Never Say Never
A young girl of about sixteen and her brother are moving into a new house with their mum and her new husband. The house is big and old fashioned, and is on the outskirts of the town.
As they are moving the boxes in, the older brother is winding up his sister, telling her that the house is haunted. She brushes him off, telling him that she never has and never will believe in ghosts.
During the night the teenage girl, Cassie, is having trouble sleeping, listening to the ‘bumps in the night’, suddenly she sits up, her eyes open and they flash bright red, they then fade to their normal colour and she slumps back into her bed.
The next morning the family dog barks at the girl for no reason. Over breakfast the mother is talking about what they can put in the loft, the step-dad snaps at them, he tells them that nothing can go up in the loft. They all find this a bit strange but brush it off as stress from the move.
Cassie finds a battered box, thinking it is one that they must have missed in the move goes to put it with the others, but a voice in her head, one which is not her own tells her to open it and look at what is inside.
She finds an old family photo out in front of the house; it is of the step-dad with his previous family. There are also newspaper clippings showing a picture of the previous teenage daughter who went missing a few years before.
When Cassie reads the clippings she has flashbacks of the previous girl’s life in the house. She is running away from an unknown villain, all you can see are the hands of the antagonist trying to grab at the girl. She trips and falls to the ground where the hands drag her away.
Cassie goes to her room, where she appears to be sitting on her cabin bed talking to herself; you then hear the voice from earlier reply to her and see the previous daughter sitting at the desk under the bed.
Throughout the next few days Cassie talks more to the girl, she finds out that they had the same step-dad, and she has more flashbacks.
She has a premonition of herself in the same scenario of running away from the hands, the hands which have been tormenting her dreams.
The step-dad asks her to help him with the shopping and put some things away for him, she goes with him and he is very strict and protective about her when they are out.
After more dreams and premonitions all including the hands and images of the loft, she figures that to get all the answers she has to go into the loft, the previous girl from the visions tells her that is the right thing to do, but to wait until everyone has gone out for the day.
Cassie waits for a day where everyone has gone to work and she has been left home alone. She goes to the landing and gets out the ladder for the loft, half way up the ladder she hears someone come in through the door. Scared she comes down the stairs and tries to act normally in front of the step-dad. She asks him if he would like a drink and goes out to the kitchen to get him one, suspiciously he goes up the stairs and finds the ladder up to the loft.
He comes back down the stairs and slams into the kitchen. He asks harshly if she has been up in the loft, she replies trying to act inconspicuous that she has not been up in the loft, and that she wasn’t planning to either.
He shouts her, telling her that she is a liar, all the while he is advancing on her. Cassie backs away from him running through the house, he follows her trying to grab her, she grabs the cordless phone from the side and tries to dial the police as she runs, but her hands fumble too much to ring properly.
The chase pursues all through the house, until Cassie is back in the kitchen, fumbling the phone in one hand and the lock on the back door with the other, she manages to get out into the garden just in time, and runs towards the back fence and tries to get over the back fence. As she is trying to climb, he catches up with her, pulling at her by the ankles back down to the floor, he drags her, screaming back towards the house.
She is still fumbling the phone in her hand trying to ring the police, he rips it from her hands and chucks it across the room, where is smashes on the wall, falling to pieces on the floor. He drags her kicking and screaming up the stairs towards the loft.
He pushes her into the loft and pushes her across the floor, it’s very dark and dusty, and when her eyes adjust to the light she can see the morbid images of a girl, and she can not work out what is happening to the girl in the pictures as they are too distorted.
He explains to Cassie that the previous girl was just like her, and tells her what he did to her and how he is going to do the same to her, and she is going to be very quiet and not say a word to anyone. She begins to scream and he kicks her, and tells her that he just told her to be quiet.
They both hear the door being unlocked downstairs and Cassie scrambles for the hatch, she tries to scream and he covers her mouth.
Down stairs the mum and the brother hear the struggle and wonder what is going on, they both go to the stop of the stairs as they see the loft hatch being shut and the terror in Cassie’s scream. The mother goes up into the loft and the step-dad pushes her to the floor. The brother tells her to go downstairs and phone the police, as he goes up to the loft.
Down stairs the mum finds the phone smashed on the floor, and fumbles with her bag trying to find her mobile phone.
Mean while upstairs the brother managed to get into the loft, Cassie seeing him, but the step-dad doesn’t. The brother mouths to Cassie not to look surprised, and he picks up the loft hatch and smashes it over the Step-dad’s head knocking him to the floor, the mother has phoned the police and helps Cassie down from the loft.
When the step-dad comes back around the police are there and are arresting him, with all the evidence from the loft they explain to the family about his previous family and what happened.
That night Cassie wakes up in the night, again her eyes flash red and fade back to normal, then you see the previous girl wave and leave the room.
Thursday, 25 March 2010
Production Company Name and Logo
This is the production company name and logo, we chose ALT, because at first we were going to have TAL, as these are the members of our groups initials, Aaron, Lyndsay and Tessa.
As we were trying to come up with a logo design we realised that if we swapped it around it was like the Alt key on a computer keyboard, and we decided that this would be a cool idea.
We went through a few design ideas, as exampled below:
We took pictures of the Alt key, and then added the ‘production’ in adobe photo shop to look like type writer font.
Eventually Aaron came up with the final idea, instead of a photo of a keyboard; we need to simply make it similar. We tested this idea in variations of red and black, black on white and red and white, we finally settled on white on black. I am very pleased with our production company and our logo.
As we were trying to come up with a logo design we realised that if we swapped it around it was like the Alt key on a computer keyboard, and we decided that this would be a cool idea.
We went through a few design ideas, as exampled below:
We took pictures of the Alt key, and then added the ‘production’ in adobe photo shop to look like type writer font.
Eventually Aaron came up with the final idea, instead of a photo of a keyboard; we need to simply make it similar. We tested this idea in variations of red and black, black on white and red and white, we finally settled on white on black. I am very pleased with our production company and our logo.
