Budget

Minor model/performer release agreement

location releases

Recces

Shot list

Storyboard

Poster analysis/inspiration

Pre-production of film poster

As a group, we had to come up with an idea for what the poster for our film would look like. For our inspiration we used a number of horror film posters to get tips from, including 'Friday the 13th' and 'The Conjuring'. We came up with a creepy wooded setting for the background as we saw a lot of horror film posters showing a forest/wood to establish setting, and it did fit in with our film idea as well, although we did also discuss the possibility of a marsh setting. We then decided on the colour palette and suggested that it should be tinted blue to fit in with the supernatural themes running through the film. Hints toward the films nature would also be included in the poster; a cross in the background representing death, the main girl standing over a body of water but with the reflection of a ghostly girl, suggesting she is connected to the ghost, or is that suggesting she will die? There is also a man standing in the background, yet as the girl in the foreground is holding the shovel, is she the killer and is the man hiding, or is she defending herself and the man is lurking suspiciously behind the trees?

Google forms questionnaire pt 2

Google forms Questionnaire pt 1

Initial schedule

Draft Trailer

Final Trailer

Evaluation question 1: In what ways does my media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

For our media coursework, we had to work in groups to think of a horror film plot and make a trailer for it. Individually we had to also make a poster and a magazine cover for our product. We especially liked the Woman in Black trailer and Ouija trailer as inspiration for our own trailer. 

This screenshot of the woman in black trailer is near to the beginning and just before there are scenes of a creepy house and marsh. Then while this scene is playing and for most of the rest of the trailer, there is a voiceover which doesn’t reveal too much, but also explains the main basis for the plot of the film. After the beginning fist shot in our trailer, we too used a voiceover as in the feedback sessions, people said that our storyline was clear so we added the voiceover to make it easier for people to understand.

Our other inspiration was Ouija. At the beginning of the trailer there is a shot reverse shot of two characters talking, and we like this way of showing a conversation between two people and being able to get both of their expressions in. While in the Ouija trailer you can hear them talking and in ours you can’t, we still decided to use the shot type as inspiration.

Another aspect of some trailers we liked, were the blank screens in between scenes that showed text which further helped the audience to understand that plot as you can see above in our trailer and a screenshot from Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

This next screenshot is a little blurry as it is more of an action shot, but I really liked it when you have a character running away in terror/fear as it adds to the atmosphere of the film and helps you feel for that character more. I also liked the way in The Blair Witch Project the girl is actually screaming which obviously suggests she is in some sort of trouble. So we added the shot of our character running away from her murderer and we used a wide angle shot because it lets the audience see more of where our character is. 

Trailers are a key part of advertising your media product. If you were to just simple make a poster or advertise in a magazine, you aren’t just limiting the amount of people you reach, but you aren’t really engaging with them in the same way a trailer does. The problem with posters is that you can only fit so much onto the page and you can exactly write up a synopsis about the film to put on the poster as posters are meant to be eye-catching and shouldn’t require that much thought. Whereas trailers allow you to fit more information and in a more interactive way because the audience can actually see what your film is and what it’s about; it is made to capture the audience even more than the poster and entice them more to want to come and see the film.

Horror films generally include screaming, creepy sounds/music and dark and light contrasting scenes. They could also include shot types such as low angle shots on the antagonist to show power over their victims and wide angle shots to set the scene. With a lot of horror films, sexual scenes go hand-in-hand with the gruesome scenes, which may be part of getting a wider demographic in to watch the film. 

Typical settings for horror films include forests/woods/marshes/deserts- any place where the victim is even more vulnerable due to little or no contact with the outside world or just the fact that they can’t escape. Horror films also tend to prey on people’s fears; ‘Buried’ is a film where a man is trapped in a box underground and (spoiler) ends up being buried alive after authorities fail to find him in time. So, you could say that film preys on the fear of being buried alive or claustrophobia. Films like Saw and Texas Chainsaw Massacre prey on people’s fear of being abducted; in a place they aren’t familiar with, unable to contact the outside world and being tortured and chased. There are so many fears out there; I think it would be possible to make a horror film based on pretty much any fear. In a way I feel this is why they are so successful- people are always going to have fears and I think there is a part of us that likes being scared, especially as we know that we can walk away at the end of it.

