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Similar Media Works Kingsford Productions

Target Audience The overall target audience of the horror genre is people over the age of 15 or 18 years old. In the 1940s horror was banned in Britain because it was seen as propaganda, It was the B movie for years until the 1970s when horror returned to the big Hollywood productions and since then it has risen and become very mainstream. There are several niche markets for the horror genre, for example Atics- thrill seeking young couples, Tribe Wired- Free spirited young singles, Early adopters- people in to new technologies. However there isn’t really a niche in the market as of yet for the family horror. Films in the horror genre are becoming more and more scary and less suitable for young children, therefore most films in the horror genre are classed as an 18. A new film just been released in cinemas is called Paranormal Activity, it is an American film written and directed by Oren Peli. The film is said to be the scariest film in the last ten years and people have been so frightened when watching it they have had to leave the cinema. This is the trailer of the film, it shows one of the first views of the film and how the audience reacted to it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_UxLEqd074

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Jeepers Creepers

Horror Films

Jeepers Creepers is the famous 2001american horror written and directed by Victoria Salva. The film meets most of the common horror conventions, it is scary and thrilling. The film has the strong and powerful perpetrator who is an ancient demon known as the creeper, there are also the victims powerless to the perpetrator. The setting of the film is very common in most horror films, it is in a near deserted town and the demon stores the bodies of his victims underneath a derelict church, this further emphasises the normal horror conventions. The film fits in very well with the horror genre, it involves many murders and gory deaths which is very synonymous with most horror films. We chose to analyse Jeepers Creepers because it has similarities to the horror film that we are going to create, the setting of the film and the place where the creeper stores the body, has given us inspiration for our own film and what we want it to be like.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

The Texas chainsaw Massacre is a re-make of then 1974 film. It was produced in 2003 by Michael Bay and directed by Marcus Nispel. The film is based on Wisconsin serial killer Ed Gein, Gein skinned human bodies and made up furniture out of it, but he acted alone and did not use a chainsaw. The Opening of the film claims that the events in the film are factual but this was done by false use of documentation. The film includes the protagonist who is disfigured and his face is hardly ever seen this is very common in horror films as it adds to the suspense of the audience, the perpetrator is known as Leather Face because of his disfigurements, and when he kills people he skins them and sews the skin to himself. The film is set in America and the victims are young American students which is very common is the type of Hollywood horror. There is a lot of Murder and goring killings throughout the film which is obviously very synonymous with the horror genre. In the film that we are going to make you hardly ever see the protagonists face as we feel it adds to the suspense and horror of the film and this is the same as the Texas chainsaw massacre.

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Saw II

Horror Films

The film is a 2005 American horror and sequel to the 2004 film Saw. It was directed and written by Darren Lynn Bousman, it was also co-written by Leigh Whannell. Saw films are renowned for being the goriest films in the horror genre. All the films follow the same plot line, the jigsaw killer puts people that he feels need to redeem themselves for something they have done, he puts them in a life or death situation where they could survive but they have to harm themselves to get out. An example of one of the awful traps that a victim is put in, is the Venus fly trap. It involves a spiked filled helmet locked around his neck, the closing of the helmet is on a timer, to get out of the helmet the victim has to cut his own eye out with a scalpel in order to get the key to unlock the mask. The victim can’t do it and is killed instantly when the mask closes. The sheer gore of the films are what make them scary, however saw does not meet all the horror conventions, in horror films the norm is to have a strong and powerful protagonist. However in saw the jigsaw killer is a weak and dying old man and this is a total contrast to most films in the horror genre. This is the reason why we chose to analyse Saw because of the protagonist, in the film that we are making we have a protagonist that was bullied at school and was seen as weak, but now he has grown up he is out to get his revenge.

The Blair Witch Project The Blair witch project is a 1999 American horror film, the film was directed by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez. The film is about students that travel to Burkttisvile in order to interview locals about the legend of the Blair witch. Whilst on their trip they decided to look for evidence of the witch in the forest that they are told that she haunts. They camp out in the forest and strange things begin to happen to them, they hear strange noises, find humanoid stick figures and eventually one of them goes missing. The film is terrifying and very realistic. We chose to analyse the Blair Witch project for one main reason, the great use of camera angles and the overall footage makes the film very intense and seem so real. The film goes against a lot of horror conventions as it is not the normal protagonist killing its victims, its all about the fear of the un-known and that is what makes the film all the more frightening. We have been inspired by the Blair witch project and we are going to use as many different camera angles that are normally used in the horror genre in our own film.

