TARGET AUDIENCE AND GENRE

In my indepedant research I researched into how horror films capture their target audience, in order to do this I researched into a hit thriller 'the ring', as this was a film I have watched and enjoyed myself.

Horror Films

Target Audience and Genre

The development of my plot for my horror film trailer is going well, however I need to research into the target audience I wish to convey my trailer to and the genre. By establishing who my target audience is I am able to effectively produce a suitable horror film which would be appealing to my audience as I will be able to include the key elements which shall attract them. Through researching previous successful thrillers, it will enable me to produce a trailer which will fit my genre correctly.

‘The Ring’

I have decided to research into ‘The Ring’, this is because this is a film I have watched and believe it to be successful. There have also been 2 films made which proves it to have many successful qualities and shows it is able to reach its target audience effectively.

Background Information and plot:

Ring (Japanese: リング Ringu) is a 1998 Japanese horror film by Hideo Nakata, adapted from the novel of the same name by Koji Suzuki, which draws from the Japanese folk tale Banchō Sarayashiki. The film stars Nanako Matsushima, Hiroyuki Sanada, and Rikiya Otaka as members of a divorced family. The film was later remade in the United States as The Ring (2002).

Rachel Keller is a journalist investigating a videotape that may have killed four teenagers (including her niece). There is an urban legend about this tape: the viewer will die seven days after watching it. If the legend is correct, Rachel will have to run against time to save her son's and her own life.

The Director:

The director of the US ‘The Ring’ was Gore Verbinski, who also went onto direct films such as Pirates of the Caribbean. For the director, ‘The Ring’ was a huge hit for him, after producing a few films that were a little unsatisfactory to the audience he bounced back with this hit. The film grossed over $230 million dollars worldwide.

So how did the director manage to achieve this?

In an interview Gore Verbinski said:

What sort of mood were you aiming for with your film?

I tried to maintain the minimalism of the original. Our film is set in Seattle so we went for an overcast mood: Wet and Isolated. By only focusing on three characters, the film is a study in abstraction. Devoid of clutter. It takes on a sort of inner dream logic. I tried to keep the frame as a tableau wherever possible. I believe shot construct in this genre is so much a part of the creep factor.. and sound is its partner. So the film is intentionally somewhat clinical.

In our film we have also stuck to the characters, we did this because we feel that if there are less characters it’s easier to understand the storyline and so the audience can follow the plot easier.

What degree of difficulty was there in adapting a Japanese film for a Western audience?

I found there to be a Dream logic vs. Emotional logic issue. The western desire for linearity, and resolution are so destructive to a film like this. It's hard to fight against that and still keep the audience interested. As a director, I tried to use the breadcrumb approach rather than a hand on the back in leading the audience through the narrative. The only resolution in life is death, and I believe that we seek out resolution in stories as a response to this. I think the trick is to keep them seeking right up until the end. Emotionally the film is inherently on the cold side, yet it deals with the relationship between mother and child. So we tried to use this in conjunction with the tape to create the feeling of a resolution - yet at a price: What would you do to save your child?

The director drew his audience in through making them follow a narrative piece by piece rather than making it easy to understand, this is effective as it keeps an audience hooked and wanting to continue watching the rest in order to find out what happens. He also tried to get the audience to sympathise through a mother and child relationship. I believe this to be very effective.

My Group and I are also still continuing with our storyboard

CONVENTIONS OF A TRAILER

Trailer's typically tell the narrative of the film in a speedy, condensed fashion.

Trailers contain lots of fast paced cuts and sound all used to entice the audience into wanting to go and see the advertised film.

THREE PART STRUCTURE:

Beginning – lays out the key element of the story

Middle – tells us a bit more about the story

Ending – the climax, builds the most amount of tension. Usually comprises of a montage of clips accompanied by a building piece of music.

The clips NEVER come in a set order, they are a montage of clips to give a basic outline of the plot whilst not giving away the ending, therefore entices you into wanting to see the film.

