Horror Character

Michael Myers is a character form the Halloween films. Myers murdered his older sister on Halloween when he was 6 years old, then later goes on to kill more teenagers of a similar age. Michael Myers is seen to be evil. He was raised in small town called Haddonfield in Illinois, USA. Michael Myers was then sent to Smiths Grove Mental Hospital and escapes and heads home, while carrying on murdering teenagers .

How did you use media technologies in the construction and research, planning and evaluation stages?

Technology is very important in the production and research of media products:


Research

To begin with, I researched horror film trailers using youtube. I spent a good amount of time looking for techniques and understanding the impact of sounds and camera angles in horror trailers.

Planning

I researched trailers and posters through the internet. I then used Survey Monkey to get feedback and ask questions on what the target audience want.

Production

I used Photoshop and Premier Pro and to design and edit my trailer, film poster and magazine cover. I have used Blogger to show my products.

Evaluation
 

Overall, there wasnt much media technologies used compared to the proffessionals. The trailer my group created was shown on a projector, which was then assessed by the class and they gave us feedback on how to improve.

The Role of a Production Company

Production companies have a role of making the film a success. A big, wealthy production company will have the money to make the film successful and small independent companies will target small niche audiences. Advertising is key in making a successful film, however, advertising is very expensive. Advertising allows the companies to target everyone, having wide range audiences around the world. Advertisements of films are mainly trailers which are shown before cinema viewings and on television adverts. Large companies usually have the chance to cross converge, for example, a production company also own a magazine meaning they can advertise through that magazine making the advertisement as big as they want.

Horror films aren’t as popular as they used to be, this means most horror films these days only get the backing of small production companies. This means the advertising won’t be as big, so not as many people will see it as if the film was backed by a wealthier company. Having a smaller company means they have to target a certain location that they know will be successful.

Film Poster

 

This is my film poster I made using Adobe Photoshop. I have used Rebecca (Psychic) whom is one of the main characters as the main image of my poster. She is looking out of a broken glass window which is an iconic part of the film when my character runs away after the ritual. I also messed around with the title font in Photoshop. I added a line across the 'I' to make it look like a crucifix.

What have you learned from your audience feedback

After our trailer was finished, we played it to the class. They gave us feed back of pros and cons.

Pros

• Wide variety of shots
• Gradual change of tempo of music
• Shots of candles
• Music goes well with trailer
• Mise-en-scene
• Final Shot
• Looked professional
• Fast pace editing
• Good estabilishing shots
• Dialogue at title
• Good killer shots
• Good locations
• Sound effects worked well with the jumpy parts
• Good use of handheld camera effects

Cons

• Storyline was hard to figure out
• Too many killer shots makes it less mysterious
• Chronological
• Production company logos were too quick

Looking at the feedback we got i believe we done well and alot of people said how good our trailer was. I have learnt that we could have made the storyline a little clearer and slowed the production company logos/animations down. Those are the two cons I believe to be important to improve/change.

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts

I believe my ancillary texts and trailer complement each other. In both my ancillary texts (magazine front cover and film poster) I have used shots that would be iconic parts of the film. I used the psychic standing outside the caravan with blood on her hand and her looking out of a smashed window. Both of the ancillary texts feature the psychic character which the trailer shows her as evil and threatning.

In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products

I would say my groups trailer uses forms and conventions of real media products. Before we even started planning our materials, we did extensive research into the type of products we were making. We looked at alot of horror films and their trailers and we followed what we saw as most effective. We used company logos and animations at the start of our trailer, actors names alongside them when they appear in the trailer and short jumpy part at the end. These are all common in horror film trailers. We also added a very effective estabilishing shot at the start of our trailer.

