Research Into Horror Trailers - The Final Girl (2014)

The establishing shot in the woods shows the isolated location. The trees suggest the location being outside. It's dark and misty showing viewers something will happen at night. The props used such as axes and baseball bats show the different weapons being used to kill or harm people. The weapons allows the audience to see that a dangerous game is being played and someone's going to hurt.

One point in the trailer, the girl is laying on the ground in high key lighting whereas the boys are in low key lighting and can't be shown. The contrast of white vs black could demonstrate the characters who are innocent in comparison to those who are evil. Superimposition is used with words popping up as a background to the plot. Words like 'terrified' 'hopeless' and 'hunted' evoke emotions from the audience as they would feel sympathetic towards the victim. The words don't promote a positive storyline so it's easy to tell the genre. The girl is also wearing red lipstick and a red dress. The colour red symbolises danger which could show the danger awaiting her, the colour red emits sensuality so may be the reason why so many boys are drawn to her, the colour red stands out the most.

New Horror Film Releases Of 2014 And What's Already In The Industry

 

























The Quiet Ones - August 2014
Annabelle - October 2014
    Devils Due - January 2014
    As Above So Below - August 2014
    Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones - January 2014
    The Babadook - October 2014
    Dracula Untold - October 2014
    Oculus - June 2014
    Jessabelle - November 2014
    Ouija - October 2014

The horror films listed were the most publicised and promoted movies in 2014. Trailers for these movies were shown on TV, Youtube adverts and even on twitter. Throughout the year it appears that horror movies are mainly shown at either the beginning of the year, in the summer and coming towards the end of the year. This may be purposefully done in the horror industry, especially for all the horror films released in October which is the lead up to Halloween to make the horror films appear more scary. The main sub genre of horror shown from these movies appears to be the supernatural one. 2014 for horror movies seems to be related to supernatural rather than slashers or any of the other sub genres. The movie industry has decided to make majority supernatural movies this year which may be because feedback from audience has shown that they find supernatural horrors the most frightening.
I've researched some movies from 2013 and similarly majority of the horrors from 2013 such as: Contracted, The Last Exorcism Part 2, Devils Pass, Nothing Left To Fear, The Haunting In Connecticut 2, Insidious Chapter 2, The Conjuring and Mama are all supernatural horrors. Horror movies in 2012 seemed to be dominated by slashers or vampire movies so the past two years it looks as if the movie industry wanted to make a change and switch to predominately supernatural horrors films.

Research Into Horror Trailers - The Caller (2011)

In 'The Caller' trailer, a lot of dark lighting is used which makes it more effective as it's easier for things to pop up and scare an audience. The titles that appear throughout the trailer are in the colour red which connotes danger and is the colour of blood. The first image shown in the trailer was a telephone which links in with the title of the film. This gives an indication to the audience that from the title and the phone being the first thing we see, that the phone will play an important role in the movie. In the trailer an iconography that was used were weapons, knives were seen. In horror films the villain typically tends to be a male but in this trailer it seems as though the villain is a woman which subverts from the typical villain in a horror.

I've made a collage of pictures from the trailer that stood out to me and made me think this made a good trailer. The first image was a 1 second clip of a girl with blood running down her eyes, when the main girl was sleeping on the train. The image is effective as it was barely seen in the trailer and came in a flash sequence. She's crying blood which already presents a messed up situation arising in the trailer. She looks scared and this makes the audience question who this girl is and what her role in the movie is. Iconography used such as blood is shown which is a key element of the horror genre. In the second image on the top row, the main character is digging up something and its set in the night time. Night time settings is a typical convention shown in horror films as it's more scary. The image below shows scars on her body which leaves the question to the audience about what has happened to her. The image below that shows a finger in a jar, this illustrates something bad has happened to someone in the movie as body parts are being removed. The last image at the bottom shows the main character being attacked by a big weapon, this was effective in showing the main girl is being attacked by an unknown assailant. 

