Studying Horror Films

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Studying Horror Films

• Making a horror trailer for a new horror movie

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Genre

• A genre is a type of film romance, comedy,
  horror, science-fiction, action/adventure
• Now complete the Genre Mix n Match activity
• Sometimes a film borrows from more than one
  genre, these films are called Hybrids
• Now complete the hybrid activity

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So You Think You Know Horror

• Name the films that the following characters
  appear in

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The Conventions of Horror Films

• List the conventions of horror movies
  (conventions are the elements you expect in a
  horror film)
• Complete the conventions sheet attached

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Horror Movie Conventions 1

• Blood
• Death
• Killing
• Villain
• Victims
• Haunted houses and isolated settings
• Monsters
• Evil

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Horror Movie Conventions 2

• Weapons
• Darkness
• Storms
• Chase sequences
• Gore
• Violence
• Screams
• Ghosts

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Fear

• What makes us scared?

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Suggested horror movies to watch

• Scream
• The Ring
• Gothika
• The Others
• Blair Witch

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Generic Horror Movie Log Sheet

• When you watch a horror movie complete the
  following tasks about it
• What is the film called?
• Who directed it? (Have they directed any other
  horror films?)
• When was it released?
• Does it have any well known stars in it? If so
  who?
• List the Horror genre conventions in the film.
• What elements in the film created fear and
  suspense?
• What elements in the film failed to create fear
  or suspense?
• It is good to watch as many horror movies as you
  can. Some contemporary horror movies as well as
  some older horror movies (Halloweens, Nightmare
  on Elm Streets, Friday 13th, )
• Complete the generic horror movie log sheet when
  watching horror films

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Narrative and Character

• Narrative most, according to Propp, film
  narratives follow this structure
• Equilibrium disequilbrium a new state of
  equilibrium
• According to Propp again, there are certain
  characters in films and stories with certain
  functions
• the hero the one on the quest and the one who
  saves the
• day
• the villain the evil one who causes the
  disequilbrium
• the helper a person who helps the hero on
  their quest/the sidekick
• the victim at the mercy of the villain
• the donor someone who has something special
  which will help the hero
• Complete the narrative and character worksheet
  on the horror movies that you watch

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Brief Outline of the Film Industry 1

• Production
• A small production company will form and have an
  idea for a new movie. They will then have to get
  funding for this movie. Movies often cost many
  millions of dollars/pounds to make. The
  production company will go to a distributor for
  this money.
• If the distributor likes the idea in other
  words that the film has a winning formula
  (similar films have been successful before) or
  that it is so brilliantly original that it amazes
  them (this is most unlikely to be the case).
  Also the idea must meet the conventions of the
  genre to which it belongs. Then the distributor
  may well lend the money for the production
  company to make their film.
• The distributor can force changes to the idea and
  demand that certain stars appear in the film.

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Production

• The production phase itself is split up into 3
  sections
• Pre-production planning, design, storyboarding,
  casting
• Production the actual shooting of the movie
• Post-production editing the movie together,
  adding sound and special effects

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Brief Outline of the Film Industry 2

• Distributor/Distribution
• These are the people with money. They are often
  the large studios Universal, Twentieth Century
  Fox and Warner Brothers. They are often part of
  huge media conglomerates Vivendi Universal,
  News Corporation and AOL Time Warner. They are
  wealthy and own much of the worlds media.
• Once the film has been produced (made) then the
  distributors start marketing the film posters,
  interviews with stars, merchandise, soundtrack,
  trailers
• Seeing as the distributor lent most of the money
  for the movie then they scoop up the majority of
  the films profit.
• The distributors are often American, hence this
  is why the American Film Industry dominates our
  screens

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Brief Outline of the Film Industry 3

• Exhibition
• The showing of the film. This can be either
• Cinema
• DVD (rental and sales)
• Video (rental and sales)
• Satellite/digital TV and Box Office
• Terrestrial TV

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History of the Horror Movie Condensed

