Hand held camera is a filming technique where the camera is held in the hand of the of the camera operator, as opposed to the typical filming technique of using a tripod in order to achieve steady footage. The tripod allows camera shots such as panning and tracking shots due to the smoothness of the mechanisms which allow the camera position to be altered. The hand held camera would create a more shaky effect, yet also more realistic.
This is a common effect is horror films for 2 main reasons. Firstly, using a hand held camera is much cheaper and therefore would be appropriate for production companies making a low budget horror film. Also, using a hand held camera can be advantageous for the overall effect of a movie. Those movies wishing to create a constant ‘point of view’ focus, as if a character in the film is holding the camera, would use this technique. This creates a more realistic view of the storyline and intensifies the feeling of fear due to the suggestion that the audience is watching real events.
Recently in the film industry, the hand held camera has been an effective profit building technique. Due to the low costs of this way of filming, if a film is relatively popular in cinemas and receives a high revenue, the profit will be much larger than if costs were high. The most notable films that use hand held camera is ‘The Blair Witch Project’ and ‘Paranormal Activity’. Both films use the camera to suggest that the characters are simply documenting normal stages of every day life (a camping trip and moving into a new house), then begin to capture scenes of unnatural horror with them. The authenticity of the character reactions are heightened by movements in the camera, for example the character holding the camera jumping when in a frightening situation.
Also, the quality of the footage is generally worse using hand held cameras. The gritty, vintage effect of the images may be preferable for films aiming to seem realist or unconventional. However, many prefer the flawless depiction of events from conventional filming methods. I plan to use this technique in my film as well as camera shots using a tripod to achieve a mixture of effects.
How are women portrayed in the horror genre of film?
Gender roles in horror films throughout time have been extremely stereotyped. Most villains in horror films are men, and prior to the 1970s, women were simply characters to be victims. Almost always in these films, women were shown to be domesticated and sexual, with no intelligence. Scenes of these seemingly weak, dumb women often consisted of them suffering a brutal death or hiding from the killer in an obvious place. This supports the traditional representation of women in the media some decades ago; male dominance was clear in politics, family dynamics and opportunities; women were simply mothers and wives. An example of female stereotype if the opening of ‘Scream’; Drew Barrymore opens the film as a ‘ditzy’ blonde, who stabbed to death in the shower by the killer. This is a very conventional death for the ‘dumb victim’ stereotype of women: the naked woman represents vulnerability and also sexuality, which is often punished by murder in these horror films.
However, the 1970’s saw the rise of the feminist movement, which has important implications for the representation of women in horror films. The role of ‘the final girl’ emerged. This is the main character in a horror film who manages to outwit the killer and evade death, surviving at the end of the film despite the deaths of most people close to her. There are typical characteristics of this role; the girl refrains from sexual activity, does not include herself in the illicit behaviors of those around her and has an essence of intelligence and strong morals. An early depiction of this role, and a perfect example, is Jamie Leigh Curtis’ character in ‘Halloween’.
Her androgynous look and lack of sexuality is noted as a key feature in her survival. This could be a suggestion that women who partake in sexual activity are ‘immoral’, supported by the fact that women who have sex in horror movies are often the first victims. An example of this is in the modern film ‘The Nightmare On Elm Street’. This could be seen as a male fear of feminine sexual power.
Another key element in horror films linked to sex if the form of death that the women victims suffer. Women are often killed by a sexually repressed male with a knife, axe or other penetrable object, and very brutally. This has said to be an act of ‘sexualized terror’ – representing the act of sex or sexual power being taking from a woman. The ‘Slasher’ movies are the most common films that feature this.
Another role of women in horror films is the stereotype of the ‘possessed female’. In films such as ‘The Exorcist’ and ‘The Exorcism of Emily rose’, the main character is female. She is usually religious, innocent and seemingly harmless, then slowly becomes possessed by the devil or demons; which are always represented as men. These women take on the victim and villain role, although the audience pities the character when she is in her own personality. This stereotype could be a suggestion that women are weak and easily dominated by men, or by evil. This is the only role that has not been changed or developed throughout the development of the film industry, perhaps due to the consistency of interest in religious topics such as possession.
