941) became a huge hit to cinema screening. Producers trailed back to mystic mythology and started to look at werewolves and their legends, like they did for Dracula. The mise-en-scene widely used in this movie were a concoction of;

Silver Bullets

Full Moons

Pentagrams 

Gypsies

1950's

After war, many changes took place globally. We see this in horror movies from the 1950's. Horrifying monsters were done away with and a new era came to Hollywood. Horror movies started to place human faces on the face of evil, along with day to day creatures. This era was known as 'Creature Feature'.

World War II had left 40 million humans dead causing more damage to humans faith in humanity. Inhumane actions became a big discussion in this time period, questioning the horror of human actions. Due to war, many cinemas were left without customers due to soldiers being in their own state of horror from events displayed and wartime widows being wrapped up in their own world of horror.

In this time period, a new phenomena had occurred. The first ever sighted UFO in 1947 and following that the Roswell incident. This led to a new fear of the unknown in space and science, creating a window of opportunity for horror producers to scare their audiences. The line between real and fake, fact and fiction became thin during this time as audiences became wary of technological advancements.

This is where the age of B-movies starting booming. B-movies are low budget films of inferior quality were used as a supporting feature in a cinema program. The age of colour TV programs instead of black and white was becoming more and more popular, shadowing out movies. The top stars were being selected for musicals and classics other than horror movies, pretty much like today, meaning the audiences would rather watch an A-star actress over a B-star.

Audiences for horror movies took a rather large turnabout. Teenagers became the main audiences for these low budget productions, very much so like today. Instead of older audiences viewing certain actors with certain plots, many teenagers would hang around a drive-in movie and became a regular hang out area for these teenagers. The twisted creatures used in these movies seemed to captivate the experimental minds of teenagers, making them the main audience of this era.

Another key feature of this era was the Mutant Madness. As explained before, science was becoming a new and exciting thing. Radiation was a new movie feature, making creatures larger (such as Godzilla) or shrink (such as The Fly).Existing life forms made for better movies as they could be photographed using Blue Screen techniques or recreated in model form with stop-animation bringing them to life. 

Early attempts of this in films such as 'King Kong' were successful but wasn't widespread until this era. The cutting edge technology used worked well enough to draw audiences from their new found television sets, back into cinemas. Many of these plots have to do with a huge monster being on a rampage. A mad scientist is always the hero in these films as well. 

The fear eradicated from the use of atomic bombs. By being a new weapon, many people were scared of the bombs outcome. America had to deal with the mass destruction of an atomic bomb and soon after the fear of the world ending and many unanswered questions.

New movies were now being advertised on public television, gaining more of an audience. Movies were also starting to produce merchandise and advertising in news papers by showing the monsters and mutants as real images. Even with low quality sound and picture, the experience was something for someone to enjoy. 

An example of a prime movie in the 1950's was 'The Invasion of the Body Snatchers'. 

1960's

The sexual revolution. This was the year of great change, where horror perceptions took a huge turn. New things were approaching such as new hemlines for the females and homosexuality. Horror movies wanted to find a new way to perceive sex and violence in there B-movie films. New cinema chains such as 'underground cinemas' were experimenting with no scrutiny or censorship on what they showed to shock the audience further. This new decade brought a new opinion on showing nudity and onscreen violence along with it. These challenged society and caused an uproar. The main audience from the 50's were now grown ups and took no interest in false movie titles with predictability. The 50's audience, now growing older wanted movies more relatable, and more realistic to their situations as budding adults. They longed for more sophisticated aspects and the issues they face now in their modern world.



Even though this was one of the most tragic decades of this era, there was a certain sense of companionship, optimism and humanity was moving forward into a brighter future. The mutant monsters were a thing of the 50's where the radioactive technologies were a thing of history, making the monsters appear to be a bit stupid now. Aliens were also out of this area with no certified answer for if they exist or not or no further sightings. Horror movies had to now dig from the inside of society and out instead of scaring them with 'what if's?' Horror movie producers learnt they had to change their attitudes to suit the teenagers of the era, thus came along the mainstream audience for horror movies being teenagers as they associate with these age ranges the most. The idea of self image was becoming a theme for the 60's so producers thought, "lets scare these kids by making them the monsters and ruining their images...".