I think it is important to follow the conventions of horror films, but if you never try anything new, if you never push the boundaries, they will get boring and predictable and people will lose interest over time. However, if you completely change the conventions of horror films in one go, people probably won’t accept it and it probably wouldn’t be received very well.

The start of our trailer is accompanied by soft, cheerful music because we wanted to create a contrast between then and now. There is a voiceover at the beginning which explains more of the plot than dialogue alone would have, yet dialogue is used when necessary to further the plot.

I am happy with how our trailer turned out, but I’m not sure on some aspects. For example, sometimes the music stops suddenly where it could have been faded out and I don’t think it is that ‘scary’. There is one point towards the end where the music is building and then suddenly a shot comes in and interferes with the atmosphere. I think the tension could have been built up more and maybe a few shots were a little too long, but I’m glad we sorted out the order of shots better as before the order didn’t make as much sense. I like the end shot as it brings back the scary atmosphere and I like the sudden ‘boom’ sound which gives you a little jump. So whereas it might not be as professional, I think it does follow the conventions of a typical horror trailer however I think maybe there could have been some darker shots as horror films set in the day don’t tend to be as scary really.

Evaluation question 2:How effective is the combination of our product and ancillary texts?

As a film distributor it is your job to do the marketing for your film and may set the release date and decide the way in which it is to be shown to the public. There are many ways to advertise a film, for example you can upload a trailer to YouTube, show it on TV or in a Cinema. There could also be promotional videos or interviews by stars of the film.

Before advertising your product you need to figure out who your target audience is. For example, if your target audience were teens, you would probably advertise on social media sites such as Facebook and YouTube as that is what they are most likely to use, which means you are more likely to reach higher numbers of your target audience. However, advertising isn’t just getting people to know about your product, it can also help improve it. Audience research is very important when it comes to developing your product and you should probably think twice about releasing a product if you haven’t carried out any audience research beforehand. If you are making a film for example, you can organise screenings where you ask a group of people from your target audience to come and preview your film before it is released and then ask them to provide feedback on what they liked and didn’t like so much. You can then use this information to change your film (if it needs changing) and improve it in the hopes that it will better appeal to your audience and bring in more revenue.

If we take this poster for ‘American Pie: The Naked Mile’ you can straight away see that this is not going to be a children’s film. The name itself including the word ‘naked’ suggests that too, and sometimes names do play a part in advertising too. If we look at the image on this poster it further backs up the idea that this is definitely not for children. There are half naked women and guys in their underwear and a male in the middle has two females with their hands on him. The way they (females especially) are sexualised in this image suggests that it is done that way for the purpose of appealing to the male gaze which might mean that their target audience is younger males, perhaps early to mid 20’s? Sexual themes are strongly suggested too and, if anyone knows of the American Pie film series, then they know that the film is going to be mostly sexual, and while the poster doesn’t really reveal much in the way of plot, maybe the distributors are counting on people recognising the film series and wanting to see it from that. ‘Unrated’ might also encourage more people to go see it as they think it may be more sexual/crude/funnier than if it wasn’t unrated.

The next poster is of a different genre: Horror. As many of you know, the SAW franchise is a series of gruesome horror films, yet when this poster was released, no one knew what the SAW films were as it was the first out the series.

However the clean white background suggests something clinical which could connect with the audience and bring out their fears of places such as hospitals and dentists. As many of the other SAW film posters, this only has one image on it; a hand in the center of the poster. You can see that the hand is slightly dirty and if you look at the wrist, you can see that it looks as though it has been cut and sewn up as there appears to be thread falling from it. This certainly fits in with the horror genre and the torture themes that SAW is now known for. The name ‘SAW’ also connotes violence and horror as it is also a sharp tool which fits in with the torture side of things. All of these factors combined together make for an intriguing poster and would definitely appeal to the horror fans. Whether this would be for age 15 or 18 is unclear on this poster, but I would say, even if I hadn’t any knowledge of the SAW franchise, that it would be more towards the 18 age rating due to a feeling that it is going to be quite gruesome.

While I am on the subject of the SAW franchise, I think it is very important for a film to have a unified identity because if it didn’t that could lead to confusion amongst the audience and could end receiving bad reviews as it wasn’t what people expected. When it comes to SAW, not only do all of the posters and trailers fit together, but the posters and trailers for the entire SAW films complement each other and follow on the themes that the films are associated with. Having a poster that is followed by a trailer that follows its themes allows more information to be fed to the audience and reveals more to them, as a poster is just an introduction, a teaser for the trailer if you like, and then you could have the teaser trailer which gives more information than the poster, but intrigues people to watch the full trailer and then finally the full trailer reveals more information and leaves the audience on the edge of their seats waiting for the release of the film. 

