Video- Talking about Casting

We decided to make a video of us explaining the casting we are going to use for the trailer. Who we are going to use and what kind of clothing they are going to where. 

History of Trailers

I have done some research into the history of trailers and i am going to explain the purpose of the them and the conventions they have.

There are three types of trailers: 

• Teaser- A short version 
• Theatrical Trailer-  A long version in movie theaters (cinemas) and on the internet 
• DVD Trailer-   A medium version, shown on TV and on the internet 

Teaser

A Teaser campaign is an advertising campaign which typically consists of a series of small, cryptic, challenging advertisements that anticipate a larger, full blown campaign for a product launch or otherwise important event. These advertisements are called "teasers" or "teaser ads". A teaser trailer upcoming film, television program, video game or similar, usually released long in advance of the product, so as to "tease" the audience. 

Movie teasers, unlike typical theatrical trailers, are usually very short in length (between 30-60 seconds) and usually contain little, if any, actual footage of the film. Sometimes, it is merely a truncated version of a theatrical trailer. Teaser trailers are often made while the film is still in production or being edited and as a result they may feature scenes or alternate versions of scenes that are not in the finished film. Teaser trailers today are increasingly focused on internet downloading.

Theatrical 

A trailer or preview is an advertisement or a commercial for a feature film that will be exhibited in the future at a cinema. The term "trailer" comes from their having originally been shown at the end of a feature film screening. Trailers are now shown before the film (or the A movie in a double feature) begins, 

Movie trailers have now become popular on DVDs and Blu-ray Discs, as well as on the internet and mobile devices. Of some ten billion videos watched online annually, film trailers rank third, after news and user-created video. 

Trailers consist of a series selected shots from the film being advertised. Since the purpose of the trailer is to attract an audience to the film, these excerpts are usually drawn from the most exciting, funny, or otherwise noteworthy parts of the film but in abbreviated form and usually without producing spoilers. A trailer has to achieve that in less than 2 minutes and 30 seconds, the maximum length allowed by the MPAA. 

Trailer Conventions 

• Genre
• Plot
• Short Clips
• Voice-over
• Music
• Cast
• Director 
• Studio logo
• Jump cuts

These are all the things we expect to see in a trailer. We also expect to be told how the film will affect us and why we should watch it. 

In our group we have discussed what we are going to put in our trailer. We have already sorted out our cast and who is going to play which character. We have our genre and plot sorted out as well because we have been doing lots of brainstorming and recently made our final decisions. We are thinking about voice-overs and whether we should use them, if we decide to use them then we want them to fit in well with the flow of the trailer and the appropriate time to use them, We still need to discuss the type of shots we are going to include and we are also going to start designing our logo. 

Trailer Analysis- Friends with Benefits

The first trailer I'm going to analyse is Friends with Benefits.
Friends with Benefits was made in 2011 and its about a man named Dylan who meets a girl called Jamie and they both are single but don't want to get into a proper relationship. They decide to become friends with benefits but complications occur with their decision of this. This film is a romantic comedy, so there's going to be relationships and probably break ups but will also make you laugh. I have analysed the trailer and looked at Text on Screen, Sound, Camera Work, Editing and Mise en Scene.

Text on Screen
The first piece of text on screen says 'bad relationships'. This instantly says that this is a romantic comedy because of the word relationships, this would also make you wonder why it starts off with saying this and why there is bad relationships.
Half way through the trailer it says the month when it is released which is 'July', it shows that when this trailer was released it only said the month instead of an exact date.

Sound
The trailer starts off with music playing, its quite an upbeat song and this could link that this is a romantic comedy because it sounds happy and fun. There is non diegetic sound used such as soundtrack and mostly has music playing throughout the trailer. Also, there is diegetic sound used such as helicopters, cars and characters talking, these are the sounds which are included while filming and not added in by editing.

