Lucas Baxter is the protagonist hero in the horror film "Crossed Out". The film uses techniques common to the genre like hand-held cameras and an iconic weapon (axe). It follows a narrative structure where a haunting event from the killer's past returns to kill again, targeting the children of those who bullied the killer in the past. The film fits Todorov's theory of equilibrium being disrupted by a return of the repressed from the killer's past. Research found the primary horror film audience is youth aged 15-25 who prefer films with jump scares over cheap special effects.

2. Don’t
Ignore
Setting - We set our trailer in a dark, abandoned house
Technical Codes - Point of view shooting using hand-held cameras to put the
audience in the killers/hero’s shoes
Iconography - Bladed weapon (axe) is an iconic tool of choice in the horror
genre
Narrative Structure - Haunting event from killers past returns to kill again.
Parents past of bullying killer comes back to haunt their children in Crossed
Out
Characters - Main protagonist Lucas Baxter is the hero. Erin Gold is the final
girl
Themes – Binary opposition: Good vs. evil: Lucas vs. Jacob. Return of the
repressed
Genre

3. Todorov – Crossed Out fits intoTodorov’s theory as it starts off with an equilibrium, with the main
character living a normal college life. Then the killer returns to haunt because of the characters’
parents’ past. Lucas recognises the evil and attempts to defeat it. Then new equilibrium will end
with Lucas’ life back to normal with the evil gone, but without many of his friends who have been
killed off.
Propp’s Character Roles:
• Hero – Lucas Baxter
• Princess – Erin Gold
• Villain – Jacob the killer
Claude Levi-Strauss – Binary Opposition:
• Good vs. Evil/Lucas vs. Killer (Jacob)
• Past vs. Present/Killer’s past being bullied/ revenge on bullies offspring
Bordwell and Thompson – Cause and Effect in terms of time and space:
The killer’s past is referenced to being bullied, and skips years forward to the present where he
gets revenge on the bullies through their children.
NarrativeTheory

4. Representation of how women are portrayed in the horror genre.
Jeremy Tunstall roles:
• Domestic – housewives
• Marital – content mothers
• Sexual – object not a person
• Consumer – eager
Typical girl is blonde, drug taking, alcoholic and pretty.They are sexualised and killed off early on
in the movie.
Final girl is not into illegal substances, drinking and partying. Instead she is innocent, hard-
working and quiet.They tend not to be blonde to stay away from the typical slutty stereotype in
the horror genre. She also fights back against the evil/killer.
Erin Gold, the final girl in Crossed Out fits into the final girl character profile, as she is innocent
and well behaved. She is the victim of masculine rage and isn’t killed off without a care.
Representation

5. Sent out questionnaires to gather research into what sort of audience is
backing the horror genre.
Asked questions including:
• Gender and age – which age group and sex is more into the horror genre
• Where do you watch horror films – the preferred environment (friends
house)
• Favourite feature in horror films – do you like blood, torture, mystery?
• Likes and Dislikes in horror films – special effects, cheap and tacky props
After gathering research, we discovered that the horror genre has a majority
of youth as a fan base, ranging from around 15 to 25. With this in mind we
set the age at 18, basically in the middle. WE also discovered that a popular
feature in horror movies is jump scares, which we took on board and
sculpted into our own trailer. People didn’t tend to enjoy cheap special
effects with blood, explosions etc. so we tended to avoid this.
Audiences and Institutions