The genre that i have chosen is horror, horror aimed at the teenage/ young adult audience.. Horror is a very popular genre,
especially to younger generations as they enjoy the adrenaline rush that they
get from watching the movies. Trailers increase the anticipation within the
people whom have yet to wait till the film is released;the emphasis created of
the severity on how scary it is makes people want to see the movie and this is
a good way to build and gain the attention of customers, which would result in
ticket sell-outs.
My narrative is well suited to my audience because i include teen horror
which appeals specifically to that age group as well as young adults. This is
because certain horror genres which include children are usually watched by
adults, ones that include adult killers are watched by teenagers and adults and
i have thought through which genre i want it to be aimed at so i will include
teenage actors for my teenage horror film.
Horror movies can be created quite simply if the main focus is scaring the
audience rather than the actual acting and screenplay. The audience is looking
to be scared and surprised with tension-filled scenes rather than interesting
and well played acting as this grasps their attention a lot more than effective
narrative. There are several benefits for my audience viewing my horror movie
such as:
It gives you an adrenaline rush - Getting an adrenaline rush is good for the body, it revives your cells and can make you more aware of things by help boost your concentration.
It's good for the brain - Watching horror
movies can be beneficial for the brain. The roller-coaster ride of emotions
that happen when viewing scary movies can lead to the secretion of certain
feel-good chemicals in the brain such as dopamine, serotonin and glutamate.
HISTORY
OF HORROR
Horror is an ancient art form. We have tried to
terrify each other with tales which trigger the less logical parts of our
imaginations for as long as we've told stories. From the ballads of the
ancient world to modern urban myths, audiences willingly offer themselves up to
sadistic storytellers to be scared witless, and they are happy to pay for
privilege.
The first depictions of supernatural events appear in several of the silent
shorts created by the film pioneer George Melies in the late
1890's.
In the early 20th century, the first monster appeared in a horror
film, Quasimodo, the hunchback of Notre-Dame who has appeared in
Victor Hugo's novel, Notre-Dame de paris
During the early period of talking pictures, the American Movie
studio Universal Pictures began a successful Gothic horror
film series. Tod Browning's Dracula (1931), with Bela
Lugosi, was quickly followed by James Whale's Frankenstein .
Some of these blended science fiction films with Gothic horror, such
as The Invisible Man (1933) and, mirroring the
earlier German films, featured a mad scientist. These films, while
designed to thrill, also incorporated more serious elements.
Character Types:
- The main
protagonist, often the ‘victim/hero’ of the movie.
- The
villain, often a monster, mutated freak, alien or serial killer – tend to
have a trademark characteristic as to how they kill (e.g. weapons and who
they kill)
- The
stupid/immoral teenagers that always get killed
- Creepy
children
- Police
officers (either good or bad)
- Many
others: Ghosts, zombies, demons, psychopath, stalker, weirdo, werewolf,
cheerleader etc…
Themes:
- Good vs
Evil
- Depression
- Religion
- Childhood
issues
- Revenge
- Supernatural
- Beyond
death
- Science
gone bad
- Zombie
Apocalypse
- Nightmares
- Madness
- Insanity
- Lust
- Envy
- Suicide
- ‘self-consciousness’
– making you question what is real and not.
Some directors use the innocence of children to be the villain of the movie.
Using a small child who does scary and supernatural activities makes the
storyline more freaky and disturbing for the viewers. Audience members are
totally surprised when the child who may look like the victim turns out to be
the villain. As we associate children with happiness, playful and innocent the
thought of a child doing adult like behaviour becomes creepy. For example
The Exorcist is a film about a young girl who is possessed by the devil.
William Friedikin the director used Religion in an unseen way; this film was
eventually banned as people thought it was too explicit and outrageous. There
have been many remakes of the Exorcist and it has still had the same reaction.
Using mammals and not humans is also a well known storyline and a monster
horror. The Jaws franchise was huge from 1975 and has also be remade several
times. The fear is not of something that walks on earth but lives under water.