Editing
In the trailer there are a lot of edits used. There are fades which slowly darkens which makes the shot not very visible and will then get lighter again as the next shot appears. Cuts were also used in the trailer and this type of editing make the shots finish quickly and then the next shot will appear straight after. The pace of the editing is quite slow because there isn't any action so there isn't any need for the edits to be fast. The pace of editing also relates to the genre because it's quite slow and laid back, so the edits don't need to be fast.

At the start of the trailer we see an establishing shoot or the city where the film is set.
This gives the audience an understanding of where the film is set and what might happen in this city. It's a good way to start off the trailer because the audience will see where it is set and they can relate to this setting, if they've been there before or if they live there.













There are also over the shoulder shots used and this is when the camera looks over the persons shoulder from behind and this allows us to see the character they are talking to.

This is an over the shoulder shot of the main character. We can see his facial expressions as he talks to her so we can see how he is feeling just by how he looks at her. Although we can't see her face we know they are having a conversation and the next shot will probably show her face as he talks to her, so it's also like a shot reverse shot.

This is a two shot and we can see both of the main characters in the same room. This is so we can see their body language and how they act around each other. It's a good way to see both characters and it's as if we are looking at them and waiting to see what will happen between them.



Camera Work
There is a lot of camera work used in this trailer such as long shots, mid-shots, extreme long shots and more. These shots make the audience see the shots in many different views such as seeing the characters facial expressions or what is going on around them. These also help the audience engage with the characters by what they are feeling, it might also help them relate to the film more.

This is an extreme long shot of the Hollywood sign. This is so the audience can see where they are and in this shot it is easy to identify where they are because it's such a popular place. Also, people can relate to this easily if they have been there before or if they live there. It can be like an establishing shot in a way because of the setting but it is more like an extreme long shot.

This is a mid-shot because we can see the main characters face and the background behind her. This makes the audience see her facial expressions and we can see that she is happy because of the smile she has, so we might think that someone has made her laugh and the audience will be able to relate to this and feel what she is feeling.



Mise En Scene 
The two main characters are both working class because they are wearing smart clothing and we see them in the place they work. We can see that the two main characters have well paid jobs because they both work for magazine companies and wear smart, expensive clothes.
There are also a lot of technology props used such as iPhones, iPads and touchscreen computers. This shows that this film has a lot of modern technology used which will be easier for the audience to relate to because they will also have that type of modern technology.

I got these pictures from YouTube which i took screenshots of to show the editing and camera work in the trailer.

Research- Sound

I have produced a prezi, which explores the sound for romantic genre. I discuss key terminology that applies to sound in trailers as well as film in general. Secondly I state how music affects trailers and the major effect this has on the target audience; likewise to the dialogue, focusing on diegetic dialogue from the characters as well as the voice over. Lastly, I explore the use of sound effects and the impact that it has on  the target audience, how effective sound effects are for the trailer.  
Click here to view the Prezi 

Research- Characters In Romance Genre

In Romance films, there are stereotypical characters such as:

Protagonist- Tend to be a male and a female character that have some sort of emotional bond. Romance trailers normally show both of these protagonists in them and they normally start with showing either them meeting or show one of them in their everyday lives. For example the trailer for "Dear John", which was released in 2010, shows the main male protagonist, John (played by Channing Tatum), surf boarding and then shows how he met the female protagonist Savannah (played by Amanda Seyfried). By doing this, it enables the audience to automatically recognize who the movie is about and why they are important in the film.

The Best Friend- both of the main characters normally always have a best friend who knows about what the characters are going through. Through the film they would normally play the "therapist role" in the film. For example in "The Fault in Our Stars" both main characters have the same best friend who they both are able to confide in a some point in the film called Isaac. 

The Family- family members are always involved in the main characters love life. They normally play the funny and embarrassing role within the film. In today's society teenage romance films aren't as serious as the olden time ones such as Romeo and Juliet where the parents are quite strict and over protective.

Research on Camera Angles and Shots

There are many different types of camera angles and shots used in films. They are all used for different reasons and below i am going to explain each shot/angle and what each of them do.

Camera Shots 

Close up
A close up is used to show someone's facial expressions and also to make it seem more important.