The movie poster I have incorporated in the collage. The title has a red shadow on it which looks quite ghostly and could give off a supernatural feel of the movie. The colour red is representative of the colour of blood and may be a warning that danger is present in the movie. The slogan 'some calls are best left unanswered' illustrates a phone call will lead to something with bad consequences. The line makes the audience want to know what was said on this phone call. A hand is coming out of the wall, the identity of this person is unknown and it's near the phone which could show a link between the phone and the person who is calling. The brick walls have blood around it which shows that maybe inside the wall there are dead bodies or its the scene where people have died. It's a very ambiguous movie poster as there are a lot of questions that could be asked about it. 

Moral Panic

Amended Narrative

1.Riley's on her bed at home, looking at herself in the mirror
2.Riley talks to Phoenix about feeling watched
3.Phoenix persuades Riley to attend a party
4.Riley argues, she doesn't want to attend the party - typical aspects of the final girl theory (innocent, doesn't drink)
5.Phoenix finally persuades Riley to attend the party and they go
6.Loki attempts to touch Riley in a sexual manner, this is seen by a bystander who knows Loki and Phoenix are a couple
7.The bystander tells Phoenix, and Phoenix then believes Riley is out to ruin her relationship with Loki
8.Riley and Phoenix go home, and while Phoenix is busy in the bathroom - Riley notices a shrine of herself under the bed (in Loki and Phoenix's house)
9.Riley thinks Loki is to blame for the shrine and the owner it
10.Riley runs out of the house, she manages to drop her house keys and Phoenix realises Riley has discovered the shrine under her bed
11.It's a new day
12.Riley "you need to look under the bed! I think Loki's obssessed with me"
Phoenix "what are you going on about?!"
Riley "what are you going on about?!"
13.Phoenix turns to look at Loki who is lying down on the bed with her, and the audience feels as though Loki is the guilty one because of her menacing store
14. Flashback? - past interaction
Riley and Loki were together earlier on in the year
Phoenix manages to distract Loki from her and that is how they begin their relationship
Phoenix' paranoia sets in, because of this event and therefore she is always wary of Riley - this is why they become best friends, so that Riley has no reason to go after Loki

Storyboard

These are screenshots that I took after I analysed my work. The storyboard  I feel isn't a clear storyboard so my group and I will make another storyboard and create a better narrative. As we had little time to think of a clear narrative this is just a rough outline of what the narrative and storyboard will be. I've deconstructed the different scenes to make it clear what will happen. In another post I will make an amended version of the storyboard

Prop List

Research Into Horror Trailers - Cabin In The Woods (2012)

In The Cabin in the Woods trailer, there are several conventions of horror that have been incorporated. Blood and weapons are shown which straight away give off a dangerous feel and shows us that it's a horror genre. Within the first 20 seconds of the film one of the girls says 'doesn't even show up on the GPS'. This already indicates to an audience that danger is ahead of them, if it's not showing on a GPS and they need help, no one will know where to find them. Isolated settings are shown as well in the trailer which is always a recipe for disaster as there is no access to help and something always happens in remote places. The typical conventions of a trailer that worked well in creating suspense was that there was one line used each time. It didn't give away too much of the narrative and the lines used created a picture of peril. In the trailer, one of the main characters suggested they split up and another character said 'really'. This plays up to a stereotypical horror but also subverts at the same time. In a typical horror movie, for some reason the characters decide to split up which allows them to be killed one by one or have mysterious things happen, normally in those horror films the characters agree to it but with the response 'really' it subverts as the character realises that by splitting up it could potentially be more dangerous. One of the characters says 'somebody sent those things here to get us', the word 'things' suggests that the villains of the films aren't humans and it's ambiguous to the audience as you wonder what he means by things. The soundtrack used over the trailer at the end is very fast paced and sounds like screaming which fits well with the horror genre.

This film involves five young people embodying certain archetypes: the whore, the athlete, the scholar, the fool and the virgin. They all contrast with each other as they aren't alike in anyway but surprisingly they are all friends. This film plays up to what typically happens in horror films. Jules is the first to die as she's the 'slut' of the group and normally in horror films its those type of girls that get killed first. In scream one of the rules was 'you may not survive the movie if you have sex', this fits in well with this movie as Jules is not a virgin and is about to have sex and dies. In this movie there was a flexibility of the order of killings but the one rule was that the whore had to die first and the virgin either had to survive or die last which was the case as the whore got killed first and the virgin survived , she maintained her innocence.

