Research in the horror genre

Definition of horror: Horror is a film genre seeking to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's primal fears.

Within the genre of media there are many sub genres, for example:

Slasher Movies: A staple of the horror genre, slasher movies centre around a killer mercilessly picking off their victims in a brutal and gory manner. For example, Nightmare on Elm Street and Scream.

Splatter Movies: Although there is not much difference between the slasher movies, this sub-genre is usually categorized by having an even greater focus on the graphic portrayals of character deaths. For example, Saw.

Psychological Horror Movies: Psychological horrors tend to rely heavily on the threat of impending doom or danger. An example would be Silence of the Lambs and The Shining.

Survival Horror: The main protagonist (leading characters) must endure and overcome a potentially threat. Like The Crazies.

Found Footage Movies: A film which is primarily or wholly portrayed with footage literally taken. For example, The Blair Witch Project.

Paranormal Horror Movies: Any horror movie whose main antagonist is a supernatural force. –Paranormal activity and Poltergeist

Monster Movies: Any horror movie in which the leading characters are pitted against a monstrous being. –Alien and The Thing

 

 

 

Target Audience of horror films

Age- usually the target audience for horror films are between 15 and 25. This is due to the fact that during adulthood you explore the world, experiment with your feelings and try new things. At this age they want to feel a certain rush and horror movies fulfil their gratifications and give them the thrill they are looking for. In addition to this horror films easily excite these ages rather than an older audience.

Gender- Males more usually show more interested in horror movies than females. Because stereotypically males are adrenaline seekers. Violence is a convention when it comes to the horror genre which is loved by males, the blood and gore appeal to the males.

Class- overall the horror genre mostly appeals to the working class because of the thrill which is achieved for a relatively cheap price.

Representation of Characters in Horror Films

As I have previously explain my chosen genre is psychological horrors. Because i have chosen to do this and will be producing a opening sequence to my own horror movie, I thought it would be fitting to do my own further research into how horror movies represent the different types of characters.

By doing this it will give me a real insight into how horror films represent different charcters and if many films challenge the conventions or follow the stereotypes. I will apply this research when I complete my character choices.

History of Horror

Our group finalized that or genre will be 'psychological horror'. From deciding this I looked at the history of this genre.
By doing this it gives me a real understanding of the genre in which I can incorporate within the filming of my opening sequence.

Shot transitions

This is another example in which identifies my ability to create a perfect transition from angle to angle.
By doing this, it has helped me improve my skills when using final cut pro and which camera angles work best for certain situations.
In this particular video which we created I took the role of the choice of camera angles and controlled videoing each scene.

Camera shots and angles task

Within this task of 'the short life of a kit kat' we were able to show multiple different shots and camera angles using an iPad. Shots that we were able to show in this production were a long shot (0:06), an establishing shot (0:15), a mid shot (0:18), a close up (0:42) and a over the shoulder shot (0:49). As a good we were able to incoperate transitions such as slow motion into this task.
In addition to this we were, as a group, able to improve our skills within editing using final cut pro. Within using final cut pro, which is what I will be using when it comes to editing my own opening sequence, I learnt though this task how to create transitions between shots, using the blade in order to trim the videos in order to get a perfect match on action. In this task and my future tasks I will be able to perfect these new skills to make my own sequence pefectg and up to an excellent standard.

My group: Lucy Carter, Charlotte Crewe and Sophie Carolan
As a group we have decided to do a psychological horror for our opening sequence.

So far our ideas involve:

• set in the 60's
• the main character being a young girl who was neglected in her childhood
• she escapes from an aslyum and the audience has to figure out how and why she escapes