In this still image you can tell that the woman is afraid of something because her eyes are fixated on something and she has her hand over her mouth which shows she is very shocked as well as scared. This builds up tension because we
can't see what she is so afraid of.






Extreme close up 

This is an extreme close up. This is used so we can focus on the important things and in this case its the eyes and we can make little details such as the small cuts on her face. This can show that this could be an action or horror genre because there could be fights or someone is trying to kill her, this would create a sense of tension with the audience because they would want to know what happens.


Long shot 

A long shot is used so the audience can see the body language of the characters and what they're wearing, in this still image it looks like this is going to be a comedy because he almost seems like he is afraid of her and she is forcing him to marry her. Their clothing indicates that they both work in offices and they are wealthy people are they are probably co-workers.








Extreme long shot 

This is an extreme long shot. It is used so you can see the surroundings and also the characters, it doesn't concentrated on details but on the overall image. In this image the extreme long shot is used to show four boys playing around in the streets and it's set in the olden days because of what they are wearing and because of the car behind them.





Medium Shot 

A medium shot is usually from the targets head down to his or her torso. This is to show the targets body as well as their face. This type of shot is often used in magazines.






Aerial Shot 

An Aerial shot is a view from above, it could be a place or a scene from a movie. It shows everything that is happening from a birds eye view. It shows the audience everything that is happening at once. A crane shot is used to achieve this type of shot.





Wide Shot

This shot is commonly used to show a target and a large setting behind them. The main point of this shot is to try to see the setting more than the target. Moreover it is also used to see large distances.






Two Shot

A two shot is mostly used in TV dramas where it shows friends side by side. However it can also be used to show relationships. The main purpose of this shot is for the audience to see what sort of relationship the characters have between them.






Over the Shoulder Shot

Taken from behind a subject to see someone else. It is sometimes used in dramas to show someone's facial expression. It is commonly used for when two people are having a conversation.





Point of View

This shows the view point of an actor. You can usually see the actors feet or hands in the picture so that you know straight away what sort of shot it is. It is sometimes used in films to show someone's eyesight as blurry, if they are becoming conscious.




Camera Angles

High Angle

This angle looks down on someone, it makes the person or object small and insignificant. This is used in a TV drama when they want to know someone has more power then someone else. It can also make them look vulnerable because we are looking down at them.


Low Angle

This angle looks up on something or someone making it look bigger than it really is. It is the opposite of a high angle. It is commonly used in TV shows when they want someone to look big and powerful.






Slanted Angle

A slanted angle shows an object or someone from an unnatural point of view. It can be used in drama to show things only the audience can see.





Eye Level

An eye level angle shows the object of the picture looking directly at you, this shows that he or she has the same amount of power as you. However in some films/ dramas it is used to show tension when the characters are looking directly at the camera.



Oblique

Oblique is the term used for camera shots that are titles slightly at an angle to show confusion or disturbance within a film. It is a good way to introduce disaster scenes, such as weather effects. Oblique shots are most popular within horror films as oblique can change the mood of the film quite quickly. Oblique shots are similar to point of views shots because there is an eventful transition where the camera becomes the view of the character within the film.



Our group have already started thinking about what kind of shots we are going to include in our trailer. We like the idea of using a close ups because they show the facial expressions more closely and they are easy to feel what the character is feeling. We have also spoke about using two shots because then we can see both of the characters in the same room and if they are having conversation then we can see their body language and how they act when they speak. We want to try and get a variety of different shots and angles in our trailer because then we can show our use of camera work.

Research on Camera Work

There are many different types of Camera Work used in trailers. I am going to explore the different types of camera shots and angles and what each of them do and how they engage the audience.

In looking at Camera Work there are different areas such as:

• Angle
• Movement
• Position/ Framing
• Composition 
• Depth of Field 

Angle- High and Low angle shots are used in trailers, this could show the power that the character has if the camera is looking up at them. The high angle shot looks down on the characters and this could show that we are overpowering them and they look vulnerable. 