Night of the Living Dead was a major hit and a prime example of ruining body image for the teenagers of the 60's. The idea of the dead coming back to life was unbearable and that their own body image could be ruined because of the event. Night of the Living Dead had a budget of $114,000 to be produced. This promised to be the first of its kind horror movie which we see today with the main conventions; death, zombies and gore. Acting was becoming more realistic, make up was being more advanced and the special effects were now up to date a highly believable.

1970's

The 70's were known as the disappointing decade. In the 60's, moonlandings, sex and cultural revelations were feeding the society. In this decade, the whole 10 years seemed disappointing compared to the last 10 years. The humanity died and became the doom and gloom years, which only meant more bright ideas for the big screen. This marked the first outcome of high budget horror movies, addressing societies fears and individual psychological fears too.

A new development of the fear of children. More so, the pain and messy aspect of child birth. Many horror movies were based on the fact of birth control pills as they were new for this era so the movies express their fear for new medication.

Another fear was that a family member is a serial killer. This era revolved around paranoia. The new sense of having no humor in their horror movies.

One film showing the fear and paranoia in families is Alice, Sweet Alice (1976). 

The new feature of dolls and masks became a new feature as well. This is because they hold the same over happy expression no matter what. This creepy factor scares quite a lot of people due to the fake expression. Hidden identity paranoid many people thus masks scaring people too, usually with creepy factors such as doll faces or chainsaw masks.

The dolls also played on the fact adults started to fear children and their naive nature.

1980's

Special effects have now started to catch up with the gory realistic images of inside the human body. Advances in animatronics, liquid and foam latex meant movie producers could go further with bodily mutilations and distortion. This meant they could now show close ups without looking mediocre, scaring viewers and revolting them. Audiences wanted everything in a horror movie, the gore, the amazing plot and the amazing actors. This was where colour TV flourished and horror movies were higher budgeted. 

The audiences imagination became a large part of horror movies. Movies such as 'The Blair Witch Project' where they shown no monsters or scary conventions at all. It was all in the setting, the sound and the acting which still took people right to the edge of fear. The other aspect was the show the audience exactly what they wanted. Blood. Gore. Guts, to induce the audiences reaction of nausea but kept the audience watching just out of fascination. An experimentation was the allow audiences to watch a video of a surgical operation which induced the same feeling as the horror movies. There was a link between showing the inside of the human body and horror movies. 

Horror movies needed to find the balance between gore and shocking images. If they just shown gore all the way through, it would lose its meaning. Many films couldn't find this balance and became more of a teenage laughing stock. We wince because this is inside us as we watch the movie and this could happen to us. 

Zombies were still the main monster of the time, introducing the blood and gore aspect even further. These types of movies would rake in millions instead of thousands, showing the growth of love within horror movies and the new audiences. The main audiences of this time was the 15 to 24 year old category, looking for new thrills and competition between their friends. Sex still was present in these movies just like today as the slogan 'sex sells'. 

The Thing (1982) was the prime example of the human body and gore. There was some highlights where they were laughable moments instead of screams but the whole movie captured what the 80's was about with experimentation, science and the extent of the human biology. The slogan for the movie was 'Man is the warmest place to hide' hinting at the movies plot. 

Here we see the gore in action in the movie. Nowadays we would know this wasn't real, the blood colour is wrong and it just looks fake. Back in the 80's this was the real thing. The gore would send people rushing out the cinemas and the sight of something so inhumane would curdle everyone's stomachs. The setting only adds to the fear factor being based in the antarctic. A desolate cold place where no one can hear you scream if you were the only one alive... 

1990

The decade of serial killers, psycho's and murders. After the gruesome 80's, the effects worn off of the viewers. They seemed to fascinate and amuse more than scare and repulse. Zombies were now being mocked, they out lived their time. Killers and Cannibals were this decades fear. 

