Horror/ thriller/ romantic comedy genre research

Horror

Horror films are always unsettling with the primary purpose to bring out the worst hidden fears out of the viewers but this helps to captivate them into the experience that they enjoying at the same time; with plots frequently including themes such as death and mental illness in order to exploit the responsiveness of our emotional side to the disturbing events which we would not experience in every-day life. The majority of horror films follow a similar pattern when relating to the theme of death. Through certain points in the film a member from a group of people (they may already know each other or they meet each other as the film progresses) have their deaths imminently approaching without them knowing it. This person tends to be the one who is most vulnerable and sensitive to fear. Some horror films combine other elements from different genres into one film to maintain variation in delivering a thrilling experience that allows viewers to explore the extent of depth in the number of different ways to which horror films can scare us. Examples of this include science fiction, fantasy, thriller and even black comedy.
In science fiction, the purpose of of the genre is to explore the consequences of such differences in the settings which may include the future or another generation of species on a different planet. Thrillers combine fast-pacing in situations, frequent action and heroes to produce a innovative, fresh and momentous experience that delivers from start to finish for the viewers. Fantasy involves magic and other supernatural forms and black comedy has light humour on the subjects of serious matter such as murder and disease.

The characters are sometimes already friends before the film even begins. Each member of the group are distinctive in different ways; for example one person may be mature and decisive whilst another is arrogant and determined to do anything. Our inital thoughts are that these two types of characters would argue first because the arrogance of one person may lead to a disagreement with the other who attempts to the make decision. This is due to the differences in their personalities which may lead to future confrontations between one another. The characters are put under situations of continuous stress and pressure which tests their bravery and themselves as a person. In response to how they decide to deal with a certain situation of fear and disbelief, their personality becomes exposed which allows the audience to analyse the depth of vulnerability to which the characters are feeling. Reactions to certain situations vary with some characters losing control over how they should cope with the pressure that they are under and what they should do about it. There are other characters that are more disciplined and mature than others and can therefore restrain their emotions within a situation to which they may have never experienced before. Most horror films have no more than one main villain although sometimes there are two. Villains are ‘evil’ characters and are usually known as antagonists as they have a negative effect on other characters around them.

Locations and environments are often expected to be dark and gritty in horror films to place characters in a position of discomfort and fear. Key locations are places where a killer may have committed murder or where previous crime incidents have happened. They give us an insight into the history of the violence that has been going on at certain places over a period of time. At whichever part, the film links one major incident to same place where something terrifying has happened then this helps to unsettle the audience and shows a precursor to how events may fold out as the film progresses through the steady maintenance of tension and suspense.



The weather in most horror films tend to have aspects that link to negativity.
This helps to enhance the spirit of a true horror film and echo the disturbance in the characters’ thoughts (that are in their minds) to the viewers. The weather also sets the mood for the surroundings in a location and affects the character's perceptions of what they are about to embark on/ also it is influential over the character's mood (of how he/she feels) and affects them through the atmosphere the weather has created.



In this image, the dark and old-fashioned choice of colours for the font of the sign ‘Silent Hill’ suits perfectly to the background to give a sense of uneasiness and age to the location.



Thriller

Thrillers consist of features which give the genre depth and content in action, suspense, pacing and twists in plots that often have a devastating effect on the outcome of the film and the audience's expectations. There are numerous sub genres such as psychological, religious, action and drama thrillers. They are well suited to the type of audience who are willing to have the action delivered to them on a consistent basis. With the addition of fast pacing it helps to drive the ambition on the purpose of the brutal reality the protagonist has to confront in the atmospheric experience that he/she goes through. Violent confrontations to prevent acts of terrorism, assassinations or mass murders are common plot elements. Most times, the hero must prevent the plans of an enemy or to uncover a crime that has already happened. The protagonists in this kind of genre have been traditionally males, but female main characters have increasingly become more common. Villains always present the protagonist obstacles to overcome and and each one increases in difficulty to test the skills they learn or have already inherited (it came as natural to them) through the progression of the film. Most protagonists are seen as flexible, incredibly athletic and fit with sharp awareness of their surroundings and the intelligence to think and act smartly and sensibly in quick-time events.

