2.1 - The Horror Genre

The Horror Genre

A Horror movies main goal is to fright the target audience by toying with their fears. Gothic, Supernatural and reoccurring themes in the genre, used in The Exorcist (1973). Plots in Horror movies usually surround the general viewer’s fears, an evil force or some kind, a tragic event or a supernatural entity entering the world. Prime examples for a generic Horror movie are; Ghosts, Aliens, Zombies, Witches, Serial Killers. The first creation of a Horror movie is Le Manoir du Diable (The Haunted Castle) in late 1980s, a silent movie in which encounters with the Devil and other ghostly phantoms. Criticised because its intentions were to create a humours movie, but it’s dark Gothic themes turned it into what is called the first Horror movie. As movies started to adding speech into their movies, Universal Pictures started off their early versions of Horror film series. Dracula (1931) by Tod Browning, Frankenstein (1932) by James Whales, both using Boris Karloff as their iconic monsters. Frankenstein was the only one in the series to generate sequels/spin-offs such as; Bride of Frankenstein (1935) and Son of Frankenstein (1939). Another early iconic horror movie was George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead (1968). This particular movie pulled the genre away from the strict Gothic tone directors had stuck to in the past.

 Examples of iconic Horror movies:

Saw – A psychopath has two men trapped in a room, set on teaching them the true meaning of life through his twisted games. The horrific traps are full of explicit gore and violence, crafted to make the audience uncomfortable and full of fear. (Embed a scene from movie with trap)

A Nightmare on Elm Street – An evil being for a distant world enters the everyday world and targets on a group of kids, killing them through their nightmares. Using nightmares as the tool of which the villain kills the characters is very effective because it’s as though it could happen to the audience. (Embed scene in which Freddy enters a characters dream)

There are many sub-genres of Horror, such as; Comedy-Horror, Teen-Horror, Slasher, Zombie Horror. Since the birth of Horror movies, many directors have attempted to pull away from the typical Gothic scene, one monster and dark tones. Over time however, new generations of directors have tried to diversify and revamp the genre. Shaun of the Dead (2004)is classed as the greatest Comedy-Horror to date, as it also incorporates themes of Romance and also Zombie Horror, a huge leap from where the conventions started.

Conventions -
Isolated places, such as a ghost town or a dark tunnel are very typical settings for Horror movies. Showing off the isolated area creates the feeling of the character being alone with no help; usual doomed to suffer at the hands of the monster in the movie. Distant planets away from Earth are a popular setting for the Predator movies. The psychological feeling of not being on Earth and being in a completely different world is effective to stay with the audience and to essentially mess with their minds. Low angles in a Horror movie can project the power of a character in the scene, usually the monster, and a high angle shot can show how vulnerable and helpless the victim is. Handheld shots have become increasingly popular to use as of the movie Cloverfield. This shot puts the audience in the moment of the scene and in the movie and becomes a character among what is happening. Traditionally, iconic monsters were used to create fear among the audience, Werewolves, Vampires, and Mummies etc. Satanic symbols can be used to connote a strange entity being the source of fear and terror, also the mystery behind the mythology and history of the gods and goddesses can be an easy way to create an atmosphere unknown horror. The characters used within Horror movies are always very similar, as though it’s a strict code:

•       The Main Protagonist – Often the Hero/Victim of the movie.
• The Villain – Usually a disfigured monster, a social freak or Murderer
•  Annoying characters – Usually the first few to die
• Token Black guy – Often the first to die while trying to fight the Villa
• Damsel in Distress – Has to be saved by the Protagonist
• Some sort of authority – Either believes the main characters or doesn’t. Sometimes has an encounter with the Villain and dies. 

Feedback - Miss Spencer

You have really worked hard to get a great variety of films analysed Harvey, make sure you use what you have learnt in your planning of your film. Some of your analysis is detailed and you have made use of the DISTINCT format on many occasions.  

• Use DISTINCT in every post - and talk about all of the elements
• Just get the openings of the film embedded into your posts
• You need many more screen shots, ones that are relevant to the points that you are making.

I would appreciate it if you can reply to this post once you have addressed the points above.

Task 2.1 - Hitch Analysis (Rom-Com)

The movie opens up with various shots of women, going about everyday tasks and among them, closes ups of men nervously glancing at specific women, with expressions of defeat. Upbeat music introduces the voice over saying how women think from their prospective of a relationship. As the voice over begins to explain further how women will be feeling at certain points in a relationship, shots of couples not working well or not even starting are shown. The voice over creates a sound bridge linking all the scenes together, and creates a fluid transition between them allowing the audience to follow along easily. A good technique to opening the movie is the character breaks the 4^th wall, addressing the audience directly and intrigues them with witty, comedic dialogue to draw the audience in. The opening to this movie has all the conventions of a traditional Rom-Com, being from a female prospective and predominantly women as the characters, but this movie tells the story through a male’s point of view which is a different take on the genre and expectations of the movie most audiences will have. 
 