I created a collage of images in the trailer that really caught my eye. On the top row on the left, it's clear to see that the person is clearly not human, it looks creature like and shows that something is clearly not right here, there's a state of disequilibrium. The cabin in the second image on the top row shows the isolation of the cabin. It's surrounded by greenery and there are no other cabins or people around. The one way mirror is a bit bizarre in a cabin, it gives the audience a sense of someone being watched unknowingly which is creepy. In the trailer a bird flew into what appears to be an electrical wall which straight away gave the impression that something wasn't right and someone was controlling it. In the second image in the second row, there are several CCTV's which are allowing the teenagers to be watched, I thought this was alarming as it seemed like a game to me, other people are controlling what happens to the teenagers. In the first image on the third row, one of the boys are covered in blood and this shows an audience that something disturbing has occurred. They all look startled and scared which displays fear among them. The second image on the third row shows what appears to be a creature. Looking at the image it's clear to see that it's not human and the teenagers are being chased by creatures. A weapon is shown in one of the images and the situation looks menacing as one of the teenagers is laying on the floor and you anticipate they're about to get hurt but the weapon. 'The secret' gives an element of surprise and darkness to the trailer as an audience will want to know what the secret is. The background colours are black and red. The colour red is the colour of blood and is associated with danger. The colour black shows darkness and mystery which link well with the word 'secret'. A masked identity shows the audience that humans and creatures could potentially be both villains. 

Conventions Of A Trailer

Conventions Of A Trailer on MindMup

Alien (1979)

Research Into Horror Trailers - Sorority Row (2009)

The Sorority Row trailer has several conventions  of a trailer in it such as: We are not shown the  story in narrative order, the trailer builds to a  climax, where it ends, conversations consisting of  one line each and they showcased the stars of the  film.

 Most of the typical conventions of a trailer were  incorporated in the sorority row trailer to create a  narrative for the audience and build suspense.  From the trailer, I was able to tell that the narrative  would be about a group of friends who murdered  there friends by accident and decided to keep it a  secret but someone finds out about it and they each  start getting killed by whoever knows. The music used was effective in building up a climax and making certain scenes more scary. In one scene a chant of a sorority is used which links with the title of the film and also links with the main characters of the film as they are part of a sorority and they are the ones who killed their friend in the beginning. A sorority is normally meant to be peaceful and fun but this film goes against that and turns something fun into something dark and evil.

I've created a collage of the most effective clips from the trailer in my opinion. 'A secret' and 'and death' made me instantly think of the horror genre. The word death connotes horror and tells me something bad is going to happen in the film. It made me think that the secret would lead to the deaths of the people who kept the secret, a lot of enigma was used to make an audience question what all these different titles are about. The trailer was able to create a narrative for an audience and didn't give too much away. The trailer was able to show the murder weapon used for the friend which linked with the image that was found on the phone from the text that all the girls received from an anonymous person which I presume is the killer. The second image on the top row says 'You're Next', this shows there's a hunt going on and something has happened before for someone to say there will be more victims. The actual words are written in blood and the colour red connotes danger. It's typical to see blood in a horror movie. Isolated settings was used when they drove to the place where they were going to bury their friend. Isolated settings is a typical convention of a horror film, night time settings and low key lighting were also used create suspense and fear as shadows were used too, all these elements made the genre very evident. On the first picture in the third row, all that's shown is a girl being dragged half way off the screen, this immediately makes an audience know that she's either unconscious or dead. The trailer consisted of mainly the colour black, the colour black represents darkness, mystery, death, evil and fear which all link with the horror genre. Pull focus was used to show all the actions that were going on, when the pull focus effect was used, so was sudden loud music which made it seem more scary. Music plays a key role in making the trailer more scary. 

Narrative For Trailer

The mind map at the top was the original narrative my group and I came up with. We thought it was a little vague so we wanted to create a different more in detailed narrative that would be easy for an audience to follow. The second mind map is the slightly more detailed narrative, there's shorter steps but it makes more sense and tells more of a story than the first one did. In the actual trailer that we create there will be far more detail but for now this is the basic outline of what the trailer will consist of.

