Beth Resendez A2 Media

Seminal/Prototype: These are first types of the genre, they introduce the conventions of the genre and are the groundwork's for all future films. In horror examples are Psycho and Peeping Tom . These were both made in the year 1960, and while the genre of horror has been around since the late 1800s they are seen as what created the standard stereotypes of the genre. Psycho particularly is regarded by many as the first and the best; everyone knows of the infamous shower scene and have taken this as inspiration. The creator of Texas Chainsaw Massacre is said to have been hugely influenced by Hitchcock. Before Psycho , horror movies were “monster” movies. They were fantasies in which men battled supernatural creatures – or turned into them. The monsters could be big ( Godzilla ) or small ( The Fly ), sexy ( Dracula ) or ugly ( Frankenstein ); they could be spectral and profound ( I Walked With a Zombie ) or literal and rubbery ( The Creature From the Black Lagoon ); they could come...

Narrative is used to describe and explore the conventions of: Genre Character Form Time Narrative and plot are two different aspects of storytelling. Plot is the basic outline of the key events, the beginning, middle and end; the issue, build up and then the final resolve. Narrative instead discusses how the story is told, what is the meaning/moral of the story, what information has not been directly shown? An example of this is a short film entitled 'Black Hole.' The plot was that a worker in an office discovers a black hole on a printed piece of paper. He then decides to use this to his advantage and does so by stealing a chocolate bar from a vending machine. He takes this further by then going to the safe and stealing all the money. When trying to reach for the money he accidentally falls through the black hole, causing him to trapped and locked in the safe. The narrative of this is evident: don't be greedy, appreciate what you have and don't put mo...

In a lot of cases we are faced with 'sleeper hits.' Horror is famous for this and is a good reason why it is such a standout genre. A sleeper hit refers to a film that generates a huge amount of profit and does well in the box office while its production value was far less than the 'Hollywood' films we are constantly being seen advertised. These films offer little advertisement, and have few special effects or notability and yet surprisingly do very well or become an overnight success. For example, 'Forrest Gump' is said to be a sleeper hit, and yet to a modern audience is a film so widely known it has reached cult classis level. The Blair Witch Project is well known for this accolade; its production only costing $35,000 yet making in excess £245 million, a feat almost unheard of. Its hand held camerawork was the first of its kind and obviously not costly, yet this type of filming to the world by storm, most likely down to its hyper-realism. No special effect...

Why do we enjoy horror films? If anything that happens in horror happened to us or to anyone we knew, we would be essentially, horrified. If the film we were watching was real footage we wouldn't want to watch it anymore. And yet, the films that are accompanied with the tag line 'based on a true story' are that much more exciting to us. Put it in those terms and it feels very sadistic. Some theorists have decided to explore this concept and come to the conclusion as to why horror is such a popular genre amongst an audience. Noel Carroll Carroll's 'Big Idea' was based on the philosophy of horror. We are both attracted and repulsed by horror, he says; with gore we are intrigued by the transgression and also repulsed by the act of it. POV shots in the eyes of the killer allow us to identify with the killer, a concept that is both interesting and disturbing. A few years ago, vampire films were at an all time high, bringing in a sure amount of revenue. This is do...

Horror films tend to be open to interpretation by the viewer. This is ultimately in my eye, what makes them so enjoyable. What one person sees as a simple boring supernatural horror, another sees as a 2 hour long metaphor about the trials of mental illness, i.e. The Babadook, a favourite of mine. Polysemy is the capacity for a piece of media to have multiple meanings; they are left ambiguous and open to many readings. Maria Lewis writes in an article: "Zombie classic Dawn Of The Dead was a critique on America’s commercialism, Alien looked at the masculine fear of sexual vulnerability, The Hills Have Eyes dealt with the anxieties of the nuclear age and The Babadook examined the depths of depression. They were designed to do more than just frighten." The four horror films described are four of favourites and its no wonder why. Good films that have a deeper meaning, that actually make to equate everything and thus make you think about it afterwards, as wel...

https://vimeo.com/129756191 "The Thing in the Apartment" is a short horror film with a stereotypical title and a somewhat stereotypical storyline. However the 'girl calls friend about the weird thing she just saw, now friend is unwittingly about to face weird thing' storyline here does pack a punch, creating genuine jump scares while also involving interesting camera shots and editing. The title of the movie was so obvious that it did make me click on it, obviously something that you want your film to do; with films with foreign titles I don't understand or ridiculously pretentious ones when the context of the film is a simple slasher, my attention is immediately withdrawn. With our preliminary task we simply named it 'Stop Me.' With our final task, while a name is not on the tops of our priorities when shooting it, it is something we need to consider. Short and simple is the best both within the storyline of a horror and thus in the title also. The fi...