Research and Planning One
In Research and Planning One, I have looked at the history of the horror genre, gone over the different types of horror movies throughout the decades. I came to the conclusion in my research that each different decade had its own fear, for example in the 1950's it was alien life and giant creatures, in the 80's this was revised but with better technology and graphics. In the 70's horror movie's were about family and children, The Omen and Stepford Wives etc. Then in the 90's horror movies were about serial killers, and we begun to get Postmodern horror, like Wes Craven's Scream, which depicts serial killing, and many other horror conventions on purpose.
Now, in cotempory horror, our generation is scared of the world ending, and epidemics, films like 28 Days Later, and Land of the Dead.
We also handed out a questionnaire about horror movies, to other students aged 16-18, to gain a perspective on what people like and don't like about horror movies. This will help us decide for our own horror trailer, what people want to see from a horror movie.
We watched a number of horror movies in lesson time, and made a log about what scared us about the film, and what conventions they had used. We watched Gothika, Dark Water and The Shining. My personal favourite was The Shining, because there was something about it that intrigued me. I really like the way it was filmed and the general plot of the film as well. I don't really like slasher or thriller and I don't usually like horror movies in general, but The Shining, I don't think was scary really, I think it was just creepy. I prefer horror movie's based on the supernatural because it doesn't happen in real life. Horror movies about serial killings etc, I can't watch becuase you read about serial killings and homocide in the news.
I also looked at the film industry, to gain an idea of how the film process works, and where my project would fit in to the industry if this was to be done in real life. Our project would fit into all the catergories, as we are deciding the plot, designing the story boards, shooting the clips and editing them together. We are also going to be making posters, and magazine covers for the movie, and obviously the trailer, and then we will be exhibiting it for feedback to people in our target market.
I wrote a textual analysis of the opening sequences to Scream (1997) because it uses so many conventions of horror movies in just the first ten minutes. It is a film that purposefully uses these to create a 'horror movie effect'. He uses conventional shots like the Dutch Tilt, and a setting of an isolated house, and then also using the stereo typical high school girl with a jock boyfriend.
Next, with my group we are going to come up with a Production company name and logo, a film plot and then the story boards for our trailer. Also production schedules and cast lists.
Now, in cotempory horror, our generation is scared of the world ending, and epidemics, films like 28 Days Later, and Land of the Dead.
We also handed out a questionnaire about horror movies, to other students aged 16-18, to gain a perspective on what people like and don't like about horror movies. This will help us decide for our own horror trailer, what people want to see from a horror movie.
We watched a number of horror movies in lesson time, and made a log about what scared us about the film, and what conventions they had used. We watched Gothika, Dark Water and The Shining. My personal favourite was The Shining, because there was something about it that intrigued me. I really like the way it was filmed and the general plot of the film as well. I don't really like slasher or thriller and I don't usually like horror movies in general, but The Shining, I don't think was scary really, I think it was just creepy. I prefer horror movie's based on the supernatural because it doesn't happen in real life. Horror movies about serial killings etc, I can't watch becuase you read about serial killings and homocide in the news.
I also looked at the film industry, to gain an idea of how the film process works, and where my project would fit in to the industry if this was to be done in real life. Our project would fit into all the catergories, as we are deciding the plot, designing the story boards, shooting the clips and editing them together. We are also going to be making posters, and magazine covers for the movie, and obviously the trailer, and then we will be exhibiting it for feedback to people in our target market.
I wrote a textual analysis of the opening sequences to Scream (1997) because it uses so many conventions of horror movies in just the first ten minutes. It is a film that purposefully uses these to create a 'horror movie effect'. He uses conventional shots like the Dutch Tilt, and a setting of an isolated house, and then also using the stereo typical high school girl with a jock boyfriend.
Next, with my group we are going to come up with a Production company name and logo, a film plot and then the story boards for our trailer. Also production schedules and cast lists.
Textual Ananlysis of the Opening Sequences to Scream
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFCStOMqpfk
How Far Does the Opening Sequence to Scream Embody Much of the Horror Genre?
Horror movies are films that strive to exploit the emotions of fear, horror and terror from its viewers. The plots often involve themes of dearth, the supernatural or mental illness. Many horror movies also include a central villain. Some horror films incorporate elements of the other genres such as, science fiction, fantasy, mockumentary, black comedy and thriller.
Scream, a horror movie which was released in the UK in 1997, was directed by Wes Craven. The beginning sets the motion for the rest of the film; it makes the viewer feel uncomfortable and lets the audience know that anything is possible in this film.
This film uses several horror movie conventions in just the first opening scenes. The house’s scenes are set in is isolated, and “…out in the middle of no-where…” which we hear the villain on the phone say. It is a white house, surrounded by trees, which get to see in an establishing shot, after we view a glimpse of the inside. The darkness of the night and the shadows cast by the trees sets a contrast of the white of the house, a connotation of good and evil.
The inside of the house starts lit up, the walls are white, a back drop for shadows, the rooms are open and there are no doors for the victim to open or close. Shadows are often used in horror movies, because they are often the stem of a child’s bad dream, which frequently turns out to be the shadows cast on a wall, shadows have a way of tricking the eye, and seeming to be something they are not.
The light in the house, there are lamps, and light coming from the television, creating a dim, half light which is often used in horror movies to make the audience feel uneasy because it is not dark enough not to see what is happening, this is also the light which most shadows look more eerie.
It starts off with the phone ringing, the stereo typical blonde teen girl and home alone, played by Drew Barrymore, and answers the cord phone. Telling him it is the wrong number and to have good night. When she walks through to the kitchen and the phone rings again, she picks up a cordless phone, giving her the freedom to walk around the house.
The girl is clearly comfortable in her own house, she is making popcorn, and wearing ‘comfy’ clothes, a big white jumper and pale trousers, and she is bare foot which is further symbolisation of her innocence in the scenario.