In the first five minutes of Scream (1996), we see the serial killer already making moves. The mystery created tension which producers found was the perfect recipe for horror movies. The new phone technology was becoming more advanced, finding the perfect way to mask identity and use this to scare people. By producers making the setting in a house, the whole globe could relate. By using house hold appliances, it shocked people into thinking anything can be used to kill someone with. By creating the horror in someones house, it haunted every for many months after leaving the cinema.

2000

Global convergence. This was the main focus of the noughties. In 2001, the events of 9/11 took place, capturing the globes attention. A new type of fear was eradicated for the 2000's, the fear of terrorism. Certain areas were affected by recession and the music industry was certainly affected. The movie industry became sensitive to what they could show without offending people. There was so much stress circulating companies, movies, and pretty much everyone, that there was even calls to close off the horror movie genre for the time being just for world peace at this time. But with a miraculous rebound, the horror genre was at its prime at 2005. Horror genre movies was topping the box office than any other genre on above average gross and below average budgets. Horror movies became a challenge between friendship groups on who can be the bravest, raking in massive crowds from again the ages 15-24 years. They use horror as escapism from the global issues dragging this age group down just as their great grandparents went to escape the realism of the War. 

The prime example of global terror is 28 Days Later. A very unconventional horror featuring in broad day light instead of the traditional dark shadow forlorn conventions. 

Many of the films nowadays follow this 'epidemic' feature as we become aware of the apocalypse. There is a pattern with today's horror movies, featuring a hell on Earth as everyone fears the unknown.

Feedback - Miss Spencer

You have written a good evaluation Cara, thinking about the questions in depth.
However your images have not embedded properly and your actual film is not here.
Can you rectify this asap, see me if you are unsure how to do either of these.

Thanks
Miss Spencer

Task 2.1: Research into Existing Products (Thriller/Mission Impossible) NEW!!!

Analysis of Opening Sequences
Mission Impossible 2





In this opening sequence we see a man around 24 years - 30 years scaling rocks in a desolate area, climbing to the top of the rocks. A man is used here as many action/thriller movies as men are stereotypically seen as strong, charming and smart. This draws in male viewers of all ages as this associates with men as their idols, and also due to the action that is in the film. By using a young well known male actor, this draws in the female audiences as they might be interested in the male playing the character. The character is shown on his own with no other characters to show he is completely detached from anyone and if he slips no one can save him, adding to the tension of the opening sequence, keeping the audience guessing.

The clip opens with an establishing shot looking like it is coming from a helicopter view. During this shot, the shot fades into the next shot showing the area is a large place and time has past while travelling across the area.The special affects used here is fast forwarding, time lapsing the travel time suggesting the the audience the vast space the movie is set in at this time. The sound used is wind in this shot. This shows how desolate the area it is. Audiences signify the sound of wind to be associated with isolation and desolate areas. The rocky mountains give the impression of being set in a place such as America or Australia due to the colour of the red rocks and the clear blue sky. The hue in the background shows the distance of the setting and that it is completely on its own also insinuating it maybe a hot climate destination. The editing gives a red filter. when used by Thriller/Action movies this can connote death/murder or danger. 

This is an extreme long shot of the main character. This shot has been used to show the characters size against the surroundings and to make the audience aware of any contrasts between the character and the setting. We cannot see the character clearly here as the main focus is to show the sheer size, adding to the effect. The camera movement is a dolly zoom to give the impression that the audience is the on lookers of the situation. This gives the view of the background growing in size but focusing on the main focus in more detail and in relative to the subject. This creates a vertigo feeling of being detached from the background, giving the impression the character is lost and adds to the effect of being alone. The first title has been edited onto the shot, showing the company name of the movie. The font used is quite hard to read due to the contrast levels which could be an improvement for this opening sequence. However the font suggests quite a technological film due to the futuristic font. 