Both my poster and my magazine cover have quite dark images in the background and in both the girl looks either angry or in pain. I wanted them to be like this as it goes hand-in-hand with the theme of our trailer. Whereas my magazine cover makes her look more angry, i wanted to create more speculation and mystery with the poster so i chose a picture where she could be thought of as angry or in pain. Our trailer then backs both of these up as she gets murdered and so is in pain, but wants revenge on her killer. You can't see it clearly, but for the magazine cover, i did use an image where the girl (one of the main girls in our trailer) is leaning on the handle of the shovel which ties in with the way she is killed in our trailer (hit over the head with a shovel). However i wanted the poster and the magazine cover to create mystery and not give much away and then for it all to be revealed/made clearer in the trailer.

Evaluation question 3: What have you learnt from your audience feedback?

Evaluation question 4: How did you use new media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Audiences and Institution: The Woman In Black

1. Who do you think the Primary and Secondary target audience is for The Woman In Black? Why?
I think that the primary audience are people who like horror films, especially of the supernatural kind. Due to the certificate (12) i would say that students are the main target as elder people may think that because it is only a 12 then it wont be that scary or gory. As for the secondary audience, i would say that people who are fans of Daniel Radcliffe would feel intrigued to see him in another role to Harry Potter and maybe also the parents of the children who are going to see it (e.g. the main theme running throughout is the relationship between parents and children). It could also have targeted the people who enjoyed the book and wanted to see it adapted to a film version.
2. How was The Woman In Black marketed? 
There was a huge marketing campaign for The Woman In Black, including many interviews with Daniel Radcliffe who promoted the film and drew in Harry Potter fans because he wanted to get across to the audience that he could act in other roles and wanted to be taken more seriously as an actor. The film company also hired the space on the homepage of YouTube to get their film advertised, knowing that over a billion people a day use the site.

There were teaser trailers and posters released and adverts put in newspapers and magazines. An article on 'Screen daily' said how 'The Woman In Black promoted on new London tube WiFi service' and that 'Momentum Pictures is promoting the home entertainment release of The Woman In Black with a special initiative in conjunction with Virgin Media and MyMovies. On June 16 and 17, Virgin Media’s new WiFi service on the London Underground will host a previously unseen piece of video content for the hit horror film.'

There was then a main trailer and main poster released along with posts on a Facebook page and Twitter. Newspaper advertising was used a lot too, with double page spreads and front page stories.
3. Do you think the marketing materials for the film were appropriate? Why?
I think the marketing materials were right due to who their primary audience was. This was younger teens and by using Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, the advertisers managed to reach these younger teens and most of them would have used these social media sites. Their secondary audience were elder people, maybe the parents, and they targeted these people by putting adverts in newspapers (as elder people are more likely to read the newspaper than younger people, this is a good way of reaching them.

4. What kind of release did the film have?
This film had a big release and was released on February 3rd, 2012(USA) and was shown in 2,856 cinemas and 40 countries worldwide. With takings of $20,874,072 (USA) on the opening weekend, the film grossed $54,322,273 (USA) by 27th April 2012.


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 had an original estimated budget of around £10.5 million, and had worldwide makings of £80,027,859, this became the highest grossing British Horror film in 20 years. Due to the large marketing campaign, there was a huge hype around this film, making it a definite 'must watch'.


6. Why do you think the film was so successful?

I think it had a large part to do with the way Daniel Radcliffe spent so much time on marketing the film in order to get away from his Harry Potter childhood and in doing so, advertised the film to a much wider audience than it may have reached if he hadn't. Nevertheless, the overall marketing made it so successful as the teaser poster and trailer seemed to do its job by creating a hype that surrounded the film and spread by word of mouth. I think that the certificate put some people off but on the subject of word of mouth, i think people would have gone to see it via recommendation of friends/family. Generally, i think it is a very well thought out film and is filmed well and provides good, scary entertainment and a new take on a ghost story.

Experimental film poster

Before i made my final film poster, i spent some time on this experimental one. I originally wanted to go for a wide shot that revealed lots of hints towards the themes in the film as i was inspired by 'The Woman In Black' film poster where there is a grave and a cloaked woman in the background, as well as a haunted-looking house shrouded in fog.