As she is on the phone talking to what we know is the killer, but she is yet to find this out, she reveals that she is about to watch a scary movie, he asks which one is her favourite and she describes the horror movie Halloween, where the guy in the white mask stalks baby sitters. This is ironic as her situation is about to become very similar. In this scene she is seen to be leaning on the kitchen counter, after putting the popcorn on the stove, playing with the block of knives as she talks. The knives are in the foreground, and she is central focus, the way she is playing with them is also ironic because later these knives then become the weapon used against her.
The camera follows her as she walks around the house, she is the main focus, and the camera barely moves from her, or from a mid-close up shot of her head and shoulders.
The sound is diegetic, sounds of the popcorn cooking, her walking and the sound of the dialogue. This changes when the voice on the phone asks for her name, she asks why he wants to know and he replies “Because I want to know who I’m looking at…” this is when the music begins to play in, because this is when the girl suddenly realises she could be in danger. The music used is eerie and similar to music used in the horror movie Halloween, creepy eerie music is something an audience expects from a horror, it helps the viewer predict when something is going to happen, and it creates a good deal of suspense and atmosphere.
She tries to be calm about it, turning on the patio light and looking out, and then locking the door as she tells him she has to go. As the phone rings again, his tone is harsher, but she hangs up on him again. The next time the phone rings she is back in the kitchen where the popcorn is beginning to burn and pop loudly. He is angrier and shouts at her, the popcorn is a time line for the action, as it burns and grows so does the action and tension.
Each time the phone rings, Casey jumps out of her skin, giving away the fact that the mysterious caller is getting to her, she starts off the film walking comfortably and confidently, but as the situation gets worse her movements become erratic and she tries to hide herself away a lot. She covers her face with her hands, and pulls the sleeves of her jumper over her wrists in a protective way. She is wearing pale clothes and is bare footed, which represents her innocence in the storyline, this is also a clue to whether she will survive or not, because she is too vulnerable she is not the ‘survivor’.
When she is answering the questions, and she answers correctly she jumps up hopefully, from her crouching position, and then after she sees her boyfriend killed on the patio, she returns to her foetus like placing.
When the killer eventually catches up with her, and she tries to run away through the back garden the killer is behind her, looking much bigger than he should in the perspective, a camera angle called the ‘Dutch tilt’ is used to disorientate the audience, as the scene is tilted slightly, sort of reminiscent of the villains lair in Adam West’s Batman series of the 1960’s, which was always slanted on the screen.
Typically contrasted to her pale, practically white outfit, the killer is in a black cloak and is masked. This is a connotation to the old ‘Good Vs Evil’ good being white, evil being black.
As she tries to out run the pursuit, with the phone still in her hand, the killer with the knife, we see a car in the distance coming towards the house, this does not ignite any false security within the audience because we have already learnt earlier on that they are in the middle of no-where, not even the police will get there on time. The audience is left with a glimmer of hope, as the killer makes his first blow, her parents make it to the door step, all is needed is a turn of their heads to see the scenario. What is ironic about the situation, and that first stab, is that screaming is usual convention used in a horror movie, but the killer prevents the prey from doing so in this first killing, she can not scream for her parent’s attention, leaving her helpless.
As the killer makes her life final, she pulls his mask from him, only to reveal it to herself, the audience obviously do not know who it is, this is a silence witness, and the only person who can help the case is now dead.
This killing is replayed twice in the sequence first when the audience sees it, and secondly when her parents listen to it on the corded phone inside the house. This is not the only postmodern reference in this opening sequence.
This is a postmodern horror, the well known actress gets killed off first, making the audience feel uncomfortable and recognise that anything is possible. Another way this film can be shown as postmodern is that it is deliberately filled with conventions and dramatic irony. The audience can see it coming because they’ve seen it before in other films, but the pastiche of other cult horror movies is only subtle in this first opening sequence.
Apart from when she is talking about the horror movies and her situation becomes similar to that of the film she is talking about.
At first I was unable to properly watch the opening sequence, which of course is the intention of the film, it scared me knowing that we do read about serial killers in the news and hear stories about it , so the knowledge that this was in some way plausible. Even watching it a fifth and sixth time I was not comfortable with seeing it, but the sequence sets the audience up for the rest of the film, will it be the same or worse, and who done it, these question are the ones the opening sequence puts upon its audience, these are the questions that spark the audience to watch, the needing to know more.
This opening sequence is easily one of the most memorable opening sequences to a film; it embodies conventions of horror film intentionally, focussing on the isolated house, and the innocent blonde, with her ‘jock’ boyfriend, the dim lighting, the suspense, the weapons, the blood, the murder, the chase, the gore and of course the screaming.
How Far Does the Opening Sequence to Scream Embody Much of the Horror Genre?
Horror movies are films that strive to exploit the emotions of fear, horror and terror from its viewers. The plots often involve themes of dearth, the supernatural or mental illness. Many horror movies also include a central villain. Some horror films incorporate elements of the other genres such as, science fiction, fantasy, mockumentary, black comedy and thriller.
Scream, a horror movie which was released in the UK in 1997, was directed by Wes Craven. The beginning sets the motion for the rest of the film; it makes the viewer feel uncomfortable and lets the audience know that anything is possible in this film.
This film uses several horror movie conventions in just the first opening scenes. The house’s scenes are set in is isolated, and “…out in the middle of no-where…” which we hear the villain on the phone say. It is a white house, surrounded by trees, which get to see in an establishing shot, after we view a glimpse of the inside. The darkness of the night and the shadows cast by the trees sets a contrast of the white of the house, a connotation of good and evil.
The inside of the house starts lit up, the walls are white, a back drop for shadows, the rooms are open and there are no doors for the victim to open or close. Shadows are often used in horror movies, because they are often the stem of a child’s bad dream, which frequently turns out to be the shadows cast on a wall, shadows have a way of tricking the eye, and seeming to be something they are not.
The light in the house, there are lamps, and light coming from the television, creating a dim, half light which is often used in horror movies to make the audience feel uneasy because it is not dark enough not to see what is happening, this is also the light which most shadows look more eerie.