Comparing Prom Night (2008) With Prelim Remake Trailer

All the screenshots on the left are from the actual film prom night, the screenshots on the right are from the prelim task that I had to create.

The top sets of screenshots show the main girl walking up the stairs.
In the film prom night, the main girl Donna is walking up the stairs, in the scene before she is screaming out her dad's name as she can not find him (unbeknownst to her that he's been killed). In the prelim trailer, the main girl is called Courtney and she is screaming out for her mother. We wanted to keep that element the same so that it shows that she was looking for someone just like in the original movie.

In the second screenshots Donna has just finished telling her brother 'turn the TV down'. In my trailer the line the mother says is 'turn the music down'. The phrases are similar in the sense that they are both requesting for sounds to be turnt down. Straight after the phrases are said by both the character in the film and the character in our trailer, something happens. In the original film, Donna discovers her brother dead and in my trailer the mother gets attacked as the killer comes out of the bathroom and attempts to hurt her.

In the third screenshots, Donna in the original film has crawled under her bed as she's hearing noises from the hallway. Courtney from my trailer crawls under the bed as she's hearing her mothers screams from outside. This allows the audience to see the scared emotions from the characters. We kept this similar so it made sense when the mother's both get pushed to the floor and are able to see their daughters hiding under the bed.

In the fourth screenshots, the mother in the original film has been pushed to the ground just like the mother in my trailer. The only difference here is that the mother in the original film is facing upwards but the mother in my trailer is facing sidewards.

In the fifth screenshots, the mother in the original film turns to her left and sees her daughter underneath the bed. In my trailer, the mother turns her head and discovers her daughter underneath the bed. My group and I wanted to keep this similar as it was effective in seeing that the last thing the mothers will see before their death is their daughters.

In the last screenshots, Donna has her hand over her mouth as she's watching her mother being killed by the killer in the film. In my trailer Courtney has her hands over her mouth as she knows her mother is about to be killed.

As we had to remake a trailer, we tried to keep certain things the same such as the things I've mentioned so that the horror genre is evident and it doesn't differ too much from the actual movie.

Development Of Horror

Paul Wells Research (2000)

Paul Wells conducted a small group research of 12-28 people.

The conclusions that he gathered were:
- The relationship to being frightened changes with age, it relates to broader factors affections emotional responses
- Audiences between 1970-1990 were not that used to special effects whereas 'monster' films of 1920-1930's reported very strong personal responses to images and iconography of horror
- Young people are aware of artificially and are becoming harder to shock which films play into this knowingness of horror conventions.

41-55 years (1945-1959) advancements in technology
26-40 years (1960-1974) disliked predictability of films
16-25 years (1975-1984) understood films were artificial

Final Girl Theory

Here's my summary of Carol J. Clover - Her Body, Himself article

Conventions Of Horror

Prom Night (2008)

Ingredients Of A Horror Film

The Blair Witch Project (1999)

Halloween (1978)

Halloween is an independent slasher film and was directed by John Carpenter in 1978.  Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street and some other slasher films owe some of their success or inspiration to Halloween, while Halloween got inspiration from the film Black Christmas (1974). The doctor in Halloween's last name is 'Loomis' which is the same surname as Billy the killer in Scream (1996) and Marion's lover in Psycho (1960), the nurse is called Marion Chambers which is similar to Marion from Psycho. These names make links to Psycho which was one of the most successful horror films before Halloween. On Halloween, Micheal Myers stabs to death his older sister. He ends up in a psychiatric hospital and is monitored for 15 years but he managed to escape. Jamie Lee Curtis got cast as the main lead Laurie Strode as her mother in real life was Janet Leigh who played Marion Crane, this launched Jamie Lee's career as a 'scream queen' and has made her appear in several horror films.