Film Idea

Our film idea is about a type of possesion. the demon is called Diabolus. Dialous is Latin for the Devil. The character I play is coming up to his 18th birthday. However, a psychic tells him he is is trouble and it needs to be sorted. The character doesnt know his birth parents and was found on the street as a kid. He was eventually adopted and taken to a home. The Psychic tells him his dad souled his sons soul to the devil and he didnt properly pay for what he was selling his sons soul for. THe psychic says that a ritual is needed to stop him becoming possesed on his 18th birthday. The psychic then trys to take into her own hands and perform the ritual. The ritual ends with the psychic becoming possessed and she trys to possess other people and kill them. Eventually after  alot of murders and many attempts to kill the boy she is killed by the boy. The boy then realises that its 10 minutes to his birthday and after them ten minutes he becomes possessed. The film ends with a close up of his eyes when it hits 12.00.

 

Diabolus perpetuates the work of several key narrative structural theorists, the first of which being Todorov. It follows the basic ideas of beginning with an equilibrium, which is disrupted by an event setting off a chain of events, creating disequilibrium. This is then resolved by the denouement and a new equilibrium is settled at the end. However, DIABOLUS does twist Todorov’s idea a little because when the audience think a new equilibrium has been reached, it turns out the psychic isn’t really dead and drags my character off screen meaning the audience has one last big scare and they are never sure what happens to him. Another theorist’s work that can be seen in our film idea is Propps work on character types. My character is obviously the typical ‘Hero’ however, you are never sure whether he thinks he can save the psychic (who would be the ‘Princess’ character type) or he is just trying to survive himself. The last theorist whose work fits Diablous is Barthes, who did work on binary opposition (the juxtaposition of two contrasting themes). Binary oppositions clear in our film idea are: good/evil, human/inhuman and trapped/free, the last being because the most terrifying moments of the film would be when my character is lost inside the barn buildings.

Original Photos for Poster and Magazine Cover

These are some pictures we took for our magazine cover and film poster.

Draft Shot List

Timetable for shooting

Props and Locations

Props & Costumes:

• Kilt, Boots, Black top and Hoody for Becca
• Jeans, Trainers, Blue Checked Shirt and Black Jacket for Chris
• Candles
• Ingredients for fake blood (Maple syrup, Red + Blue Food Colouring, Cocoa Powder and Water)
• Wax for wounds
• Face paint for wounds + bruises
• Pendulum
• Map
• Dagger shaped plastic shard
  

Final Locations:

• Barn (Martham)
• Church (Caister)
• Caravan (Ingham)
• Windmill (Limpenhoe)
• College Photography Studio + Grounds

Film Magazine Cover

This is my film magazine front cover I made using Adobe Photoshop. I used Total Film because its a well estabilished film magazine. I also used a texture that made it look threatning and scary.

Reece Report

As a group we went on a search for locations. We found a barn within a farm in Martham (30 minute drive from our college). We asked the owner of the land if we could shoot some scenes for our A2 media project and luckily he said it was ok. We also found an abandoned caravan in a woody area in Potter Hiem. The caravan was perfect for our horror film as it looked very old and was falling apart. We also found a windmill in Cantley. We also used a graveyard  and a quet street in Corton and some of the areas of the college. Below are some of the locations we used.

The Barn (Martham):

The Caravan (Potter Hiem):

 

The Windmill (Cantley):

Although we spent alot of time and money on petrol trying to find these locations, we believe it was worth it as they look good in our trailer making it look more official.

Target Audience Research

 

Its always important with any product that you target the audience that is appropriate to your product. With a film you need to know your target audience. If a film doesnt satifisy the target audience it wont do well on the shelves or at the cinemas.

Looking at today, almost 55% of people that watch horrors are male according to audiencetargeting.com. The most common age of horror film viewers is between the ages of 15-25. CHaracters in films are roughly around them ages so the audience can understand the characters problems.
We conducted research around the local college to find out their thoughts on what they want in horror films. We asked 21 people (12 female and 9 male) and were all between the ages of 14 and 23. We achieved results by sending questionnaires through emails using survey monkey.

Most of the people we asked said they did not like voice overs in trailers. Out of 21 answers no one said yes to voice overs.

