FEAR BE MY FRIEND (An article)
There are several reason why horror films have become so successful. Blair Witch Project is a perfect example of a horror film which has become successful. I have picked out different sections of the article, which explains why these horror films are so triumphant.
This is an article taken from the Guardian weekend on October 23 1999. The article is about the directors of the successful Blair Witch Project released in 1999 and how the film became such a success. Also the article includes different types of horror film and their success. The budget of the film was only a mere $30,000 and took $140 million in the states and Canada. Nobody saw this coming especially the directors Dan Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez. They laughed saying ‘the only thing scary about Blair Witch is that anyone would be prepared to pay $1 million for it’, obviously in shock in the amount of money their film generated. They stated that ‘it’s a great story -an old Hollywood favourite- the little man who takes on the big boys and wins’. Their success may make young film-makers being taken more seriously . They argue ‘It might inspire young kids to make films’. Wes craven (producer of the scream trilogy) whose story is similar to the black witch directors stated that ‘everything you do in horror film has to relate to a audience with a average age of 15-25. This particular age group is identical to my film where the established target audience are adolescent. Myrick and Sanchez argue ‘if we could scare adults, really scare them then that might work. This particular quote was helpful when I made my teaser trailer, as it told me that most importantly the timing of the ‘scary’ shots must be on par to get the audiences out of their seats. It’s no good trying to make all your shots scary as it will become repetitive and dull. A quote in this article said that the beauty of horror was the fear of being invaded. I believe this is true because if I villain enters your home, the place you feel the most safe and private place, then this would tell viewers that not matter where you are, you are NEVER safe. This I feel creates the terror amongst audiences to watch horror films, the fear and vulnerability that all victims in horror films possess.
Wednesday, 15 December 2010
Friday, 10 December 2010
Wednesday, 8 December 2010
Research and Development
When choosing my scenes I decided to remove some shots e.g. of a poster showing a reward for the capture of a wanted criminal. I decided to cut it out as I felt that it would give too much away in terms of plot as showing this shot would give away the identity of the character and the purpose of my trailer is to tease.
In addition I rearranged shots in different order to help viewers understand the trailer. This helped my trailer to become more organised and keep the shots related. For example I changed the bathroom scenes before the cupboard scene to show some bits of gore at the beginning
In addition I rearranged shots in different order to help viewers understand the trailer. This helped my trailer to become more organised and keep the shots related. For example I changed the bathroom scenes before the cupboard scene to show some bits of gore at the beginning
Wednesday, 1 December 2010
Research on the horror films
Out of the Four films I watched in class, The Shining, Halloween , Night of the living dead and Nosferatu I feel the Shining (1980)was the most horrific because it was not the typical blood and gore commonly associated with horror films such as Night of the Living Dead and Halloween.
The Shining (1980) was a film about a family living in a hotel with a demented father. The typical characters in the shining included a villain (the father who was meant to protect his family. This goes to show that no matter where you may be, you will never be safe, evidence is form the Shining where your home is not even safe. Other characters include the damsel in distress (the wife) and the son who had a special power. The shining is more of a physiological horror which plays with viewers mind, rather than the blatant in your face gore horror. The film had many flashbacks including two brutally murdered twin girls which haunted the child. This heightens viewers tension as we are not aware whether the flashback was a dream or in fact reality. Typical settings and mise en scene are shots of a big hotel while the wife in comparison is relatively small, connoting she is venerable and isolated. The shots used in the shining are brilliant in creating fear and tension amongst viewers. An example is a low angle shot of Jack (father) trapped and banging on the door. This demonstrates his power and creates a sense of vulnerability of us. As the father is towering over us, which helps create a sense of fear and terror? Nowadays there is a growing audience sophistication where audiences are expected to be frightened and surprised constantly. The shining has 'surprising' scenes to create a shock amongst viewers. There is a sense doom, where the 'hero' is trying to save the people in distress, but before he gets a chance he gets killed horrifically by Jack. This subverts our expectations as our thoughts about this film have changed unexpected death of the 'hero'. I believe the shining is the scariest partly due to the music used to create fear.