In Halloween Judith Myers gets stabbed 9 times, Christoper Hastings was knifed in the chest, Lester was strangled, Annie Brackett was strangled with her throat slit, Lyna Van Der Klok was strangled and Bob Simms was pinned to the door with a kitchen knife through the chest. These murders occurred with little blood being seen in the scenes and little revealing of the actual killings taken place. This was similarly done in Carrie and Texas Chainsaw Massacre as a deliberate attempt to build suspense and make the audience scared.

In my opinion Halloween wasn't that scary, some scenes were quite predictable and I felt that I never really jumped and I just sat watching it with a blank expression. I like the fact Micheal Myers has a hidden identity by wearing a white mask and it was disturbing how he killed his sister when he was so young, I was expecting the killer at the beginning to be an older man. It conforms to the stereotypical view that the male is the killer and the girls in the film are prayed upon by men. Voyeurism is used a lot as this film is seen mainly through Micheal Myers mask. We see the film mainly through Micheal's eyes and this forces the audience into a deeper sense of participation in the action that takes place. The heroine at the end is depicted as innocent and pure which is why she probably survived the film, this film goes with 'survival of the virgins' and shows how innocent Laurie was at the end.

Prelim Task - Prom Night Remake Trailer (2008)

For the prelim task, my group and I chose to remake Prom Night which is a horror film as we had to remake a horror trailer. Given the short amount of time that we had to produce a trailer, I think my group and I did a good job. There are several things that I would personally like to change about the prelim task but I'll make sure to learn from this experience and use knowledge that I've learnt from making this one and apply it when making the actual horror trailer. We tried to incorporate different shot types and I think we were successful with that. More sound could've been applied

I think the best part about the trailer we created was the action match when Lois (Mum) got pushed to the ground and the impact was shown. It was hard to edit it to make it look realistic and actually make it match but I'm satisfied with the result. My group and I took it in turns to film and edit so we all had equal roles in the process of it. There were some scenes that didn't make sense and I wish we had thought about it when we were filming but with so little time it was a struggle, I wish we would have filmed Sharna (Courtney) standing up and then crawling under the bed instead of having a shot where she's already on the floor and crawling under the bed, to an audience watching it may not have made perfect sense.

The ending of the trailer worked really well as dark and light was used. I feel as though the darker lighting should've been on Sharna as she was under the bed where it would've been darker and the high-key lighting on Lois as she was in the light. It still was effective in showing how the daughter is watching her mother about to be killed, it builds up suspense and makes you wonder what's about to happen next but we cut it at Lois and Sharna staring at each other. Further shots would've been filmed but the camera died and there was no spare battery. No soundtrack was used and only diagetic sounds such as Lois's screams, we recorded them on the computer and tried to make it sound like a real scream.
From the trailer, there are some parts which give it away that it's part of the horror genre such as the masked killer and the screaming but I wish there were more elements of horror in there to really make an audience establish the genre. I will make sure the key elements of horror are incorporated in our final trailer piece.

Scream (1996)

Scream is a 1996 American slasher film. Scream managed to incorporate several horror films in it which include: Halloween, A Nightmare On Elm Street, When A Stranger Calls, Prom Night and Friday The 13th. Scream was written by Kevin Williamson who had a childhood love for horror, this is evident by the amount of other horror films he mentioned in the film. Scream is based partly on the real-life case of the Gainesville Ripper. Visual effects were used on several different scenes of the film to make for a better horror film and make the scenes look more realistic. The visual effects allowed scenes such as Casey hanging from the tree even look possible. The poster shows Casey the main girl in the beginning of the film which gave the audience the impression that she would probably survive the movie and be the final girl but that wasn't the case. 











Ghostface: "Do you like scary movies?"
Sidney: "What's the point? They're all the same. Some stupid killer stalking some big-breasted girl who can't act who is always running up the stairs when she should be running out the front door. 
It's insulting."-- This is Ghostface and Sidney's first encounter in Scream and shows the clique of what typically happens in horror films. Sidney is the main heroine and protagonist of the movie and ends up surviving by destroying the killer. She's in all scream sequels and still ends up being the final girl as she defeats all the killers. Scream plays on the typical conventions of horror and this is what made the film so successful as the characters in the film acknowledged what normally happens in horror films. 