They may also use a canted angle to create a skewed frame. Often used to reinforce the idea of chaos or instability 

Camera Movement

• Pan- horizontal movement of the camera from a static position 
• Tracking- Camera tracks the movement of a subject 
• Tilt- movement on the vertical (up and down) 
• Crab- a subtle movement on the horizontal (left or right)
• Crane- the camera is mounted on to a crane so that it can move dramatically up and down and from side to side. Sometimes cranes are put on tracks to create spectacular tracking and craning movement. 
• Handheld- a shaky movement the follows the movement of camera operator. Often used to create realism, urgent and sudden figure movement or to create a point of view shot (we are seeing things through the eyes of a character). 
• Zoom lens- creates the illusion of movement by altering the lens length. 

Position & Framing

• The distance between the camera and the subject. 
• The position selected relates to the information the filmmaker is trying to communicate. 
• The camera is the viewers eyes in a scene so the camera position also dictates the viewers relationship with the action or characters in the scene. 

Composition 

• The way a frame is composed can help to convey important information. 
• A basic convention of composition: rule of thirds 
• Proponents of this technique claim that aligning a photograph with these points in mind creates more tension, energy and interest in the image than simply centering the subject would. 

Depth of Field

• A frame's depth of field refers to the focal length. 
• Where a frame shows everything sharp or in focus this is called deep focus. 
• When a particular part of the frame is picked out and the rest of the frame is blurred or indistinct it is called selective focus. 
• When the focal point changes within the frame this is called pull or 'rack' focus.

Film Title Ideas

Film Title Ideas:

• Chemistry
• Skool
• Textbook
• Chemistry Lesson
• Science of Love 
• Role Play 
• Science Lessons
• Lust 
• 50 shades of Red 
• Passion 

We circled Chemistry because that was our favourite film title. It fits in well with the story line because the teacher is a chemistry teacher. Also, chemistry means when two people like each other in a certain way, so that also fits into the story line. We probably will choose this film title because it has the most effect and it fits in perfectly with our story line and genre. 

Primary Research- Questionnaire Analysis

These are the results from our questionnaire:

                             Everyone who answered this question was between the ages of 15-20. 

                         

we had an equal number of boys and girls who answered our questionnaire to make it equal and to make sure we had a range of answers. 

                                           

Most of the people that answered our questionnaire said they liked comedy films and romance the best. From this we decided we would defiantly do romance as it's easier. 

                              

The pace of the editing, story lines and the music were the three things that engages most of our participants into trailers. We will make sure all of these things are embedded into our trailer so it's more appealing for out target audience.  

                                             

                               Almost all of our participants have part time jobs; apart from a few.  

                               

Almost all of the participants said that they wanted to see "a bit of action" or "sex" in our trailer. We won't take these things seriously but we will try our best to show the good and bad sides of relationships to show the realism of relationships in modern day. 

Primary Research- Questionnaire

We also created a Questionnaire for our primary research so we could ask 3 boys and 3 girls what type of films they like to watch and what engages them into a trailer. We created this Questionnaire as a group and came up with the questions ourselves. This research was quick and easy and they created reliable results. We then analysed the results and compared them to our other primary research.

Click here to view the Questionnaire

Primary Research- Interviews

We interviewed 3 boys and 3 girls to see if they liked Romance films, which is our chosen Genre for our trailer.
The questions we asked for our interview were:
1. How old are you?
2. What are your hobbies?
3. What's your relationship status?
4. Do you like romance films?
5. What's the best one you have seen?
6. Why did you like it?
7. What would have to be in the trailer of a romance film to make you want to watch it?

We interviewed our first girl and we asked her if she liked Romance films and what she would look for in a romance trailer. We took on board what she said and thought we could include some of the ideas she mentioned. She said she would like to see the good side and the bad side of the trailer
because if she just saw the good side then it wouldn't be realistic.

Next we interviewed our second girl and she said she didn't like romance films because she can't relate to it. She then said the best romance film she had seen was Dear John, because she liked the actors. For her to watch a romance trailer there would have to be some action. We took notes on what she said and took on board her comments.

