I
have decided to use these questions as a basis and a template for what my
horror film will be about. I have also decided to use these questions and take
them to the world of social media, things such as twitter will help me get a
broad analysis of many differences in horror preference, but allow me to see
the main similarities between all people when watching a horror film. The use
of twitter will help me get opinions from everywhere and calculate to see what
people all over the world feel makes a truly great horror film.
Sunday, 25 September 2016
Who is the target audience and how do each of the short horror films appeal to them?
I have hand drawn a diagram of four short horror films and evaluated how they are suited for their each target market/audience . I uploaded the photo of my IPhone via my Blogger app.
Who do these short horror films represent? Social groups, age, gender, ethnicity etc. Who will I represent in mine? (Consider stereotypes)
for this question I decided to consider all the elements of the sub genre. I uploaded this using my IPhone, by taking a picture and transferring it onto my laptop.
Difference between a horror movie and a short horror
movie
The purpose of a horror movie is to scare the consumer. Even
though both horror movies and short horror movies have the same purpose and use
within the movie industry, the way it is done by each is through different methods.
Too look and identify this I decided to make a table to show the comparison
between the two.
Horror movie
Short horror movie
·Has longer time to create a longer and deeper storyline
·Can introduce many characters as it has time
to introduce all and give them a huge role
·A more in-depth storyline
·Has much more marketing to promote the movie
and things related
·Has a much deeper meaning such as – being based
on a true story
·A higher budget therefore can do many more
things.
·Much shorter time
·The storyline must be basic as there isn’t enough
time for a complex story to be told
·Only a small amount of characters
·Opinion – about a maximum of three main characters
– there can be many more characters however they cannot be introduced as main
characters
·Normally follows one parallel scene and does
not cu from one mini storyline to another
Plot- the movie begins as the woman who is narrating her feelings towards the audience begins by telling the audience about her roommate and the fact that she likes to go on nightly walks alone through the town. A town she describes as so friendly that even the drug dealers are nice. However this time when she embarks on a nightly walk she sees something very weird and peculiar, a man dancing with himself. This man starts chasing the woman and as she tries to get away she drops her phone allowing him, to follow her to her house where the movie ends.
Camera shots- the initial long shot of the quite town shows how everything is calm and exactly how the woman narrating is describing it. The close ups of things such as the lights and the American flag show how sensible and peaceful the area is. However we have a long shot tracking towards the woman showing her going into an area that is slightly away from the town, this shows that dark and evil things are ahead. The close-up of the man in the woman’s face shows the facial expression on the woman’s face and the fear that is running through her as he is so close. The close up of the phone shows that it is an object of significance and that later in the film it will play a huge role, which it did, as that is the way the man found her as she ran into her house.
Mise en scene- the lighting used throughout the film is played to perfection as the bright light of the city shoe that it is a very peaceful and safe place which also contrasts with what the woman was narrating at the beginning. However when the woman starts walking the lighting used gives the feeling that something bad is going into happen as she is walking away from the centre of the high key lighted town to the low-key side roads. The woman is wearing white which is linked with purity and innocent, which she is as she is only going for a walk. The man is dressed in all black which is linked with darkness and evil, which he is.