At the beginning of the film the music used was spooky as it was a slow paced music with an eerie and unusual atmosphere. This created a sense of anxiety. The music used in the background of the bathroom gives it an unnatural environment. In addition the sound if the heart-beating while showing viewers an image of a bloody heart connoted terror and fear and creates suspense. Viewer’s nerve is continuously tested in the film the Shining. An example is while the father's anger increases, his child is getting even more scared heightening viewers tension as they do not know what will happen next. Natural sound is used effectively in the shining. The sound of the wind howling shows emptiness of the building the typical convention of horror used in the shining included the significant amount of time the colour red. the colour red is shown in the image of the blood-flowing, red bathroom etc. this connotes danger and death in horror films. Other typical conventions include the villain jack who walks away slowly towards his victims like he almost thrives on fear of others. Slowness of film is consistently used in the film e.g. slowness of scenes of speaking means viewers have to wait for something to happen, increasing tension and anxiety. in the end of the film the father chases his son in the a 'trapped' maze where there is a race against time increases tension as viewers do know if the boy will get caught or trapped. The father jack has no logic in killing his family and is rather influenced by voices in his head. There is a typical ending like most other horror films, in the fact that the villain dies (freezes to death). This film is scarier than other horror films as the series of events seen in this film could actually be true, rather than the common characters used e.g. monsters and vampires. There any many people who becomes who become psychotic and crazy and end up killing people maybe unintentionally. This I feel frightens viewers more as this film is not fiction in the sense of ghosts, vampires. There is a growing audience for horror films. This could be because audiences who watch horror films love the fear of their own mortality and the question 'what if it’s real'. This is the fright for which audiences thrive on.
Halloween (1978) is a slasher type horror film. It is relative to nowadays horror films being created due to the blood and gore used in it. The storyline is about a villain who goes on a rampage and kills people. In the beginning of the film it’s showed the villain called Michael Myers as a child, when brutally murdered his older sister in Halloween day. From the off-set . Halloween is trying to engage viewers and test their nerves right from the out set this scene already creates shock and terror amongst viewers as they witness a playful child murderer his sibling. This scene is unexpected and children are not typically associated with violence. Michael the villain who throughout the film wears a mask, which creates eagerness and audiences want to find out who he is and what he looks like. Instead viewers hear heavy-breathing of the villain creating unease. Typical settings in Halloween include big houses and a sense of vulnerability; the main sections of the film are set in the dark, creating fear and anxiety of what’s behind you. The film called Halloween which is associated with the genre as Halloween is where children dress up as monsters etc. as the film is set in Halloween there are sounds of kids chanting nursery rhyme in background which is typically seen as innocent, but this inadvertently, creates tension. The typical conventions used in the film are knifes, costumes, setting in dark. the villain Michael never runs, he instead walks slowly and assured that he will catch his victims, suggesting he is calm and in control of the situation, while his victims are terrified /.... the music used throughout the scenes Michaels appears creates suspense, as you do not see Michael until the fatal moment, when he strikes. there are several doors and windows used in the film Halloween. Doors connote 'fear of the unknown' or the sense of being trapped. Windows create a sense of being watched, where in Halloween it is used when Michaels peaks out of the window, watching his preys. Foolish behaviour of victim from victim gets audiences out of their seat, as the damsel in distress sits next to the 'dead' villain increasing anxiety amongst us. The ending of Halloween creates suspense as the hero kills the villain, but all of a sudden his body disappears, leaving viewers to ponder where he is, also increasing paranoia and making viewers believe he is in their neighbourhood. These ideas used in this film create a sense of disorientation among audiences.