Randy explains the rules of horror films and what happens to people who abide by those rules. 
He explains the rules to successfully survive a horror movie: 
You may not survive the movie if you have sex
You may not survive the movie if you drink or do drugs 
You may not survive the movie if you say "I'll be right back", "Hello" or "Who's there?". 
The second rule appeared to be accurate when right after Sidney had sex with her boyfriend, Ghostface entered and stabbed Sidney's boyfriend multiple time. In most horror films, when those rules are broken they end with dire consequences. Saying "I'll be right back" foreshadows the fact that the character won't come back and the audience anticipates this to happen which is what was Randy was highlighting in the film. In one scene of Scream, Randy yells at the movie telling the character on the screen to look behind him, unaware that Ghostface was behind him. This was done purposefully to show the naivety with some characters and demonstrate Randy taking the mick out of his own life as he was basically the same as the boy in the movie he was watching. The last rule applies as the characters who are defiant and rebellious in horror films are usually the ones who get killed off. 

The opening scene of Scream was one of the best opening scenes of a horror film in this time period. Casey discusses horror movies, sequels and participates in a trivia with the killer on the phone. The audience feels as though she is the main character of the film as she was the first character to appear on screen, it was effective in killing her off early as this was reminiscent of Marion Crane from Psycho as she was the main lead but got killed early. There are clear comparisons to Psycho such as Billy from Scream's surname is Loomis which was the same as Marion's lover in Psycho. Billy Loomis quotes Norman Bates in the film by saying: "We all go a little mad sometimes", it's clear that Billy is the Psycho in this film as he's revealed to be one of the killers.

In my opinion Scream (1996) was a very good movie. There were several elements of horror in it and a lot of blood which made the film more gory than some other horror films prior to scream which tried to keep blood minimal to make the audience feel as though they've seen more than they actually did. It was a good development of the slasher horror and the film was clever in all the different shot types and killings used to make the film live up to the horror genre. I liked the idea of the characters in the film being able to mention what typically happens in horrors, it played up to the clique and at times the film managed to subvert from a typical horror but at the same time several scenes conformed to a typical horror film.

What Is Your Biggest Fear?

Fears Official Video from Shari Powell on Vimeo.

Horror Survey

Enigma Codes, Binary Opposites, Equilibrium And Narrative Theory

Reactions To Horror Trailers

I filmed four people watching two different horror trailers. I chose two different sub-genres to see which one gets more of a reaction; I chose to show them a supernatural horror and a slasher horror. From their reactions it's clear to see that they are more shocked with supernatural horrors but more terrified at slasher horrors. I will take this into consideration when I make my horror trailer when I decide which emotion I want to evoke from my audience. The beginning of the trailers always appeared less interesting to the audience I showed and more exciting towards the end, I will try to make my horror trailer captivating for most of it so that the audience doesn't lose interest. The slasher horror was more action packed and this kept the audiences attention on the screen. At the end 'You're Next' the animal pops up unexpectedly under the bed and cause it wasn't expected, this made the viewers jump as they wasn't prepared for it. When making my horror trailer, I want to make it so there are quite a few unexpected twists so that it gives more of a scare factor for the audience and this will make them want to watch more of it.

Research Rationale

                                                       Research Rationale

The target group I have access too would be people aged 16-19. These are the age range that I would fall into so I know more people who I would easily be able to conduct research from as I’m mainly around people the same age as me. The resources I would be needing would be a camera and a tripod as I would be filming some of my research questions to make a video of all the different responses I get back so a contrast of answers are easy to see. I will also need a computer so I can use editing software to cut out any bits of the video that is not needed and have a flowing video. I will interview my target audience and film it so that will be easier to make a video from.

The type of research that I will carry out will be market research and audience research. From the audience research I will talk directly to the target audience, show them clips that they would be able to discuss and give me feedback on and I’ll also have a focus group consisting of 3 or 4 people so the opinions would be varied. I will create surveys and questionnaires with several questions on it to know what different aspects of horror people enjoy and what different aspects of horror they don’t enjoy watching. With the research collected, I will have a clear idea of what to incorporate in my horror trailer.