 

Most of the people we asked said they liked the suspence in horror films.

Overall, I think this individual research has given us a much better idea of what to include in our trailer.

Representation of Women in Horror Films

I have chosen to use a character from the horror film 'The House of Wax' played by Paris Hilton. Paris Hilton is a globally known model and actress. Laura Mulveys theory of the 'Male Gaze' suggests that the males that watch horror films are sexually aroused by the death of women in horror films. Paris Hilton's character The House of Wax runs from the killer in just her underwear and it eventally leads to a gory death. This is all due to the camera angles and lighting e.g. if the camera looks up or down at the female. All of the males deaths were quick and shown for a short amount of time, however, the only female that dies is Paris Hilton's character and the chase lasts for a long time.

Another theory is Carol Clovers final girl theory that relates to 'The House of Wax'. The theory suggests that the final girl to survive is always the one that is not like the other females in the film. The final girl is seen as masculine or inoocent and pure. The characer always remains a virgin or doesnt have sex whilst her freinds are and the ones that die. The name of the final girl is usually a unisex name or not traditionally female. 'The House of Wax' supports this theory as the main character that survives is a female that didnt drink or have sex and was the one that was always alert. The characters that did drink were the ones that eventually died.

Analysis of 3 Horror Trailers

The Descent

Looking at the trailer, it doesn’t show the title of the film until near the end (10 seconds from the end). The title is shown at the end for the reason that the viewers watch it to the end. Having the title at the end makes the viewer’s remember the name of the film as it’s the last thing they see. The Descent does not have any Hollywood actors in it. Usually horror films have debut actors that go on to have successful careers.

The trailer shows the most of the action packed parts of the film to get the viewers to go see it at the cinema. The pace increases as the cuts increase making the trailer the faster.

There is no music at the start of the trailer as the dialogue is important to the trailer.

28 Weeks Later

The trailer shows the title of the film halfway through at exactly 1 minute.  28 weeks later shows off the popular British and American actors starring in the film.

The trailer starts off showing the audience the abandoned city of London and starts off with a quite beat and gradually gets louder and faster as the scary scenes are shown.

The trailer uses the famous theme song for the 28 days and 28 weeks later films.

The Crazies

The title of the film is shown right at the end of the trailer. With the viewers wanting to know the title of the film, this keeps the viewers attention right till the end. The Crazies has well known American actors starring in it.

The trailer starts off at a fast pace and slows down towards the end, this thrills the viewer from the start and winds down till the title of the film is shown.

At the end of the trailers when they show the killer shots, the trailer uses a slow and emotional song.

Analysis of 3 Horror Film Analysis

Drag Me to Hell (2009) – Film Analysis

Drag Me to Hell is an American supernatural horror film, directed by Sam Raimi. Sam Raimi wrote the film with his brother Ivan Raimi. Previous to this Sam Raimi directed some of the Spiderman films. Drag Me to Hell was released May 29, 2009 (2009-05-29)…. The plot of Drag Me to Hell focuses on a loans officer Christine Brown (Alison Lohman). The main female character Christine Brown had been told that she needs to show she can make tough decisions if she wants to become the assistant manager which is on offer. She then refuses to extend a loan to impress her boss, unlucky for her it was an old gypsy woman Mrs Ganush (Lorna Raver). The Gypsy Women retaliates by cursing Christine saying “after three days of escalating torment, will plunge her into the depths of hell to burn for eternity”. The film starts off with a couple seeking the help of a medium because their son claims to see and hear ‘monsters’. This is similar to the case of Christines curse, however the boy stole from gypsies and tried to return it but they refused to take it back. The medium performed a séance but after they are attacked by an unseen force that pulls the boy into hell. The medium swears to one day encounter the force again. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and was released to wide critical acclaim. Drag Me to Hell was a huge box office success, making $90.8 million (£56.7 million) worldwide. This film was made and released on a $30 million (£18.7 million) budget. Drag Me to Hell has won 2 awards; Best Horror Film at the 2009 Scream Awards and the 2010 Saturn Awards.

