Consolidation of Research

I have conducted this research to help me plan and create my own horror short film. I am creating my film with Eden and Aidan who have also been doing some research.

My aim is to try and create something that my audience will like but also get scared of.

From my research I will use audiences expectations, this means I now know that they expected to have the common fears within any type of horror film either being a short or a feature film. I will use as much as the common fears as I can for example the dark, walking home alone, being alone, clowns, spiders etc.

I have also gathered information that tells me thing audiences enjoy for example intellectual puzzles - they can work something out before the character can. They also like to be able to predict what is going to happen in a horror short - stereotypical features within, this means I am going to try and add as many stereotypical features in as I can within my short film.
There is also features of a horror film which most audience members enjoy, for example the most common one is the jump scare, this means building the tension before making a jump scare either something jumping out etc.

Before I go on to make my short film I am going to watch some more horror shots to see how they do different things and some shorts that are close to my idea. I will then have a meeting with my team member so that we can discuss our finding and see what we want to do next.

Research - Audience and Genre Analysis

Research - Conventions Of Shorts

Research - Distribution Of Short Films

Research - Antagonist

Antagonists

There is a whole variety of 'villains' that are known in the horror genre. They could be from the villains you see to the paranormal ones. For example:

 - Dracula 

 - Leather face 

- Frankenstein's Monster 

- Norman Bates

- Saw 

- Paranormal ones such the The Conjuring and Paranormal activity  

The Conjuring

The Conjuring is about to investigators Ed and Lorraine going to help a family who are being possessed by something in their farm house. In the conjuring you could say there is two monsters. One is the 'thing' possessing the family and then the other is the Annabel doll who is possessing the investigators daughter.  

Annabel Doll:

Mise En Scene:

Scruffy appearance 

Costume - Ripped, old, dirty dress to signify left alone with no care and danger, dark

Props - Possessed -  makes her bad and scary to the audience 

Make up - Messed up make up again to show loneliness, scary, crying, messy and dirty hair and face - doesn't fit into society  

Lighting - She is always shown in dark lighting to signify the danger of her, something isn't right 

Paranormal 'monster':

In the clip above there are the main sections in the film that show the paranormal 'monster'. 

Camera:

Investigators go into the basement with sound detector - In this clip there is a hand held camera to show the normality of the clip and to make the audience feel it can happen to them. It stays in a long shot to show the emptiness of the room, but also how old items are in there. The camera also pans around the room to reinforce the dark and empty room, but it also makes you feel that when the camera does pan that something will jump onto the screen (jump-scare). 

There is also a track in this clip, that follows Ed up the stairs, this creates the feeling that they are escaping the monster even though the audience haven't seen a typically horror genre monster yet. It also shows how deep into ground they where. 

Establishing shot / wide shot to establish the isolation of the house, loneliness and darkness and the location of the film  - farm house 

Zoom into the clock - telling the audience that this is a key factor of the film and that the 'monster' comes back at 3:07 am 

Close up / zoom into family photo - This could be there to scare the audience as they are just a typical family

Medium long shot - girls feet getting pulled, to connote that there is the presence of the 'monster'. 

 Low angle / long shot of farm house - This is to show the farm house is like any typical house however the low angle suggests that the house is dominant compared to everything else around 

Medium long of the girls in the family - to show they are scared and that the room behind them is dark, old and dirty looking. This is the same as their clothes as they are dressed much older, this could connote that they don't fit in with society as they are now part of the 'monster'. 

Camera tracks 360 degrees around the investigator - This shows the empty dark room and that she is trying to find the 'monster'. 

Over the shoulder shot / point of view shot of  Lorraine looking at the dead girl hanging from the true, which is over the shoulder of Ed. This shows the death that the 'monster' has caused. 

Editing:

The director uses a variety of editing techniques to show the antagonist increases the realism of the antagonist to the audience, this is because in the Conjuring you never actually see the monster so its about helping the audience to believe there is one. 

Jump cut - There is a jump cut between the Ed and Lorraine going into the basement and when they are talking at a presentation. This shows the audience that this could occur in the film. 

Fast pace editing - photos of old cases from the investigators - This is to show how many investigations they have had over the years and how the worst has came back to life 

Match on action - This is used to show the reaction of the characters when the seem some kind of paranormal activity in the film. 

Lightening:

Low key lighting - This is used for the majority of the film as it shows the danger and the fact that the audience can't see everything so leaves them in suspense of what could be there. 

The house is always in darkness this could be to show that it is the home of the monster as its dark and lonely

Natural lightening  - The natural lighting is very dim to show the overall scariness of the location

Sound:

Silence - Silence is used mostly throughout this film and in most horror genre films. In the Conjuring it is there to build tension, the silence is often used before a jump scare. This is because it helps create the scream from the audience. 

Ambient sound - This is there within the location and to reinforce the isolation of the location - for example there isn't any birds singing in the background which is strange for a farm house. 

Non diegetic sound - In the film there are a few tracks used to again help build tension, usually before a jump scare. 

Individual sounds with silence - There is a game played by the girls in the house called hide and seak claps which they play with their mum. However these claps reaper when the girl are at school. This again reinforces the fact that there is a monster in the house. It also helps build the fear and tension from the audience to again help the scream scare bigger. This is also done with the close ticking when it hits 3:07 - this helps build the tension in the film. 