In this shot we see iconic imagery. The red contrasting with the sky and him in between might suggest he is in between danger and clarity. The soundtrack starts up here with some African type music which is a song well known. This adds to the hot country affect and also gives an insight into where the movie might be based. This creates contrast by playing cheerful music in correlation with the dangerous task he is undertaking. This might display that the character isn't afraid of what he is doing.

This is an extreme close up of the mans hand. This shows he is struggling and by lifting it up also shows he is strong. This shows the audience he must be strong and motivated due to climbing with his bare hands. It adds to the tension and to the masculinity factor in the movie, giving us an insight to what type of character the man is. At this point we here the sound affect of an Eagle screeching in the distance. This is significant due to an Eagle representing many factors. Firstly the Eagle is seen as a fearless animal, and showing the character on screen we associate that the man is a fearless character as well. Also, the Eagle is used for representation of America which where the movie might take place. Following to this, the shots become shorter instead of longer. This shows the contrast between regular shots and action packed shots. This adds to the affect of a thriller by changing the shot duration. 

This shot is an aerial shot (birds eye view). This might link in with the Eagle we heard previously, seeing the character from a birds point of view. This shows the audience how tall the rock is, also the dangerous drop and the rocky ground which adds to the audiences fear if the character falls. This also looks down on the character which might show the mountain is far bigger than the character. With all the shots, they have constant movement instead of fixed shots. This might add to the action by keeping the camera constantly moving so the audience feel like the character is always on the go linking to action. 

This is a POV shot (point of view/subjective filming). This is seen from the characters view. This drops the audience into the action by seeing what the character sees. This creates an understanding between audience and character and allows them to associate with each other.

This aerial shot uses the special effect of slow motion, creating tension between the audience by making the question 'does he make the jump?!'. They used slow motion to drag the moment out, and create a climax of the situation. 

This shot is a mid shot, showing from the waist up. This pose is iconic as it is a religious pose. We connote this as a pose of strength and bravery. Here we can see the character clearly, his expression is calm which again shows he might be an emotionally strong character.

Task 2.1: Analysing Opening Sequences - PS I Love You (Rom-com)

Textual Analysis: PS I love You.

SMEC

Folk music opens the scene. This folk music comes from Ireland which is a big part of the movie on a whole as some of the movie is set in Ireland and a protagonist is Irish. This is the opening soundtrack and the characters cannot hear the music so it is non-diegetic sound. This music is cheery and a love song, which most romantic comedies use. The scene opens in a city centre with a dark sky signifying night time. The camera pans down the sky onto the city, where a street light glows above a section of the city. The setting appears to be set in a cliché New York with huge city signs, yellow taxi cabs and tall buildings. The camera carries on panning downwards till it is eyelevel with human height.

We see people dressed in formal suits and casual wear just like a normal night in the city. Graffiti is on the walls captivating the culture of NYC.

 The camera focuses on a couple, a female dressed smartly and a male dressed in a suit. The female leads in front showing dominance walking with a wide strut. The male tails behind her, running after her. A long shot is used here, showing the relationship as it stands and the audience get an idea the female is upset with the male, and the male is trying to say sorry. The characters go off frame and opens with another scene with an establishing shot with their apartment in the background.

An extreme long shot is used when they enter the apartment with murky colours and this long shot down the hall shows the narrowness of the hall. This could be to do with the wealth of the characters. The ‘shabby’ apartment shows they are hard of money and struggling. The characters stalk up the hall towards the camera. The Female walks off set and up the stairs, the male comes to a stop at a mid-long shot so the audience focus on what he is saying, his arm gestures and his expressions. We see he has charm, as he smirks while trying to talk to his offset ‘girlfriend’. 

In the next few seconds we see different camera angles. The camera uses a high angle on the male, showing how he feels inferior to the female and he is in an awkward situation. We feel pity on him as an audience. The camera follows the actor up the stairs while he speaks in a diegetic form, talking to the other character. A medium shot is used, focusing on his speech and facial expressions. 