Next we interviewed third girl and she said that she liked romance films. She liked it because there was a nice, easy plot line to follow and she liked the acting, The best one she has seen is Titanic because its a really well scripted movie and she likes the cast in it. For her to watch a romance trailer, it would have to be happy and have good actors, We took notes on her interview and took her comments on board, when we start filming our trailer.

Next we interviewed our first boy and he said he liked romance films because they have an engaging connection with reality. The best romance film he has seen is the Notebook because the story is intense and interesting to watch. In a romance trailer he would expect to see, simple conventions, two people finding eachother and love developing. We once again took the important notes from the interview and we will consider his ideas for when we starting filming.

Next we interviewed our second boy and he said he also liked romance films because they engage you into it with their pain and heartbreak and you feel the love they go through. The best romance film he has seen is Charlie St.Cloud because its nice to see their love for each other and then we're they're upset, you feel upset. In a romance trailer he would expect to see drama and a brief spell of what the story line will be like. We then took notes of what he said and will consider his ideas for when we are going to start filming.

Finally we interviewed our third boy and he said sometimes watched romance films, depending on who he is with. The best romance film he has seen is The Notebook because the two characters suit eachother and they are opposite so they work. In a romance film trailer he would expect to see explosions, nudity, girls and guys and let the story flow. We took notes on what he said and once again will consider his ideas when we begin filming.

Character Profile Protagonist

Character Profile- Protagonist 
Name: Raven Rosalinda Fair
Age: 17
Gender: Female
Ethnicity: Mixed race/ half Spanish/ half white
Parents: Mum (Spanish) Rosalinda, Dad (White British) Connor
Siblings: 1 older brother called Andres
Lives: Croydon, Shirley
Income: Part time job in Waitrose, £7.20 an hour
Social Class: E, Student
Personality: Introvert/ polite, empathetic, friendly, smart
Hobbies: Reading, horse riding, smokes for stress, drawing, science fiction books, baking
Relationship status: Single

Character Profile- Teacher

Character Profile- Teacher
Name: Daniel Grey
Gender: Male
Age: 24
Relationship: Complicated Marriage with Maria who had recently had a miscarriage
Job: Chemistry Teacher
Income: £28,000 a year
Social Class: C2
Personality: Shy, Misguided, Sweet, Kind, Mysterious
Hobbies: Reading, Cooking, Helping his Nan, Crosswords

Character Profile- Best Friend

Character Profile- The Best Friend
Name: Tiffany James
Age: 17
Gender: Female
Ethnicity: Asian
Lives: Selsdon, Croydon
Social Class: E, Student
Income: Part time job, Waitrose, £7.20 an hour
Personality: Bitchy, Gossipy, Two faced, Jealous, Funny, Confident
Hobbies: Partying, Drugs, Alcohol, Drawing, Gaming, always wants to have fun
Relationship Status: Lesbian but single, she wants to go out with Raven but she is jealous.

Target Audience Profile

Perfect Target Audience 

Name: Jennifer Davis 

Age: 17 

Gender: Female

Ethnicity: White British

Social Class: E, Student

Parents: Married 

Siblings: 1 little sister, 1 big brother 

Lives: Norbury 

Income: None/ unemployed/ student

Personality : Bossy, friendly, honest, popular, kind

Hobbies: Crosswords, art, shopping, ice skating

Relationship: Single 

British Board of Film Classification Age Rating

A U means means Universal. It means that anyone can watch the movie but it normally means 4+ as the BBFC don't know the certain things that could upset kids. 

PG means parental guidance. This means that the audience has to have an adult with them while watching it as some scenes could be inappropriate for little kids to watch on their own as they might not understand it or the child could get upset by what they are viewing.

12A means that people below the age of 12 cannot view the film unless they are with someone above the age of 18

A 12 rating means that no one below the age of 12 can view the film as it involves some inappropriate things that could be upsetting for younger ages.

                                                                                         

  No one below the age of 15 is allowed to watch or buy a rated 15 film as it contains certain scenes that aren't suitable for younger years.              