Very recently in the film industry, the role of the Female villain has emerged. As women become more and more equalized to men, the power they have seems to increase even as characters in the film industry. A good example of this is ‘Jennifer’s body’, where Megan Fox is a female killer and the victims are innocent high school males.
After the process of some research, I have decided on creating a Slasher genre horror movie trailer. The plot I have decided to use is very conventional, yet I will create a new, british and modern twist to the slasher film!
A teenage girl is left alone by her parents going away for the weekend. This character, Emily, is excited about the prospect and invites a group of her female and male friends to her house for a sleepover. The group participates in common activities for British teenagers; drinking, messing around, some sexual activity and telling ghost stories. After a while of Emily having been gone with her boyfriends, the friends decide that they should look for them, only to find a note telling the friends that Emily has gone to bed and to sleep in the lounge. Only the note is not from Emily! As the night goes on, the friends are frightened by unusual activity such as the sound of screams, scratching and heavy footsteps. They decide to split up, as the house is a huge mansion typical of scary movies, and look for Emily and the cause of the unsettling sounds. Similar to the conventional slasher film, each character will be killed off in gruesome, sickening and inventive ways. The characters with the most 'immoral' attitudes and illicit behaviours are killed first. Meanwhile, Emily is constanty being chased by, and evading the killer. After this action, Emily's parents return home to find that Emily appears to be gone! After discovering the bodies and blood, the police are called. Emily is found rocking back and forth with a knife in her hand and clearly with a damaged state of mind. It is included that Emily must have committed the murders and she is comitted to a hospital for patients of mental illness. After Emily denies the murders, the audience are made to believe that Emily is schozophrenic and did actually kill her friends while hallucinating the killer. This is a conventional twist in a film! However, the ending shot sees Emily sitting in the mental asaylum and the same killer that she saw to begin with is in the background shot, leaving the audience to be shocked by this twist and also wonder who the real culprit is.
As i have decided to make a British horror film, I have researched the categories of British film. They are as following: Category A
Films where the cultural and financial impetus is from the UK and the majority of the personnel are British.
Category B
Majority UK Co-Productions. Films in which, though there are foreign partners, there is a UK cultural content and a significant amount of British finance and personnel.
Category C
Minority UK Co-Productions. Foreign (non US) films in which there is a small UK involvement in finance or personnel.
Category D
American films with a UK creative and/or minor financial involvement.
Category D1
American financed or part finance films made in the UK. Most films have a British cultural content.
Category D2
American films with some UK financial involvement.
My film would be a category A film, as all actors are British, the finance and location are British, and the personnel (all me) is British!
Textual analysis – A Nightmare On Elm Street (2010) Genre To which extent does the film belong? Does the text conform to the characteristics of the genre, or does it show them playfully or ironically? This trailer definitely belongs in the horror genre. The diegetic and non diegetic sound is conventional; screaming, tension building music, children singing eerily and fearful whispers are all charactactristic of horror films. Editing is used to create fast paced, tension building trailer using a lot of fast paced jump cuts and alarming sound effects. Chase scenes, brutal imagery and obvious victims are common features in horror films and in this trailer.
Film Language How does mise-en-scene convey meaning in this sequence? The mise en scene builds tensions throughout the whole trailer. It does this by including the beginning sequence which shows the history of Freddy Kruger’s revenge mission. The dark settings (either indoors or the dark night) and gory imagery of blood and fire signify fear, death and pain. These innate fears of the audience are evoked by the footage, therefore causing panic, alarm and captivation; the main aims of a horror film.
How does camera shot size, movement and angle also convey meaning? The establishing long shots of the deserted, eerie factories at the beginning instantly establish the horror genre and create suspense. The long shot of Freddy running first portray him as the victim until his villainous role is confirmed, creating an interesting twist to the plot and strongly represents the return of the repressed theory, which states that the villains in the media are often wronged in the past. Tracking shots of the teenagers dreamily walking through an eerie house create a feeling of personal fear for the characters and foreshadow danger / death for them. Close ups of the characters’ facial expressions showing fear signify captivating and realistic horror. The long shots of the villain’s dark figure instantly creates a response of alarm and fear from the audience, as does the close up of his horrifying scarred face.