Task 2.1 - Cabin In The Woods Analysis (Horror)

Cabin in the Woods opens up with CGI blood pouring sequence, changing and forming into quiet graphic images of people lying dead, being sacrificed and worshipping Gods through it. Immediately, all these fall true to the conventions of the horror genre and are what it desired from the target audience such as teenagers and early adults. Accompanied by a dark tone of music, it really sets up the tone of any typical horror movie, as the music reaches its peak, the camera cuts to a medium shot of two businessmen talking about family life. This sudden change in atmosphere is canny in a way that it creates a humours transition to set up what these people are doing. Reverse shots from the 2 characters indulge the audience into the conversation as they hint at things going wrong in certain areas of the world. Having a mystery at the opening of a horror movie is very effective as it allows the audience to be engaged into the movie at an early stage and gives them a reason to pay attention to it and want to stay around for the whole movie.

A cheesy dramatic title jumps on screen; this allows the transition of the previous scene to develop into the introduction of the characters. This is very effective as just jumping from the horrific intro to character introductions would feel a little disconnecting, but gradually becoming less serious allows this to become possible. The camera pans up from street level to a window with a woman packing a bag with conventional teenage movie playing in the background, cutting to reverse shots of her engaging in dialogue with another female character. This introduces the very obvious damsel in distresses that will be in the movie. An extended medium shot of a new character, the conventional hero of the movie is introduced but very cleverly instead of just being the typical, tough hero he’s also smart. I feel the effectiveness of this is that the director has introduced and followed typical conventions of the genre, but also breaks them too.

Task 2.1 - Signs Analysis (Thriller)

The opening title screen opens up with the movie’s title in front of a tinted blue background. This is a typical convention among some horror movies, The Ring and Saw being just a few. It gives off the feeling of being cold, isolated and sort of in a void of no escape. The background music starts of eerily quiet and progresses to get louder and louder, getting more frantic as the credits roll on, this is effective as it hints at the fast paced direction, intensity and chaos the movie will take. The shot booms on screen without much warning of a back garden, seemingly almost pristine, As though it’s too perfect and something just doesn’t seem right about it. Cutting to a man in a bed waking up and he himself not feeling right neither, close ups of his face and his happy family in a photo frame, the man himself being in a Priests uniform. A medium shot of him brushing his teeth reveals a faded spot where a cross used to be, implying he had faith but has now lost it somehow.

A girl screaming alarms him and moves so quickly and unnatural it seems he’s very protective over his children. After finding his children, his daughter seems as though she is still in a dream, the look the father gives her is one of certainty. The father then finds his son who says, “I think God did it”, implying his son and perhaps the whole family still have some faith and that God made lies ahead of them, a medium tracking shot, shows the father going towards what his son showed him, which also suggest the father hasn't lost faith, contradictory to what the stained cross showed earlier on in opening scene. An establishing panning shot of the entire crop field reveals huge crop circles, and as the camera slowly continues to pan to reveal more, the circles just seem endless, on-going.

Task 2.1 - Drive Analysis (Thriller)

The movie opens up with a scene that is constructed to introduce the audience to the world of The Driver, how meticulous and calculated he is. In a panning shot, we see that he already has a map with different routes planned out, and with the addition of a voice over, we learn how he has rules to what he does and how in control and comfortable he is in this world. The camera continues to pan right, and then up to a medium shot of The Driver looking over the city cloaked in darkness expresses also how in control he is and with a scorpion on his jacket to give the character a typical protagonist looks for the audience to support and like throughout the movie. The camera pans left again to see basketball game quietly plays on in the background, to the naked eye, this might just seem like a casual pass time for this character, but under analysis this element is all a part of The Drivers plan. After a long angle shot looking up at The Driver getting to where he needs to be, the audience sits in silence as we look up at him, looking so calm and controlled in his world, in his car.

A medium shot of a new character in a garage smoking is cut to just before the Driver enters the scene, his boss Shannon is very talkative, unlike The Driver himself, also offering him a list of drugs as he’s concerned for The Driver, ‘You getting any sleep?’. This could suggest that Shannon is somewhat a father figure to The Driver, which creates a kind of relatable compassion for the character. As Shannon introduces The Driver to the car he’ll be using in the getaway, a song called Tick of The Clock by the Chromatics starts to play in the background as The Driver begins to finally look up in front of him from putting on his gloves and admire the car he’ll be using. The music coming in at this particular point is iconic as from The Drivers perspective he’s starting to feel excited and in a way anxious about wanting to drive the car. The music pulses away in the background and begins to get louder as he gets into the car and cuts to an establishing shot over the city.

Close ups of The Drivers face are shown as he’s driving to further show how controlled he is over the situation,  another close up of him setting his watch on a timer shows how meticulous he is in his method and actions. He sets up a radio to track police movements and also puts on the car radio to listen to the same Basketball game he was listening to in his apartment. As one of the criminals gets into the car, close ups and extreme close ups of The Driver and his watch are shown to give more insight into his character, he has rules and if they’re not stuck by he will drive and leave them. As the second crook enters the car, he snaps his head back in front of him onto the road as though he can finally drive away. The next few scenes are him getting the criminals away from the crime and towards safety. The camera however never leaves the car; it always stays close to The Driver and is done to capture his way of managing in this world and to show the getaway from the perspective of The Driver and not to show the Hollywood style getaway chase that a lot of audiences expected in this movie.  The Driver successfully gets the criminals safely away under the huge crowds and confusion of the Basketball ending. The characters plan and control finished so perfectly as he casually walks away from the car and even coolly slips passed Police Officers, showing just how comfortable he feels with his plan and within his criminal world.