Rated 18 films are not allowed to be bought or scene (in cinema or at home) or rented by anyone under the age of 18 as nothing in them is suitable for people under that page.

                                         

Possible Story lines

Our group all came up with ideas for our trailer and chosen genre which is a Romance. Here are some of our favourite ideas that we thought of:

• Teacher, student love affair. New chemistry teacher comes in and attracts the eye of all the girls, however he only see's one girl in the back of the class. From this a whole spiral of events happen; for example his wife has a miscarriage, the teacher is confused about what should happen between him and the student. 
• A family could be going to Brighton, for a few weeks during the summer holidays. The family have a mum called Elise who is recently married Kai. Elise already has two children; a daughter called Tiffany who's 19 and a son called Elliot who is 17. Throughout thew whole holiday Tiffany and Kai have a growing emotional relationship and end up having an affair. However, Elise doesn't know this but Elliot does... what will Elliot do?
• An immigrant comes into town on a truck. A girl finds him on the street and shelters him and looks after him. After time they fall deeply in love but then he gets sent away. The girl is devastated and spends most of the film looking for him.

The story line we have chosen is the first idea with the teacher, student love affair. We thought this would be an effective idea and easy to film. 

• A girl called Betty is in love with her childhood friend Ian. They go to school together even now but a big argument causes them to never speak again. A few years later they run into each other but Betty is now in a complicated marriage. Her feelings towards him start coming back... what will she do?

Our Chosen Genre- Romance

My group have all agreed on the genre we want for our trailer and the genre we have chosen is Romance. We thought this would be a fun genre to film because we have researched a lot into this and we feel confident that we can produce this trailer. We have researched all the conventions and watched romance trailers as well so we can get an idea about how we want it to look. We want to try and challenge the stereotypical romance trailer and make it different in a way, so it will engage the audience and will make them want to watch it. We are already thinking of some possible story lines and what kind of settings we will use. We are then going to do some primary research by conducting interviews with people and asking them if they like romance films and producing questionnaires for people to fill out. We are then going to record the results from the questionnaire and consider the ideas from the people in the interview, so we can use them in our trailer, once we start filming.

Analysis of a Fantasy Trailer

The film trailer i am going to analyse is Harry Potter and the philosophers stone. This film is about a boy who finds out he's a wizard and goes to Hogwarts, which is a school that teaches the witches and wizards about magic. They use many spells and there are a lot of mythical creatures which link to the fantasy genre i am researching about.

At the beginning of the trailer we see owls, which link into the fantasy genre and we know that they will be featured in the film. It starts off with seeing Harry locked in a cupboard and someone saying "there's no such thing as magic". This will make the audience think that magic will be involved in this film and the audience might feel a bit confused as to why he is locked in a cupboard. Then it shows Goblins and this definitely links into the fantasy genre because they are mythical creatures and can be quite scary in some ways. The music begins quite quiet at the trailer but slowly builds up and gets louder as the trailer progresses. It has a magical feel to it and the sounds are quite unique to give that fantasy effect, telling the audience that this will be a fantasy film.

This is the part of trailer where we see Harry holding the wand for the first time. The audience will be able to tell that there will be a lot of magic involved and all the characters will be using wands. There is a lot of dimmed lighting in this picture, it gives a leery effect behind him as he is standing there holding the wand. This part of the trailer still doesn't show everything that is happening, so the audience will still be asking questions about why he has a wand and where he is going.

This is the main setting where the film is set, the castle. A lot of fantasy films have castles so this is an typical setting for this type of film. The lighting is very dark and this could make the audience feel quite scared in a way because they see this huge castle surrounded by water, hills and a full moon which is the only source of light. In some ways it's quite a magical scene as well with the students in small boats on their way to the castle. The castle could make them feel quite vulnerable because they are in these small boats and they are looking up at the castle which is high above them and it looks overpowering.


After this part of the trailer, the music starts to build up more and its gets louder so the audience will know that its going to get more fast paced and realise that something is going to happen. It also gets more intense as things start going wrong in the film and when the characters are in trouble.