Sometimes a voiceover is used, usually a deep, male, dramatic and distinguished voice. This briefly tells the narrative if needed

 Usually  1-3 minutes in length

Film company logo features at the beginning

 Music used to build tension, create suspense – builds as the trailer progresses

Dead black outs are used for effect, this is where the screen goes momentarily black before cutting to the next scene of action. A cut in is popular in which the camera cuts to a more specific part of the scene in order to get a clearer view e.g. the camera may cut in closer to a knife etc.

Cross cutting is also used to simply cross back and forth between action.

 Iconography to the genre so the audience can still recognise the style 

All trailers also feature the GREEN CERTIFICATION at the very beginning, followed by the PRODUCTION COMPANY

(PICTURE)

CONVENTIONS OF A SUPERNATURAL HORROR

Supernatural Horror has it roots in folklore and religious traditions. It focuses on death, the demonic, the afterlife, evil and the principle of the devil being embodied in the living.
These stories come associate with witchcraft, vampires, werewolves, ghosts and demons.
Supernatural horror of the 1790's was written by women and targeted at a female audience.


THEMES;
ghost's, apparitions, spirits and depictions of extraordinary phenomenon

CONVENTIONS OF A HORROR

Across all four sub genres, there are certain things that are seen time and time again (known as codes and conventions). These are:

SETTING,
is important within a horror, settings that are frequently used are quiet, secluded and isolated areas. These provide the audience with a sense of tension, they suggest that there is no one around to help you and there is no escape from the enemy. The director plays on the fact that everyone gets scared when there is no one around as your mind always plays tricks or you are paranoid someone is watching you. 'Hills Have Eyes' is a perfect example. The whole film relies upon a isolated environment as it informs the audience that no one is around to help the stranded holidaymakers who were lead up a wrong path. This manages to involve the audience, allow them to feel the emotions of being stranded in a unknown environment and not knowing who's around. I thought this film was very effective and I enjoyed watching it a lot! Isolation within a setting also provides a high level of suspense, tension and mystery.

Another common setting is big haunted houses or large woodland/forest type areas. The first film that came to mind was a film I saw on TV not long ago, 'The Messengers'. Personally I didn't like this film as I thought it was too slow to get into the storyline, however it fits as a good example. It is set in a big house on a sunflower farm that unbeknown to the family that has just moved in, is haunted. The family is then torn apart by suspicion, mayhem and murder.

A setting that is more commonly used within the slasher sub genre is high schools. Films such as 'prom night' and 'Scream' have more a teenage audience as they are able to relate to the surroundings and situation.

CHARACTERS,
very typically FEMALE. After a lot of reading upon why I came across Carol J. Clover, a professor of film sutdies whom within her book 'Men, Women and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film ' 1992, stated:

“Some girls die for mistakes, others die because they are female”. 

They show heavy symbolism in the portrayal of women and femininity, they're typically seen as the damsel in distress who is usually brutally murdered within the first 5 minutes of the film. Examples of this happening would be: 'Friday the 13th' and 'Halloween'. Females are also portrayed as antagonists , which can be seen as a reflection of a man's pathological fear of women and their power.

Horror genre rarely presents women in a non-exploitive way, and are usually extremely sexist.

There are however positive female character’s in the genre, and these films are usually much more respected by critics and the public. In films such as ‘The Descent’ and ‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’, women can be seen defeating typically male villains and exhibiting strength and intelligence, moving from victim to heroine.

TYPICAL FEMALES USUALLY SEEN ARE:

Probably the most common. 'The Dumb blonde', they always blondes are 'stupid' therefore her hair acts as a signifier to her stupidity. The audience will also automatically stereotype the reason for her killing which would usually be because it is a due to a 'lack of intelligence' and because she is naive. Directors play on this stereotyping within their films and will get murdered very early on within the film if not at the beginning.

