Hello there, welcome to my blog. feel free to leave any comments! You will find a variety of posts on the background research and planning into my slasher film opening, High Royds, being co-produced with GeorgeH and CurtisT. This blog is mainly influenced by the work of John carpenter and his franchise, Halloween.

Friday, 25 January 2013

Assessing past coursework

Tiny terror



  • Has good intertectuality with scream as the title is very similair, sharp serif font.
  • The sound is like a kids toy, which is very effective, high and fast notes.
  • Long drawn out notes.
  • signifies or conotes of someone hiding by using a POV shot.
  • introduce a false scare nice and early
  • uses intertextuality by saying 'damien you little devil' which is influenced by the omen
  • elipsis signified by a fade out then a fade in.
  • girly room signified by pink walls and posters etc. 
  • dutch angle to signify somethings not quite right. 
  • Dialogue is used for exposition.
  • cut away shot used to signify sexual activity, throwing a bra over the top of the toy box.
Underground


  • He has some alchohol in his hand which signifies the character is going to die
  • Shaky POV shot to signify he is drunk.
  • camera in bushes to signify someone is watching.
  • elipsis is porr because it does not show the killing, and just jumps to someone been dragged, also no diegetic sound.
  • good blood effect on the show to signify he's been hurt.
  • good narrative enigma, cannot see the character at all
  • cctv effect to show the character high angled shot to signify it is cctv and the editing on the camera.
  • not quick enough shot pace, too slow, not as much of a sense of panic as there should have been.
Red run
  • missing diegetic sound, just slow drawn out music.
  • Lack of Verisimilitude, e.g kettles been turned on yet we do not hear it.

Wednesday, 23 January 2013

Slasher genre overview, notes

Slasher genre overview, notes

Millie, Kate and Poppy's vodcast:
early influential examples which become stereotypes are called archetypes, this is shown in psyco, the archetype of a scream and editing of the killings. 

The Texas chainsaw massacre and last house on the left changed the way the horror worked they made them very realistic with very little money, made it gory. they both started with dis-equilibrium. 


Black Christmas very influential on screen. They shrunk the location variety making it a much lower budget, BC, TCM and psyco, all been remade.


Halloween was influenced by black Christmas  using a POV shot when the killing happens so you're in the eyes of the killer. peeping tom uses the same thing again, making the audience the killers.


big studios never payed attention to slashers however after Halloween, the big studios started to make slashers.


Halloween, the final girl is brunette, academic, smart clothes, personality and a few more  this is stereotypical of the final girl.


long notes sub-consciously make you hold your breath, messing with your heart beat, then the fast notes make your heart beat faster

Tilly, Hannah and James

prototype slashers feature serial killers, narrative appeal comes from who done it.


a trope is something widely recognised.


Drugs nudity and gore attract people to the genre.


TCM marketing idea was that it based on true events.


Hybrid genres are genres mixed together several different genres in one. zom-rom-com


Scary move is an example of post-modernism


self referential is a film about a film.


Dec, Dom, Ben.
Commutation test is used by taking out one thing out of a scene, e.g the music out of the psyco shower scene and it just wouldn't work. In the psycho shower scene was fundamental  it influenced so many other films with the high pitch music. primary audience is 15-24 for slasher movies. however it is what rating the bbfc give your film.
25-34 is referred to as mature youth. your core audience is 16-34. secondary audience is if people who are 35+ people are watching it and people younger than the age restrictions. the characters and language is appropriate for a teen audience. Halloween became the most profitable movie made of all time.an exception to Todorov's theory of a start of just equilibrium the into dis-equilibrium. this film starts with dis-equilibrium.

other points:
in the 50's and 60's most films were either Gothic or creature features mainly made by universal(like godzilla, king kong). most characters were mature upper class adults. then slasher changed the genre because the people were mostly either middle class or working class. used castles alot in the older movies. hammer were very stagey with there look. Slashers then started to come in, in the seventies, Halloween then started a whole new genre because it sparked an array of influenced movies. psyco and peeping tom didn't influence the genre, like Halloween did. Hammer in the 50's 60's were the biggest company in the world at the time, then afew low budget films ruined its reputation. the idea of scream queens were started and used in a lot of hammer films using the stereotypical blonde busty characters. used a lot in advertising.


Sunday, 20 January 2013

Wrong turn 1


Wrong Turn, Rob Shmidt (2003

Box Office

Budget:

 $10,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$5,161,498 (USA) (1 June 2003) (1615 Screens)

Gross:

 $15,417,771 (USA) (21 September 2003)

Distributors
About the film
  • panning shot of Forrest with titles to start the film, extreme long shot.
  • cuts to two people climbing a wall high angled shot to show dominance.
  • Quick pace editing to show a sense of panic
  • then denotes blood coming from the mans face signifying hes dead.
  • Close up on the face of the girl to show she is panicking
  • Girl brings out a knife and the camera shot conentrates on the knife cutting the rope signifying a knife murder later on in the film?
  • quick pace editing following the woman through the woods again creating a state of panic and urgency, long shot.
  • POV shot of her running to see it from her perspective.
  • cuts from the girl been dragged into the woods straight to the titles which are white writing on a black and white trees background.