Drag Me to Hell cast:

• Alison Lohman as Christine Brown
• Justin Long as Professor Clayton "Clay" Dalton
• Lorna Raver as Mrs. Sylvia Ganush
• David Paymer as Mr. Jim Jacks
• Dileep Rao as Rham Jas
• Reggie Lee as Stu Rubin
• Adriana Barraza as Shaun San Dena
• Chelcie Ross as Leonard Dalton
• Molly Cheek as Trudy Dalton
• Bojana Novakovic as Ilenka Ganush
• Art Kimbro as the voice of the Lamia

This supports Propps character types. Christine Brown (Alison Lohman) would be the victim/protaganist and Mrs. Ganush (Lorna Raver) is the antaganist.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

House of Wax (2005) – Film analysis

House of Wax is a 2005 American horror film directed by Jaume Collet-Serra. House of Wax (2005) is an adapted remake of the 1953 version of House of Wax.  The plot is about 6 people, 5 friends and a brother of one of the female friends, who is considered as a rebellious teenager. They decide to camp out for the night in the middle of nowhere on their way to an American football game. One of the cars has car troubles and won’t start. 4 people in the group decide to continue and drive to the game and 2 others accept a lift into a town by a stranger. The town that are are dropped of to only has two people living there, two brothers. It turns out everyone in the village had either fled or been murdered and turned to wax. The friends don’t realise this. The 4 friends that travelled to the football game are stuck in traffic and decide to turn around and go back to the camp site. 2 of the 4 friends that decided to go back to the camp decide to drive into the town and look for the other two friends. At this point one of the two friends who originally first went into the town has turned and is turned to wax and put into the museum.  Eventually most of them die besides the twins who accidently burn the house of wax down. Police eventually arrive and tell the survivers the town wasn’t even on the map and they have been murdering for years. One of the police officers gets a call and is informed that there was a third brother; that third brother was the one who gave 2 of them a lift. It turned out it was all a set up.

House of Wax cast:

• Elisha Cuthbert as Carly Jones
• Chad Michael Murray as Nick Jones
• Brian Van Holt as Bo Sinclair / Vincent Sinclair
• Paris Hilton as Paige Edwards
• Jared Padalecki as Wade Felton
• Jon Abrahams as Dalton Chapman
• Robert Ri'chard as Blake
• Andy Anderson as Sheriff
• Damon Herriman as Lester Sinclair
• Dragitsa Debert as Trudy Sinclair
• Murray Smith as Dr. Victor Sinclair
• Thomas Adamson as Young Bo
• Sam Harkess as Young Vincent
• Emma Lung as Jennifer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shaun of the Dead (2004) – Film Analysis

Shaun of the dead is an English zombie comedy horror, directed and co-written by Edgar Wright and also co-written by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost who star in the film. The film is the first of a trilogy which Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright call ‘The Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy’ with Hot Fuzz (2007) as the second and The World’s End (TBA) as the third. The film was a great success in the UK and the US. Shaun of the Dead was a BAFTA nominee.

Shaun (Simon Pegg) is a man attempting to sort his life out, trying to get his girlfriend back. At the same time he has to deal with a zombie apocalypse. Shaun plans to gather his friends and family and hide at the local pub – The Winchester. Things start to go wrong when they all start to argue and the zombies eventually get into the pub. At the end 3 survive – Shaun, Shaun’s girlfreind Liz (Kate Ashfield) and Ed (Nick Frost). However Ed gets bitten and infected and survives as a zombie.