Editing- the editing used is very important in the making of this movie as the cuts from one scene to another play a huge role
Sound - the sound used is very parallel with the movie as when the creepy man starts to dance, dancing music begins to play and gives the audience a sense of uncomfortable as dance music and dancing is supposed to be linked with innocence
Plot- The scene begins with the innocent woman lying in bed as she
has just awoken from a nap. As this happens she receives a message from her
boyfriend (Josh). They have a casual conversation until Josh asks her for
pictures of a road trip that the two embarked on. The woman looks through her
phone looking for Pictures from the road trip until she comes across something
quite peculiar and weird. The woman sees pictures on her phone taken by someone
else of her sleeping in the nap she just had woken up from. From this she
realises and believes that's someone is in her house. The woman informs her
boyfriend about what she believes is happening but as she is texting this a
mysterious figure walks up the stairs wielding a machete. She runs and hides in
the wardrobe also attempting to call the police, as she does this she receives
a text forcing her phone to make a noise which attracts the psycho to her
location within the wardrobe. However the psycho gets distracted, and we think
she is safe. The woman then checks the text she just received on her phone and
it is revealed to be a picture of Josh (her boyfriend) in a bloody mess with
he's face and neck cut open. As the woman is suffering from the shock of seeing
this, the light comes on and a hideous man with bandages and blood splattered
everywhere utters to the woman "night, night Nancy"
Camera work - as the movie begins the audience receives a
medium shot of the women asleep in her also allowing the phone to be in the
shot, as the phone goes off we see the reaction of the woman as she sits up and
the camera cuts to the left snoring her from a front view. This is done to show
the innocence of the women as all she is doing is checking her messages and
hasn't harmed anyone or anything. We see a medium close up of the woman face,
this allows the audience to grow fonder of her as she is young, pretty and very
innocent. The close up of the phone shows that throughout this movie it will
play a big and significant part, the close up also reveals many things that
would not be seen if a medium or long shot would've been used such as the
background picture on her phone of a male (a boy who we find out is her
boyfriend Josh). The medium shot when the woman realised that someone is in her
house shows her facial expression but also shows her body which makes the
audience feel sympathetic towards her as she is quite petite. The low camera
shots following her as she explores the house are also used throughout the film
to build suspense and tension, as it allows the audience to have the point of
view of the woman and experience the level of fear that she is going through Finally
the key whole shot was used very effectively as it allowed the audience to be
in the point of view of the woman being attacked, this also creates fear and
builds tension.
Mise en scene- throughout the entire movie the scenes have
always used low-key lighting. The low-key lighting is always used as the short
horror film introduces the machete wielding psycho quite early on therefore the
low-key lighting instantly tells the audience that darkness is here and evil is
on its way. The woman wearing grey symbolises many things as grey is described
as colour associated with someone or something that is cool and balanced. Grey
is also associated with dullness, this relates to the woman as the director
wants to tell us that she lives a normal, quite 'dull' life without many things
or huge events to change it however what is going to happen to her will. With
many things being white in the woman's house it shows that she is quite
innocent and shows the purity within her however that purity will be gone and
taken very by darkness. The costumes and the props such as the mask, the phone,
the machete and the man at the end are all used to good effect. The most
effectively used prop and most effected prop used is the phone, the phone is
used to tell the story set out the scene and engage the audience. The phone is
also powerful enough to introduce us to another character.
Editing - the editing within and throughout the movie is done
with great accuracy. The texts appearing on the screen allow the audience to
feel closer to the characters and find it easier to read therefore find it
easier to engage and understand the story line. The cuts from the woman
to the phone show that the phone will eventually cause her to save herself or
put herself into forget danger. The
shot reverse shot between the woman and the psycho showed the tension building as
we saw the potential horror of the psycho getting her in the closet.
Sound- the non-diegetic sound used throughout the movie was
perfect. The music played and edited in was at a high level causing the
audience to feel uncomfortable and intensified. The music was also parallel to
what was happening in the movie as when the woman was running the pace of the
music started to quicken and when she was standing breathing quite heavily the
pace of the music did slow down but the volume increased just to show that even
though the woman is hiding she is not safe.
Diegetic- the diegetic sound used is also very good as the use
of the phone is a great price of creativity by the director and the sound crew.
The use of diegetic sound used within the story line shows the importance of
sound not just within a horror movie but in everything in general. Little things
such as the knocking on the door with the machete by the psycho intensifies the
scene as it makes the audience fear as the psycho is getting closer and closer.
Plot- the movie begins with an innocent couple plying a game of chess in there house hold. As they play chess there is a knock on the door as the male gets up to open the door he picks up a bow which indicates that it's Halloween. When the man opens the door there is a creepy woman standing in front of the doorway. When the male closes the door the wife/ girlfriend asks if she is still outside the door but as the male goes to open the door the woman is gone and her bag was left behind. The man checks and sees ID which shows the woman to live just around the corner which makes the wife of the man suggest that he returns the bag back to her. It has been a long time and the husband still isn't returned therefore the woman goes to look for him. As she goes to the place where she believes her husband is a women tells her to not move and sit in one place. As she is sitting she sees a chess piece that the husband accidentally took with him as they were playing chess this made the woman get up and look for the man. As she does this she hears screaming that sound like her husband . When she goes to investigate she realised that it's just a tape recording and now the "doll face"is following her. She gets to the cage and sees her husband dead and also sees a woman locked in a cage begging to be released. She releases the Ella and they both try to get away and we realise that the woman she has just released from the cage is the dangerous one and is then killed by the "doll face".
