Evaluation

Amy has been unable to post to the blog for a number of reasons so has embedded the evaluation as a comment to my previous posting.

Still to do

Your evaluation!!!!!!

Influential Films

Target Audience

Horror films show such things as death and so are not suitable to young audiences, this makes the target audience around the ages of 15-25. The audience would be expecting the death and gore as it is a key theme on the horror genre.
The films depict the unexpected which makes it attractive to young adults. The main group this genre is targeted at is males of this age group, as it is a way to scare and excite without any danger.
The genre is aimed at people with higher incomes as they go the cinema more often than those with a lower income. They are also targeted at people with higher levels of education as they attend the cinema more regularly although people going through a form of higher education are visiting the cinema more than most.
The horror genre appeals to the age groups that are more likely to go to the cinema which is 15-25.

Locations

Many horror films are located within a house. This is the easiest setting for a film to be shot as the lighting is enclosed and weather will not permitt the shooting to be cancelled/postponed. Also, for the audience the setting of a home would relate to them and make them feel on edge as the setting is familer and they could think that this may happen to them.

Forets - lighting would be temprimental and the weather sometimes unpredicatble. Some films situated in a forest tend to be fake 'documentry's' such like 'The Blair Witch Project' so it doesnt matter if the camera is 'shakey' as the floors would not be flat so handhelded filming would be the easiest. Another film that is located in a forest is 'The Village' and most of the scary parts are when the characters are within the forest. Forests are good settings for a horror film as the story would be easy to adapt to the surroundings. The audience would be scared as most people feel that forests are spooky places to be is especially at night.

But, having a film based in an idealistic safe place would be more frightening to the audience as they can relate to it more and it contrasts with the idea of being safe in your own home.

Horror Characters

Early horror contained monsters as the antagonist, such as Frankenstein etc. Characters changed to people with motives for the crimes they committed much like a murder mystery but involving high levels of graphic violence, films such as scream are an example of this. In many of the horror films the antagonist has some supernatural power, such as immortality which puts great odds against the victims and heroes. More modern horror films have very little contact between the antagonist and the victims such as the Saw films.

The changes in the type of character are because the style becomes over used and stale. They cycle through different types of characters as time goes.

Horror films have certain type of characters including the protagonist/ killer they can have supernatural abilities or just be mentally disturbed which sets them on their killing spree. There are heroes, they are the characters that are usually timid and morally superior and because of this they survive the attacks on their life (e.g. Laurie Stroud in Halloween). There are usually characters that have a greater knowledge of the killer or supernatural events they can be either good or evil and they can put an end to antagonist’s killing spree.

Horror Film Research

When researching the horror genre we were required to watch other films of the genre to learn how they have used the repertoire of elements of the specific genre. The films watched included:

Halloween (original)

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (remake)

Saw

The Grudge

The Ring

Scream Trilogy

Nightmare on Elm Street

Friday the 13^th

Dracula

Drag Me to Hell

Iconography

The iconography in horror is more apparent than most other genres. Films like Dracula have heavy gothic style sets and props, this tied in with other ideas from the repertoire of elements adds to the horror.

Iconography in this genre includes items that have the ability to stop the monster such as the crucifix in the films that include vampires. The genre usually has iconography that is aged such as old books contain information on how to defeat certain characters.

More modern films such as Saw, where there is mechanised killing use dark locations with rusted metal props to add to the feeling of disgust and despair. The sets are usually dark and wet and enclosed to give the audience the feeling that the character is trapped unto the will of their aggressor.

horror

Horror Genre Cycles

First came the cycle of “monsters” with films such as “Frankenstein” and “Dracula” in 1931. the next year came the “Mummy”, It did not take long to realise the market potential, if audiences were scared of Frankenstein, Dracula and The Mummy once, the studios thought, then audiences ought to be scared of Frankenstein, Dracula and The Mummy three or four more times. in 1935 “The bride of Frankenstein” was bought out, by the mid 40’s many monster films had sequels- Son of Dracula, House of Dracula, House of Frankenstein, “Son of Frankenstein”, “The Mummy’s Hand”, “The Mummy’s Tomb”, “The Mummy’s Curse”. The monsters from the films became iconic characters, their faces became well known and seen on posters and comic books. Their familiarity destroyed the scariness.

