For my next piece of research I am going to look at popular horror films and analyse the setting they used, and the makeup/special effects used of their characters. I want to make sure that I include horror films that span out over quite a large time zone, as the older, classic horror films tend to be more well known and popular (i discovered this through googling the most popular horror films). It is important that I include some more modern day films within my research as it is likely that these will fit in more with what I plan to do. I googled 'popular horror films' , and selected the following 4 which came up which I am going to analyse within this blog post: The Exorcist, A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Cabin In The Woods, and The Ring.
The Exorcist (1973):
The first thing that came to my mind when I saw this film is how dated it is. The age of the film doesn't change the iconographic nature of the film, however it does mean that, due to it's age, the special effects and camera techniques used will more than likely look completely un realistic to a modern day audience, and furthermore this dramatically decreases it's "horror factor" in today's reality. I could have analysed the more current remake of the film, however I think that, due to the fact that my resources are limited, it would be more beneficial to analyse and pick up on what basic qualities the original film has that helps to establish it's mood and genre. My reasons for this is that, by looking at the basic qualities that you could potentially overlook when creating a film of a horror genre, I can make sure to include some for these qualities within my film opening, furthermore helping to create an atmospheric experience for the examiner and my viewers, without having to involve a lot of special effects. Furthermore, when analysing the more current film, it more likely to get sidetracked by the special effects used, rather than the nitty gritty qualities which are essential for any horror film to have.
When looking at the setting of the film, you can see that the majority of the plot (especially the points intended to scare you) are set and filmed at night. This is something that is quite common among horror films, and I expect to find similar results when analysing the different horror films which I have selected. Another thing that stands out within the movie "The Exorcist" is the fact that it uses a lot of religious imagery, e.g. the church and the angel crying blood. Some would say this is very sacrilegious, and, especially when looking at the historical context of how big religion was around the time this film as made, you could say that the hybridity of something known to be pure and heavenly like God, shown to be struggling against something that is clearly a demon, could be what helped catapult this film into the lime light and helped it to gain the attention and reputation is received, especially at the time is was made (it is known that priests would stand outside movie theatres with holy water, throwing it at audiences who left the theatre, some screaming as they believed that the movie was possessed).
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984):
Just like The Exorcist, A Nightmare on Elm Street is a classic horror film, that doesn't necessarily have the same impact on it's viewers today in comparison to when it was first made. There is a remake of this film, but just like with an analysis of the original Exorcist I plan to analyse the older version due to the fact that it will help me with picking up on the effective hacks of film making when your resources are limited. However, having said this I do know that I don't want my film opening to be too dated, as this will really limit my potential audience, and furthermore the next three horror films which I'm going to look into will be made in a more modern time frame.
The Nightmare on Elm Street, just like most horror films, is mainly set at night. However, in contribution to this decision being made by a director in order to help create a gothic, atmospheric experience for an audience, it is almost essential that this film is set at night due to the plot; Freddy (the protagonist) can only get you when you're sleeping, and typically, you sleep at night. The setting and location of this film is quite unique compared to other horror films as it isn't set in an abandoned building or a woodland, instead, it's set inside the characters own home. This would have instilled paranoia in an audience and your home is the place you expect to truly be safe, and it's a possible location for me to shoot my opening scene in if I wanted to do so, as you don't have to book out or pay to film in your own house. Finally, you could say that what really helps to catapult this film into the most well known horror film of all time is (besides the narrative itself), the gore which has been visually used which is almost sickening to witness. This helps to give the film that "shock factor" that a horror audience typically wants, and furthermore by including this the director is successfully conforming to it's chosen genre.
The Cabin in the Woods (2011):
Following on from two very classic but dated horror films, the next film I am going to look at is the 2011 film 'The Cabin in the Woods". True to it's name, this film is set within the middle of the woods (this helps define the isolation of the main characters from reality), and the main characters are all staying in a run-down, clearly old cabin. This film follows a very stereotypical structure of what you'd expect to find in a horror film: the setting of an abandoned woodland is something which is often portrayed through popular horror films, as well as how everything starts to go bad at night, and even the stereotypes of the characters themselves are emphasised within the film.
Special effects are mainly only used at the end of the film in order to show all of the different evil creations locked up in their glass boxes, some may have been used in order to create realistic wounds and shots within the film, however it is possible that the 'zombies' and the 'wounds' in the film have been created using special FX make up. This is something which is possible for me to do within my film opening if it's a direction I wanted to go down as it's relatively in-expensive if you do it yourself, and there are several tutorials on YouTube which help you create a realistic look. Like The Exorcist and A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Cabin in the Woods- despite it's stereotypical characters and location- has a plot which starts off as everything you'd expect to see in a horror films, but ends in a way that is uniquely it's own. The plot twists and shocks that you experience within the film opening are what keeps an audience intrigued and catapults this film into a higher league than most horror films which are very similar to all the other horror films out there. Furthermore, this tells me that, when creating my film opening, I want to make it unique and original, yet still give it those stereotypical elements that are so well known in the horror industry in order to give my target audience a taste of what they already know and love, yet make it more interesting by giving it its own little spin.
The Ring (2002):
The reason why I have chosen to look into the film "The Ring" is because, not only is it very well known and popular amongst a horror based audience, but it also involves a child as what Propp would propose as "The bad guy". This is something which isn't done often within horror films, and using childish elements within my opening sequence is something which I plan to do. The Ring is about a strange tape of a young girl, and once you watch it, you get a phone call from the same girl that was in the video tape, informing you that you have 7 days left to live.
The tape in the film is almost filtered in the way that it was a darkish blueish tinge to it, this not only helps set it apart form the actual scenes in the film, but it helps set a cold atmosphere-almost as if we are inside the cold well with the girl ourselves. This helps cause a diversion for an audience, something which Bulmer and Katz identified to be one of the reasons why an audience take part in media texts. In addition to this, when things go bad in the film, it's usually dark and the director uses hyperbole in order to help set the scene. This may be something which would be helpful to mimic within my film opening, however it may prove difficult due to the fact that it may not be possible to shoot on the days where the weather fits the scene of what I want to shoot.
Overall, this blog posts has helped me realise that, when making my film opening, that using stereotypical film qualities will help me set the genre and mood. However, having said this, it is also important to give my film opening a unique edge in order to make sure that my target audience won't be bored of the film product which I am yet to make.