Steven Spielberg an amazing director used a lot of natural lighting in this
film to create more suspense. He used queue music when Jaws was approaching and
Foley sound effects when he attacked. Even back then when CGI did not
exist, directors found other clever ways to create fear in movies.
The camera angles connote the fear in the movie by doing many natural lighting
shots. The director will use many close angles, low and high angle shots and
point of view shots. This makes you feel part of the movie and the suspense is
anxiously waiting. This is normally used to keep the audience members
engaged with the storyline. Hand held shots are difficult for the audience to
figure out what is going on. A prime example of that would be Cloverfield of
Paranormal Activity. Both of these films are point of view shots and these
situations that occur in the film are unexpected and shocking.
Music and sound effects play a big part in making a movie a success. Lots of
incidental music is added and Foley sound effects can be used to make the intenseness
more striking for the target audience. When a particular sound of music which
is usually been made for that specific movie or show it is known as theme
music. This makes the audience recognised what product they are watching.
The audience is made to view scenes of gaze for the heterosexual male. Sex and
male gaze is portrayed commonly in horrors. Nudity has been accepted on screens
to pleasure the male gender. It is not in usually to see woman naked in a movie
of this type. Usually when a young woman appears naked in a scene it is time
for her to be terribly killed by the pray/ murder. The murder will probably
stab or suffocate her.
The survivor of a horror is normally the young girl who is dedicated to her
school work and job. She doesn’t have a boyfriend; she finds sex an awkward
subject and is usually quite nerdy and self conscious about herself. She
is known as the ‘Final Girl’. Her intelligence and common knowledge helps her
survive her near death experience. The audience is mainly rooting for this girl
and hope she makes it alive even thought the ratio of her still be alive when
the credits appear are high.
The audience is made to view scenes of gaze for the heterosexual male. Sex and
male gaze is portrayed commonly in horrors. Nudity has been accepted on screens
to pleasure the male gender. It is not in usually to see woman naked in a movie
of this type. Usually when a young woman appears naked in a scene it is time
for her to be terribly killed by the pray/ murder. The murder will probably
stab or suffocate her.
The survivor of a horror is normally the young girl who is dedicated to her
school work and job. She doesn’t have a boyfriend; she finds sex an awkward
subject and is usually quite nerdy and self conscious about herself. She
is known as the ‘Final Girl’. Her intelligence and common knowledge helps her
survive her near death experience. The audience is mainly rooting for this girl
and hope she makes it alive even thought the ratio of her still be alive when
the credits appear are high.
the location i have chose for my movie is Banstead woods and Epsom park. I have chose these locations because i believe they have the scene set for a goof horror film, they have eerie parts of the woods which will help with the atmosphere of the film also the natural scene and overgrown woods will help create the feel overall. I think that these locations will have a positive impact on how well i am able to portray the story and fear through my film.
I have chosen OCULUS and THE EYE for inspiration for the production of my film because they both have elements in which i would like to include in my film. Oculus, is set in a house, with children and adults and 2013. It includes a haunted mirror which once stared into, reveals
I have also chosen The Grudge for inspiration for my second film and this is because it features a young girl who is the antagonist, the Grudge itself and the main horror of the film. The Grudge uses subtle effects when scaring the audience as its not gorey or too dramatic, its sly scary scenes that really shock the audience.
http://iconicpictures.weebly.com/conventions-of-horror.html
This is a mood board which fits the genre of my choice and projects the different kinds of horror movies that are out there which include children, adults, adults with child minds and each of them have a specific target audience which they aim at. My target audience is teenagers as my film will be teenager horror and this is the most popular genre of horror films as its the most watched type of horror film and receives the highest number of audiences. The teenage audience is also very influenced by horror and scary scenes as they are thrill seeking, adventurous and spontaneous - they are the ones seeking new experiences and that's what i would hope to give then through watching my film. i hope that they would experience by having a new, unexpected way of making the scared, having unpredictable scenes which would make the, jump and having a creative plot twist to seal the deal. 