Horror-stalker/Slasher By Sylvia Rogo

Genre research

My chosen genreThe movie genre I have chosen to focus on for my A2 coursework is horror (in particular stalker/slasher). Horror movies are disturbing films who’s purpose is to frighten, panic,

cause dread and alarm, and to invoke our hidden worst fears, often in a terrifying, shocking finale, while captivating and entertaining us at the same time. Horror films effectively center on the dark side of life, the forbidden, and strange and alarming

events. They deal with our most primal nature and its fears for example our nightmares, fear of death, alienation and dread of the unknown.

History of horror movies

•First viewing of supernatural events in numerous of the silent shorts for example ‘The House of the Devil’ which is

sometimes recognised as being the first horror film.•Edison studios produced the first version of ‘Frankenstein’.

•First monster to appear in a full-length horror film.

1890s-1920s

•American film producers popularised horror films. •A series of successful gothic features such as ‘Frankenstein’(1931) and

‘Dracula’(1931) produced some of which blended science fiction films with Gothic horror.

•Iconic make-up designs were created by Universal studios.

1930s-1940s

•Advancement in technology saw the tone of horror films moved from the gothic toward concerns that some saw as being more relevant to the late-Century

audience. •Horror films fall into three sub-genres: the horror-of-personality film, the horror -

of-armageddon film and the horror –of-the-demonic film. •George Romero’s ‘Night of the living dead’ (1969) was later deemed "culturally,

historically or aesthetically significant“. Blending psychological insights with gore, it moved the genre even further away from the gothic horror trends of earlier eras

and brought horror into everyday life.

1950s-1960s

1970s-1980s

•“Evil children” and reincarnation became popular subjects.•Satan became the villain in many horror films.

•Ideas of the 1960s began to influence horror films, as the youth involved in the counterculture began exploring the medium.

• As the cinemas box office returns for serious, gory modern horror began to decline. The genre found a new audience in the growing home video market although the new generation of films was less

somber in tone. •Horror films continued to cause controversy: in the United Kingdom, the growth in home video led to growing public awareness of horror movies and concern about the ease of availability of such material to

children. •Many films were dubbed “video nasties” and banned but US and

Canadian movies such as ‘Silent night’ in the USA failed at theatres and was eventually withdrawn from distribution due to its subject

matter: a killer Santa.

•Films touched upon the relationship between fictional horror and real-world horror.

•The horror genre wore itself out with the proliferation of nonstop slasher and gore films in the eighties.

•The adolescent audience which feasted on the blood and morbidity of the previous decade grew up, and the

replacement audience for films of an imaginative nature were being captured instead by the explosion of science fiction and

fantasy.• Horror became more self-mockingly ironic to re-connect with

its audience.•‘The Others’ (2001)- was a successful horror film of that year as it was the first horror in the decade to rely on psychology to

scare audiences, rather than gore. •Major return to the zombie genre in horror movies made

after 2000.•Return to the extreme, graphic violence that characterized

much of the type of low-budget, exploitation horror from the Seventies and the post-Vietnam years e.g. Audition (1999).

1990s-2000s

Classic horror movies

Modern horror movies

Conventions/Technical aspectsSound:

Sound plays an immense role in creating atmosphere and context in horror movies. As it influences the viewers

emotions towards the moving image it is placed against. For example having a moving image of a character slowly

and fearfully walking down a low key lit alleyway with monotone violins playing in the background that increases in pitch with every step of the character may send shivers

down the viewers spin as apposed to having no music. This convention of horror movies is one I will take into deep

consideration when creating my own movie trailer.

Lighting:

Dark coloursExamples include chiaroscuro, low key,

hard, practical etc...

Editing:Cinematography:

Mise-en-scene:

-Characters and narrative-Props

SFX:

Repertoire of elementsIconography:

The Blaire witch project

Sorority row

Ideology themes and narrative structure

Target audience

Grossing films within the horror/stalker movie genre

The exorcist = has a total gross of $402,500,000 worldwide

George Romero's Night of the Living Dead (1968) =on a budget of $114,000, it grossed $12 million domestically and $30 million

internationally

Jaws - $842%2B million ($260%2B million in 1975).

The Exorcist - $727%2B million ($232%2B million 1973).

http://ezinearticles.com/?Movie-History---If-You-Thought-Titanic-Was-the-Largest-Grossing-Film-in-the-US-Think-Again&id=862237

Case study....The Blaire witch project (1999)

The BLAIRE WITCH PROJECT ...?

•Released in 1999 and is an American horror film.•Produced by the Haxan Films production company.•Filmed as a documentary pieced together from amateur footage, filmed in real time. •The movie is about three young student filmmakers who hike into the black hills of

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blair_Witch_Project

Marketing and advertising

The BLAIRE WITCH PROJECTOther media

http://www.blairwitch.com/

The Blair Witch Project is thought to be the first widely released film marketed primarily on the Internet.

$249 million worldwide

http://www.woodsmovie.com/

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article6905041.ece

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Broadcast_(film)

The BLAIRE WITCH PROJECT Trailer analysis

http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi9044249/

The BLAIRE WITCH PROJECTPoster analysis

Background image (dark tall forest)...

Iconography

Text that makes it seem like this movie is based/is

a real story (USP)

Main image- taken at high angle, lighting

(torch)...

Masthead...Extra

information...release date

The BLAIRE WITCH PROJECTShared marketing conventions

The BLAIRE WITCH PROJECTMy overall conclusion...

Having watched this movie its impact on me has been...the based on a true story unique selling point feel of this movie made it.....as I didn't sleep for two weeks and vowed I would never watch a horror movie

Genre research conclusion

From this research I...for my own horror/stalker movie...I have the idea to/would like to...

Thank You For Watching