The camera switches to a point of view shot as the male character chasing the female. We see an over the shoulder shot as she turns her back to the camera showing her ignorance to the male character and giving him the cold shoulder. A low angle is used, showing her supremacy over the male. Almost as if she rules over him in this point, taking over the conversation. As she stops still to look down on the male, the camera uses a mid-long shot to capture her sturdy expression.

For the last part of the opening sequence, a birds-eye-view is used, showing the stair case and the walking up the stairs. This puts the audience in a powerful position and show the audience the height or surroundings of the apartment. We see high apartments as cheap places to live and adds to the effect of the characters being working class. This shot makes the characters look small and powerless in the environment that surrounds them. 

The editing used here are highlighters to each shot so the characters can be seen better against the dark. This is so we can tell they are the main focus in the story. The editing from shot to shot is continuous showing a flowing story with smooth transitions suggesting a typical rom-com movie. 

Task 2.1: Analysing Opening Sequences - Easy A (Rom-Com)

Analysing a Romantic Comedy: Easy A

The opening scene starts some indie style music, Sweet Things – Changing the Seasons. This is a love song with a light beat which most Romantic Comedy’s use at the start of the movie. This appeals more to female viewers and ages of 16-25 years due to the style of music. The song relates to the whole movie which shows elements of foreshadowing. This is non-diegetic sound as it is part of the movies soundtrack and the characters cannot hear it or react to it. The mise-en-scene of the first 5 seconds of the opening clip has bight lighting which most rom-coms use. This makes the seen look more cheerful and colourful which appeals to the female audience. The location is based in the school grounds of a high school. We see the school in the far background of the shot, and a park like grounds more towards the camera. Editing used here is the credits which have been artistically places on the floor of the grounds. This makes the movie look professional and also the audience’s eyes are more attracted to this style of displaying credits. They use a white base text as it contrasts with the background so the audience can read it with ease. The camera is taking an establishing shot, on a track as the camera is steady and moving slowly forward. As the camera tracks forward, we see two teenagers walk into the shot and become main focus. This is an over the shoulder shot and they walk off into the distance.

            
Their costumes suggest they’re students in a school since they are in casual attire and wearing backpacks and holding files. We see more and more students walking around the shot space with their friendship groups. We see this as friendship groups as they’re talking to one another and showing gestures of being comfortable around each other. The credits are still being smartly edited in. The camera tracks forward more and swoops around to other students, and repeats a few times giving the audience a little more scenery piece by piece. The camera begins to pan, following a boy skating across a path making him the main focus for this section.

         
   The camera uses focus pulls from one group of girls to another. All shots on the students have been long shots up until it focuses from a front view of one female group. 


This makes the audience think this group will be main focus of the movie. A mid-long shot is used, capturing a pouty facial expression, showing the girl is popular and important here. He camera tracks backwards showing the front girl is on her phone, as a prop, meaning she might be popular and goes into the story a little bit each more revealing new aspects. Her friends talk to her and leave, possibly saying a parting gesture but the girl struts with the camera reverse tracking showing she is leader. 


The focus is pulled to another girl as the leader bumps into her sending her files over the floor. This is used in romantic comedies a lot to make the main girl appear like a damsel in distress and not popular in high school. They use this as it makes the girl look helpless and the audience automatically sympathies with her. The camera pans down to the girl on the floor’s level. This uses a long shot but we can still see the girl’s perplexed expression and her uniform and bag suggesting she is a student. She scrambles on the floor for her file work as we notice no one helps her. She is on a low level connoting as she is seen as a low down priority person in the school. The lighting is a little darker here and may foreshadow she might have bad luck or a change of fate later on in the movie. We also get the sense she does well in high school and maybe associated with a ‘nerd’ as she looks worried about her work becoming dirty on the ground as she fumbles for her files. 

The editing used from shot to shot is a continuous flow. This shows it'll be a friendly film and will flow like a story. The filters used on the shots are highlighters so the film looks brighter and happier. The titles have been edited on as well, adding to the 'fun' effect of the movie the way they are used with a lot of animation.