1. Tobe Hooper A master of horror Presented by Gareth Williams Task 2 HN video. Additional information can be found in the notes section below each slide. Furthermore, references are contained in the last slide.
2. Miniature biography Born January 25th, 1943. He’s an American director and screenwriter. Mainly working with horror movies. Parents owned a small theatre. Attended radio, film and television classes at university. Studied drama. Memorable movies include: The original ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’, ‘Poltergeist’ and ‘Salem’s Lot’.
3. Influences of Tobe Hooper Director Alfred Hitchcock Director George Romero Lack of scary movies and ‘getting your moneys worth’.
4. Filming Techniques He frequently likes to ‘isolate’ his characters, in his horrors. His use of close shots particularly in chase scenes, often of a scared or running victim. His use of dark sets, often with stronger light on the subject. “I don't believe in using too much graphic violence, although I've done it. It's better to be suggestive and to allow the viewer to fill in the blanks in their minds.” – Tobe Hooper “You've got to send a physical sensation through and not let them off the hook. I like to make it faster and faster and faster and pumping and banging until I get into you.” – Tobe Hooper
5. Techniques cont’d… Use of fog and steam. Wide angle shots for scenery. Low angle shots on characters. http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi183828761/ an example of a low angle shot from Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
6. Impact of his films Texas Chainsaw Massacre’s heavy influence on directors and the genre. Salem’s lot and it’s influence in modern films and TV.
7. References http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001361/bio IMDB biography. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tobe_Hooper Wikipedia article. http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/t/tobehooper312416.htmlTobe Hooper quotes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jb8Z0qmww0cTobe Hooper interview from 1986 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ae-bBisE5ZE Masters of Horror (2 part documentary) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salem's_Lot_(1979_TV_miniseries) Salem’s lot wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Texas_Chain_Saw_Massacre Texas Chainsaw Massacre wikipedia http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi183828761/ Texas Chainsaw Massacre Clip
Editor's Notes
Further notes on upcoming slides in this text area.
He first sparked his interest in filmmaking when he found and began to use his fathers 8mm camera. He was only 9 years old when this happened.He spent much of the 60’s teaching as a college professor, making documentaries and being a cameraman in his spare time. He made up to 60 small documentaries during this period. Also during this time, his ideas for the original ‘Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ were being conjured up, which was his first big-break movie,That landed him his spot in Hollywood.
Alfred Hitchcock was the director for Psyco, which was a big influence for him. He pays homage in Salem’s Lot, often making reference to the movie.Tobe was sick of paying a lot of money to see a horror (which he had considered had become boring) and not getting his moneys worth. This changedWhen he went to see Night of the Living Dead directed by George Romero, where finally thrills were being brought back to the horror genre.Similar filming styles to create tension can be seen between both directors films.As mentioned above, not getting your moneys worth was something he was sick of, he went about to change the genre.So being sick of the genre actually had a positive effect on his own directing.
By isolating his characters, he makes the person more vulnerable, for example the lone girl survivor from Texas Chainsaw massacre, or the boy in Invaders from Mars.Furthermore these close-shots make you feel your in the characters shoes, or that your close to them. The fear is projected more making the horror more effected.By having a character in a dark set, or area, it further projects their vulnerability. Not knowing your surroundings in a tense situations amplifies that. It has a big impact on the viewerWho also cannot physically see the dangers around the character in the film.To increase this further, often a strong light will be placed on the subject to make them feel as if everyone can see them, there’s a symbolized ‘spotlight’ on them, they have nowhereTo hide. This can be seen on Invaders From Mars when the young boy is in his dark house with a strong light from the UFO shining through his window, making him exposed.Or in Poltergeist when the girl is sitting in the room with no lights on and the TV shining brightly on her.He received criticism for not using enough gore in his films, but in response he said, he likes to let the mind of the viewer fill in the blanks in some of his films.
Fog and or steam can have similar effects to darkness, obscuring the victims and the viewers vision in the film.Fog can also be used as a veil and then pass to reveal something terrifying, as he does in Texas Chainsaw Massacre.The wide angle shots can also help to show that the victim is alone in a massive area with nowhere to runThe scenery and set as a whole is shot at a wide angle at first to show you the epic scenery, the woods in Texas Chainsaw Massacre and the same with Invaders From Mars.The low angled shot gives the villain a more dominating appearance. Leatherface from Texas Chainsaw Massacre was frequently filmed from a lower angle to emphasize not just his dominance but also to exaggerate his size.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre inspired countless directors such as John Landis (American Werewolf in London) and Guillermo Del Toro (Blade II) and equally terrified them too.Was also the main influence of the film Alien.Salem’s Lot offered influence to many films and TV series. Like the scene in Lost Boys, where a vampire is hovering at the window much in the style of the boy from Salem’s lot who hovers outsideThe bedroom window also. The Simpsons also pay tribute with one of their Halloween specials, in which a similar scene to the window one occurs. It also inspired the vampire comedy Fright Night.It was even the primary influence for the Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series.