• Simon Pegg as Shaun
• Nick Frost as Ed
• Kate Ashfield as Liz
• Lucy Davis as Dianne
• Dylan Moran as David
• Penelope Wilton as Barbara
• Bill Nighy as Phillip
• Jessica Stevenson as Yvonne
• Peter Serafinowicz as Pete
• Rafe Spall as Noel
• Martin Freeman as Declan
• Reece Shearsmith as Mark
• Tamsin Greig as Maggie
• Julia Deakin as Yvonne's mum
• Matt Lucas as Cousin Tom
• Mark Donovan as Hulking Zombie

Analysis of 3 Horror Film Posters

 

The clouds are unnaturally dark which creates a 'end of the world ' feeling.

 

The two main characters are protecting each other, this suggests they may be family members.

 

In the background there are loads of dark silhouettes of bodies, this shows they are being chased.

 

The character is screaming and getting pulled into flames by demonic looking hands, at the bottom of the poster there is flames showing she is getting dragged into hell.

The buildings in the background are dark and not very clear, this suggests no one is helping her.

The poster is dark and gloomy at the top and firery at the bottom, this suggests she is going to hell.

 

The film poster shows that the makers of the film previously made a successful film, "Paranormal Activity and Saw".

 

The dark shady areas around the boys eyes and body suggests the character is going through some sort of demonic possession.

 

The main character is standing infront of the house which is where most of the film takes place.

 

The dark clouds create a dark and gloomy atmosphere.

 

There is a phrase near the title "its not the house that is haunted". This phrase is in the trailer which links the two together.

 

The boys facial expression seems to look absent which suggests he may be possessed.

History of Horror

History of Horror

German expressionism were movements which started in Germany before the First World War, it was at its best in the 1920s. One great German expressionist is Fritz Lang.  Fritz Lang is considered as one of the best directors of all time with his dark ominous melodramas. Lang was forced to flee Germany by the Nazis. He eventually ended up in Hollywood in June 1934. His first film in the USA was Fury (1936), this involved a man falsely accused of murder and almost lynched by a mob, this relates to Lang and the Nazis. Lang also made You Only Live Once (1937). Lang had 4 Anti-Nazi movies, including Hangman Also Die! (1943) and Ministry of Fear (1944). This was all part of Lang educating the public about fascism.

The Horror genre wouldn’t be the same today if it wasn’t for The Cabinet of Dr Caligari and Nosferatu (1922). Although the storylines prove to be fairly similar, the two films each adapt a distinctive utilization of various cinematic techniques that produce two very different kinds of horror. Nosferatu is not just about vampirism, it shows significant images of a town suffering from premature and random deaths, echoes of the Great War and the Great Flu Epidemic fatalities.

Another part of early horror was ‘Monsters and Mad Scientists’.  These types of horrors were called Universal Horrors. Universal horrors were a series of distinctive horrors with suspense and science fiction films made by Universal studios from 1923-1960. These were movies such as:

·         The Phantom of the Opera (1923)

·         Dracula

·         Frankenstein

·         The Mummy

·         The Invisible Man

·         Bride of Frankenstein

·         Werewolf of London

·         Son of Frankenstein

·         The Wolf Man

·         Creature from the Black Lagoon.

Universal then followed up their 1935 hit The Werewolf of London. There was a well established werewolf mythology leading back to the ancient world but there was no single established story like in Dracula with the vampire myth which was easily adapted. Another director who fled Nazi Germany similar to Fritz Lang was Curt Siodmak. Siodmak then directed a Universal film called The Wolf Man in 1941 which was a mix of several wolf legends. Siodmak combined pentagrams, gypsies, silver bullets and a full moon to create a robust myth.