Research - Audience Fear

Fear

Most common fears:
- The dark - The Women In Black
- Strange noises - The Conjuring / Women In Black
- Silence - The Others
- Old places - The Conjuring
- Spiders - The Earth vs The Spider
- Disease - World War 2
- Lightening, rain or wind - The Conjuring ( Thunder and Lightening)
- Snakes and insects
- Isolation - Alien
- Strangers - Texas Chainsaw Massacre
- Pain - Scream (slasher films)
- Heights
- The end of the world - Carriers
- Being murdered
- The unknown
- Knowing - for example one sound that happens e.g. a phone rings but no other diagetic sound is there which means the audience knows something "scary" is going to happen

Most horror films use most of these fears as they know this is what people are scared of, but also they know that audience will expect these type of things in horror films as that's what most people find scary.

Chandler stated that: 'Frame the audience's expectations'. 

The fears are created by a number of ways, these being the narrative,the way the camera is used in a film, the way sound is used, editing and mise en scene.

The codes and conventions of fear are similar to the fears from the audience and link into the narrative and mise en scene of the horror genre. Codes and conventions are:

- Isolated setting - This is used in most of all horror films
- Suburban settings - This is mostly used in paranormal and slasher films
- A group of teenagers - Normally on the run and in most slasher films
- Family persecuted - Paranormal / psychological
- Weapons - Slashers
- Lone person with an isolated setting - usually a house, Gothic horror
- Low key lightening - used in most horror films - paranormal, slashers etc
- The telephone - Used in most horror films - slasher
- The toy or doll - Paranormal / psychological

These codes and conventions appear in most genres and sub genres of horror.

Media language and fear

Camera:

- Wide shots to show isolated setting
- Still camera before a jump scare (helps to create the scream)
- Closes ups and zoom in and outs, for example door handle or zooming into a dark room not knowing what will be there

Lightening:

- Stereotypical lighting in horror films is low key lighting (dark rooms and settings)
- Never seeing daylight - The Others
- Focusing on a specific specific light, usually a match or torch, everything else in the shot is bitch black

Sound:

- Laughing (with silence)
- Clapping (with silence)
- Emphases a specific sound, for example breathing, door creaking, footsteps or laughing
- Creepy soundtracks


Editing:

- There is usually no cuts before a jump scare
- During a killing there is usually a fast pace of editing
- Chase scene - slasher films -  fast pace of editing
- Looking for someone or something - slow pace of editing

Changes of fear - 100 year:

In the early stages of horror there was only a small section of horrors and fears. These being:

- Monsters - Gothic and German expressionism
- Space of hell - 50's
- Psycho next door - 60's / 80's
- Psychological, gore and paranormal - 90's and now

Cultural fears:

It is known that different eras have different ideology's and experience different problems, fears and concerns. Successful horrors are the ones that focus on specific cultural fears, such as:

- The Monster
- Advanced in science
- Graphic images on TV and News coverage of events and crimes

John Cawelti - The horror genre reflects aspects of society. Society's fear is shown through the genre. 

This means that it can help the audience relate to the horror and the felling and pleasure of being scared. The audience is able to find their own fears within the film and will help add to the effect and feeling of horror.

Tudor - He says that horrors provide a 'monstrous threat' and this threat is 'based on notions...from producing society'. 

Horror films wont scare people as much as they do now if they didn't use the cultural fears that the audience have.

Different monsters for different fears:

Neale - He identified that horror texts have different types of monster. The monster is the source of the fear. 

He came up with the theory that there is three different types of monsters. You have the:

External Monster - An outsider:
This is the monster that comes from 'somewhere else' and brings the threat to the community as he is the unknown.
For example vampire films. The vampires are seen as the outsiders and can never fit into society.
For example The Decent (2005), The Blair Witch Project (1999) and the Interview with the Vampire (1997)

Man-made Monster - Mans creation
The archetypal man-made monster
For example Frankenstein type films, a collection of body parts put together by a human to create a monster. The monster is not part of the community, but the creator is a member of the community.
For example The Hills Have Eyes (2005) and Frankenstein (1931)

Internal Monster - man gone wrong
The monster is human. The human may come from within the community but they are thinking or behaving in a way that creates a threat from inside the community.
For example Psycho (1960) and Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

Although Neale fears of these monsters are right there are films and ways that he is wrong. This is because these three typed of monsters can combined together to make another 'monster'.
In more modern films society has made the man-made monster into a psychological monster.For example in Pyscho Norman Bates is an internal monster but the birth of his monster was caused by bad mothering. Sometimes there is a reason behind becoming this monster.
For example The Hills Have Eyes, there is an internal monster but the monster is also a man-made monster. Another example is the conjuring where the mum tries to kill her daughter but this is caused by the murders of the previous family in the house.


Wood said that ' normality is threatened by the monster' in all horror films. 

Cohen said that monsters are 'difference made flesh' and this difference can 'cultural, political, racial, economic or sexual'. 

I believe that these statements are not all true. This is because now-a-days political, racial, economic and sexual are all things that are part of the society and are seen the same as everyone else in society.

Research - Conventions Of Horror

Research - Conventions Of Horror from AmyLouiseM22