• Horror movies have been around since silent
  movies (Nosferatu). Obviously being scared is
  something the audience want. The horror movie
  received a huge revival in the late 70s early
  80s (Omen and Nightmare on Elm Street) but died
  a sad death in the late 80s and throughout most
  of the 90s.
• However, with the advent of the horror smash
  parody Scream the genre is, once again, extremely
  popular.
• What was frightening back in the silent movie
  days and what is frightening now may well have
  changed. As society changes so do our fears.
• For example, when moving image was first invented
  footage of a moving train caused fear in the
  audience because people really believed that the
  train would come straight out of the screen
• www.darkwebonline.com/top100horror1.asp
• The web address above will take you through the
  top one hundred horror movies.
• Research and produce your own power point
  presentation of the history of the horror movie

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Textual Analysis of the opening sequence to Scream

• The opening sequence to Scream is Wes Craven at
  his best he deliberately uses some of the most
  common horror conventions in the genre
• Complete the worksheets on the opening sequence
  to Scream

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Textual Analysis Important definitions

• Denotation a description of what is actually
  there in the frame
• Connotation what are the suggested meanings of
  the elements you have identified under the
  section of denotation
• Complete the denotation/connotation activities

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Camera Angles

• Extreme Close Up
• This is used to
• Emphasise something.
• What is this image
• Emphasising? In other
• Words, what is the
• Connotation of this
• Image?

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Camera Angles

• Close Up
• This is where the
• subject fills the frame
• it shows emotion.
• what is the connotation
• of this
• close up?

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Camera Angles

• Dutch Tilt
• Where the subject is
• tilted. Often used in
• horror to create
• disorientation. What
• is the connotation of this
• Dutch Tilt?

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Camera Angles

• Extreme Long shot
• This is where the setting
• Fills the frame. It is
• An establishing shot which
• Sets the scenewhat is the
• Connotation of this shot?

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Camera Angles

• Long shot
• this is where
• we see the subject
• in relation to their
• surrounding
• the setting dominates.
• what is the connotation
• of this image?

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Camera Angles

• Medium long shot
• this is where the setting
• and the subject are
• in equal proportion.
• What is the connotation
• of this still?

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Camera Angles

• Medium Shot this
• is when the subject is cut
• off at the waist. You
• can still see their costume
• but also some of their
• emotions. What is
• the connotation of this still?

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Camera Angles

• Medium Close Up
• When you can still see
• some of the subjects
• physique but their emotions
• are clearly evident. What
• is the connotation of this
• still?

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Camera Movement

• Zoom when zooming in the camera does not move
• Tracking (dollying) the camera moves smoothly
  towards or away from the subject
• Pan the camera moves from left to right
  following a moving subject.
• Hand-held camera produces a jerky movement,
  creating a sense of reality/chaos
• Steadicam a hand-held camera worn with a
  harness to achieve a steady shot

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Editing

• This occurs everytime that a film is cut. A film
  is never shot in the order that the events
  happen. This would cost a fortune all
  sequences with the same location will be shot at
  the same time regardless of where they appear in
  the narrative. Sometimes the opening sequence to
  a film will be the last sequence to be shot.
  When a sequence has high octane action the
  cuts/editing is fast and numerous
• Chase sequences are very good to demonstrate this

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Soundtrack and Sound effects

• Soundtrack this is the music playing in the
  background. It can be diegetic or non-diegetic.
  If the sound is part of the narrative, the action
  (eg a radio playing in the shot) it is
  diegetic. However, more often than not, the
  soundtrack is non-diegetic. Music playing in the
  background which is not evident in the action.
• Sound effects these are the effects added
  during post-production. For example, explosions,
  birdsong
• Jaws watch a shark approaching sequence without
  the sound and then with the sound!? Notice the
  difference

www.filmsound.org       
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Costume

• Costumes tell you something about the character
  (the genre too)? What are the
• Connotation of the following costumes?

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Props

• What are the connotations of the props in these
  images?

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Lighting

• What are the connotations of the lighting used in
  the stills below?

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Mise-en-scene

• If you were to pause a moment in a film, that
  frame would be mise-en-scene. Textual analysis
  of elements within this frame, in terms of
  denotation and connotation, is mise-en-scene.