'Sacrifical Lamb', girl who behaves badly and doesn't listen to anyone, which usually ends up in her learning her lesson.. so to say. This female is similar to the dumb blonde however looses the innocence, she's typically unintelligent and unaware of anything going on.

 

'The Sexual Transgressors'

Ok, so this one consists of a couple finding somewhere to have sex which ends up with them getting brutally murder either during or after such acts. An example being 'Halloween', the first victim a sexual transgressor is Michael Myer's sister who had just had sex.

 

'The Final Girl', intelligent, level-headed and notices small signs of danger that her friends fail to see. She is usually noticeable from the very beginning of the film to an avid horror film viewer. She remains the lone survivor once all her friends are killed.

She will be the one who goes looking for the killer, be the first to sense strange things, and be the final one left to get revenge of the killer by staring death in the face and facing fears.

The final girl will typically be the main character.

 

WEAPONS,

Whilst all these female characters are getting murdered, there must be weapons used in order to do so. Within a slasher genre, these weapons will be one or more of either:

Weapons used are silent in order to be secret and be unknown to the rest of the group. Quiet weapons are chosen because of the 'intimacy and tactility' in using them. However, using weapons such as chainsaws are obviously very noisey. These weapons are used in a butchering style, which provides the killer with a signature and emphasizes their power because let's face it.. your not going to have much chance against that!
A obvious example for this style of killing is 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre'.

A film that uses a range of weapons however isn't quite a slasher would be 'Disturbia'. This film features a boy on house arrest spying on his neighbours when he begins to think his neighbour is a murderer. At the end the neighbour does turn out to be, when the neighbour attacks him with a bat and gags him he manages to break free. Kale then attacks him with a baseball bat and runs off, the killer then grabs garden shears.

Another popular weapon is the knife, in 'Psycho' the famous shower scene is where the female gets attacked by such weapon.


The KILLER;
typically MALE or a CHILD (any gender). Identity of the killer is unknown and sometimes found out at the very end of the film however this doesn't happen in 'The Strangers'. Killers usually appear to be invincible; can take any blow/attack and are seen to be incredible strong; usually chuck their victims here there and everywhere!
Within sequels, the killer is carried on however the victims always change which represents the invincible power they portray.
Here is a picture of the killer from SAW, this film is a little different from many others though and is extremely psychology and clever in it's plot. With this film it appears later on through the sequels that even though the killer is dead he is still consistent in carrying out killings through 'followers' which shows his shear power:

COSTUME,
There are many different costumes used within the horror genre:
Clothing is minimalistic however it is still extremely easy to distinguish the killer from the victim. The killer is usually in dark clothing different from everyday wear:


MASKS
provides the killer with no identity and makes them appear non human, emotionless and demonic. They also allow the audience to be inquisitive as to who is behind the mask.

DARK CLOTHES
makes the killer look mysterious and also allows them to be easily hidden in the dark


HOODED CLOTHING
whether it be the actual grim reaper or not, the association is with that of death

BOILER SUIT
the working man.. killer. This costume makes the killer look like they have a job to do, or have just made it their 'job'. These are often ripped and covered in blood to make them look sinister.

simple clothing for the victims..
DIRTY CLOTHING
make the victim look like they have been through an ordeal. Term 'look like you've been dragged through a hedge backwards' may be to literal. Also represent not just the physical effect the killer has had but also the mental.

SIGHTS
usually consist of blood, gore, guts, weapons, dark lighting and shadowing. Add tension and suspense for the audience.


SOUNDS
there are many different sounds used within horrors and all work together to make a horror successful. They add to the tension, suspense and atmosphere and can often make a horror a lot scarier than what it is.


EERIE MUSIC
adds tension, and is the key element in producing a horror. Eerie music informs the audience that something is about to happen, it is the most effective way of getting the audience on the edge of their seat. They are expecting something to happen as soon as that music is heard and as the music builds, the tension builds. 'The others' trailer is a good example, from start to finish eerie music is used. However, I found the most effective to be 'Paranormal Activity', when watching that in the cinema it was interesting and incredibly funny to see and hear how the audience was reacting when then heard eerie music when it came to the night scenes as the audience knew something was about to happen!