Camera work- the movie begins with a under shot close up of the chess board showing the significance and the innocence of the chess game itself and the couple who because they are playing chess don't really have much fun or peculiar behaviour in their life. The long shot shows the woman walking into a shop late at night in the dark which creates fear. The close up of the chess piece gives view of the object of significance and that is the chess piece that her husband had. The close up of the legs of doll face showed that she was just behind the lady and was getting closer and closer, this caused fear in the audience as we didn't want the creepy doll face to get closer. Lastly the close up of the face of doll face as she smiled left the viewers with fear in their hearts.
Mise en scene- the mise en scene used throughout the movie is very accurate. The woman and man are both dressed in casual clothing that indicate there life is very mediocre and isn't full of scary and dangerous surprises. The use of the chess piece was also very effective as it was used in the start of the movie and it is again used to force the woman to be aware that her husband was in fact inside the shop and was in danger. The make up of doll face was also very detailed and scared most people. The lighting used was very effective as the only time we saw close to high key lighting was in. The opening scene of the movie. However throughout the rest of the film low-key lighting was used to create tension and fear.
Sound- the non diegetic sound used was very important throughout the movie. Such as when the man opened the door the music suddenly dropped causing the audience to jump. Sound was also very parallel throughout the movie. Sound was also used very effectively when it was converted from diegetic to non diegetic sound as the woman looked for her husband
Woman
in black (positive review) From the starring
role played by the always relevant Daniel Radcliffe to the behind the scenes
work done, the woman in black is a true masterclass. Taken from the 1983 book
written by Susan Hill. The women in black embodies the foundation needed for a
truly frightening horror movie as it entices the appetite of the viewers by
introducing them to the world of supernatural beings and ghostly figures. The
plot of the film is a rather classic horror story: Arthur Kipps, a young lawyer
and widowed father from London (Daniel Radcliffe), is sent to a little town
where nobody, apart from one family, will accept him. On the contrary, the
villagers try hard to get rid of him. Arthur Kipps has to sort out the
documents of Mrs. Drablow who has just passed away. She lived in a house that
is cut off from the mainland when there is high tide. On this little island
nothing seems to be normal: Arthur soon discovers what happened to the family a
long time ago. At first, the protagonist does not want to believe in what is
happening to him. In the meantime, children of the village die in a cruel way
and everybody blames the arrival of Arthur for it. Eventually, the hero sees
what the audience has been suspecting for long time: a pale woman in a black
dress is the reason for the death of an uncountable amount of children. This is
where the fight against unnatural powers starts. Daniel Radcliffe plays a truly
remarkable role allowing himself to show another side to him that no one has
seen. Even though it is a stereotypical horror movie plot the woman in black
will leave you shaking in your boots. Woman in black (negative
review) The women in black is
truly a huge waste of time, another stereotypical horror movie to add onto the
pile of all the other failures. Even though the book that this film is
initially based on is one of class and true horror, the motion picture is a
shambles compared to it and will leave passionate horror fanatics embarrassed
to call this a blockbuster horror movie. James Watkins’ Woman In Black is not a
particularly faithful interpretation of the book, at least not in terms of the
order of events. It has rearranged and omitted all over the place, though the
major elements remain. Consequently I believe that if you would enjoy wasting
money, time and a willingness to live then watch the women black.
The victimisation of children within horror movies is one of
the most popular methods used by the creators of the most successful horror
movies of all time in order to gain real success and attract real emotion from
their audiences. I found a very informative video based on the child within the horror movie 'Hide and seek'
Children are seen as innocent therefore when they are used
within horror films it creates a feeling of uncertainty and an uncomfortable
atmosphere for the watchers as they are not familiar with seeing children
within this light
I have decided to include a Full synopsis and reasons why this particular idea stands out to me
Hide and seek the movie is based on a child and father
relationship which instantly has to work due to the mothers unforeseen alleged
suicide. The father and daughter move to the countryside in order to deal with
the heartbreak of the mother’s death. During this time, the daughter shows
weird signs and begins to act in an evil manner.
I like the way this movie is shot and I am a huge fan of the
story based around the exploitation of an innocent child as this is what will
scare the audience due to the twisted and sadistic story telling that has to be
shown in order to make the positive connotations of a child turn into something
bad therefore scary and ultimately a huge success.