Locations in most thrillers are set in luxurious environments such as islands and landmarks from cities across the world. This offers greater variation in the openness of the environments and the grander of scale of exploration that is allowed for the character to embark upon. Casino Royale is an excellent example of demonstrating the extensive scale of one character's choice to freely explore. The locations vary from countries across South America and Africa.

Casino Royale: film locations

Romantic comedy

Romantic comedy films are light-hearted with humorous storylines. It is a sub-genre of comedy films that have concepts which evolve around the theme of true love being able to overcome obstacles in a relationship. The sub-genre involves two protagonists, usually a man and a woman, meet due to an argument but they eventually reunite after. Sometimes the two protagonists are hesitant to becoming romantically involved with one another because either of them already have partners. This makes it increasingly unlikely that the two characters will meet again. However, the screenwriters leave clues to the audience that suggest the two people would be compatible with each other but yet they are unaware this may be the case as their relationship develops over the course of the film.
The ending to romantic comedy films are not always going to 'end happily ever after' when two lovers commit themselves to one another. They could both part their own ways after living or marrying, but the main importance of this genre is to highlight the primary purpose of love in the two protagonists' lives and to experience their emotional responses to each other on their progression to know one another.

Locations include public establishments from across cities with cinemas and restaurants being surrounded in pleasant environments. This helps to enhance the level of spirit invested into presenting the conventions of the genre.

Final continuity piece

Four main ideas for final concept


Idea one

*Nightmare. A male wakes up then watches the television.

*Alone in the house.

*Male answers the doorbell that rings.

*Someone suddenly leaves a dead body hanging.

*The television turns fuzzy so the male turns it off.

*He sees a figure in he reflection of the television screen.

*There is a reflection of the figure coming towards him from behind.

Plot

A guy who is afraid of the dark.

He keeps the lamp on with him.

Starts off in a dream.

He is in his house with a killer somewhere.

Every nightmare he has he finds out what is going to happen, similar to a flashback with each flashback connecting to every nightmare that occurs.

Phones do not work and the television flickers on and off.

One person gets killed one by one in every nightmare the male encounters.

In the end there is a twist. The male victim is the actual killer himself.

He does not know he is being possessed.

The reason for him being possessed is to combat his fear of the dark. The male thinks his phobia is curing when really it has been cured by killing people.

The people he kills in his nightmares are victims themselves. These victims were targets of his uncle who was in fact a murderer.

Idea two

Opening scene:

*Walking down the corridors in the college with someone following character B.

*Character B goes home and receives anonymous phonecall from character A.

*Phonecalls become disturbing and violet, which shakens character B and starts panicking.

*Character B Begins to lock the windows and doors suddenly at a rush and panick. You hear the heart beat and how the tense the scene is. Getting very dark and misery.

*Then a knock on the window with blood covered with it like someone got stabbed and need character B's help.

*Character B looks out of the window after opening the curtains

*At the end of the scene character B sees a man standing there staring at the house with a cut of head in his left-hand and a kitchen knife on the other.

*Then suddenly the heart beats become faster... then slows down but however character B wakes up from a terrible nightmare, however seeing his hand covered in blood he starts panicking and screams.

Plot of the whole story:

*Normal Day at college finishing very late due to detention

*Going through the corridors at a fast pace due to the darkness.

*Getting scared

*Alone in the college getting spooked. Teacher is away for a long time.

*Goes to find the teacher sees the teacher having some kind of fit on the floor.

*Character B tries to save the teacher, but the teacher dies.

*Trapped in the college.

*No signal on the fone. Phones switches off and don't turn on

*Teacher becomes possessed with evil spirits

*Character B goes to find the teacher but however the teacher is not there but vanished.

*Character B tries to get out of the college and tries everything but thinks its another nightmare.

Idea three

Opening scene:

*Guy enters gym for a work-out after finishing college or something

*Guy is mid-way through work-out in gym then he receives a anonymous fone call

*He gets a phonecall from a mysterious person

*Conversation continues dramatically until up to a point where guy enters a phase where the guy is creeped out/ becoming vulnerable. He was composed before then.

*Suddenly the treadmill turns off.

*The guy gets scared.

*Lights starts flickering.

*Guy walks over to the window to look.