LOUD NOISES/STABS
Again in 'Paranormal activity' loud noises are used to make the audience jump out of their skin and stabs also do the same (a sudden outburst of music)

LIGHTENING/RAIN/THUNDER
create realism, this is important in order for the audience to be able to relate to it. They create a scary ambience and can make a character look more demonic and scary than they actually are. Sometimes the weather can also be seen to be associated with the character. e.g 'ORPHAN'

CONTRAPUNTAL SOUNDS

sounds that you wouldn't expect to hear or relate to what is happening. E.g 'A Nightmare On Elm Street', children's music is playing at the end which contradicts the situation.

SILENCE
..truly is deadly. Sometimes it is scarier to hear nothing at all because when you do it puts all the more emphasis on it. Perfect example of this is in 'The Strangers', there is silence when the camera is on the victim with the masked killer standing in the distance behind however still in the house.


LIGHTING

Low key lighting - dark shadows form so that there is a deep contrast between light and dark.

Top lighting - commonly used on the hero to give the impression of a god like effect.

Under lighting - creates a distorted effect and comes from below

Back lighting - creates a silhouette, typically used on the killer. Builds tension and a sense of mystery as it makes the killer seem like they have no identity and look evil.

Profile lighting - one half of the character will be in shadow other half light.

Ambient lighting - 'natural' source of light typically used in gothic horror

ANIMATION

This is an animation I produced with the group I'm currently working with at the end of year 12, in preparation of year 13. This gave me an insight into how animation is made and allowed me to see which people I would work best in.

(Insert Clip)

I believe our animation was succesful and produced to a high quality considering the amount of time we were given, also unlike most groups we managed to finish our animation. The rest of my group and myself made our own background with the help of a D&T teacher, we did this because we wanted to put in that extra effort to make our animation look more effective.

ANALYSIS OF TRAILERS

All lesson I researched into all the current horror trailers that have been produced.‘The Omen’

Whilst watching the trailer for this, I took notes on things I found most noticeable.

First thing to be seen:

‘The following preview has been approved for all audiences’

Sound: starts with dog panting, use of wind, no dialogue, swing squeaking (gets louder as it gets closer as does the sound of orchestral music) when text appears on screen loud drumming sound.

Camera Shots: pans across to a little boy on a swing, zooms into swing – tracking, point of view shots, medium shot of dog, includes no establishing shot (don’t know where you are) mid shot of little boy, little boy smiles.

Mise En Scene: dog– signifies devil, abandoned park , sun, trees cover therefore darkness – signifies danger, little childrens playground – little horse, small boy in red (enhanced so it stands out) red signifies danger – the devil.

The Grudge 1, 2 & 3

I focused on the teaser trailer for The Grudge 3. I didn't particuarly like this trailer as I preferred the mystery and build up of 'The Omen', however I did like how the cuts became faster towards the end of the trailer, I feel this successfully built up tension and suspense. 

I also liked how the trailer was edited and especially how the text was brought in and the text used. I thought the white flash between some clips was really effective and believe it would be effective if used within a trailer of my own.

The sound within this is quite effective and believe it does make the trailer as when watched without the music I didn't find the trailer as appealing. I liked how on some cuts there was a loud drum which cause me to jump and built tension well.