I put the young girl in the middle to show she is a main character and in the water there is a faint reflection of a ghost girl which audiences could have presumed meant she would die or is somehow connected to the ghost. To the right there is a man lurking, slightly back from the front of the image which could connote the idea that he is mysterious maybe dangerous or maybe a victim. I put the cross, to the left, in line with him as he is a murderer and he also eventually dies, but i made sure i darkened the cross so audiences would have to look a little harder at the poster in order to see everything. The background speaks for itself; a dark marsh-like forest (the setting to our film) and is also a typical setting of the horror genre. Finally, i made the title and tagline in a scratched red font so that it looks a little like blood running down the letters.

However, i didn't think it was very well put together; it all looked a little messy. Not to mention the fact that neither of the characters on the poster are actually in our film; we hadn't taken the photos for the poster or magazine at this point. The colour of the background also made it tricky to put the other pictures in and adjust them so that they looked realistic (the girl in the middle is too light, yet it looks wrong if she is darkened any more as she fades into the background). While i like the font and the position of the text, it just didn't go with the feeling of the poster, and i also hadn't put any of the producers/actors names etc.

Final Magazine Cover and Poster

Final horror film magazine cover

Final poster

I decided to go with this as my final poster as it was a lot 'cleaner' and smarter than my experimental one using the posters for 'Annabelle' and 'Insidious' as inspiration .

Originally I wanted to go with a poster that gave a lot away in hint form, yet i like the secrecy and mystery this poster gives as it still reveals some aspects of the film, but it is a lot less noticeable. We took some photos which made it easier to make this poster and i could start working on the atmosphere of it. I made her face a little darker and it almost looks as though she is a bit dirty, which fits in with the fact she is the murdered girl who is buried. There are points of light on her face and the way her hair looks as though it is animated makes it seem as if she is coming forward at the audience (like the scene in The Woman In Black where the cloaked ghost moves swiftly down the corridor towards Daniel Radcliffe's character).

I chose this picture because she has an angry expression on her face , yet it could be taken as though she is in pain, as she is obviously screaming and looks anguished meaning she must face some sort or trauma. I did get rid of the red text and changed it to black and white because i think that makes it less of a gory horror than a supernatural horror, which our film ultimately is. I think the tag line at the top looks neat and is very simplistic, provoking mystery in the audience. However i did keep some red on the poster when naming the production team/actors etc, as it would have been too much white if i hadn't and anyway, red is a typical colour of the horror film genre.

Draft Poster and Magazine Cover

Horror magazine analysis

The Woman In Black

We chose 'The Women in Black' trailer because we believe it has a similar story-line too our movie; therefore this will be a good trailer to get inspiration from. We especially liked the fact that in between shots there was a blank screen with some sort of writing on. We will most likely be using something similar to this in our own trailer.

Ouija Official Trailer

Within the first 26 seconds of the film we see the first character’s death, which we know, is the catalyst for the occurrences of the rest of the film. This allows the trailer to gain the audiences attention and is also a way to set up the plot for the rest of the film. The fact that they installed the fear into the audience this early in the trailer makes the audience engaged in what they are watching, curious as to what the mystery of the film is. We also see a door opening by itself; this emphasis the 'fear factor'. This is shown in the first 13 seconds of the trailer and shows us that they are trying to evoke fear early on in the trailer. We plan to use this trailer to inspire our own; as we liked the idea of evoking fear early on in a trailer in order to capture the audiences attention and make them want to watch more in order to understand the story-line better. Also we liked the fact that in this movie they used a prop as the main weapon and the fact that the 'Ouija Board' is scary in real life makes the movie all the more realistic and we hope to capture that our own trailer.

Horror film trailers analysis

We chose 'The Women in Black' trailer because we believe it has a similar story-line too our movie; therefore this will be a good trailer to get inspiration from. We especially liked the fact that in between shots there was a blank screen with some sort of writing on. We will most likely be using something similar to this in our own trailer.

Within the first 26 seconds of the film we see the first character’s death, which we know, is the catalyst for the occurrences of the rest of the film. This allows the trailer to gain the audiences attention and is also a way to set up the plot for the rest of the film. The fact that they installed the fear into the audience this early in the trailer makes the audience engaged in what they are watching, curious as to what the mystery of the film is. We also see a door opening by itself; this emphasis the 'fear factor'. This is shown in the first 13 seconds of the trailer and shows us that they are trying to evoke fear early on in the trailer.