It starts off with the phone ringing, the stereo typical blonde teen girl and home alone, played by Drew Barrymore, and answers the cord phone. Telling him it is the wrong number and to have good night. When she walks through to the kitchen and the phone rings again, she picks up a cordless phone, giving her the freedom to walk around the house.
The girl is clearly comfortable in her own house, she is making popcorn, and wearing ‘comfy’ clothes, a big white jumper and pale trousers, and she is bare foot which is further symbolisation of her innocence in the scenario.
As she is on the phone talking to what we know is the killer, but she is yet to find this out, she reveals that she is about to watch a scary movie, he asks which one is her favourite and she describes the horror movie Halloween, where the guy in the white mask stalks baby sitters. This is ironic as her situation is about to become very similar. In this scene she is seen to be leaning on the kitchen counter, after putting the popcorn on the stove, playing with the block of knives as she talks. The knives are in the foreground, and she is central focus, the way she is playing with them is also ironic because later these knives then become the weapon used against her.
The camera follows her as she walks around the house, she is the main focus, and the camera barely moves from her, or from a mid-close up shot of her head and shoulders.
The sound is diegetic, sounds of the popcorn cooking, her walking and the sound of the dialogue. This changes when the voice on the phone asks for her name, she asks why he wants to know and he replies “Because I want to know who I’m looking at…” this is when the music begins to play in, because this is when the girl suddenly realises she could be in danger. The music used is eerie and similar to music used in the horror movie Halloween, creepy eerie music is something an audience expects from a horror, it helps the viewer predict when something is going to happen, and it creates a good deal of suspense and atmosphere.
She tries to be calm about it, turning on the patio light and looking out, and then locking the door as she tells him she has to go. As the phone rings again, his tone is harsher, but she hangs up on him again. The next time the phone rings she is back in the kitchen where the popcorn is beginning to burn and pop loudly. He is angrier and shouts at her, the popcorn is a time line for the action, as it burns and grows so does the action and tension.
Each time the phone rings, Casey jumps out of her skin, giving away the fact that the mysterious caller is getting to her, she starts off the film walking comfortably and confidently, but as the situation gets worse her movements become erratic and she tries to hide herself away a lot. She covers her face with her hands, and pulls the sleeves of her jumper over her wrists in a protective way. She is wearing pale clothes and is bare footed, which represents her innocence in the storyline, this is also a clue to whether she will survive or not, because she is too vulnerable she is not the ‘survivor’.
When she is answering the questions, and she answers correctly she jumps up hopefully, from her crouching position, and then after she sees her boyfriend killed on the patio, she returns to her foetus like placing.
When the killer eventually catches up with her, and she tries to run away through the back garden the killer is behind her, looking much bigger than he should in the perspective, a camera angle called the ‘Dutch tilt’ is used to disorientate the audience, as the scene is tilted slightly, sort of reminiscent of the villains lair in Adam West’s Batman series of the 1960’s, which was always slanted on the screen.
Typically contrasted to her pale, practically white outfit, the killer is in a black cloak and is masked. This is a connotation to the old ‘Good Vs Evil’ good being white, evil being black.
As she tries to out run the pursuit, with the phone still in her hand, the killer with the knife, we see a car in the distance coming towards the house, this does not ignite any false security within the audience because we have already learnt earlier on that they are in the middle of no-where, not even the police will get there on time. The audience is left with a glimmer of hope, as the killer makes his first blow, her parents make it to the door step, all is needed is a turn of their heads to see the scenario. What is ironic about the situation, and that first stab, is that screaming is usual convention used in a horror movie, but the killer prevents the prey from doing so in this first killing, she can not scream for her parent’s attention, leaving her helpless.
As the killer makes her life final, she pulls his mask from him, only to reveal it to herself, the audience obviously do not know who it is, this is a silence witness, and the only person who can help the case is now dead.
This killing is replayed twice in the sequence first when the audience sees it, and secondly when her parents listen to it on the corded phone inside the house. This is not the only postmodern reference in this opening sequence.
This is a postmodern horror, the well known actress gets killed off first, making the audience feel uncomfortable and recognise that anything is possible. Another way this film can be shown as postmodern is that it is deliberately filled with conventions and dramatic irony. The audience can see it coming because they’ve seen it before in other films, but the pastiche of other cult horror movies is only subtle in this first opening sequence.
Apart from when she is talking about the horror movies and her situation becomes similar to that of the film she is talking about.
At first I was unable to properly watch the opening sequence, which of course is the intention of the film, it scared me knowing that we do read about serial killers in the news and hear stories about it , so the knowledge that this was in some way plausible. Even watching it a fifth and sixth time I was not comfortable with seeing it, but the sequence sets the audience up for the rest of the film, will it be the same or worse, and who done it, these question are the ones the opening sequence puts upon its audience, these are the questions that spark the audience to watch, the needing to know more.
This opening sequence is easily one of the most memorable opening sequences to a film; it embodies conventions of horror film intentionally, focussing on the isolated house, and the innocent blonde, with her ‘jock’ boyfriend, the dim lighting, the suspense, the weapons, the blood, the murder, the chase, the gore and of course the screaming.
The Film Industry
Production:
A small production company will form and have an idea for a new film. They will then have to get funding for this film. Films often cost many millions to make. The production company will have to go to a distributor for this money.
If the distributor likes the idea, in other words, the film has a winning formula (similar films have been successful) or that it is so brilliantly original that it amazes them (this is most unlikely to be the case). Also the idea must meet the conventions of the distributor can force changes to the idea and demand that certain stars appear in the film.
The production phase itself is split up into 3 sections:
1. Pre-Production: planning, design, storyboarding and casting.
2. Production: the actual shooting of the movie
3. Post- Production: Editing the movie together, adding sound and special effects
Distributor/ Distribution:
These are the people with the money. They are often the large studios: Universal, Twentieth Century Fox, and Warner Brothers. They are often part of a huge media conglomerates: Vivendi Universal, News Corporation and Time Warner. They are wealthy and own much of the world’s media.