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The Grudge- Opening Scene The Grudge is the 2004 American remake of the Japanese film Ju-on. The film was released in North America on October 22, 2004 by Columbia Pictures and it is directed by Takashi Shimizu. The Grudge describes a curse that is born when someone dies in the grip of a powerful rage or extreme sorrow, the curse then gathers in the place where that person died. The scene starts with a camera tracking down a thin alley way, there is a fuzzy sound in the background which gives the audience a sense of unease about what is to come, Also the sound of a bird crowing is heard which further adds to this. The camera continues to track towards a house, the fuzz continues and footsteps are heard this denotes that someone is about to enter the house. The door to the house opens with an eerie squeak the camera is at a high angle looking down at the door making the person entering appear small and timid. The camera tracks around the room exposing to the audience a dishevelled house, with things strewn over the floor; this makes the audience question what has happened here? The lighting is hard, with lots of dark shadows making the house appear all the more hostile. The camera flicks to a the taps of a bath a loud dripping sound is heard, the camera then moves down to reveal a mass of black hair submerged in the water, this strikes the audience with fear. The camera then zooms in quickly on the figure of a woman, the room is dimly lit by a window so the character is covered in shadows, and the darkness of the figure connotes death and danger. The use of loud, fast extra digetic sound at this point adds to the fear the audience feel. There is a loud crash of utensils and the figure is shown walking away from the window. The heavy breathing of a man is heard and then a loud bang which further adds to the suspense of the scene. The camera tracks and footsteps are heard of someone running to see what the noise was; the tracking of the character with the camera makes the audience feel more involved in the scene which makes it all the more terrifying. As the camera tracks upwards the women figure is revealed at a window and a shrill laugh consumes the audience. The figure is lit from the left, the lighting is naturalistic, it is daylight and the house is being lit from the windows. As the figure moves away from the window, there is a loud bang of the door next to the window slamming, this is unexpected so therefore makes the audience jump which adds to the horror of the scene. The heavy breathing and footsteps return and the camera tracks up the stairs this denotes the character running up the stairs, the shot is very unclear and a lot of Dutch angles are used making the audience unaware of what is happening. A high pitched creepy extra digetic sound is then used which impacts the audience because it makes it all the more scary. A grunting begins and continues to get louder as the camera does a 180 degree spin to exposes the women figure in the plain light for the first time. The figure is wearing a flowing white dress which usually connotes innocence and purity but the female character is very sinister and mysterious so this is going against the normal horror conventions. There is then a montage of clips faded and cross cut together very quickly, it ends with a close up of the characters haunted eye. During the montage the grunting and high pitched extra digetic sound continue to get louder and louder only adding to the terror of the clip. The montage ends suddenly when the screen goes black and the sound abruptly stops. The darkness fades out and the camera shows the outside of the house again, and then fades to show the female character sitting at a dressing table, surrounded by pictures drawn by a child, the echoing laugh of a small child is heard. This is going against most horror conventions because it is portraying innocence of the perpetrator in the film, which is not normally done. This makes the film more appealing to young tribe wired and early adaptors audiences because it is fresh and different. The camera then zooms in on a cats face; it is a black cat which usually connotes bad luck and evilness so it is therefore adding to the scariness of the clip. The laughing of the young child is continues as the camera zooms in on a child’s face, there are dark shadows surrounding the child which makes the whole thing all the more sinister. The camera then shows a blood stained hand and a man with blood splattered over his face which connotes murder and death. The lighting remains dark and harsh creating a harrowing atmosphere. A woman’s scream is then heard which only adds to the realism of the film. The camera fades in and out and becomes blurry; this makes the audience feel more involved in the scene as it is like they are watching through characters eyes. The extra digetic sound at this point is very harsh and dark sounding and this has been used to make the scene more frightening. There is another montage of clips which include the male character covered in blood and the body of the female character. The montage was used to show the audience what had happened in a short time and it is done really effectively, because it only adds to the horror of the scene. A lot of effects and transitions are used in the opening scene of the Grudge and they have been used to add to the overall impact of the film on the audience. The male character is then shown putting a noose around his neck so this denotes that he is killing himself and without being graphic it gives the audience an understanding. There is a bang and the camera zooms in on the stair case to reveal the female figure struggling down the stairs, she is covered in blood. The grunting and gasping noise that she is making is bone chillingly scary and very hard hitting so therefore affects the audience deeply. The scene ends dramatically after this with an extreme close up of the male characters smile, as his distressing laugh echoes. It is a very disturbing end to a terrifying opening scene.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=budT1ue_ifc

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