*(Having a medium shot) of what he sees outside the window.

*Film whats outside from the window.

*Sees a person appearing outside the window

*Then suddenly look back and looks back at the window by opening his eyes then no one is there.

*Turns around slowly and someone grabs him and takes a picture on his phone and the person falls on the floor with a picture on the phone

*Something has really gone wrong now...

Plot of whole story:

*Detective comes to the murder scene and take the phone as evidence. There is something mysterious of phone calls and pictures in the film.

*The film follows the detectives trying to find the killer or mysterious person in the photo the killer leaves behind after a phone call threat.

*However, the killer suspects that detectives are following him and kills their family members as a warning to the detectives to stop following him.

Idea four

*A corrupted child (aged 7) with an unloving childhood.

*Flashbacks show incidents that happend in the past of his troubled life.

*Throughout his childhood the man has been controlled by paranormal beings. (Possessed)

*As a result of this, the individual is taken away to mental hospital after abnormal behavior is detected by neighbours and passers by on regular occasions.

*10 years later (aged 17), the individual is released from the mental hospital as he has been seen as sane to leave after many tests by doctors are performed.

*However, this is the plan of the individual as it is all an act.

*He begins possesing the minds of strangers and passers by for his own entertainment.

*The insane character then finally begins to go back to his family home (they are unaware of his release from mental hospital), and begin tormenting their lives as sort of revenge of his awful childhood.

*Many family members turn against each other as their minds are possessed.

In the end, our group decided to choose idea one as the main concept to use to produce the final continuity piece. I felt that the history connected with the male character's uncle spurred our intentions to developing into a storyline, which stretched on for the duration of the film opening. This concept is central to what we hope would happen in the production. However the ideas we wrote that surrounded the core idea might change in the final media product. For example one of our two locations is going to take place in an underground area beneath a spaghetti junction. If the area closed due to construction work being done to improve the area, we have to decide on the alternative setting we can use to back up our primary choice in case of any delays to filming our camera shots in our chosen locations. I feel that the ideas that were developed around our main idea may change in our final product, but the central idea that triggered the added details which surround the main concept would still be present.
The other ideas had plots which had limited potential with the bland storyline to expand and improve the character's development. For the first idea the link with the male character's uncle having a history of murder and violence allowed me to explore how this link can affect the male's mental state of mind. By developing the relationship between the male and his uncle, we extend the longevity of our storyline, therefore adding depth to create more precursors for the audience to start asking questions about it.

Idea one:

Mark is a vulnerable young man of eighteen years of age who tends to think he is capable of being independent without the support of his parents. However he face no option but to fend for himself; work on daily shifts to earn the most basic form of income to help feed himself and to prevent the house from deteriorating.
He has had a history of committing acts of violence. At the age of twelve he was involved in an attempted demolishing of a newsagents store along with his older brother, Frank, and his group of friends. He served twenty-eight days in a juvenile institution with 200 hours of community service mounted on top.
Three years later, his twenty-two year old brother left England in search of a better life in Yorkshire where his uncle (on his father's side) owned a farming industry. At fifteen, Mark played a part in a riot that took place in South East London during protests. The considerable amount of damage inflicted was believed to be worth around £400 million pounds. Since he previously committed an offence, his imprisonment in a juvenile was meant to last for two years but charges were dropped against him due to the lack of evidence given of his involvement at the time. Mark's parents divorced afterwards and abandoned him at his home.
His uncle, Jeremy, was arrested for manslaughter of his Britsh associates and he committed suicide whilst serving a lifetime prison sentence. Jeremy possesses Mark to murder the remaining associates on his 'list' as revenge for betraying his loyalty in the attempt to invest money away from his farming business.
Mark's history of violence has shaped him the way he is now both psychologically and physically.
He looks for a new start to avoid the person he once was, but the spirit of his uncle continued to control his mind and make Mark commit the illegal acts that brought him to justice before. Mark battles but ultimately struggles to become himself.

