Planning and Research - Wendy

A2 MEDIA

For my A2 Media planning and research coursework, I have decided that in order to strengthen and develop my knowledge of horror films on a whole, it would be beneficial for me to individually evaluate a variation of horror films, in order to help me decide what genre would best to choose and I narrowed it down to the 3 sub-genre.

3 Sub-genres

• J-Horror
• Psychological Thriller
• Slasher

Horror films on a whole seem to “play to” the conventions and her are the many conventions -

• The “bad guy” is the antagonist usually has a connection to the main character
• Main character is usually a girl with a unisex name i.e. Sydney in Scream and is technologically refereed to as the final girl as she is destined to survive to the end of the film/
• Main character refrains from teenage behaviour i.e. under-age drinking or having sex.
• Killer usually has a weapon which can be a recognisable symbolise to the audience i.e. The Nightmare In Elm Street Freddie Crugar has his claw hands.
• “Screen Queen “ were the director purposely puts a attractive female character who is destined to be killer by the killer (antagonist).
• Usually fits a love story in the movie.
• A scene of where the victim is running away from the killer and suddenly falls .i.e. Drew Barrymore in scream, to make the audience not only on the edge, but it usually helps the audience interacts/scream at the TV.
• Usually good against evil, good usually wins.
• Stock character .i.e. The main character close friends who will die in the film
• Red herring the one character who the audience supposed to suspect is the killer.

Now for my planning and research I specifically choose 3 horror films of specific genres as listed above, in order to obtain a inspirational factor from it and to help me decide what genre I would like to adopt for my teaser trailer.

The first film I watched was a classic phycological horror called “ Rosemary's Baby” (1968) which is a classical cult movie, which has inclusion of demons and the supernatural its about a women being raped in her dreams and gives birth to Satan's child. I found the storyline quiet disturbing and I think the film was breaking bounders, which was kinda of taboo subject in the 60's, the film established a new trend within the horror film industry and the inclusion of the supernatural.

Although this film did give me inspirational drive some of the film content would be seen as offensive if I used it within my work although some minor aspects of the film would help strengthen my work .

For J- Horror I watched “ Ichi The Killer ” (2001) which again used very graphic and crude content as it included prostitution and scenes of torture ! Although I think the film had traces of phycological thriller it did succeed to inspire me and I love the thesis of Japanese horror films which is 2 + 2 = 5 which basically means expect the unexpected within Japanese films especially Japanese horror. Although the films content was hard to watch the storyline & the teaser was amazing as I feel aspects of the films the less torturous parts would be good to generate a good teaser trailer!

Ichi The Killer trailer showed fast paced movement which not only reveal the best parts of the film, but also showcased the ability to captivate the audiences attention, I hope I can use this technique within my teaser trailer!

And the last film I decided to watch , from the Slasher was both “The Nightmare On Elm Street “ the 1984 & 2010 versions, which saw the newer version still keeping the main/important aspects and taking a modern approach with the development of technology which helped strengthen the film which can been viewed in the older version, in turn still contain the flavour that can be seen within the 1984 version. The 1984 version was highly praised on having a massive impact on the horror genre on a whole, as its a recognisable franchise. I think I would use this within my teaser in that I could make a significant weapon used by the killer!

The horror director I researched about is Wes Craven as he is very famous and influential within the horror industry, when analysing the film he directed and written I noticed that through various films he paved the way for other directors by stepping out of the expectations of what a horror film content should have and creating a new thesis to which other director could follow; immutable and develop.

The Main Films which catapulted him were -

• The Nightmare On Elm Street
  which is very influential within the horror film industry as it gave a new meaning to horror film!
• The Last House On The LEFT
• The Hills Have Eyes
• Vampire In Brooklyn
• Iconic Scream Films
  Which again catapulted a new type of horror films but still obtains the main aspects of what horror films are known foe
• Dairy Of The Dead
• Red Eye
• Cursed

The Main Conventions of a horror teaser trailer -

• The teaser aim is to establish that its a horror film, which uses technical aspect such as dark lighting.
• Gives away snippets of the plot but not the entire storyline
• Fast paced movement plus quick paced imagery to captivate the audience plus alarm the audience
• Very sharp paced glimpses
• Jumps and several gore scenes to establish genre
• Invoke audience fears
• Capture and entertain the audience
• Music which has a continuity that matched the scene well
• Snippets of infliction of pain
• Reveals the main action of the film!