Once the film has been produced (made) then the distributors start marketing the film: posters, interviews with the stars, merchandise, soundtrack, trailers etc.
Seeing as the distributor lent most of the money for the movie they then scoop up a large amount of the profits.
The distributors are often American, hence the American film industry dominating our screens.
Exhibition:
The showing of the film, this can be either:
- Cinema
- DVD (rental and sales)
- Video (rental and sales)
- Satellite/ Digital TV and Box Office
- Terrestrial TV
- Internet
A small production company will form and have an idea for a new film. They will then have to get funding for this film. Films often cost many millions to make. The production company will have to go to a distributor for this money.
If the distributor likes the idea, in other words, the film has a winning formula (similar films have been successful) or that it is so brilliantly original that it amazes them (this is most unlikely to be the case). Also the idea must meet the conventions of the distributor can force changes to the idea and demand that certain stars appear in the film.
The production phase itself is split up into 3 sections:
1. Pre-Production: planning, design, storyboarding and casting.
2. Production: the actual shooting of the movie
3. Post- Production: Editing the movie together, adding sound and special effects
Distributor/ Distribution:
These are the people with the money. They are often the large studios: Universal, Twentieth Century Fox, and Warner Brothers. They are often part of a huge media conglomerates: Vivendi Universal, News Corporation and Time Warner. They are wealthy and own much of the world’s media.
Once the film has been produced (made) then the distributors start marketing the film: posters, interviews with the stars, merchandise, soundtrack, trailers etc.
Seeing as the distributor lent most of the money for the movie they then scoop up a large amount of the profits.
The distributors are often American, hence the American film industry dominating our screens.
Exhibition:
The showing of the film, this can be either:
- Cinema
- DVD (rental and sales)
- Video (rental and sales)
- Satellite/ Digital TV and Box Office
- Terrestrial TV
- Internet
A Log and Analysis of Horror Movie's Viewed
As a part of our research we watched a few horror films, to see what they are like, how they are similar, how they are different, what conventions they used, and what about the film made us scared.
Gothika
The first film we watched was Gothika, starring Hale Berry, Penelope Cruz and Robert Downey Jr., released in 2004. The film is about Dr. Miranda Grey (Barry) is a brilliant criminal psychiatrist. However, after a road accident, she wakes up only to find that she has been convicted for the murder of her husband Doug. With only fragmented memories of the alleged crime, she begins to dig deeper into her husband's past. Meanwhile she is being haunted by the ghost of a girl called Rachel who is seemingly trying to convey a message to her with the phrase 'not alone.' As Miranda learns more about her husband with clues from Rachel, she realizes that Doug is not who he seems at all.
There are obviously quite a lot of conventions of horror used in Gothika, the eerie music, storms and flashing lights, isolated building set in the woods, screaming, whispering voices, heavy breathing, and someone you can’t see writing on the wall, spirits.
What personally scared me about Gothica was near the beginning there was a thunder storm, the lightning and the office lights flickering, I didn’t like this because it gave me the sense that someone was going to jump out in the dark, and I didn’t like the suspense of waiting for something to happen. I also didn’t like the whispering voices or the fact there was a tormentor that we could not see, again it was the suspense of waiting for something to jump out of the dark.
Dark WaterThe second horror movie we watched was a Japanese film, called Dark Water, I only saw the beginning of the film as I missed the next lesson we watched it in, but even the beginning of the film was creepy.
I looked up the plot synopsis to see what the film was about, a mother and daughter move into a new, run down apartment which has a leek in the ceiling. The daughter finds a red bag on the roof which was previously owned by a child living in the apartment above, but went missing a year previous after her mother abandoned her. The red bag is then a symbol for strange events, the bag is disposed of yet the mother finds it again, the leek worsens, and it appears that her daughter talks to the missing girl whilst in the bath. The mother is drawn to the roof, where she inspects the water tank, she figures out, through a vision that the little girl fell in the tank while trying to receive her bag when the tank was being fixed. The tank begins to dent out and bang, the mother runs back down to the apartment, where she had left her daughter alone.
The daughter is desperately trying to turn the taps off, which have begun to spurt out dirty brown water; the dead spirit of the girl rises from the water and attempts to drown the living girl. The mother finds her daughter lying unconscious on the bathroom floor, picks her up and runs out of the apartment, she turns to see it is her own daughter she is being followed by, and is carrying the reincarnated spirit of the dead girl, she figures out that she will have to sacrifice her own life, to give this child a mother to save her own daughters life. The lift opens and she is drowned in the dirty brown water. The daughter watches on tearfully and runs down to the next floor, to find the lift empty. It ends with the daughter returning to the flat when she is 16 and sees her mother, she talks with her, and then her mother disappears.
This film is slightly different to other stories, usually the dead try to revenge their own deaths, but in this the dead is only trying to find a companion.
The conventions used in this film were a rundown setting, eerie music, shadows, weird footsteps and protagonist that you can not initially see.
What I found personally creepy about this film is that there are children involved, which I don’t like, and also the fact that you don’t know who or what has died in the building, so it is unknown for some time.
The Shining After watching Dark Water, we watched The Shining, released 28th May 1980, and directed by Stanley Kubrick. The film is based on the novel, with the same title, by Stephen King, it is about a former teacher and a recovering alcoholic, Jack Torrance (played by Jack Nicholson), who is made redundant after he looses his temper in his class. He is interviewed for a job at the Overlook Hotel, to be the winter caretaker. He is warned by the hotel manager, Mr. Ullman, that they will be snowed in for the winter and there is a chance of cabin fever, and that the previous caretaker, Charles Grady, went crazy and killed his wife and two daughters brutally. Jack Torrance, acknowledges the warning, but is desperate for a job, and feels that it is a chance to pursue his passion for writing.
His son Danny, has a seizure while talking to his imaginary friend, Tony, about the hotel and has visions of blood spilling out of the elevator, an image which is revisited through out the film.