In the 1950s a horror genre containing mutant creatures and alien invaders became popular. There has been a question for centuries; is there another life form out there? For a lot of people it was a big fear. This was why a lot of these films were successful horrors.  The first Alien of series of films was released in 1979; this was so successful it sparked off a series:

·         Alien

·         Aliens

·         Alien 3

·         Alien Resurrection

·         Predator

·         Predator 2

·         Aliens vs. Predator

·         Alien vs. Predator Requiem

In the 1960-1970s a genre started containing Ghosts, Zombies and Satanism. This is still a popular genre today. Most of the modern horrors today involve Ghosts, Zombies or Satanism. There are currently around 570 zombie films and 515 supernatural horrors films in today’s market. One of the most successful writers of zombie films is George A. Romero. Romero was a film director, screen writer, actor and editor best known for best known for his gruesome and humorous horror films about a hypothetical zombie apocalypse. He written 7 books and these are the following films associated with George A. Romero:

Year	Film	Credited as				Character George plays
		Director	Writer	Editor	Actor
1968	Night of the Living Dead	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Washington reporter
1971	There's Always Vanilla	Yes	Yes	Yes	-	-
1973	The Crazies	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Mayor
	Season of the Witch	Yes	Yes	Yes	-	-
1978	Martin	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Father Howard
	Dawn of the Dead	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	TV Director
1981	Knightriders	Yes	Yes	Yes	-	-
1982	Creepshow	Yes	-	Yes	-	-
1985	Day of the Dead	Yes	Yes	-	Yes	Zombie with scarf
	Document of the Dead	-	-	-	Yes	Himself
1987	Creepshow 2	-	Yes	-	-	-
	Drive-In Madness	-	-	-	Yes	Himself
1988	Monkey Shines	Yes	Yes	-	-	-
1990	Tales from the Darkside: The Movie	-	Yes	-	-	-
	Two Evil Eyes	Yes	Yes	-	-	-
	Night of the Living Dead	-	Yes	-	-	-
1991	The Silence of the Lambs	-	-	-	Yes	FBI Agent in Memphis
1993	The Dark Half	Yes	Yes	-	-	-
2000	Bruiser	Yes	Yes	-	-	-
	The American Nightmare	-	-	-	Yes	Himself
2004	Dawn of the Dead		Yes	-	-	-
2005	Land of the Dead	Yes	Yes	-	Yes	Puppeteer
	Midnight Movies: From the Margin to the Mainstream	-	-	-	Yes	Himself
2008	Diary of the Dead	Yes	Yes	-	Yes	Police Chief Arthur Katz
	Day of the Dead	-	Yes	-	-	-
	Dead On: The Life and Cinema of George A. Romero	-	-	-	Yes	Himself
2009	Deadtime Stories	-	-	-	Yes	Himself
	Survival of the Dead	Yes	Yes	-	-	-
2010	The Crazies	-	Yes	-	-	-

 

In 1934 a British film production company was founded called Hammer Studios. Hammer studios went on to be a big British success in 1955-59. Hammer studios had had modest success with low budget TV and radio series. They found there niche with the classic monster horrors. Hammer Studios were known for their gothic horrors: Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy etc.

In the 70’s Hammer Studios couldn’t keep up with the new films like the exorcist. They eventually made their last film in 1976 called To the Devil a Daughter.

In the 1980s Slasher movies became really popular. A slasher film is a type of horror typically involving a killer who kills a group of people in a violent manner. One of the first slasher films was Psycho. Some people may not think Psycho was a slasher film but its influence would be felt for years after its release. If there was no Psycho horror simply wouldn’t be the same and we wouldn’t have seen Freddie, Jason and Michael Myers.

Films such as Scream were warmly received because of their self-aware, parodic take on the subgenre. Roger Ebert called them "Dead Teenager Movies” .This was not the first time he had attacked the genre or coined a term for it: originally during the 80s, he and the late Gene Siskel had a special about the term they used back then, "women in danger" films, where they said how the genre was degrading to women as it would show them at the mercy of a strong brutish man.

In the 1980s films were getting really creative with murders getting more and more realistic from

In 2004 Saw was released which showed people kidnapped and set up in torture games eventually dying. This then sparked of a genre; this was similar to the explosion of slasher films after Friday 13^th. Saw was eventually followed by Hostel, The Human Centipede and more saw films etc. This genre was called Torture Porn or Goreography. This involved people getting tortured and murdered violently and psychotically.