In my opinion the shining terrified my most, and for that reason I would class it as a horror 100%. I argue this because the shining is more’ real' than many other horror films. The father becoming a murderer is something which can occur in reality and has done in the past. The villain being a family member (someone you know) adds more terror audiences are witnessing as a father (physiologically deranged) attempting to kill his son. Halloween on the other hand includes more blood and gore and deaths. Halloween (1978) is the most famous type of sub-genre horror, the (slasher). Halloween is similar to the shining in the fact that both villains are deranged and have no logical motive for murdering their victims. Halloween is frightening for different reason, e.g. the murders are more gruesome therefore increasing viewers panic. The line of murders suggests Halloween is more physically terrifying, while the shining uses conventions that create a mentally unstable environment for environment for audiences and therefore I prefer the shining as it plays with your mind creating distress amongst audiences.
Horror films have significantly changed over the last 100 years. In our present era, horror films include rapid editing, such as, fast paced shots which reinforces anticipation. With this our current audience have become more desenseralised where showing them a man being chopped up creates no emotion among them, which could be due to the that the these days more teenagers are watching horror films on TV and see this act of violence as natural. Furthermore, presently, audiences need a complication of surprising events to keep them at the edge of their seats; this is due to growing audience sophistication. Images used in recent horror films have excelled due to computer generated images and in turn helped audiences become more engaged. Finally horror film nowadays have become based on true events, which there lies in the ‘real’ fear of audiences, as a tragedy which is real is significantly terrifying than a tragedy which is based on fiction.
The Shining (1980) was a film about a family living in a hotel with a demented father. The typical characters in the shining included a villain (the father who was meant to protect his family. This goes to show that no matter where you may be, you will never be safe, evidence is form the Shining where your home is not even safe. Other characters include the damsel in distress (the wife) and the son who had a special power. The shining is more of a physiological horror which plays with viewers mind, rather than the blatant in your face gore horror. The film had many flashbacks including two brutally murdered twin girls which haunted the child. This heightens viewers tension as we are not aware whether the flashback was a dream or in fact reality. Typical settings and mise en scene are shots of a big hotel while the wife in comparison is relatively small, connoting she is venerable and isolated. The shots used in the shining are brilliant in creating fear and tension amongst viewers. An example is a low angle shot of Jack (father) trapped and banging on the door. This demonstrates his power and creates a sense of vulnerability of us. As the father is towering over us, which helps create a sense of fear and terror? Nowadays there is a growing audience sophistication where audiences are expected to be frightened and surprised constantly. The shining has 'surprising' scenes to create a shock amongst viewers. There is a sense doom, where the 'hero' is trying to save the people in distress, but before he gets a chance he gets killed horrifically by Jack. This subverts our expectations as our thoughts about this film have changed unexpected death of the 'hero'. I believe the shining is the scariest partly due to the music used to create fear.
At the beginning of the film the music used was spooky as it was a slow paced music with an eerie and unusual atmosphere. This created a sense of anxiety. The music used in the background of the bathroom gives it an unnatural environment. In addition the sound if the heart-beating while showing viewers an image of a bloody heart connoted terror and fear and creates suspense. Viewer’s nerve is continuously tested in the film the Shining. An example is while the father's anger increases, his child is getting even more scared heightening viewers tension as they do not know what will happen next. Natural sound is used effectively in the shining. The sound of the wind howling shows emptiness of the building the typical convention of horror used in the shining included the significant amount of time the colour red. the colour red is shown in the image of the blood-flowing, red bathroom etc. this connotes danger and death in horror films. Other typical conventions include the villain jack who walks away slowly towards his victims like he almost thrives on fear of others. Slowness of film is consistently used in the film e.g. slowness of scenes of speaking means viewers have to wait for something to happen, increasing tension and anxiety. in the end of the film the father chases his son in the a 'trapped' maze where there is a race against time increases tension as viewers do know if the boy will get caught or trapped. The father jack has no logic in killing his family and is rather influenced by voices in his head. There is a typical ending like most other horror films, in the fact that the villain dies (freezes to death). This film is scarier than other horror films as the series of events seen in this film could actually be true, rather than the common characters used e.g. monsters and vampires. There any many people who becomes who become psychotic and crazy and end up killing people maybe unintentionally. This I feel frightens viewers more as this film is not fiction in the sense of ghosts, vampires. There is a growing audience for horror films. This could be because audiences who watch horror films love the fear of their own mortality and the question 'what if it’s real'. This is the fright for which audiences thrive on.