At the Overlook Hotel the head chef, Dick Halloran, recognises that Danny has a special gift and talks to him telepathically , he tells him that he has the same gift and that it is called ‘the shining’. He tells Danny that something bad had happened in the hotel before and had left a trace but only people with the gift could tell, and also that Danny should not go into room 237.
Jack’s mental state deteriorates everyday, he hardly sleeps and he becomes irritable towards his family. The little boy Danny continues to have visions of the two murdered little girls, and wonders more about room 237.
A ball rolls from room 237 towards Danny and he goes to inspect where it has come from. Wendy, Jack’s wife, heard Jack screaming and goes to see to him, and he tells her that he had a nightmare in which he used an axe to chop her and Danny into pieces. Danny then appears sucking his thumb, with rips in his jumper and bruises on his neck; he refuses to tell his mother what happened. Wendy quickly accuses Jack of hurting Danny and takes Danny to their hotel suite.
Jack, angry about the accusation, goes to the Gold Room and sits down at the bar declaring he would sell his soul for a drink. He is not fazed by the sudden appearance of the bar tender and he even uses his name, Lloyd, the conversation leads us to find out that Jack had once accidentally hurt Danny. Wendy enters telling him that Danny is claiming to have encountered a ‘crazy woman’ in room 237.
When Jack goes to investigate room 237, he hears someone in the bathroom, he goes to look and sees a young, attractive woman, she gets out of the bath and approaches him, and the two of them embrace and kiss passionately, when he catches a glimpse of her reflection and she is a rotting corpse. He pushes her away and the old rotten lady holds her arms out after him. He rushes from the room and locks the door.
He does not tell Wendy what happened in the room, and she suggests taking Danny to a doctor. This makes Jack angry and starts blaming Wendy for everything that went wrong in his life, he tells her that she is irresponsible and that they can not leave because of his obligation to his employers. He returns to the Gold room, which is now an extravagant scene from a 1920’s party. A Butler runs into him and spills advocaat on his jacket, the waiter insists that he comes to the rest rooms to be cleaned up. The waiter introduces himself as Delbert Grady, Jack remembers the story that Mr. Ullman told him and asks Grady about it. He tells Jack that he has been the only caretaker of the hotel and that there was no other Grady. Jack is confused but accepts the story. Grady then continues to tell Jack that his son Danny is trying to use his gift to bring in outsiders to the hotel and he advises on how to correct Danny and his wife Wendy if she interferes.
In Florida, Dick Halloran is failing to contact the overlook hotel to check on them and decides to book a flight to get there.
Wendy takes a baseball bat and goes to look for Jack; she is intent on leaving the hotel with or without Jack. While she is looking she comes across his typewriter and the manuscript next to it, curious, she reads what he has been writing but it is just page upon page of the same phrase ‘All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy’. This is when she works out that Jack has gone crazy.
Jack enters behind her, and asks ‘How do you like it?’ there is a confrontation between the two, resulting in Wendy knocking Jack out the baseball bat and he falls down the stairs that she was trying to escape up. She drags him to the kitchens and locks him in the pantry.
A few hours later Jack is woken by Delbert Grady’s voice who tells Jack that he is disappointed in him and shows a lack of confidence in Jack. Jack assures Grady that he can get the job done and the door suddenly becomes unlocked.
Wendy has fallen asleep in her room, and Danny enters a trance, carrying a knife and repeating ‘REDRUM’. He takes Wendy’s lipstick writing REDRUM on the door of the bathroom and begins shouting it, Wendy wakes up and holds Danny, she then sees the reflection of the bathroom door in the mirror and reads ‘MURDER’.
There is a banging sound at the door; it is Jack swinging an axe at the locked door. Wendy grabs Danny and locks them in the bathroom, she opens the tiny window and pushes Danny out , he slides down a snow drift that has built up outside and is safe, Wendy tells him to go and hide.
Jack has proceeded to chop down the front door, and knocks politely, Wendy steadies herself with a knife and Jack begins to hack at the door, once he had got rid of a few panels he sticks his head through and shouts ‘HEEERREEESSS JOHHHNNNYYY’ (which has become an iconic moment of Horror Movie History). He puts his hand though the gap to grab the handle and Wendy slashes his hand with the knife. They both here a low rumble of a Snow cat approaching and Jack walks out to find out who it is.
The driver was Dick Halloran and inside the hotel he calls out to see if anyone is there, Jack jumps out from behind a pillar and stabs him in the chest with the axe. Danny cries out from a kitchen cupboard where he is hiding, revealing his location. He runs out of the hotel followed by Jack.
Wendy has collected herself and is out looking for Danny, she encounters ghosts along the way but does not let them faze her. At the same time Jack wielding the axe follows Danny into the hedge maze.
Danny realises he is leaving footsteps in the snow and that is how Jack is following him through the maze. He carefully retraces his steps and hides behind another hedge; Jack then realises the foot prints have disappeared but continues down another path on pursuit of Danny. Danny then follows his own foot prints out of the maze.
Wendy runs out of the hotel just as Danny come out of the maze, she throws down the knife and hugs her son, and you hear Jack let out a loud scream. Wendy and Danny escape in the snow cat. Jack who is lost in the maze freezes to death.
Just before the end credits the audience is shown a photograph hanging in the hotel of the Gold room, it is of a ball and in the centre of the picture is a young Jack. The photo is dated ‘Overlook Hotel, July 4th Ball, 1921’
There are quite a few conventions included in this film, they are in an isolated setting, which had a history, and they are secluded from civilisation, the characters seeing things. Creepy music, which sometimes amounts to something and sometimes does not, builds the tension. Visions which we are not sure are real or not.
The repetition of phrases, like the documents and also ‘REDRUM’, also the trapped feeling continues into the maze.
Out of all the horror movies we watched, and others I have seen, this is my favourite because I like the way it kept me intrigues and wanting to know if the visions were real and how Jack could talk to the people from the past of the hotel. The twist that the child could see and sense things but could not always voice the warning, also because I feel more for films where children are in trouble so I wanted the little boy to be safe at the end.