From the market research, I will deconstruct several horror posters to see what elements of horror tend to frequently be on posters which will help me when I’m making a horror poster myself. I will analyse horror narrative to try to differ away from what typically happens in horrors so that my horror trailer makes my target audience asks questions about it and make them want to watch more. I will also observe the new releases at the cinema to keep things contemporary and see what's been involved in making the horror film trailers look interesting. Once I have completed the market research I will have a better understanding of what to include in my horror trailer and I will try to make my horror trailer different and exciting to captivate my target audiences attention. 

Nosferatu (1922), Psycho (1960), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) and Carrie (1976) Comparisons

I compared Nosferatu, Psycho, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Carrie with each other and the sheets show all the differences and similarities between the movies. Out of all of the movies, I would say Texas Chainsaw Massacre shows the most typical elements of horror in the movie and has a narrative behind it as well as having a final girl. All the films have a final girl and they all tend to be blonde and beautiful.

Audience Theories

Comparing Carrie (1976) to Carrie (2013)

I enjoyed watching both versions of Carrie's although I feel like the newer 2013 version had a better prom scene than the first one and there was a lot more blood used which is a typical element of horror. In the 1976 version of Carrie whilst the prom scene occurs, the whole scene changes to red.  The colour red is used to connote blood and danger and shows her vengeful actions against the people who bullied her, it makes it seem as though Carrie is literally 'seeing red' which is an expression used when a person is really angry. The split screen used in this version was done to show what she's doing to the others and also to show her facial reactions. It's clear to tell that by her eyes she is able to make stuff happen and also hand movements which is similar to the 2013 version. The voice over kept saying 'They're all gonna laugh at you' which were her mothers words and they were constantly repeated during the prom scene. This was effective in seeing the affect those words had on Carrie. The words made her more angry and made her want revenge. In Carrie (1976), her mother has told her "first comes the blood, then comes the sin" so at the prom scene when the blood fell on Carrie, it reiterated what her mother had been saying all along and made Carrie seem as though she was sinful. The sinfulness of the blood being poured on her led her to commit more sins by killing all the students who bullied her.

In the 2013 version of the prom version, blood was used to show all the deaths that occurred. Instead of a voice over of her mothers words in Carrie (2013), the video of the shower scene was used to remind Carrie of the torment her classmates put her through and that made her be vengeful towards them. The psycho strings were used in Carrie (1976) in the first shower scene when Carrie made the light blow out. This references Psycho (1960) as that sound is associated with the horror genre since the film Psycho came out. In both Carrie versions, a red car is used by Chris and her boyfriend when trying to escape. The colour red is the colour of blood and is associated with rage, anger and danger. Both Carrie's destroy the red cars that Billy drives which shows her anger being taken out on Chris and Billy. It also shows how danger may be coming towards Chris and Billy too. 

The image below shows the deaths of the mothers both caused by Carrie. The mothers arms are sprawled out and it looks to represent the cross and has connotations of religion, it was an imitation of the crucifixion of Jesus. The hands are pinned down by scissors which is like how Jesus was pinned down with the nails on his hands on the cross. The puppet on the right was seen in the beginning and the ending of the film. The puppet foreshadowed the mothers death as the arrows in the puppet are placed where the objects hit Carrie's mother. The puppet then reappears after Carrie has killed her mother which is significant in showing the similarities between them and showing how Margaret is literally like a puppet and dead. In both versions of Carrie, the mother's are wearing white, the colour white connotes innocence which the mother's were both trying to be as they didn't want to be sinful and were both very religious. Their innocence is tainted by the blood stains on their clothes. 

Comparing Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) and Psycho (1960)

Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

The animoto video that I produced was explaining the elements involved in Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The words I used to represent what was in the film were 'isolation' 'killer' 'fear' 'creepy' 'blood' 'survival' and 'religion'. I thought those were were best fits with the images that I used from the movie. In horror films there's mainly always a killer who happens to be Leatherface, there are other creepy characters in the film and the main one is Nubbins the hitchiker and is the brother of Leatherface. Blood is a key element for a lot of horror movies as it shows the killings that occur and gives a gruesome element to the horror genre. The girl crawling on the floor showed the isolation around her, there was no one to help her at all and she became a victim to Leatherface and his brother. Survival is the key for most horror films as at the end of most horror films there is always a victim who has survived in the hands of the killer. Religion is an element in some horror film as it makes the narrative seem more mysterious. Texas Chainsaw Massacre used little blood in the film and a lot of explicit violence so it made it seem to viewers as though a lot of blood and gore occured when in reality there was little blood seen.