Film Distribution

What is meant by the term film distribution?
Film distribution is the process of making a movie available for viewing by an audience.

What does a film distributor do?

Finance: selection of films, rights, financing of prints and advertising.

Promotion: release date, organisation of advertising, partnerships,

Public relations, material (trailers, posters).

Bookings: negotiation with advertisers and cinemas which will play the film.

How does reach relate to film distribution?
‘Reach’ means the amount of people advertising and marketing reaches. If a film distributor decides to have a big reach then it is likely that it will be quite expensive as they will be advertising wherever they can which could increase the amount of people that watch the film. However, if it doesn’t work and the film is unpopular, (e.g. The Green Lantern) then the film could make a loss or a smaller profit.

What is meant by the distribution plan?
The distribution plan is made by management and is a plan that aims to transfer their film to retailers and customers, considering the budget of the film. This may come in the form of deciding the release date so it appeals to the audience (e.g. releasing a horror film near Halloween). They may also have to consider their target audience and put more into advertising in areas that their target audience would be more likely to see (e.g. teens are more likely to see trailers on YouTube or social media sites).

What is meant by the marketing plan?
A marketing plan identifies the objective and the time frame in with they have to complete those objectives. This plan identifies what its target audience would like which can be found out through market research which will also identify what the current market is like. You can market a film through many means: posters, trailers, online (social media sites) and critic reviews.

What is the difference between advertising, publicity and promotion?

Advertising- The materials a company will use to market their product (e.g. magazines, radio, newspapers etc.).

Publicity- This is the methods used to get the public’s attention of the product. In this case, actors may have 5 minute interviews on TV and talk about their film or in the form of premieres.

Promotion- To raise the public’s awareness of the product. A large part of this is merchandise which may be sold after cinema viewings or come free in a magazine.



SAW: The Final Chapter 3D
SAW 3D, distributed by Lionsgate films and produced by Twisted Pictures, was released in 62 countries and in its opening weekend, it was shown in 2,808 screens across the US and took $24,230,123 at the box office. It was shown in 382 screens in the UK and took £3,600,083 and was shown in 411 screens in Russia and took RUR 67,086,524.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xC7yCELivB8 -Official trailer



https://www.youtube.com/watchv=wBCSASJrB6I&oref=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DwBCSASJrB6I&has_verified=1      -Teaser trailer

Teaser Poster

Official Poster

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?

Tunstall’s four character roles for women were- Marital (women are meant to be good wives)/ Domestic (they should be good cooks and cleaners and stay at home)/ Consumers (they are to do the shopping)/ Sexual (they are seen as sexual objects).

In The Cabin in the Woods (CITW) there isn’t really a stay at home housewife role as they are all teenagers. Yes, Dana isn’t sexualised and sensible in relation to the others, she isn’t a marital figure either. Jules is definitely the sexualised one as she is seen half naked and in revealing clothes. 

 2. How is Dana typical of Clover’s ‘Final Girl’ theory?

Dana (far left) seen in clothes
much like the males are dressed in

Dana is very much typical of the ‘Final Girl’ theory. She is hardly sexualised and, towards the end, she fights back against the monsters. Being less sexualised and fighting back fits into the ‘Final girl’ theory and is backed up when she is the last one to die. Or so you think. The film throws in a twist when her friend lives too and the two die together when the roof collapses. However, the film even states the ‘Final Girl’ theory in the way that the ‘producers’ of the whole thing say that the sexual girl dies fist, then the Braun, then the Scholar person ad then the fool and that the virginal, ‘final girl’, can live or die, just as long as she is the last one to die and has suffered. 

3. Jules undergoes mental and physical transformations during the film, what are they and how do they cause her to become a horror archetype?

At the start of the film you see Jules saying that she has dyed her hair blonde. This is shortly followed by one of the people underground saying that they put a chemical in it that increases pheromones and ultimately will turn her into the ‘dumb blonde’ stereotype. Later on you see the chemicals taking effect as she becomes even more sexualised and is seen provocatively dancing and even making out with a wolf head. A few minutes later you see her half naked in the woods with her boyfriend (Chris Hemsworth) and then see her beheaded. This fits in with a typical horror archetype in the way that the sexualised female normally dies first. 