I didn’t think it was as scary as the other films, but the story line was better and more twisted then the others, it was hard to work out what was happening in this, rather then working it out in the other films. I couldn’t predict what was going to happen.
For me one of the scariest moments was in the maze, I just wanted Danny to be safe, and I was relieved when they got out of the maze and away from the hotel. The suspense of the chase, would he catch up with him, will he escape, all the questions kept me intrigued.
Gothika
The first film we watched was Gothika, starring Hale Berry, Penelope Cruz and Robert Downey Jr., released in 2004. The film is about Dr. Miranda Grey (Barry) is a brilliant criminal psychiatrist. However, after a road accident, she wakes up only to find that she has been convicted for the murder of her husband Doug. With only fragmented memories of the alleged crime, she begins to dig deeper into her husband's past. Meanwhile she is being haunted by the ghost of a girl called Rachel who is seemingly trying to convey a message to her with the phrase 'not alone.' As Miranda learns more about her husband with clues from Rachel, she realizes that Doug is not who he seems at all.
There are obviously quite a lot of conventions of horror used in Gothika, the eerie music, storms and flashing lights, isolated building set in the woods, screaming, whispering voices, heavy breathing, and someone you can’t see writing on the wall, spirits.
What personally scared me about Gothica was near the beginning there was a thunder storm, the lightning and the office lights flickering, I didn’t like this because it gave me the sense that someone was going to jump out in the dark, and I didn’t like the suspense of waiting for something to happen. I also didn’t like the whispering voices or the fact there was a tormentor that we could not see, again it was the suspense of waiting for something to jump out of the dark.
Dark WaterThe second horror movie we watched was a Japanese film, called Dark Water, I only saw the beginning of the film as I missed the next lesson we watched it in, but even the beginning of the film was creepy.
I looked up the plot synopsis to see what the film was about, a mother and daughter move into a new, run down apartment which has a leek in the ceiling. The daughter finds a red bag on the roof which was previously owned by a child living in the apartment above, but went missing a year previous after her mother abandoned her. The red bag is then a symbol for strange events, the bag is disposed of yet the mother finds it again, the leek worsens, and it appears that her daughter talks to the missing girl whilst in the bath. The mother is drawn to the roof, where she inspects the water tank, she figures out, through a vision that the little girl fell in the tank while trying to receive her bag when the tank was being fixed. The tank begins to dent out and bang, the mother runs back down to the apartment, where she had left her daughter alone.
The daughter is desperately trying to turn the taps off, which have begun to spurt out dirty brown water; the dead spirit of the girl rises from the water and attempts to drown the living girl. The mother finds her daughter lying unconscious on the bathroom floor, picks her up and runs out of the apartment, she turns to see it is her own daughter she is being followed by, and is carrying the reincarnated spirit of the dead girl, she figures out that she will have to sacrifice her own life, to give this child a mother to save her own daughters life. The lift opens and she is drowned in the dirty brown water. The daughter watches on tearfully and runs down to the next floor, to find the lift empty. It ends with the daughter returning to the flat when she is 16 and sees her mother, she talks with her, and then her mother disappears.
This film is slightly different to other stories, usually the dead try to revenge their own deaths, but in this the dead is only trying to find a companion.
The conventions used in this film were a rundown setting, eerie music, shadows, weird footsteps and protagonist that you can not initially see.
What I found personally creepy about this film is that there are children involved, which I don’t like, and also the fact that you don’t know who or what has died in the building, so it is unknown for some time.
The Shining After watching Dark Water, we watched The Shining, released 28th May 1980, and directed by Stanley Kubrick. The film is based on the novel, with the same title, by Stephen King, it is about a former teacher and a recovering alcoholic, Jack Torrance (played by Jack Nicholson), who is made redundant after he looses his temper in his class. He is interviewed for a job at the Overlook Hotel, to be the winter caretaker. He is warned by the hotel manager, Mr. Ullman, that they will be snowed in for the winter and there is a chance of cabin fever, and that the previous caretaker, Charles Grady, went crazy and killed his wife and two daughters brutally. Jack Torrance, acknowledges the warning, but is desperate for a job, and feels that it is a chance to pursue his passion for writing.
His son Danny, has a seizure while talking to his imaginary friend, Tony, about the hotel and has visions of blood spilling out of the elevator, an image which is revisited through out the film.
At the Overlook Hotel the head chef, Dick Halloran, recognises that Danny has a special gift and talks to him telepathically , he tells him that he has the same gift and that it is called ‘the shining’. He tells Danny that something bad had happened in the hotel before and had left a trace but only people with the gift could tell, and also that Danny should not go into room 237.
Jack’s mental state deteriorates everyday, he hardly sleeps and he becomes irritable towards his family. The little boy Danny continues to have visions of the two murdered little girls, and wonders more about room 237.
A ball rolls from room 237 towards Danny and he goes to inspect where it has come from. Wendy, Jack’s wife, heard Jack screaming and goes to see to him, and he tells her that he had a nightmare in which he used an axe to chop her and Danny into pieces. Danny then appears sucking his thumb, with rips in his jumper and bruises on his neck; he refuses to tell his mother what happened. Wendy quickly accuses Jack of hurting Danny and takes Danny to their hotel suite.
Jack, angry about the accusation, goes to the Gold Room and sits down at the bar declaring he would sell his soul for a drink. He is not fazed by the sudden appearance of the bar tender and he even uses his name, Lloyd, the conversation leads us to find out that Jack had once accidentally hurt Danny. Wendy enters telling him that Danny is claiming to have encountered a ‘crazy woman’ in room 237.
When Jack goes to investigate room 237, he hears someone in the bathroom, he goes to look and sees a young, attractive woman, she gets out of the bath and approaches him, and the two of them embrace and kiss passionately, when he catches a glimpse of her reflection and she is a rotting corpse. He pushes her away and the old rotten lady holds her arms out after him. He rushes from the room and locks the door.