This is quite a dark part of the trailer. First there is a creepy forest which is another typical setting in a fantasy film. This has very dark lighting in and this would make the audience feel scared and will wonder what the hooded figure is. The mist on the floor adds to the creepiness of this scene because its behind the figure and it makes it look more scary. We also see Harry standing to the side and he looks vulnerable and he is alone so we can tell that he is scared of this figure coming towards him. This could also be a contrast from the start of the film when it was happy and magical, but now we see this scary scene and we can tell that this person could be a threat to Harry and we will want to find out more about it.

This is one of the mythical creatures in the film, the troll. They made him look much bigger, so he would look scarier to the audience. This angle of the troll is a low angle shot because we are looking up at him. This makes him look intimidating and we feel vulnerable against the troll. There is low key lighting behind him makes this scene more scary because it has a creepy effect.


In this trailer there is a lot of low key lighting, especially when the creepy scenes are shown, this will make the audience feel scared. Also this trailer has typical fantasy settings such as a castle and a forest. Both are used with low key lighting because it is set at night and might look quite creepy in some ways.

Conventions of a Horror Film

Genre: Horror

WHAT ARE THE CONVENTIONS OF HORROR?

• SETTINGS

Small communities or isolated places. Urban environments, dark streets and narrow alleyways. Large cities or run down ghost towns or being alone.                                           

                                 

These type of locations are usually associated with zombie apocalypse type movies and sometimes serial killer movies.

The dark alleyway provides a sense of vulnerability so this is mostly where the victim gets attacked. A prime example of that is in the movie sin city. Sin city is an action fantasy film but the only reason I chose it as my best example because of all the dark scenes.


Often sometimes would have a very dark history like houses that anew family moves in to, abandoned houses that people go an investigate, hotels and insane asylums. The top 2 movies that come to mind when thinking of houses with history are:

1.     Woman in Black 

2.    The Conjuring

The Conjuring is a typical example

of a house which is haunted by past experiences and a new family moves into the house and is tormented by the demonic movements. Compared to the Woman in black the house in The Conjuring is much more cleaner and well kept but still has the eerie atmosphere.

 The woman in black is an example of a movie about an abandoned house and has been taken over by ghosts and someone goes into explore what is going on. Whereas the house in The Woman in the black is dirty and the audience can clearly tell that no one has lived there for many years.

TECHNICAL CODES

The camera work is very expressive and unnatural. High and low angles can connote fear and nightmare. POV shots are important because they allow the audience to see the characters world through their eyes. This effects the audience by making feel scared and vulnerable just like the victim. Handheld shots make it difficult for the audience to make out what is happening this way the audience would be more intrigued to carry on watching. Disturbing sounds are very important in horror movies. Ambient diegetic sounds cause a sense of reality for example footsteps and doors creaking.

ICONOGRAPHY

   Visual style: Often dark colours like red and black which links to evil, blood, danger etc.

    Lighting is expressive and non naturalistic. Low key lighting can create dark shadows and unfamiliar shapes in blackness. Lighting can be motivated naturally for example fire, torches. Props can help us to further identify the horror genre. Specific props can be identified with a certain villain or character. i.e. Chainsaws, machetes, knifes , claw , gauntlets, house appliances. Common objects include: weapons, masks, icons supernatural, religious icons.

CHARACTER TYPES
The protagonist is usually the victim and the hero of the movie. the villain is often a monster mutated freak, alien serial killer and most of the time possessed person.The stupid/ immoral teenagers that always get killed. Creepy child. Police officers that can either be good or bad.
Many more: Ghosts, zombies, demons, psychopaths, stalker, weirdo werewolf. 

 THEMES

Good vs Evil

Depression

Religion

Childhood issues

Revenge

Supernatural

Beyond death

Science gone bad

Zombie apocalypse 

Nightmares

Madness

Insanity

Lust

Self consciousness

Envy 

Suicide

Post done by Celyn Ofori