Genre research and interlectual texts

The music in a horror film has one common type which starts off slowly as a build up to usualy when a killing is taking place then quickens up the pace to interfere with your heartbeat to intensify the situation. In all horror films this music is used to show the dramatic effect in one way or another. This music is generaly repeated whenever a killing is taking place to ensure the audience is aware of what is happening and signifys to the audience there is fear/horror related to this piece of music. The most famous example of this is most probably Jaws (imdb)

The theme tune to Jaws.

The location of most horror films are usualy romote and abandoned therefore enforcing the atmospheric feeling of being alone/being watched which makes it uncomfortable for the audience to be there as can be realistic in many situations. Scream (house), wrong turn (woods/abandoned road), sorority row (house party/outside middle of nowhere), The shining( in a house)Old school horror is set at night and in locations such as graveyards, woods, moors, beaches, holiday destinations, countryside where stormy/cold weather is frequent unless a comedy factor is introduced where a hot climate may occur such as club dread:


Blue or green Filters are often used over the lense to signfy cold blood/cold atmosphere and to singfy nightime. They are use in Cry Wolf and Bride of Chucky.
There are also many stereotypical characters  and factors which a succesful horror film will incllude such as:
1) Scream Queen Blonde 'Male Gaze' Exposed.
2) Teenage Characters- use of slang and comedy.
3) Final girl Brunette Virgin Type,
4)Sex, drugs, music and alcohol use.
5)A weapon such as knife, saw or gun.
6)An unexposed killer.
7)Figure of authority
8)Boyfriend- jokey/immature.
9)False scares for example in Hell night (when window slams)

Teenagers/Adults are generaly aware of the codes and conventions of horror films, however a novelist Seth Graeme smith wrote a book how to survive a horror movie he outlines 7 things a character does to be destined to die they are:
Curiosity
Sex=having sex in care will ensure death
Unattractiveness= makes you a prime target to a killer.
Independance
Doubt
Maschismo
Irresponsibility.

THE KILLERS MOTIVE: In many horror films the killer is jelous/doesnt agree with a couple who is sexually active, so kills them as a form of punishment. In the SAW films, the killers motive is that every person they play games with has done something wrong in their life or that they should be ashamed of and punished them.

The killer also often has a point of view shot which is very commonly used in most horror films, shakey camera work is used to signfy someone is being watched and heavy breathing is usualy used to indicate someone is there, which again messes with yor heartbeat.

The killers are generaly male and masked such as halloween and scream.

TARGET AUDIENCE

INSPIRED BY: We watched a number of different horror films throughout the group which we sinpire us such as scream (comical value we used), sorority row (young cast influence) blair witch project (situation of camping) and halloween ( stereotypical characters, final girl and scream queen), and many more.

AGE: Our target audience would be generaly 15-18 year olds and young adults due to the fact that our cast are aged 17-18 therefore a similiar age group and can relate to the young people they see on screen not having an oppositional reading. We tried to use youth orientated props to anchor the young audience is such as use of alcohol, cigarrettes and fashionable clothing. Slang is also incorparated into the dialogue such as 'im going for a slash', where a young audience would follow a preferred reading, an adult/older audience may follow an oppositional reading. The story line is quite unsophisticated in the sense it is fairly simple to follow and discover whats going to happen, therefore an adult audience are stereotypicaly not as intrested in these types of storylines where as younger audiences tend to me drawn to the aspects of the horror/slasher genre.

GENDER: The gender our film targets can be considered both male and female for different aspects we have put in. We put in our  blonde 'scream queen' to attract the male audience and applying the theory of the male gaze where the audience will enjoy it due to her being present on the screen. Males may also enjoy it due to the factor of gore and blood as an exciting factor of horror and mise en scene descions such as alcohol use and smoking which relates to their intrests. There is humour within our storyline/plot which when considering the 'comedy genre' both genders are drawn to it. However women are more likley to enjoy it due to our use of the 'final girl' character where a sensible virgin type survives until the end, making this character a strong role model enforcing the old school saying of 'girl power' and female independance, however they may be put off due to the scream queen being brutally murdered from being sexually active.

ETHNICITY: As we didn't include any other ethnicity other than white british this film may not appeal to other ethnicitys such as chinese or afro carribean. However we didn't make this choice as to have an effect on the film and in doing it have realised there are many all white cast horror films which have become very succesful such as sorority row, the last house on the left, scream and wrong turn.

