2. Key Genre Conventions (and Distinct)
Knowing the key horror conventions helped my understanding of what makes
a horror film effective. I learnt about settings which helped understand the
type of ‘scary’ places where horror films are usually filmed, narrative
structure helped see how horror films are organised in terms of narrative (the
use of climaxes and features such as how the specific character types are
normally placed in terms of narrative. Character types are a big part of media
and I learnt the stereotypical types of characters in horror. Such as the villain
generally a serial killer/monster etc. I also learnt about themes in a horror
film that helped brainstorm what type of horror theme to do from the most
popular good vs hero's to other themes involved with it such as suicide,
depression, religion etc. Technical codes was another important aspect I
learnt about including key camera angles, sounds and lighting. Lastly
Iconography, such as generic low key lighting and props such as knifes and
masks.
3. Narrative (Halloween and the Crazies)
Narrative was part of ‘distinct’ and I gained understanding for it well. Narrative is one of the
most important aspects that I have learnt about however and I compared the narrative
theory in both Halloween and the Crazies. I learnt about Classical Hollywood Structure,
which is a narrative structure based on Todorovs ideas. I didn’t think this structure as correct
though because the structure doesn’t fit all media texts. It impacted our ideas as we knew
this simple narrative wouldn’t be a sufficient structure for our narrative to go by. Also
learned about Propps narrative which explained to me about stereotypical stereotypes and I
identified some of these in both Halloween and the crazies however not all of them. It
impacted our ideas as we gained knowledge of all the different character types available to
use. ‘Binary Opposition’ the term from Claude Levi-Strauss explaining the contrast of aspects
in horror. The obvious one being ‘good’ and ‘evil’ and others such as ‘day and night’ or
‘promiscuous and virginal’ which I identified in the films. This is simple narrative featre yet a
effective idea to remember for our ideas.
Lastly I learnt about Bordwell and Thompson explaining the how the pattern of narrative
causing effect to the viewer. Events also that make the audience come up with plots In their
heads even if they aren't shown so clear in the movie. I found a few examples of this in the
movies as well. This research was a big help and I understood from it how in trailers this is
shown and the viewer try’s the figure out a narrative from muddled up clips.
4. Representation(cabin in the woods)
I learnt about how representation of horror is quite a key aspect
in horror films. I learnt about the four character roles for a
woman- Domestic, Sexual, Consumer and Martial. In cabin in the
woods we identified how woman are looked upon as objects in
the film. There is a typical ‘dumb blonde’ made to look like a
‘slut’ and there is a contrasting girl character who’s made to
seem boyish. From this we have been impacted and learnt how
films can use different characters as objects and girls can be used
for a promiscuous view to men watching the film.
5. Audience and institutions(woman in
black)
We learnt about the importance of targeting to specific
audiences for films. Looking at woman in black and identifying
aspects such as using a popular character from something as a
main actor that draws in audiences from the other popular
media (having Daniel Radcliffe in Woman in black brought in
Harry Potter fans). I also learnt about how marketing can create
a big impact on a audience. For example, Radio adverts, posters,
merchandise, billboards etc. This has impacted the idea of how
having a successful and eye catching poster can be a big impact
for a wider audience.
6. Audience and institutions- My
audience feedback
Our questionnaire allowed us to get audience feedback and were
able to get feedback to get ideas for our trailer. We asked
questions such as what is their favourite horror sub genre-
finding out that our respondents favoured psychological horror,
making us want to exaggerate more psychological features in our
film. We learnt a lot also from when we showed the
respondents our plot and asked for their opinion on it. We had
suggesting's for improvement such as it needs more subplots
which we bared in mind to include in our full story plot.