Evaluation

1. In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

- With the camera being handheld, I felt that it would unsettle the audience because all four sides of the frame shake around the character that is being focussed on. This effect creates a sense of ominous danger that the character is constantly being expose to vulnerably. Anything can happen to him from all sides of the frame shot which brings out the fear from the audience towards the character.
I felt that with the camera being on held on a tripod it evaporates the tension that is intentionally used to heighten suspense. With frame shots being completely still, this does not inflict any reaction from the audience because there is nothing happening to the frame of the shot which does not affect the character.
The music is unusual at first but it is understandable when watched again. We drew inspiration for our choice of song for the opening sequence from the crime/thriller called Jackie Brown.
In that opening the conventions of the crime/thriller genre were not obvious to spot with the uplifting song and the seemingly smartly dressed and a woman who would not be perceived as the type to smuggle drugs. Our character seems normal but as the opening progresses, you learn in depth about the kind of person he has shaped up to become. This ultimately changes your opinion of the lead character. Our choice of song is also upbeat which is ironic on the seriousness of the current situation.

2.How does your media product represent particular social groups?

- Our character is a teenage boy with an asian background. His ethnicity conveys the stereotypical views of asian teenagers imposing a negative influence on the current functioning society.
The conditions in his house are worsening which shows that he has been brought up from a poor family. This was an environmental factor that affected the character's mental state of mind and shows how long his parents have left him in that house for on his own.

3.What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

- The film is more of a smaller independent film because this type of media product brings the viewers closer to the character's thoughts and how he responds to his surroundings depending on his emotion. It becomes rather personal to know one character's feelings towards other people and yet not knowing what everyone else is thinking. Smaller independent films usually enter the dark and gritty side of a life and require no editing to features such as lighting. This increases the amount of originality and helps for the development of a naturally atmospheric location where diegetic sounds engulf the character into their own world.
In big budget films, the variety of locations tend to be appealing yet the use of lighting can make the location aesthetically pleasing to the eye yet fictional and surreal in a way.

4. Who would be the audience for your media product?

- Teenagers are the target audience. They can relate to what happens in our film opening because they may know a friend or their relatives who have been through a similar experience or they may have seen it happen on the news they watch.

5. How did you attract/address your audience?

- The music stands out. The meaning of the last few lines of the lyrics for the chorus end the film opening at the moment where a cliffhanger which shows excellent timing. The title, 'Mind Control', links to the storyline and the character being possessed by his uncleyet he is unaware of what he does whilst being possessed.
In terms of marketing/advertising our product, we would be in favour of displaying our film through large billboards that hang in the cities in the UK. Another alternative is to advertise it in sliding billboards that are sometimes dotted around the outside of shopping centres or even inside most public establishments.

6. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?

- I have learnt that Final Cut Pro did not seem as hard it looked. For me I am motivated to try and navigate my way into the functioning of the software. I know that there will be mistakes to be made but the important factor is that I understand the mistakes I make and ensure they are not to be repeated in the future.

7. Looking back at your prelimary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

- I have learnt to listen to every idea being suggested and put forward by any of my group members. I does not matter whether the concept may seem unappealing at first but it is vital we test the idea with the camera on a few different types of frame shots. This enables us to see the good and bad points in that idea being put forward so we have a good knowledge of how much it can either benefit us or cost us with consequences, when considering a decision.
I felt that I learnt that without the use of the tripod actually benefits the experience. I see our film opening being classified as more of the thriller than the horror genre. The camera loses balance which unsettles the viewers. The camera is our view. When focussed closely with the character's psychological response to what happens to him, we feel we are there alongside with him. We can learn why one person feels an emotion to which other characters would not be able to notice or become aware of. This creates the precursor of how the character reacts to the aftermath of events that have unfolded through the progression of the storyline.

Target Audience Questionnaire

1. How often do you attend the cinema per month? (Please circle answer)

0-2 2-5 5-8 8+


2. What is it that attracts you to watching the horror genre? ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................


3. What makes you not want to watch a horror film? ...........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................


4.What types of typical conventions do you expect to see in this type of genre? ........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................


5. What would you say if your favourite film in this genre? (Please state your reason) .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................


6.What would you say is your least favourite film in this genre? (Please state your reason) .......................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................


7. Who is your favourite actress/actor in this particular genre? …………………………………………



8. On what format do you prefer to watch this particular genre? (Please circle answer)

Cinema DVD Online Other



9. What film certificate rating do you usually watch? (Please circle answer)

U PG 12 15 18