Genre research
Horror-stalker/Slasher
By Sylvia Rogo
My chosen genre
The 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, alarm, and
invoke our hidden worst fears. They center on the dark side of life,
forbidden and strange/alarming events.
History of horror movies
1890s-1920s
•First viewing of supernatural events in numerous of the silent
shorts
•‘The House of the Devil’ 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.
1930s-1940s
•American film producers popularised horror films. They produced a series of
successful gothic features such as ‘Frankenstein’(1931) and ‘Dracula’(1931)
some of which blended science fiction films with Gothic horror.
•Iconic make-up designs were created by Universal studios.
1950s-1960s
•The tone of horror films moved from the gothic toward concerns that some saw as
being more relevant to the late-Century audience due to the advancement of
technology.
•Horror films fall into three sub-genres: the horror-of-personality film, the horror of-armageddon film and the horror –of-the-demonic film.
•Production companies such as Hammer Film Productions, focused on producing
horror films.
•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.
Source
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horror_film
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.
Source
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horror_film
1990s-2000s
•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.
•Final destination (2000) marked a successful revival of clever,
teen-centered horror and spawned three sequels.
•‘The Others’ (2001)-the first horror movie of 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).
Source
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horror_film
Classic horror movies
Modern horror movies
Conventions/Technical aspects
Lighting:
•Chiaroscuro
•Low key
• Hard lighting
•Practical lighting
Cinematography:
Mise-en-scene:
•Villain/monsters, victims,
•Mysterious/spooky setting (e.g. Haunted
house on top of a deserted hill)
•Knife, chainsaw...
•Make up.
Sound:
•Creates atmosphere and context in horror movies.
•Influences the viewers emotions towards the moving
image it is placed against.
•Orchestral music
•Long deep tones-create tension
•High pitched strings-indicate stress or panic
•Foley Track
•Mickey mousing
SFX:
•Ambient sound -background noise for a
scene (e.g. Thunder and lightning, rain, the
wind blowing, crickets humming etc...
•Highlighted sound, e.g. Heartbeat.
•Silence
Repertoire of elements
Iconography:
The Blaire witch
project
Sorority row
Ideology themes and narrative structure
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
...?
Marketing and advertising
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blair_Witch_Project
The BLAIRE WITCH PROJECT
Other media
$249 million worldwide
The Blair Witch Project is thought to
be the first widely released film
marketed primarily on the Internet.
Paranormal activity
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
The_Last_Broadcast_(film)
http://entertainment.timesonline.
co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainmen
t/film/article6905041.ece
http://www.blairwitch.com/
http://www.woodsmovie.com/
The BLAIRE WITCH PROJECT
Trailer analysis
http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi9044249/
The BLAIRE WITCH PROJECT
Poster analysis
Background image (dark
tall forest)...
Text that makes it seem
like this movie is based/is
a real story (USP)
Iconography
Main image- taken at
high angle, lighting
(torch)...
Masthead...
Extra
information...release
date
The BLAIRE WITCH PROJECT
Shared marketing conventions
The BLAIRE WITCH PROJECT
My overall conclusion...
Genre research conclusion
Thank You For
Watching