Halloween H20


Halloween H20, John Carpenter (1998)

Box Office

Budget:

 $17,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

 $16,187,724 (USA) (9 August 1998) (2607 Screens)

Gross:

 $55,041,738 (USA)

Distributors
About the opening
  • Again starts with jolly music of a female singing, non diegetic music.
  • Someone stabs a pumpkin signifying a murder or a killing, that something like that will happen later on in the film later on.
  • extreme long shot again panning the location
  • then again exposition telling the viewer the location and the date and year.
  • music stops when there is a close up on the woman's face, showing emotion on the womans face like somethings wrong.
  • it then follows the character with slight background music, it then stops and cuts to a youth with a mask on similar to the of Michael's mask, which is then a false scare and a signifier that Michael is back
  • The music starts again when the boy enters the house, a close up of the emotion on his face showing he is scared, and a shot from inside the building when he opens the door.
  • music gets louder and louder the further that he gets in the house, intensity builds.
  • camera following the boy round the house showing that stuff just isn't right.
  • A false scare again when the iron falls out of the cupboard.

Halloween, John Carpenter (2007)



Halloween, John Carpenter (2007)

Information from IMDB

Box Office:

Budget:

 $15,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

 $30,591,759 (USA) (2 September 2007) (3472 Screens)

Gross:

 $80,253,908 (Worldwide)
Distributors
About the film opening:
  • Starts again with a quote, white text with a black background, talking about dark souls to create a scare and an insight to what kind of film is coming up.
  • starts with rock music, providing exposition again on the place and the date; Haddonfield, illinois. October 31
  • Panning shot of the traditional Halloween house however this time in daylight, then again cuts to the house with a close up of rats and the little child with a mask on.
  • Conversation between two adults, lots of swearing and using the 180 degree rule and shot reverse shot, close up when the baby starts crying.
  • What appears to be the scream queen walks in as she is wearing revealing clothes and has blondy/brown hair stereotypical of a scream queen, she swears also suggesting she is a scream queen due to her rebel kind of attitude.
  • Shows a close up of blood on a knife, signifying a killing that may happen later on in the film.
  • The child gets bullied by his step dad and at school, this signifies that the people who bully him may be the murdered victims themselves later on in the film.
  • The stereotypical Halloween music starts again, high intensity getting more intense by the minute.
  • when the stalking scene happens the music builds and builds until the victim is first attacked then the music stops.
  • Quick paced editing is used to show how much pain the character is in and to create a scarier 

Halloween 2, John Carpenter (1981)

 Halloween 2, John Carpenter (1981)

Info from IMDB

Box Office:

Budget:

 $2,500,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

 $7,676,836 (USA) (1 November 1981)

Gross:

 $25,533,818 (USA)
Distributors
About the film opening:
  • exposition telling you where it is set; haddonfield illinois, October 31,1978, happy non diegetic music in the background
  • panning shot from a low angled shot to a high angled shot, to show the viewer the location
  • Music stops when entering the house, where what looks to be the scream queen is talking to 2 children
  • High pitch music again whilst you can see 'michael' in the background.
  • Music stops when the Dr enters the house.
  • When he's shot the music starts again, this raises tension once again.
  • When dialogue has finished between the Dr and the next door neighbor the titles start.
  • Michael doesn't have a weapon in this scene and the scream queen doesn't get killed.
  • The opening is set at night, this happens in basicly all of the halloweens

Halloween 2 (John Carpenter, 2009)

Halloween 2 (John Carpenter, 2009) 

Box Office:

Budget:

 $15,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

 $16,349,565 (USA) (30 August 2009) (3025 Screens)

Gross:

 $33,335,670 (USA) (15 November 2009)

Distributors
About the film opening:
  • white text on a black background showing text about psychotic dreams.
  • cuts to a woman entering what seems to be a prison or hospital, extreme long shot panning the location and her. 
  • cuts to inside the building where her and young Michael are talking, then after cuts to Halloween in white text on a black background and a woman screaming with police sirens
  • panning shot and an extreme long shot of the location and a woman walking at night through a town.
  • A woman walks down a road with the sound of whispers and a clock bell ringingabit of a dutch angle to show something isnt quite right.
  • she's holding a gun and a police car follows her, shes bleeding.
  • Quick pace editing and a variet of close ups and all different shots shows the patients pain and the seriousness of her injuries, set in a hospital ward.
  • close ups showing the extent of her injuries, with classical violin kind of music in the background. less panic.
  • Alot of quick pace editing to show different shots of different people, the editing makes it feel very chaotic.
  • close up of the mans mouth whilst talking about doing sexual things of dead girls. they then crash, showing lots of gore
  • no suggestion of a final girl, or a scream queen.