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 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
1890s-1920s
•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.
1930s-1940s
•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.
1950s-1960s
•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.
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.
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.
•‘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).
Classic horror movies
Modern horror movies
Conventions/Technical aspects
Sound:
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 colours
Examples include chiaroscuro, low key,
hard, practical etc...
Mise-en-scene:
-Characters and narrative
-Props
Cinematography:
Editing:
SFX:
Repertoire of elements
Iconography:
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
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.
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...
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