Representation in "Horror" and "Thriller" genre

Horror

Stereotypes

A widely held but fixed and over simplified image of a particular type of person or thing.

Archetype

A very typical example of a certain person or thing.

Films stem from books:

• Bram Stoker created the original Dracula 
• Mary Shelly wrote Frankenstein

Dracuala was high class from Transylvania, Romania. He was part of the hierarchy.

Character like this always have to be male, middle aged, white and have an eastern European accent.

Stereotypical antagonist = white, middle aged males.

• This is a very recogniseable representation, which can also be known as a dominant.

Some examples of this may include: 

• Freddie Crugar - Nightmare on Elm Street
• Norman Bates
• Mike Myers - Friday 13th

Horror movie heroines:

They are normally single, white and virgins 

There role has evolved from victim to aggressor

Thriller

Hollywood has always been 'white' centric, for example leading actors/directors have always been male and Caucasian with black ethnic, minority actors only playing minor roles.Acts like Will Smith and Morgan Freeman broke this mold.  

In thrillers they always have a white, male protagonist but in the 1990's things began to change. In the film Se7en, Morgan Freeman is playing a lead role 

Having a homosexual/lesbian protagonist is almost entirely rare even in Liberal Hollywood.Being openly gay in these films is unheard of.

Thomas Harris, who created, Hannibal Lecture is critacised because all his antagonists have homosexual tendencies and sexual deviances.

Female have predominatly played the victim role, or the femme fetale (seductive and can't be trusted).

For example 'Silence of the Lambs' (1990) and the role of Jodie Foster playing FBI rookie 'Clarice Starling' meant that the representations of women had been challenged. 

Film Noir

Film Noir is a cinematic term used to describe Hollywood crime dramas and they normally contain sexual motivations.

Film Noir is best described as a feeling through visual styling of low-key lighting and story conventions.

Stereotypical film noir - it was created by Nino Frank, who was a French critic, and typically contains a fedora hat and a Femme Fatale.

Film Noir is best described as a feeling through visual styling of low-key lighting and story conventions.

Advancements in the 1920's:

• synchronized sound 
• panchromatic film 
• better lighting 

In the 1930's technicolor was introduced and this helped to make films such as 'Wizard of Oz' and 'Gone with the Wind'.

Technological advancements post war:

• better light sensitive film
• compact lighting 
• shooting on location

Genres have had to develop quickly because the industry has developed quickly too. Film has become a large mass media. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time. As new genres are made, the old ones are discontinued.

In the 1920's there were the top 5 film studios. These were:

• RKO 
• Fox
• Warner Bros 
• Paramount 
• MGM

Disney own a large sector of the film industry because as well as owning Disney they also own Lionsgate and Universal.

Popular genres around in the 1920's to the 1930's were:

• Western
• Chap-stick Comedy e.g. Lauren and Hardy
• Gangsta Films

After the 1930's, its then that science fiction became popular.

Codes and Conventions

• Monologues 
• Narration - Non-diegetic
• Representation of women isn't right
• Damsel in distress AKA Femme Fatale
• Good guy always comes out on top
• Girl gets her comeuppance

 We can use the spider and the fly as a metaphor because:

1. The spider is the one actually in control - the female
2. She prays on the Alpha male (the fly)
3. the spider then traps the fly
4. the more involved the spider gets, the more trapped he becomes

 Genres such as; action adventure, drama, romance, comedy, documentaries and horror and thrillers brought in the mass amount of money.

Where did the genres come from?

The term 'genre' typically came from the French and in Latin it means 'kind' or 'class'. Genre refers to a distinctive type of text.

How did the 'Golden Age of Hollywood' re inforce genres?

The 'Golden Age of Hollywood' played a big part in re reinforcing genres because in the 1920's to early 1960's they made around 120 new films and sequels. some of these films included 'Scarface' and 'Les Miserable'. These were big hits and now in the 20th and 21st century they have been re created to keep these genres alive.

Which genres became popular in Hollywood?

The most popular films were comedy, action, drama ad even film noir.

Why do audiences like genres?

Audiences like genres because it helps to them to understand the film more and helps the to know why certain things are happening an what is happening.

Se7en

In the opening sequence of Se7en it shows many different pictures/clips. For this they mainly use close ups and extreme close ups. This adds to the horror element because it allows us to see the weird and un-normal things that are happening. It also helps gives us an insight of what may happen in the film.

The music in the opening sequence is quite low and dull which adds tension to the film. The music holds a sense of darkness which is kind of foreshadowing the film meaning  that the film may be quite a dark film. This implies that the film will hold a lot of tension and potentially will be quite scary. Before the film even starts the music put the audience on edge and build tension.

