The Conventions of Horror
Horror films involve codes and conventions that give the audience an idea of what film genre they are watching. They are films/movies that aim to tease the emotions of disgust, fear, anxiety from the audience. They play with the viewer’s hidden thoughts, nightmares and force us to undivided attention.
Horror films have common elements such as ghosts, torture, ancient curses, diseases, demons, vampires, haunted houses and zombies. In most horror films, women seem to be slower, less powerful, and simply less dominant, in contrast, men who are in the same films die too, but are not shown as being so defenceless.
There’s always a lead character that often results as he survivor of the film. The killer or monster usually has a trademark characteristic with the way he kills or uses a specific weapon to kill. The film usually has two characters that conflict with each other and the outcome is mostly positive where the good character defeats the bad or the film ends leaving the viewer with suspense.
Horror teaser trailers normally leave the audience hanging in suspense, often leaving them puzzled, which is the full intention of a trailer. This can be done in different ways, such as building the music in the trailer up to a climax and then to either stop or slow down the music, this is used to frighten the audience.
In addition, most trailers are fast paced and often consist of quick cuts; this could be flashing images of weapons, monstrous faces- depending on the sub genre of the film. This often builds up tension and suspense to the audience who like horror films.They set up a premise or a situation, and then leave the viewer wanting to know more. One example is the original 'Alien' (1979) trailer. The camera ties shots of the film with a long, slow pull back of a large, alien egg. The egg cracks, giving off an eerie glow and the trailer ends with the subscript "In Space, No One Can Hear You Scream." The trailer does not really tell us about the characters, does not establish much at all. All we know is something horrible is going to come out of that egg, something that makes people screams. We, the audience, want to know what is in that egg.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oYNvmNZP2o
The main conventions in horror teaser trailers are:
· The use of quick cuts with little amounts of clarity, this is very effective and leaves the viewer in suspense, pushing them to want to watch the film
· The use of consistent dark lighting, this is used to make the viewer feel nervous
· The use of isolated areas is important because it makes the viewer feel alone and very conscience. Using an urban location could give the viewer a sense of belonging
· The use of props (weapons) and showing blood and wounds to make the audience feel uneasy
· The use of a victim, whether they’re defenceless or not
· Many horror film teaser trailers also leave their viewer in suspense with one last scare
· The editing of the piece, most of them are filmed unsteadily to put across the emotion of anxiety and fear.
Horror Film Director: George Romero
George Romero is an American film director, screenwriter, and editor best known for his daunting and ironical horror films about a hypothetical zombie apocalypse. After graduating in 1960, he began his career shooting short films and commercials. He had done one commercial film, which was a segment for Mister Rogers' Neighborhood in which Mr. Rogers underwent a tonsillectomy. This inspired George Romero to go into the horror film business. This then lead him to form an image ten production with nine in the late 1960s, and produced Night of the Living Dead (1968). The movie, directed by Romero and co-written with John A. Russo, became a cult classic and a defining moment for modern horror cinema.
Later on, he had produced three other movies ‘There’s always vanilla’ (1971), ‘Jacks wife/Season of the witch’ (1972) and ‘The Crazies’ (1973) unfortunately, these films were not as successful as ‘Night of the Living Dead’ or his other works, but in the year of 1978, Romero went back to the zombie genre Dawn of the Dead . This was shot with a budget of $500 000. The filmed had made over $55 million and because of this, the film was ranked one of the top cut films by weekly entertainment in 2003. He then decided to leave the franchise from Image Ten, which screwed up the copyright on the original which then allowed the film to enter into public domain. This meant that Romero and his original investors were not entitled to any profits from the film's video releases.
In the late 1980’s Romero’s career began to decline. His last widely released film was the ‘Day of the Dead’ (1985). It did not take in much at the box office. His latest two efforts were ‘The Dark Half’ (1993) and ‘Bruiser’ (2000). Even the remake of Romero’s first film ‘Night of the living Dead’ (1990) was a box office failure. In 2005,(19 years after) ‘Day of the Dead’ (1985) with major studio distribution, he returned to his most famous series and horror sub genre he created with ‘Land of the Dead’ (2005), a further exploration of the destruction of modern society by the undead, that received both excellent and indifferent reviews and even topped the United States box-office in its first week of release.
Three Different Horror Films
Orphan (2009) Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra
The film opened at number 4 in the box office for its opening weekend, making $12,770,000 total, its gross altogether was $78,337,373.
The tragic loss of their unborn child has devastated Kate and John, taking a toll on both their marriage and Kate's fragile psyche, as she is plagued by nightmares and haunted by demons from her past. Struggling to regain some semblance of normalcy in their lives, the couple decides to adopt a child. At the local orphanage, both John and Kate find themselves strangely drawn to a young girl named Esther. Almost as soon as they welcome Esther into their home, however, an alarming series of events begins to unfold, leading Kate to believe that there is something wrong with Esther--this seemingly angelic little girl is not what she appears to be. Concerned for the safety of her family, Kate tries to get John and others to see past Esther's sweet façade, but her warnings go unheeded until it may be too late-for everyone.
The Crazies (1973 & 2010) Directed by George Romero and Breck Eisner
The film opened at number 3 with $16,067,552, by May 2010, the film has grossed an estimated $50 million worldwide.
David Dutten (Timothy Olyphant) is sheriff of Ogden Marsh, an American town with happy, law-abiding citizens. One night, one of them comes to a school baseball game with a loaded shotgun, ready to kill. Another man burns down his own house, after locking his wife and young son in a closet inside. Within days, the town has transformed into a sickening asylum; people whom days ago lived quiet, unremarkable lives have now become depraved, bloodthirsty killers, hiding in the darkness with guns and knives. Sheriff Dutten tries to make sense of what's happening as the horrific, nonsensical violence escalates. Something is infecting the citizens of Ogden Marsh...with insanity.
Now complete anarchy reigns as one by one the townsfolk succumb to an unknown toxin and turn sadistically violent. In an effort to keep the madness contained, the government uses deadly force to close off all access and won't let anyone in or out ,even those uninfected. The few still sane find themselves trapped: Sheriff Dutten; his pregnant wife, Judy ; Becca ,an assistant at the medical center; and Russell ,Dutten's deputy and right-hand man. Forced to band together, an ordinary night becomes a horrifying struggle for survival as they do their best to get out of town alive.
Now complete anarchy reigns as one by one the townsfolk succumb to an unknown toxin and turn sadistically violent. In an effort to keep the madness contained, the government uses deadly force to close off all access and won't let anyone in or out ,even those uninfected. The few still sane find themselves trapped: Sheriff Dutten; his pregnant wife, Judy ; Becca ,an assistant at the medical center; and Russell ,Dutten's deputy and right-hand man. Forced to band together, an ordinary night becomes a horrifying struggle for survival as they do their best to get out of town alive.
The hills have eyes (1977 & 2006) Directed by Wes Craven
It earned $15.5 million in its opening weekend in the U.S.
An idyllic American family travelling through the great American southwest, but their trip takes a detour into an area closed off from the public, but more importantly from society. An area originally used by the U.S. Government for nuclear testing that was intended to be empty. When the Carter's car breaks down at the old site, they're stranded. As the Carters may soon realize that what seemed like a car casually breaking down, might actually be a trap. This trap might be perpetrated by the inhabitants of the site who aren't pulling a prank, but are out to set up a gruesome massacre.
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