‘The Ring’ 1 & 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHQSKQN8Llk

Having seen this film I decided to check out the trailer. I think the trailer was too long and gave away too much of the film because the dialogue played over the scenes practically gave the entire film away which then gave people the choice on whether they wanted to see the film or not instead of building up tension and leaving them wanting to see the film to see what it's all about. Therefore I hope not to do this by making my trailer too long and too revealing, and with 'The Ring' being 2:11 I don't believe it to be very 'teasing' for the audience.
However, negative's aside, I do believe that the trailer is very well edited. I especially (like the grudge) like how as the trailer comes to the end it builds suspense with the use of fast edits.
The music that was used in the background was quite fast and the tune made it sound like she would be on some sort of mission, which when watching the film you find out she is (to bring an end to the videotape, save her son from bring killed and solve the story and mystery to the little girl's - Samara's life.)
This trailer however, doesn't use much text and instead uses dialogue. In the way this dialogue is used I don't believe it to be very effective as it does just give away too much of the storyline. Therefore I think it would be a lot more effective to use short, sharp, to the point text.

All these have inspired my thoughts and I have managed to narrow down what kind of horror trailer I wish to produce.

First, I decided whether I wanted to work as part of a group when producing my horror trailer or as an individual. I wanted to decide this first because then I could start planning my trailer myself or with others immediately.

 I came to the decision to work as part of a group as I believe we could come up with a wider range of ideas and therefore make our trailer look more believable and of a higher quality.
My group consists of me working with two other people in my class, Alex and Tewsdae. Together we have put ours ideas together and managed to select a specific type of horror we wish to produce. We noticed a gap within the horror genre, whilst many horrors use ghosts, vampires or demented looking children; we found that not many used the idea of china dolls and as many of us within the group found them to be scary when we were younger we found this appropriate. We came up with a basic storyline for our trailer and what characters we want to use. We decided whilst we were going to use china dolls, like other horrors we were going to use the idea of a ‘demented’ child, however she would be used as a lifelike china doll (representation). We also decided upon using us 3 as actors playing students and a little girl who would be the ghost in our clip. This is still yet to be developed.

THE GENRE

Horror - SUB GENRES
PSYCHOLOGICAL- 
This sub genre really makes the audience think whilst watching in order to try and work out what is going on. This aims to terrify its audience through the use of a disturbed individual. This sub genre is very different from that of a slasher as there is few to none violence or gore. Examples of this genre are: Shutter Island, The Omen, The Others.


SUPERNATURAL- 
Consists of curses or miracles and usually feature ghosts or spirits as the main narrative. These can sometimes be scarier than any other sub genre. Paranormal activity is a good example of this sub genre as people begin to believe strange goings on could happen to them when they are at home. other examples include: Final Destination and Blair Witch Project.


SLASHER- 
Slashers are the goriest of the horror genre. Usually a masked, psychopathic killer whom kills people using violent weapons such as chainsaws, pickaxes or knifes. E.g. Texas Chainsaw Massacre, SAW sequels, My Bloody Valentine.


GOTHIC- 
Vampires, ghosts, demons, phantoms common of this sub genre. They are traditional in style and original, main conventions are large castles, abandoned houses, woodland etc. Examples are shutter island (for mise en scene and originality) and dracula.

WHY DO PEOPLE LIKE HORROR FILMS?

hor·ror
[hawr-er, hor-]

–noun

1.

an overwhelming and painful feeling caused by something frightfully shocking, terrifying, or revolting; a shuddering fear: to shrink back from a mutilated corpse in horror.

So why do people decide to put themselves through 2 hours or more of fear?

According to investigators, there are one of two theories:

The first being that the audience isn't actually scared but excited by the film, and the second being that the audience is willing to endure the terror in order to feel the sense of euphoria at the end. In other words, Horror movie viewers are 'happy to be unhappy' because whilst watching the film they experience a mixture of posistive and negative effects simultaneously, i.e. people may not just be scared but also relieved when the threat is removed.

The horror genre has to shift and change as the fears of the audience changes.

 'The Omen' is a perfect example of how the horror genre fitted in with the time of society and the fears of the audience. This 1976 horror about a mother giving birth to a child called Damien whom we later find to be a demonic child believed to be possessed by the devil was one of the most fearful horrors of its era.  It related to the time due to a anti-nausea drug (Thalidomide) in the 1960's given to pregnant women to reduce morning sickness, was causing 10,000 babies being born with some sort of mental or physical derfomity. This controversy was a media epidemic and a panic in society. This was a perfect time for directors as this gave them a new fear as women were scared that their child would be born with a deformity. 