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Mise-en-scene
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Your practical production 1

• You must first form a production team and invent
  a name for your production company
• You must then begin your primary research
• The target audience is very important in any
  media product. You must meet their needs in
  order for your product to be a success. So,
  decide on your target audience (teen) and create
  a questionnaire which sets out to discover what
  horror movies are popular with this audience,
  what their fears are, what conventions they rate
  as the most important in a horror film
• Hint make your questionnaires easy to fill in
  and give the participants choices to choose from.
  Dont ask a random question like Why do you
  like horror movies? Instead, give them a list of
  possible reasons to choose from to state why they
  like horror movies this will make your analysis
  much easier

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Your Practical Production 2

• Once your questionnaires have been completed and
  your results have been analysed (together with
  your knowledge of the horror genre and your
  knowledge and analysis of horror movies clips)
  you will be able to begin brainstorming possible
  ideas for your own horror movie

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Your Practical Production 3

• Once you have decided on an idea for your own
  horror movie then you must write the TREATMENT
  for your film. A treatment is a 200 plot summary
  of what happens.
• When the treatment is complete you may begin
  inventing your PITCH

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Your Practical Production 4

• The Film Pitch
• This is a very short sales pitch about your film
  designed to get distributors interested in your
  product.
• Films have been sold with pitches of only three
  words the film Alien was sold on the pitch
  Jaws in Space

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The Film Pitch

• www.thefilmexperience.net/news/
• www.scripthollywood.com/id29.html
• www.chickenhead.com/stuff/moviepitch/index.asp
• www.geocities.com/fidelio1st/film/pitch.html

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Your Practical Production 5

• Once you have pitched your film and created your
  treatment. You are ready to move straight from
  production into post-production.
• The distributor farms out the job of creating
  the trailer for a film to a post-production
  house.
• You, in effect, will become that post-production
  house and create your own trailer for your new
  horror movie

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The Film Trailer 1

• Film trailers are between 2-3 minutes long. They
  have about 100 cuts in them. They are designed
  to make the audience feel both
• The pleasure of the text the audience
  recognises familiar conventions and narratives
• Suspense in the audience by the use of engima
  codes. Who is the killer? What happens in the
  end?
• The film trailer itself tends to be structured in
  the following way this structure is not set in
  stone and can be moved around to have a greater
  effect

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The film trailer 2

• The distribution company logo
• The production company logo
• The narrative establisher a series of longer
  sequences which establish the fundamental
  storyline of the film
• The stars or the USP the unique selling point
  often stars or directors. Horror movies
  traditionally dont always use well-known stars
  because the audience feel more uncomfortable with
  actors they dont recognise and that dont make
  them feel secure. In the trailer for the horror
  movie Scream the director Wes Craven is the USP
  because he is famous for directing the cult
  horror film Nightmare on Elm Street
• A series of quick, exciting, sequences that are
  full of suspense from the film this is the
  convincer in that it should create enough
  suspense to ensure that the audience decide to go
  and watch the film
• All through the trailer will appear the
  conventions of the genre
• The black and white film listings
• Complete the trailer analysis worksheets
• Go to www.virgin.net/movies for film trailers

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Storyboarding

• Now, in your production teams, please storyboard
  your film trailer using the conventions of
  trailers

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Storyboarding

• You must number each image/sequence on your
  storyboard
• Underneath each image on your storyboard you
  should include some notes as to camera angles,
  lighting, etc
• Please see attached blank storyboard

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Prop ListCast List

• In order to organise yourselves effectively you
  must complete an prop list and a cast list for
  your trailer
• Please see attached blank listings

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Production Schedule

• Your production team must complete a production
  schedule. You must not go over schedule as you
  will go over budget and the distribution company
  would lose profits
• See attached blank production schedule

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Edit List

• Now you have shot your footage you must now look
  at the footage on your tape and number the
  sequences a description of them in the order
  they appear on the tape. Then you have to, using
  your footage list, prepare an edit list of the
  sequences you will use and the order they are to
  be edited in
• See blank sheets attached

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Evaluating your product

• You must evaluate your product and the stages of
  production.
• Please see attached evaluation structure

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