4. Is mulvey’s male gaze theory exemplified in the film and if so, how? (framing, camera angles, pov shots)

There aren’t an overly large amount of scenes where camera angles or framing is necessarily done to suit the male audience. However, Jules is never seen covered up in clothing although her first dress isn’t really that provocative. Nevertheless, she is later seen dancing sexually in short shorts with the camera pointing upwards and is then shot in a close up as she makes out with the wolf head. In the woods she is seen with her shorts off and then a close up of her face as she makes sexual noises. The camera 
then shows her, wearing nothing on her top half,
 from the point of view of the ‘producers’ underground. 
This puts the male viewers in the perspective of 
the characters involved and does back up Laura
 Mulvey’s theory. After that, however, no one
 else is really sexualised although you could say
 that the male audience may identify with Dana 
and be rooting for her to survive (as one of the 
‘producers’ underground actually says that he 
is rooting for her too).

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?

As I have just stated, the audience are made to be voyeurs when Jules is undressing and is on top of her boyfriend in an undressed state. You could also say that we are voyeurs when the zombie family are throwing the bear trap at Jules and dragging her to them, and also when they behead her. Earlier on in the film we are voyeurs from both Dana’s and Holden’s perspective when they are looking through the mirror and Dana sees her reflection but 
Holden sees her looking at herself and starting 
to undress.

   6. Summarise the way women are represented in CITW. Are they objectified and there to provide satisfaction for heterosexual males and/or do they fulfill another role/purpose?

 

I think, especially for the plot of this film, that the women in CITW fulfill another purpose other than simply satisfying the heterosexual male audience. Yes, Jules is sexualised until her death, but she does die very close to the beginning and they needed her to be this sexualised female as it is the ‘whore’ that needs to die first. Dana isn’t sexualised, and she is in the film until the end, so you could argue that this film isn’t just there to satisfy the audience, 
but to get across the plot in a better way. Although,
 as I have already stated, it could still be to satisfy
 the audience in the way that the heterosexual 
male could identify with Dana as she is androgynous
 and fights back, and they are rooting for her to win.

The representation of women in horror

 1. Who wrote about the ‘Final Girl’ in 1992

-Carol Clover

 2. In what book did they write about the ‘Final Girl’?

- ‘Men, women and chainsaw’s

3. List three traits of the ‘Final Girl’/ three ‘conventions’

- Androgynous (name, clothing, hair etc.) virginal and fights back.

4. Who wrote about the existing research on women’s roles in media texts in 1983?

-Jeremy Tunstall

5. What were the four roles mentioned?

-Domestic (housewife)/ Marital (wife)/ Sexual (an object)/ Consumer (who buys the product)

6. In 1992 research showed that men dominated women on screen, but by what ratio?

-2:1

7. What was the only genre in which the ratio of men to women was more equal?

-Adverts

8. Name one of three problems with the findings?

-Women were still shown more in the house while men were shown outside doing active things rather than cleaning or cooking. 

9. Why does the reading suggest that Ripley (Alien) is ‘more progressive’ than Lara Croft (TR)?

-While both fight back, Sigourney Weaver is less sexualised than Lara Croft and after fighting, Weaver actually looks like she has just been in a fight whereas Croft is still sexualised. 

10. What are the three C’s when discussing the portrayal of women in some lifestyle magazines?

-Cooking, Cleaning and Caring

11. Who wrote ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’?

-Laura Mulvey

12. (Briefly) describe what is meant by the ‘Male Gaze’?

-The way media portrays women in a way to appeal to the male audience. This can be achieved by camera angles (putting the audience in the perspective of a heterosexual  showing women in a sexual way or by the clothes they are dressed in.

13. Give an example:

-An example of this would be p.o.v camera angles and reaction shots.

     14. Which magazine removed the male centerfold in the 1980’s and why?

-Cosmopolitan removed their naked male centerfold after people found it 
funny rather than sexualised, which 
was the norm for that time. 

  

A History of Horror

Origin of Horror films
Stories of monsters, murderers and beasts have been around for ever, and the first horror films were an extension of a genre of literature (Bram Stoker's 'Dracula' and Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein' for example) from the 1700's called Gothic Horror. These were developed by people in the UK and USA with 'Gothic' coming from settings of castles with secret passageways and dungeons.


