The institution we have chosen

We have chosen Lionsgate to promote our film for many different reasons, such as:
* The fact they are a very successful TV and Film distribution company.
* The films they promote end up being really popular e.g. Kick ass, Rambo and The Bank Job, however Horror films are their strong point and they released the Saw franchise (1,2,3,4,5,6,3D), My Bloody Valentine and The Last Exorcism.
 These our our personal favorite horror films and we will be basing our film around such themes, e.g Saw - Gore, Dull lighting, Fast editing.

Box office figures // Horror

Teigan -

1 Jaws (1975)                                    UNIVERSAL         $795,369,426

2 The Exorcist (1973)                         WARNER BROS         $686,631,452

3 The Sixth Sense (1999)                  BUENA VISTA             $357,566,366

4 The Mummy Returns (2001)                    UNIVERSAL         $221,650,716

5 Jaws 2 (1978)                                   UNIVERSAL           $215,603,340

6 The Amityville Horror (1979)          AMERICAN INT.    $213,841,738

7 Alien (1979)                                           FOX                 $200,233,659

8 The Mummy (1999)                            UNIVERSAL         $189,949,583

9 What Lies Beneath (2000)                   DREAMWORKS         $179,115,699

10 The Omen (1976)                                   FOX                 $177,620,519

11 The Blair Witch Project (1999)              ARTISAN             $171,800,749

12 Interview with the Vampire (1994)      WARNER             $155,538,215

13 Scream (1996)                             MIRAMAX           $144,714,476

14 Seven (1995)                                     NEW LINE              $142,937,987

15 Aliens (1986)                                         FOX                 $142,545,860

16 The Ring (2002)                                  DREAMWORKS         $137,432,001

17 Scream 2 (1997)                                       MIRAMAX         $137,017,261

18 Halloween (1978)                             COMPASS         $124,730,769

19 Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992)                 SONY                 $123,601,446

20 Sleepy Hollow (1999)                            PARAMOUNT         $123,550,077

Laura-

1) The Ring - DREAMWORKS - $249,348,933

2) Case 39 - PARAMOUNT -  $28,189,979

3) The Collector - FREESTYLE RELEASING - $9,329,515

4) The Strangers - ROUGE PICTURES -  $82,391,145

5) Mirrors - FOX -  $77,488,607

6) Severance - MAGNOLIA -  $5,515,163

7) The Crazies - OVERTURE FILMS -  $54,593,252

8) Saw 3D - LIONSGATE -  $130,210,178

9) I Spit On Your Grave - ANCHOR BAY FILMS - $93,051

10) Slither - UNIVERSAL - $12,834,936

11) The Mist - MGM - $57,293,715

12) Black Sheep - IFC -  $4,947,717

13) Midnight Meat Train - LIONSGATE -  $3,533,227

14) Let Me In - OVERTURE FILMS -  $22,085,023

15) 30 Days of Night - COLUMBIA -  $75,505,973

16) Psycho - UNIVERSAL -  $32,000,000

Special note:
Silent Hill  (2006)                                                                       $90,000,000
Saw           (2003)                                                                      $103,100,000

Conventions of horror.

Laurah and Teigan;




Conventions are those recognisable and repeated elements in a film or other media text, which help to identify the genre.




Our Genre (horror) :
*Dark lighting (night time)
*Creepy things. 
* Music which creates an eerie atmosphere e.g. violins and piano.
*Death is a key feature which appears. 
*Things to distress the audience 
*A person or a group as the 'villain'.
*Usually has lots of SFX involving blood and gore makeup.
*weapons and props are important.
*Deserted location e.g. Haunted houses, underground, caves, apocalypse, abandoned villages.
*Budget has a vary, some are low budget but have a good effect e.g. paranormal activity, And others have a higher one e.g. Saw
*Could have anything that provokes fear in the audience, whether its a physical thing or a psychological one. 
*Focused on targeted people
*Chase scenes/ looking for victims hiding.
*Provoking intense fear, e.g. saw trap scenes. 




Camera shots
*High angled shots used often to make the 'victim' looks insignificant.
*Canted angles to obscure things/people. 
*Extreme close-ups on faces to emphasis fear expressed in emotions. 
* Commonly a birds eye shot at the introduction to show the location and setting.
* POV shots from killers to victims. 
*Tracking shots of things e.g weapons moving. 