He does not tell Wendy what happened in the room, and she suggests taking Danny to a doctor. This makes Jack angry and starts blaming Wendy for everything that went wrong in his life, he tells her that she is irresponsible and that they can not leave because of his obligation to his employers. He returns to the Gold room, which is now an extravagant scene from a 1920’s party. A Butler runs into him and spills advocaat on his jacket, the waiter insists that he comes to the rest rooms to be cleaned up. The waiter introduces himself as Delbert Grady, Jack remembers the story that Mr. Ullman told him and asks Grady about it. He tells Jack that he has been the only caretaker of the hotel and that there was no other Grady. Jack is confused but accepts the story. Grady then continues to tell Jack that his son Danny is trying to use his gift to bring in outsiders to the hotel and he advises on how to correct Danny and his wife Wendy if she interferes.
In Florida, Dick Halloran is failing to contact the overlook hotel to check on them and decides to book a flight to get there.
Wendy takes a baseball bat and goes to look for Jack; she is intent on leaving the hotel with or without Jack. While she is looking she comes across his typewriter and the manuscript next to it, curious, she reads what he has been writing but it is just page upon page of the same phrase ‘All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy’. This is when she works out that Jack has gone crazy.
Jack enters behind her, and asks ‘How do you like it?’ there is a confrontation between the two, resulting in Wendy knocking Jack out the baseball bat and he falls down the stairs that she was trying to escape up. She drags him to the kitchens and locks him in the pantry.
A few hours later Jack is woken by Delbert Grady’s voice who tells Jack that he is disappointed in him and shows a lack of confidence in Jack. Jack assures Grady that he can get the job done and the door suddenly becomes unlocked.
Wendy has fallen asleep in her room, and Danny enters a trance, carrying a knife and repeating ‘REDRUM’. He takes Wendy’s lipstick writing REDRUM on the door of the bathroom and begins shouting it, Wendy wakes up and holds Danny, she then sees the reflection of the bathroom door in the mirror and reads ‘MURDER’.
There is a banging sound at the door; it is Jack swinging an axe at the locked door. Wendy grabs Danny and locks them in the bathroom, she opens the tiny window and pushes Danny out , he slides down a snow drift that has built up outside and is safe, Wendy tells him to go and hide.
Jack has proceeded to chop down the front door, and knocks politely, Wendy steadies herself with a knife and Jack begins to hack at the door, once he had got rid of a few panels he sticks his head through and shouts ‘HEEERREEESSS JOHHHNNNYYY’ (which has become an iconic moment of Horror Movie History). He puts his hand though the gap to grab the handle and Wendy slashes his hand with the knife. They both here a low rumble of a Snow cat approaching and Jack walks out to find out who it is.
The driver was Dick Halloran and inside the hotel he calls out to see if anyone is there, Jack jumps out from behind a pillar and stabs him in the chest with the axe. Danny cries out from a kitchen cupboard where he is hiding, revealing his location. He runs out of the hotel followed by Jack.
Wendy has collected herself and is out looking for Danny, she encounters ghosts along the way but does not let them faze her. At the same time Jack wielding the axe follows Danny into the hedge maze.
Danny realises he is leaving footsteps in the snow and that is how Jack is following him through the maze. He carefully retraces his steps and hides behind another hedge; Jack then realises the foot prints have disappeared but continues down another path on pursuit of Danny. Danny then follows his own foot prints out of the maze.
Wendy runs out of the hotel just as Danny come out of the maze, she throws down the knife and hugs her son, and you hear Jack let out a loud scream. Wendy and Danny escape in the snow cat. Jack who is lost in the maze freezes to death.
Just before the end credits the audience is shown a photograph hanging in the hotel of the Gold room, it is of a ball and in the centre of the picture is a young Jack. The photo is dated ‘Overlook Hotel, July 4th Ball, 1921’
There are quite a few conventions included in this film, they are in an isolated setting, which had a history, and they are secluded from civilisation, the characters seeing things. Creepy music, which sometimes amounts to something and sometimes does not, builds the tension. Visions which we are not sure are real or not.
The repetition of phrases, like the documents and also ‘REDRUM’, also the trapped feeling continues into the maze.
Out of all the horror movies we watched, and others I have seen, this is my favourite because I like the way it kept me intrigues and wanting to know if the visions were real and how Jack could talk to the people from the past of the hotel. The twist that the child could see and sense things but could not always voice the warning, also because I feel more for films where children are in trouble so I wanted the little boy to be safe at the end.
I didn’t think it was as scary as the other films, but the story line was better and more twisted then the others, it was hard to work out what was happening in this, rather then working it out in the other films. I couldn’t predict what was going to happen.
For me one of the scariest moments was in the maze, I just wanted Danny to be safe, and I was relieved when they got out of the maze and away from the hotel. The suspense of the chase, would he catch up with him, will he escape, all the questions kept me intrigued.
Conventions of Horror Movies
There are many conventions that make a Horror film a horror film, they are designed to make us scared, and trigger our fears. Obviously not all horror films have everything in them, but they probably have several of the conventions in one film.
Here is a list that I compiled of the conventions of a horror film:
- Suspense
- Weapons
- Villains
- Shadows
- Murder/ death
- Darkness/ half light
- Blood
- Eerie music – String instruments
- Weaker characters
- Brave Characters (the hero)
- Victims
- Haunted houses- isolated settings
- Monsters
- Evil
- Storms
- Chase sequences
- Screams
- Violence
- Gore
- False sense of security
Here is a list that I compiled of the conventions of a horror film:
- Suspense
- Weapons
- Villains
- Shadows
- Murder/ death
- Darkness/ half light
- Blood
- Eerie music – String instruments
- Weaker characters
- Brave Characters (the hero)
- Victims
- Haunted houses- isolated settings
- Monsters
- Evil
- Storms
- Chase sequences
- Screams
- Violence
- Gore
- False sense of security
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