Wrong Turn Trailer


Scream Trailer



NATIONALITY/REGION: Our cast all have northern accents and our setting is set in the north of England, West Yorkshire. Our film is low budget therefore not a completley important factor to anchor the target audience in however still has potential to be succesful as such companies warp x make famously low budget horror films such as 'Dead Mans Shoes and Donkey Punch'.
Dead Mans Shoes Trailer.

Melissa Emmie and Emmas PODCAST 1

Distributer Budget and exhibition

Distributor:
As our film is low budget a suitable distributor would be optimum releasing(our film is set in the north of england- suitable) and warp films/warp x digital film companies, warp x have released two succesful horror films such as Dead Mans Shoes and Donkey Punch.


Budget: Our film was entirely free, we borrowed cameras and boom mike, we made our own special effects and blood, we worn our own clothes, used empty beer bottles and all props were from home. We would still be entirley very low budget if we chose to create the entire film as everything would be the same as location is free also.
Existing media product budgets: The Blair witch Project had a budget of $60,000 a very low Hollywood budget, not something you see often showing on 1,101 screen worldwide and bringing in a gross of $140,530 (estimate) in its first month. While Donkey punch was a low budget of $1,000,000.

Exhibition: As our film has few anchorage in it that would appeal to a U.S audience and as it uses english slang in the dialogue an american audience may have an oppositional reading to, it would not have any cross-over to the U.S. So would most probably go straight onto DVD film exhibiton.

National BBFC Rating and our rating.

We classify our film as a 15 rating due to a number of different resons such as:

1)No offensive language against any social/minority or religious groups.

2)The violence is bloody and apparant however it is not not dwelled upon                                                3)Weapons arn't used frequently and arn't over exposed violently.

4)Underage drinking is portrayed on screen however drugs are not present.

5)Horror is a present theme however expressed not through violent factors except a mild few.

Other films rated 15:

Prom Night

Sorority Row

Club Dread

Mise en scene, props SFX etc.

When considering mise en scene and props we wants to consider representation of social groups,  such as youth and young/adult teen  which are also our prime target audience. We included relatable and recognisable which our audience could identify but also which represented stereotypes in the 'horror' genre. We want to create verisimlitude throughout the opening through the usage of our props

A number of different mise en scene and props we included were: Clothing, alcohol substitutes, tent, magazines, cigarettes, knife (for killing), mobile phones and other technology.

Characters:
Final Girl: she will be dressed conservatively and unexposed to signify her personality as sensible/bookish, she will wear a jumper jeans and boots hopefuly to make sure she is covered up. It is also to represent she is not as sexually active as the rest of the the girls.

First Girl Killed: This girl will be exposed and have a lot of skin on show, she will be blonde and will have a bubbly personality. She will wear a tank top/skirt and wear alot of makeup to show she is exposed and sexually active.

Hooded Killer: Wears a hood to hide identity to represent fear, it will also be in dark colours (black and face will be covered to keep the sense of narrative inigma and all other boy cast members will wear hoods and dark clothing to represent stereotypical views on youth which our audience can relate to as it is the same age group (teens).

We want to then use alcohol and drug subsitutes to represent that they are drinking alcohol and taking drugs therefore getting into a vunerable state. It can also be related to the representation of teenage/youth which our audience will understand being the same age group.

We want to include  mobile phones,  teenage magazines, logos and uptodate items to signify the age group, the time period and to give expostion into the storyline.

Micro drama and Narrative Theory

Theorist Todorov
 states there are three stages a story invloves, at the beginning the equilibrium which is a peacful state, then in the middle dis-equilibrium where an event takes places which disrupts this peaceful state and then there is a new equilibrium at the end where a new peacful state occurs and somethign happens to evolve the disruption.

Another Theorist Vladmir Prop states there are 8 stereotypical characters in any story these consist of:
THE HERO:
THE VILLAN:
THE DISPATCHER:
THE HELPER:
THE DONER:
THE PRINCESS:
HER FATHER:
THE FALSE HERO:

Our micro dramas plot consisted of the villian with a teleporting watch( majic object and doner ) who captures the princess, whilst hurting the false hero. The false hero is then found by the hero and the helper who goes to the dispatcher and gets the message from him to go and defeat the villan and save the princess, they succeed in this mission and save the princess, detroying the watch (majic object) whilst doing it. The father didnt play a part in the film due to the lack of members in our group only being six of us. When everything is done with, the false hero then trys to take recognition for saving the princess however the helper goes on to tell her who the real hero is.