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 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
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