As part of the opening sequence we see the person opening a journal which shows that, maybe, he likes to write down his conquests or plans. This helps us to see the into the life of the character which helps us to understand the story. We begin to understand that this person may be cynical if this diary is about his conquests. The has a great effect on the story line because we feel as though diaries/journals may play a big part in the story line.

During the opening scene we experience some fast cuts. This implies that there may be something that the director doesn't want us to find out straight away. This creates a sense of secrecy and mystery about the story. This is effective becuase it draws the audience in and makes them wonder what they are

Blue Velvet

The Blue Velvet opening scene has effect non diegetic sound. They put the song on top of the film and this helps to establish the setting. The music is happy, therefore, as an audience, we also feel happy. The music helps to establish a stereotypical American type setting which also creates a sense of dramatic irony because it makes us believe that it is going to be joyful throughout but it is not going to end that way. However, when it gets to the old man watering his garden the mood of the music changes – it becomes dull and dark. This foreshadows what is about to happen because when the music changes we know something is about to happen and it does. This is effective because it shows us that something crucial was going to happen before it even happened.

Mise on scene pays a big part in the opening scene because the first thing we see is the picket fence and the red roses which also helps to establish a stereotypical American setting.  The red rose can imply danger but also love, so as a audience this confuses us because we don’t know whether something dangerous and bad is about to happen or whether love is going to develop. However, as the opening scene carries on we see a red fire engine, which also carries on the stereotypical American lifestyle. A fire engine normally implies danger so this helps us narrow down that in the film something bad/dangerous is going to happen. Flowers then make another appearance but this time with yellow daisies. This leads back to confusion we face when we see the red roses because the yellow daisies mean cheerfulness. This is effective because it leaves the audience questioning what is going to happen, so it leaves them wanting to watch more so they can find out what is really going to happen.

When the man has collapsed/died and is lying on the floor the hosepipe is still on the dog is playing with the water. David Lynch used effective editing and added slow motion to the dog. This makes it seem as if time has completely slowed down. It also implies in that moment that the dog is elated and the slow motion helps us to understand that.  It also implies that he is just an innocent animal in this but because they show a close up of him it may mean that this part is crucial to the story line but just don’t understand yet.

At the end of the opening scene we have a close up shot of the grass which implies that for whatever the reason of the man’s death was – it came from the grass. This implies that the danger is coming from the ground and because of the close up it may suggest that the ground has an importance to the film. This could also be foreshadowing what is about to happen in the film – maybe they will find something in the grass. This close up is effective because it allows us to see what David Lynch is trying to get us to understand before we actually get any answers.

Preliminary Task Evaluation

The 180 degree rule is where, once a scene has been established, the camera must stay on the one side of action and if they don't then the rule has been broken. When two people are facing each other, a line must be drawn down the middle. The line usually runs straight down the middle, between the two people. Once the line has been placed the camera can only stay on the one side. If the camera is switching between the two faces during a conversation and then it suddenly cuts to the other side of the line it will appear that the two people are facing the same way.

A match on action shot is where the perspective of the camera changes during a scene and the scene then continues to flow. A good example of this is normally between two to three seconds. A match on action shot is meant to run smoothly.

An eye line match means that the gaze of the character in one shot has to line up with the person or thing that they are looking at. To get this right, you should put both camera positions a similar distance from the

Shot reverse shot is where one character is shown looking at another character, and the other character is showing looking in the other direction to imply that they are looking at one an other. Its a simple but very effective
We Incorporated the 180 degree rule when handing over the documents. As you can see in the video, the rule was not broken as we never crossed the line. This was effective because it gave the audience chance to gather their own impressions on the file and show them the type of file.

In terms of filming I think that it went well although I believe that we could of incorporated more of the shots that I talk about above. Filming it around sixth form was a good idea because there were plenty of offices that we could use and it also seemed like a business building because of the way that it's been set out and the way that it has the reception at the front of the building. My storyboard could've been better and this would of helped to remind me what shots to use while filming.

I learned that editing a film is hard work even if it is only short. I also learnt that there are many ways to make our film better through editing. We didn't really use any editing on our film although now looking back I think it would of been a good idea because our film looks too bright to look 'corrupt'. In terms of cutting clips, it didn't go very well because half way through out film you can hear Liam say "3...2...1". However  up until that point it was going alright. The adding of the music was a good idea because I think that it adds to the theme of the short film.

Mr Judge Feedback

Hi Tia, Please complete the following tasks ASAP: 3. PRELIMINARY TASK EVALUATION EVIDENT 4. BLUE VELVET TEXTUAL ANALYSIS (COULD USE BOND: SPECTRE INSTEAD) 5. BLUE VELVET SCREEN GRABS IN PLACE 6. BLUE VELVET VIDEO EMBEDDING IN PLACE 7. NO SE7EN TEXTUAL ANALYSIS IN EVIDENCE 10. NO work on GENRE from Mr Rutherford

Preliminary Task

Preliminary Task Evaluation