The 2006 remake of 'The Omen' was therefore not as successful as this was no longer a current fear within society and many are now aware that this cannot happen.

PROMOTION OF UPCOMING FILM

Recently, I have been researching different genre of film so that I can grasp an idea of what I wish to produce for my own short film or trailer.
I chose a film to analyze to see how the film has been promoted for its forthcoming release, the characters and the basic plot. I decided to analyze 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows' in which I presented my found information in a powerpoint.
Through doing further research and from my research conducted on this forthcoming film, I decided that I wish to produce a trailer, as I like how this short 2-3 minute clip can bring a sense of tension, suspense and thrill and also a small insight into the film. A trailer can also be crutial, as it can sell a film really well to an audience or not.
I have also decided that I would like to produce a thriller/horror genre trailer as I liked the suspense and tension created throughout the Harry Potter trailer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EC2tmFVNNE



ANALYSIS OF SHORT FILM

I have been watching and analysing short films. I watched and analysed a short film 'Dipper'. This was a 10 minute professionally directed film which featured on the BBC short film website. We watched the film 3 times, within the first viewing I got a feel for the narrative and tried to understand what was happening throughtout it, in the second and third viewing I made notes on camera work, editing, sound and mise en scene.These notes would then help me in being able to answer an essay question which was set 'Discuss the techniques used in 'The Dipper' to create a sense of enigma (mystery)'  

PJ Harling in ‘The Dipper’ uses an array of different techniques in order to create a sense of enigma. These techniques include editing, sound, camera angles and mise en scene.

Camera work/angles are important in this short film. In the first few minutes the use of eye level and waist level shots brings a link to the title because he is a pickpocket and is therefore just looking at people possessions and pockets. This brings in a link with mise en scene; the use of a ‘gold’ watch which the pickpocket knows is a fake and a woman’s engagement ring and designer handbag which suggest she has money and is worth stealing. The pickpocket uses people’s possessions as a way of judging whether people are wealthy or not, this links in with the tagline which is used at the beginning when there are long shots of people on the street, the tag is ‘you should never judge a book by its cover’, this is also used at the end once the story and twist have been unravelled.

In order to create a sense of enigma the director first used a voiceover which was a non diagetic sound as you couldn’t see the actor at this point but was used so you knew what he was thinking which was used a lot throughout the film along with point of view shots.

Tension is created through the use of music which he begins when he starts to pursue his target, kind of like how a predator stalks his prey. He is in power. Fast cuts are used in this narrative sequence to create a fast pace.

Enigma is created once the pickpocket reaches the policeman. He again uses the excuse of an interview however his clothes suggest otherwise. The woman’s purse is important as it unravels a mystery when opened. A man’s identity card is revealed which then triggers a black and white flash, this then stimulates a flashback. We realise the ambulance we had been watching through the point of view shot at the beginning was of the pickpocket, as we are now seeing through the eyes of the woman and she is watching him watching the ambulance. We also now know that the woman who called the ambulance was the woman who got her purse stolen. This flashback is now narrated by her and we follow her as she watches him, this creates a sense of enigma as we don’t know whether she saw him injure the man that is being put in the ambulance or if she is just trying to set him up and lure him in. When the scene then cuts back to the pickpocket and the policeman the camera pans up to her standing in the distance on a hill, this shows she now has the power of watching over him. A split screen of her looking smug and he is frozen. She then walks away out of the shot; this suggests that he isn’t going to be going anywhere. The last thing you hear whilst this is shown is the tag line again, which sums up the narrative of the story. However you are still left with that sense of enigma as the story still isn’t unravelled fully and you are still left unsure as to what her motives actually were.