How does sound anchor the images? The use of sound helps to anchor the images. The loud explosive sound effects amplify the shock of the explosion footage. Non diegetic sound effects are used to introduce the text on the screen which tells the audience who the director is. These effects are also used between clips during slide transitions which are mostly ‘fade to black’ to split the clips up and signify perhaps a heart beat – which suggests fear and danger. The eerie children singing is played in between more violent sound of razors scratching on metal, screams and ominous footsteps, which all have images relating to them and establish the horror genre.
What do we learn about the characters through dialogue and non-verbal language? We learn that Freddy Kruger is the villain only after he is burned and you see his razor hands preying on the teenagers. His scarred face and dark figure also establish him as the villain. The white dress and fearful face characterize the female teenager as the main character. The imagery of them being hunted / hurt in various brutal ways also establish the teenagers as the victims – which is very conventional for horror films.
What other visual techniques does the director use and why? Images of fire, razor blades and blood all create the appropriate response from the audience. The font used in the text is typical of the horror genre and represents danger and alarm. The use of the young children being shown as a figure of imagination of a provocation of fear is common in horror films and invoke a strong fearful response – children can be conveyed very eerily, surprisingly!
Narrative How is the narrative organised and structured? The narrative is clearly organized into two stages. The first establishes the history of Freddy and the reason for his revenge killings. The second is a montage of probably the most fear invoking clips in the film to suggest to the audience that watching it will be a captivating and entertaining experience. These are probably not in chronological order, which is common of horror trailers, so as not to give too much of the plot away and maximize the effect that a fast paced montage of gory clips have.
What are the major themes in the narrative? The major themes are revenge, death, pain, fear, running away and falling asleep. These themes can al be related to the innate fears of most human beings, which is why they are effective. Media of the horror genre aim to use these fears to maximize the success of their film – the more a person is scared by a horror film, the ‘better’ it is reviewed to be.
Representation and Ideology What social groups are represented in this sequence and how? The social group of parents is represented as people whose morals were compromised when they tried to protect their children. They acted wrongly and are punished for this. Teenagers are represented as vulnerable victims who find it hard to escape the killer. The socially isolated man is depicted first as a victim in this trailer, then takes on the role of the return of the repressed (becoming a villain because of the wrongs that were done to him). This is common in horrors.
What values and beliefs/ideological disourse is evident? A moral belief is implicitly included in the trailer – that wrongs are always punished. The parents burned Freddy alive and for that, their children suffer.
How does semiotics as a framework see how the representation is constructed? The use of Freddy’s costume – old tattered clothes – represents the working class and someone who has suffered in the past. The teenagers’ houses, clothing and general appearance generally represents the middle class. The weapons, fire and pathetic fallacy all represent dager and alarm, which are essential when watching a horror text.
Media Audiences Who is the target audience? Teenagers over 18 (due to the classification certificate) and adults who are interested in horror or who have seen the original film.
What are the probably and possible audience readings of the text? - The probable reading of the text is that Freddy is on a mission of revenge and does this by murdering the teenagers. The film will be a story telling their suffering and their efforts to escape and survive.
How do you, as a British teenager, read and evaluate the text? To what extent is your reading and evaluation influenced by your age, gender, background? As a British teenager I find it easy to empathise and sympathise with the characters – as I am of similar age to them. My gender as a female may perhaps lead to a more fearful response than males, who seem to be less effected by horror films and also because the main character is female. My background of attending schools clearly influences my reading as the school is the main setting for the film and this could play on some of my innate fears about pain / horror in my every day life.
Institutional Context Has a star been used in this film? Why is this important? No actors who are extremely famous have been used in this trailer. I think this is essential to create a sense of anonymity to the characters. Therefore, if the audience does not recognize the actor, they can become the character more than it than if the audience recognized them from a different film or media text.
Which studio produced this film? Is it an 'industrial' film or 'independent' film? Pathe produced the film and for this reason the film is an 'independent' film.
What strategies were used to market the film? The film was marketed through trailers, billboards and posters. The trailer was shown before other films at the cinema and also on television. The actors in the film went for a lot of interviews on TV / magazines etc to advertise and promote the film as much as possible.
