Individual Research Into Horror Genre

The story line we have chosen is horror. I did some research into horror films so that our film would have the correct iconography for that specific genre; and also so that our film will have a verisimilitude effect.

Horror Genre Conventions Website - I found this website extremely helpful as it talked about the basic conventions associated with stereotypical horror films. For example the protagonist in horror films are usually alone or in a scary situation. This information is very helpful as we could incorporate these ideas into the storyline. For instance, the setting for our film is in a house and would include paranormal events.

We based our idea for our film on 'The Others.' We took the idea from it so that the protagonist believes that she is rally alive. This is a well known horror film and the audience may recognise similar things in ours such as the iconography, story line and cinematography. 




From this trailer I was able to see many examples of what is generally in a horror film. Also, it showed me what could be included in our film. Sound is a very important factor in a horror film. In this trailer it is used to build tension and it  captivates the audience. The music helps create a scarier atmosphere which is essential for a horror film. Many wide shots and close ups are used in this trailer which help build the tension. We could use these type of shots in our film. Close ups show the emotions on a characters face, and if they are scared then it will add to the atmosphere and make the audience scared also.

IMBd review of 'The Others' - I looked at this website at the reviews of this film as it similar to what we are wanting to create. It received a 7.6 out of 10, which proves it isn't that bad and that they audience generally like it. I looked at a lot of the reviews and there were mainly positive things about the story line, the plot twist and the jump scares that we could incorporate into our film. It does however say on this website that at one point the editing does not match in one shot to another and the character of Nicole Kidman walks past the same spot twice. When we go to shoot and edit our film, we will look to edit it so that the match on action follows in the correct pattern and the film flows with ease.

Types of character usually used in horror films -
I did some research into characters and found this slide share that told me about stereotypical characters in horror films.

Website

We will use ideas from this website about a female character being in the film. However, we wish to subvert stereotypes as she will be brave and her aim is to find out what is going on in her house. We still want to include the iconography of a stereotypical horror film so the audience will be able to identify the genre, and we will want to include jump scares; but we want to protagonist to be brave and not rely on someone else. This could also be helpful to the atmosphere of the film, because if she feels alone then it will make the film have a scarier and verisimilitude affect.

Link to slide share - The Horror Genre

This website was extremely helpful as it discussed the key elements of a horror film. For example iconic horror films, the stereotypical settings and the un-stereotypical settings and the mise-en scene.
The setting for our film would be in a house which is stereotypical for a 'ghost film.' There are famous ghost films that are set in houses such as, "The woman in black," "Paranormal activity" and "The others," which we are basing our film on. The sound/music we will use will be used to build the tension and create a scarier effect.The cinematography will consist of many close ups and wide shots to help the atmosphere become scarier. Because our film will be horror, will want the lighting to represent the mood of our film. We will try to have rather dim lighting to make the overall film seem spookier and so that there will be a lot of shadows. The costume used will be normal/everyday clothing for Agnes to create  verisimilitude affect. The 'ghosts'/home owners will be dressed in dark colours to signal to the audience that they are bad and also to give the impression that they are just shadows.

Iconography usually used in horror films -
Iconography means symbolic representations, which usually has a conventional meaning attached to an image or object. For example, audiences will know that blood and gore are mainly associated with horror films. These specific symbols will help the audience identify the genre of the film.

Ghosts:

Ghosts make films a lot more scarier. Because our film is a horror, we thought that using ghosts would make our film scarier. This is because some audiences may believe in ghosts and there is no solid evidence that they do not exist. To add to this they are useful for jump scares and dark lighting in films.

Blood:

Blood is a very well known convention used in horror films. It represents danger and death. We will use blood in our films in the flash backs to tell the audience that something bad has/is going to happened/happen.

Weapons:

The antagonists and protagonists in horror films will usually use weapons to either kill or defend themselves. Different choices of weapons are used in films to be unique. For example Freddy Krueger in 'A nightmare on Elm Street' has knives on his hands as it is different and scary. In our film we will most likely use knives to make our film have a verisimilitude affect, as knives are household objects.

Spooky houses:

Spooky houses are very important in horror films - especially ghost films. They can make the audience feel a lot more scared because houses are something everyone lives in which creates a verisimilitude affect. We will use a house in our film as it is a ghost film and ghosts are usually scarier in houses.

Pictures from horror films:

These stills are taken from a well know horror film, 'The shining.' It is scary because of the cross cutting of he two girls stood there to the two girls lying dead, covered in blood. The audience know it ids a horror film due to the blood used and also because of how they talk. We will use something similar in our film, as the 'ghost child' will wear a dress as it is creepier and the cross-cutting used we could incorporate something similar to our flashbacks used throughout the film.

This is a still taken from 'Insidious,' which is also a ghost film. This particular scene is used to build up tension which is helped with the music along side it. At the climax of the scene the image above is shown which makes the audience jump. The fact that the 'demon' behind the character looks scary adds to the whole atmosphere of the film. We could use similar ideas like this in our film, for example one of the 'ghosts'/home owners stood behind Agnes.