Halloween (1978) is a slasher type horror film. It is relative to nowadays horror films being created due to the blood and gore used in it. The storyline is about a villain who goes on a rampage and kills people. In the beginning of the film it’s showed the villain called Michael Myers as a child, when brutally murdered his older sister in Halloween day. From the off-set . Halloween is trying to engage viewers and test their nerves right from the out set this scene already creates shock and terror amongst viewers as they witness a playful child murderer his sibling. This scene is unexpected and children are not typically associated with violence. Michael the villain who throughout the film wears a mask, which creates eagerness and audiences want to find out who he is and what he looks like. Instead viewers hear heavy-breathing of the villain creating unease. Typical settings in Halloween include big houses and a sense of vulnerability; the main sections of the film are set in the dark, creating fear and anxiety of what’s behind you. The film called Halloween which is associated with the genre as Halloween is where children dress up as monsters etc. as the film is set in Halloween there are sounds of kids chanting nursery rhyme in background which is typically seen as innocent, but this inadvertently, creates tension. The typical conventions used in the film are knifes, costumes, setting in dark. the villain Michael never runs, he instead walks slowly and assured that he will catch his victims, suggesting he is calm and in control of the situation, while his victims are terrified /.... the music used throughout the scenes Michaels appears creates suspense, as you do not see Michael until the fatal moment, when he strikes. there are several doors and windows used in the film Halloween. Doors connote 'fear of the unknown' or the sense of being trapped. Windows create a sense of being watched, where in Halloween it is used when Michaels peaks out of the window, watching his preys. Foolish behaviour of victim from victim gets audiences out of their seat, as the damsel in distress sits next to the 'dead' villain increasing anxiety amongst us. The ending of Halloween creates suspense as the hero kills the villain, but all of a sudden his body disappears, leaving viewers to ponder where he is, also increasing paranoia and making viewers believe he is in their neighbourhood. These ideas used in this film create a sense of disorientation among audiences.
In my opinion the shining terrified my most, and for that reason I would class it as a horror 100%. I argue this because the shining is more’ real' than many other horror films. The father becoming a murderer is something which can occur in reality and has done in the past. The villain being a family member (someone you know) adds more terror audiences are witnessing as a father (physiologically deranged) attempting to kill his son. Halloween on the other hand includes more blood and gore and deaths. Halloween (1978) is the most famous type of sub-genre horror, the (slasher). Halloween is similar to the shining in the fact that both villains are deranged and have no logical motive for murdering their victims. Halloween is frightening for different reason, e.g. the murders are more gruesome therefore increasing viewers panic. The line of murders suggests Halloween is more physically terrifying, while the shining uses conventions that create a mentally unstable environment for environment for audiences and therefore I prefer the shining as it plays with your mind creating distress amongst audiences.
Horror films have significantly changed over the last 100 years. In our present era, horror films include rapid editing, such as, fast paced shots which reinforces anticipation. With this our current audience have become more desenseralised where showing them a man being chopped up creates no emotion among them, which could be due to the that the these days more teenagers are watching horror films on TV and see this act of violence as natural. Furthermore, presently, audiences need a complication of surprising events to keep them at the edge of their seats; this is due to growing audience sophistication. Images used in recent horror films have excelled due to computer generated images and in turn helped audiences become more engaged. Finally horror film nowadays have become based on true events, which there lies in the ‘real’ fear of audiences, as a tragedy which is real is significantly terrifying than a tragedy which is based on fiction.
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