I Know What You Did Last Summer is an American horror film, adhering the ‘Slasher’ conventions, directed by Jim Gillespie. Starring a number of popular actors, the film was highly successful, making revenue of $125,500,000. It was also nominated for and won multiple awards. The trailer for this film is shown below, followed with my own textual analysis of certain features of the teaser trailer. This is important in identifying codes and conventions and developing my own creative ideas.
The green screen at the beginning of the trailer is a legal requirement, informing audiences of the advised minimum age of an audience. The screens depicting the logos of the production and distribution companies are essential and advertise the companies to a mass audience. Sound from the beginning of the trailer is played throughout these logos to establish the genre.
The beginning of the trailer adheres to typical conventions; equilibrium is still in balance and a group of friends seem to be relaxing by a picturesque beach. However, the gruesome topic of conversation and language (‘he was gutted with a hook”, “decapitated”), instantly establishes the horror genre. Conventions of a Slasher film are already apparent in the first 30 seconds. A group of adolescents who seem slightly immoral (enthusiastically talking about a death), discuss a topic of horror. The sound is simple at the beginning, with only diegetic sound of conversation and waves crashing and a quiet eerie non-diegetic sound with each transition between shots.
The car scene is fast paced, immediately evoking an audience reaction of alarm, helped by jumpy music and a long shot of an eerie mountain scene which establishes the mysterious mise-en-scene. Close ups of the characters’ scared and alarmed facial expressions are numerous here. The black screen with the sounds of the car breaks is an effective way of portraying the accident whilst avoiding the risk of it looking unrealistic or ‘cheesy’.
The fade in transition between the accident and characters walking towards the man split the two scenes well and establish a new, eerie atmosphere. The dark sky and mountains in the background highlight this. The long shot of the characters’ shadows establish these as the momentary villains, although they are not in the overall plot. The jazzy, electronic music and low male voice over establishes the adolescent target audience for the film and very conventional trailer structure, while hinting at the plot of the film – the victim or a witness of the accident seeking revenge on the main characters. Following this is a montage of very short clips and jump shots consisting of: • close ups of alarmed/frightened facial expressions • eerie settings • Injuries • Weapons • chase scenes. • Screaming • Victims trying to escape
All of this content, plus the non diegetic, jumpy music here creates a response of alarm and captivation for the audience, reminding them of their personal fears, thus highlighting the feeling of fear. The lively music at the end would appeal to a young adult audience whilst implying that the film would be fun, as well as frightening, to watch! The text transitions in red signify danger and alarm, and also tell the audience the cause of fear in the plot.
The trailer ending consists of a short clip of a screen with the cast and crew involved in producing the film, as well as the companies involved. This is a common feature in trailers.
Eden Lake, written and directed by James Watkins and starring Kelly Reilly, Michael Fassbender and Jack O'Connell, is the second film that strongly influenced me and inspired certain creative ideas. Produced in 2008, this is a modern British film, with a twist. The ‘villain’ in this plot is a group of young teenagers, a very stereotypical version of a British ‘hooligan’, which British audiences will identify with. The realist nature of the teenagers’ acting and sickening violence are similar to a huge part of the British film industry – the gangster film.
The plot consists of a young couple going away for a romantic weekend in a remote, woodland area, only to be terrorised and abused by a gang of youths. When Steve confronts the teenagers, the film turns shockingly violent in a sudden twist and the brutality of this film continues until the end. The rest of the plot sees a typical ‘cat and mouse’ chase of the young woman trying to escape from the murderous gang and navigate her way out of the woodland.
As a relatively low budget film and a gross revenue of £481,710 (UK box office), the film won multiple awards. It is extreme, ruthless and realistic in the portrayal of British characters.
This film has influenced me as I aim to create a British film trailer, for an industry which is dominated by Hollywood. Eden Lake is one of the most popular British Horrors to date and I aim to take from it: • Realistic British characters • Extremity of gore and brutality • Inclusion of British youth culture – to appeal to my target audience
I think creating a British take on the conventional ‘Slasher’ film is much awaited and a nice in the media market today!! My trailer will contain many features seen in both Scream and Eden Lake.