The Silent Era-German Expressionism

This style of cinema, beginning in 1894, reached its peak in Berlin in the 1920's. Silent films largely appealed to the working class who were mostly illiterate as no words were used for them to understand.

In 1916, the German government banned all foreign films so Germany had to keep up with the demand from theaters itself and when the ban was lifted, Germany was part of the international film industry. From 1919-1933 (until Hitler cam to power)German film makers working for the Berlin-based Mega-studio UFA made a series of silent films.

An example of a German silent-era horror film is 'Nosferatu'. This film was shot in 1921 and released in 1922 and was an unauthorized version of Bram Stoker's 'Dracula' and ultimately its production company 'Prana Film' became bankrupt after Bram Stoker's wife sued them for copyright. It largely received good reviews with 'Vossische newspaper' praising it for its visual style.


Monsters and Mad Scientists



The 1930's saw the re-birth of horror films with monsters and mad scientists replacing the floating ghost imagery of the 1920's and with sound adding an extra dimension to the films. During this time there was a depression and horror films offered an 'escape' from real life as most of the horror films at this time were in the sub-genre of 'supernatural horror'. 'Frankenstein' is an example of a film form this era. It has Gothic and romantic elements and is considered to be one of the first science fiction films produced. It was a hugely popular and well-received film with 'Film Daily' calling it a 'gruesome, chill-producing and exciting drama that was produced intelligently and lavishly and with a grade of photography that is superb'.

     The Primal Animal Within


This era was in the 1940's during the Second World War. As horror was banned in Britain, America took over and Universal produced many horror films to keep the household population entertained. The War influenced the themes in these films and soon Wolves became a common theme as Hitler referenced the Nazis as Wolves himself. In old German, Adolf even means 'Noble Wolf' and propagandists even portrayed him as the 'Big Bad Wolf' in old fairy tales. 'The Wolf Man' (1941) was written by Curt Siodmak after escaping the Nazis and was turned into an American Drama Horror film. It was Universals second werewolf film and did better than the first one 'Werewolf of London'.


Mutant Creatures and Alien Invaders


In the 1940's-mid 1950's atomic bomb testing was taking place which may well have effected the type of horror films coming from this time. In 1950, a Japanese producer, Tanaka, made 'Godzilla' and since then it has become somewhat of an iconic mutant horror film and has seen many remakes. Space exploration was becoming more available, which scared the public and allowed producers a and writers to expand their imaginations and prey on the public's fears of the unknown.


Hammer Horror


Hammer studios is a British Production company that is well known for a series of Gothic-horror films. 'The Curse of Frankenstein' was one of their better known films and the use of colour saw new levels of gore. It reached $8 million in the USA.


Slasher

Slasher horror films are a sub genre that involve a violent psychopath and include the violent murder of several victims. Alfred Hitchcock's 'Psycho' is referred to as one of the earliest influential slasher movies. Many believe that this genre reached its peak in the 1970's-1980's. In slasher films you normally have character types that can be seen in all slashers. There would be a 'Final Girl' who is virginal and thwarts the killer, the killer (normally a psychopath), the sexualised girl (who often dies first) and the jock who tried to be the hero. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was another successful hit and it is the most commercially successful horror film since the Exorcist.


Format fears and moral panics

The 'video nasties' of the 1980's included films like Nightmare on Elm Street, I spit on your Grave and The Evil Dead. These types of film included cannibalism, mutilation of bodies and gang rape. These films were banned, but they were still distributed widely and were available for anyone who had a VCR player, which spun the public into a panic that they were corrupting the nation's young minds. With technology advancing a lot in this era, new effects made it possible for the gore to seem more realistic.

The ironic HorrorThe iconic horror film is 'aware' of itself in the way it knows the codes and conventions of typical horror films and uses them to create a parody. These films were from the 1990's which was, in society, all about people 'finding' themselves and as teenagers began to be looked upon more importantly, they were used more in horror films. Films from this era include- The Blair Witch Project and Scream.

Gorenography-Gore returns with a vengeance

This era is in the 2000's and is also known as 'torture porn'. Some say the act of torture goes against the highest power and creates absolute dominance for the person doing the torturing. Edelstein suggested that we watch these type of horrors for a physical rather than emotional reaction. Hostel and Wolf Creek both showed graphic scene of torture and suddenly made horror films seem very 'real'. However, this kind of horror film may have fizzled out- Hostel 2 making $million less than Hostel 1.