Psycho (1960)

Collage Of Old Vampire Movies

I created a collage of old vampire movie posters on a website called Fotor. I wanted to show the similarities between a lot of the posters to show the typical conventions that the posters show of the horror genre. In the old vampire films, there always seems to be a female character that is the main focus of the male vampire, in the posters that have a female in them the male seems to be the dominating one as he's looking over her and protecting them from other people. It's the vampires way of marking their territory. A majority of the posters have the colour red on it which connotes danger and blood. In the 'Vampyres' poster, the vampire has yellow eyes and fangs which are stereotypical features of a vampire. The vampire has blood dripping out of its mouth which shows the audience she's just sunk her fangs into someone. In the 'Near Dark' poster the vampire looks deformed and hideous which is a typical feature of a vampire for the old movies. They often looked hideous and conformed to how a vampire was supposed to look. In two of the posters on the left hand side, the vampires are wearing capes which identify with what vampires wear. Typically now in horror movies vampires aren't easy to identify as they tend to dress like normal people. For example in Twilight Edward Cullen wears normal clothes and goes to school. In the old films involving vampires, the vampires tend to look older and be older compared to modern ones which have vampires who are younger.

Old Vampire Movies

Propps Character Theory

I believe Propp's character theory exists but only in certain film genres. His theory tends to come up more in fairy tales compared to horrors or comedies as for horror films its more about survival rather than getting a prize. For example in Shrek the hero is Shrek, the villain is Lord Farquaad, the doner is a magical dragon, the Princess is Fiona, the helper is Donkey and the false hero is also Lord Farquaad as he was putting on an act. The main element of Propp's character theory that will always be present in a horror film would be the villain as that’s basically the killer and every  horror film has that to create the narrative. In horror films there typically tends to be the villain who is the killer, the false hero who is also the killer who pretends to be innocent and the hero would be someone who fights off and murders the killer. In a horror film called ‘My Bloody Valentine 3D’, Propp's character theory shows some functions as the hero turns out to be Axel who is a victim, the villain is Tom who is the killer, the princess is Sarah who both the hero and villain seem to be in love with, the false hero ended up being Tom who acted as if he wasn't the killer but he actually was. All seven things weren't included in the horror film and the only main ones which were evident was the villain, the hero and the princess. Elements of his theory can be applied to a horror narrative.

Sinister (2012) Deconstruction

Halloween Resurrection (2002) Deconstruction

Identity (2003) Poster Deconstruction

Contemporary Vampire Movies

Slither

In  the trailer a lot of low key lighting was used when he was digging out the meat and walking through the forest with plastic bags, it added mystery as to what was in the bags that he was carrying. Low angle was used at 0.16 to show his positive emotion towards the amount of meat he was seeing. Wide shot was used to show the variety of meat and allowed the audience to see that he was after a lot of meat which was more than any human could be capable of consuming. 

In the first image a lot of special effects and makeup have been used to show his transformation from a human into this monster. His face looks very fleshy and its easy to see that he's not the same person that he was at the start of the video. It's a medium close up shot to show the extent of his facial disfigurement.

In the second image its a high angle shot to show the slither creature making its way to her face. The woman seems relaxed and oblivious to the fact that something else is in the bath with her. The slither creature is red, the colour red connotes danger.

The poster for the film allows the audience to allow that the genre is horror. The title 'slither' is smudged and shows a slithering effect. A blood splatter behind the title signifies something bad will happen, blood most of the time suggests death. The title for slither looks like a similar font to 'SAW' which shows the genre. The creatures are the most prominent image on the poster which illustrates that those are the main things of the movie. There are several creatures which shows a mass of creatures that will affect people during the movie.