Setting up Enigmas


 Enigmas are created through the lack of answers found in an initial clip. It makes you want to watch it to find out things. Usually by the end of the film the questions have been answered but horror films usually go against that or shock endings and twists are used. 

Feedback 27.1.11

Girls, well done on completing your prelim task. I see you've found some clips to discuss. This is good but you also need to write a pot outlining the conventions of opening sequences and anothe ron the codes and conventions of horror films. Then analyse how the clips use or indeed challenge typical conventions of opening sequences and horror. These analyses should be quite detailed.

See me if you need further help. Please book your workshop time for next week. Yo may come at the same time or seperately, whatever is convenient.


Mrs A

Our preliminary task - Walking tin the hallway // and reflection

Laurah and Teigan - 

Recording this task wasn't very difficult, it was pretty easy for being our first experience in recording, and it was also very simple when it came to the editing, it was all straight forward and we worked pretty quickly. Not much editing was needed, just cutting a few clips and rearranging of others, it all flowed well. The only thing that went wrong was the fact the first 3 seconds of the film was blurry because we didnt think about the distances at hand.

The thing that worked the best for us was the action shots such as the door being opened and making the whole footage flow well. 

Teigan - An opening of a film, that apply's to the conventions of a Horror.

I chose this to support our first idea, and to give more inspiration due to the ideas of small things becoming the build up to the 'big' horror, such as the dead creature underneath the card at 6:37, this is the theme we wanted to create in which the audience knew the person in our first idea was being watched or set up by something or someone. Though it doesn't do just to the introduction, the music created great suspense especially at 1:55 (it was very creepy). However it shows credits, sets the main character, scene, it has effective music and sets the genre appropriately. 

Opening Sequence Initial Idea's 2.

Teigan - 

Music used in our ideas would have to be incredibly subtle but still provoke a feeling of suspense and mystery. 

Our next idea was to do something involving a girl stumbling across a body in the woods. This was intended to be more of a psychological horror than a more blood and gore filled one but it still stuck with our horror/thriller idea. The conventions would be traditional to this genre, with images to shock somewhat, and catch the viewer unexpectedly. A point of view shot would be necessary in this scene too, as it sets the story surrounding this girl stumbling across the corpse. There will also be extreme close ups of a body, to emphasise the lifelessness and death of this person. Flashbacks might also be included of how this person died, little by little.  

It sparks enigmas that will keep the viewer interested in watching on.

Laura - An opening of a film, that apply's to the conventions of a Horror.

SEVERANCE. (2006)

I chose the opening clip of the film Severance (a British horror/comedy).

The film opens with a man and two women running through the woods. The women fall into a large pit trap while the man, after refusing to help them, continues running only to be caught in a snare. As the man hangs helplessly, a masked man approaches and disembowels him with a knife.

I chose it, because within the first 2 minutes, it establishes the two main characters as the 2 girls who fall in the pit trap. Eerie music, and fast paced editing is also used, as well as suitable arrangement of the credits, right before we are introduced, to the 'masked man', 2 minutes into the film. 

Opening Sequence Initial Idea's.

Laura - 

Well basically, we've decided on doing sort of a horror/thriller opening sequence. To stick to the traditional conventions of a horror/thriller movie, we'd set the opening scene somewhere dark and eerie, if any music is used, it would also be very creepy and mysterious. Close ups would be used to establish the main character, and long shots to establish setting. We might even decide on using a hand held camera, and some canted angles. 

The target audience would probably be for over 16's if its going to be scary. 

After thinking about it, we've come up with two different plots/storyline's. 


Out first idea, was for a boy, around 16-17, to be left alone at home, whilst his parent's are on holiday, un-aware that 'something', or 'someone' is in the house with him. This idea was mainly inspired, by such Japanese horror's such as Ju-on (The Grudge), involving a ghost type girl, with pale white skin and long black hair.
And then our second idea, was for someone to be being chased, possibly a girl, being chased in the woods. By either a murdered/stalker, or by an animal of some sort. This idea was just from the amount of horror films that actually included 'running through the woods being chased' scenes, to create suspense, and to set enigma's to who and what is chasing the person.