The next cycle was the “slasher” films, first came “Friday the 13th”, Jason and his iconic mask frightened cinema’s of people with 7 “Friday the 13th” sequels. Although the most successful “slasher” movie is “Nightmare on Elm Street” featuring the demonic “Freddy Kruger”. Released in 1984, “Freddy Kruger” had been effective because he hid in the shadows and had only briefly appeared, but sequel after sequel ruined the horror. Paramount sold its “Friday the 13th” franchise to “Nightmare on Elm Street” studio New Line Cinema, they then bought out “Freddy Versus Jason”.

Eventually along came a highly artistic film that bridged the gap between the monsters and slashers- that film was 1979’s “Alien”, directed by Sir Ridley Scott. What made this film such a hit was that you never really saw the monster, it was always lurking in the shadows and this was far more effective than any kind of action sequence. Although when “Alien 3” can out in 1992 there was only a fraction of the effectiveness of the original film left. A year later “Predator” became a big hit, But the film could only be as effective as its featured creature, and despite having one of the biggest onscreen gun caches, “Predator” took the lead of “Alien” and refused to show its monster, utilising suspenseful Point Of View shots and invisibility effects for most of the film, only revealing the monster in the final climax. A sequel was made shortly after, but after showing the creature in the originals climax everyone knew what the monster looked like, therefore made the film lack suspense. Eventually the two films merged making “Alien Versus Predator”, it hit the cinemas in 2004.


Then along came the “slasher” films again, most popular were the holiday themed films, including “My Bloody Valentine” and “Prom Night”, these holiday themed films originated from the “Black Christmas” and “Halloween” slasher movies. “Scream” was bought out in 1996, the film was both a critical and commercial success, which attracted a new generation to the genre.

After the “slasher” there came the “splatter”, typically this sub-genre if gore and blood, the most popular would be the “Saw Series”, six bloody films featuring the now iconic “Jigsaw Killer” who instead of murdering his victims finds a way to make them kill themselves. While the films are often compared to “Hostel” and classified as “torture porn” by the media, the creators of Saw disagree with the term.

source: http://www.obsessedwithfilm.com/specials/alien-life-cyle-examining-the-patterns-of-horror-franchises.php#ixzz0YXUQrEJI

Group 3

Genre Research

The genre for our film is horror. The repertoire of elements for the horror genre include: Iconography, Characters, Setting and Narratives.

Examples of Iconography

Blood (e.g Psycho Hitchcock 1960); monsters (e.g. I Am Legend Lawrence 2007); religious relics (including crucifixes) (e.g. Dracula Coppola 1992); kitchen knives in a wooden block (e.g. Disturbia Caruso 2007); creaking doors (e.g. Paranormal Activity Peli 2009); screams (e.g. Scream Craven 1996); skulls (e.g. The Skulls Cohen 2000); thunder and lightning (e.g. .

Examples of Characters

Monsters (e.g. Alien Cameron 1986); ghosts (e.g. Thirteen Ghosts Beck 2001); vampires (e.g. Dracula Coppola 1992); werewolves (e.g. Dog Soldiers Marshall 2002); ‘maidens in distress’ (e.g. Paranormal Activity Peli 2009); zombies (e.g. Dawn of the Dead Snyder 2004); experts in ‘supernatural science’ (e.g. Halloween Zombie 2007).

Examples of Settings

Castles (e.g. ; old dark houses; suburbia; Transylvania; cellars.)

Examples of Narratives

Vampires: ‘creatures of the night’ that need to drink blood to survive.

(Werewolves have their own set of characteristics, including the inability to be killed unless they are shot by a silver bullet, and affection for the full moon.)

Haunted house: restless spirits need exorcising from a building;.

Possession: an evil spirit needs exorcising from a body.

Creation of monster: a ‘mad’ scientist tries to create a life form.

Slasher: a psychopath terrorises a small community or group of friends.

Rape-revenge: a victim’s rape leads to revenge.

No film will include all the above elements, although spoofs do include more than most. Films therefore combine a number of the elements

http://www.palgrave.com/culturalmedia/lacey/p/Genre-clean.pdf