Wednesday 20 November 2013

Audience research survey


Settings in films

There are a variety of settings in films and they usually divided by their genres. Some genres have certain requirements depending on the budget, for example an action film needs a quiet location as an area where it is busy would be expensive to film in.

Thriller- This is a genre that does not demand an elaborate setting, the setting can vary from, an apartment block to the English countryside. Most shots are inside buildings and if they are outside they do not require a huge amount of funding to film there as it wouldn't be a large scale action scene that you would see in The Avengers. Dead Mans Shoes is a British thriller that is entirely filmed in a village in the countryside, a large majority is filmed inside and this helps to keep the cost down and make filming easier. This also decreases the need to edit out unwanted noises such as ambulance sirens.

Action- Action films concentrate on having an expensive, well known and easily recognizable areas. An example of this is Trafalgar Square in The Sweeney. They use this because it shows the scale and importance of the battle, it helps to symbolize what would be lost if the good overcome the bad in the film. Additionally people enjoy seeing a location they recognise and be related to. There are no action films that all of the shots are inside and require some outdoor shots, these shot could be on the low budget side, where the shots are taken in a unique location but may not be very well known.

Horror- Horror films generally spend the least amount of money on the setting out of the 3 genres. There are an endless amount of films that use an isolated area such as a cabin, as a film set. This is because there is usually no background noise and it can be cheap to rent out a cabin for a certain amount of time when compared to a street or building in a city. They must have some kind of isolation for the film to work and have an effect on its audience.

Monday 18 November 2013

Horror conventions in modern films.

Focus on weapons- In many horror films today (excluding psychological horrors) there is focus on the weapons used by the villain of the film. This allows for the villain to have a signature weapon, many films have villains that are notorious for using a certain implement, this may be found by the character during the film or they have it from the start of the film. Jason in Friday The 13th is known for using a machete and there are a collection of low angle shots showing Jason carrying the knife, pointing it at the ground.

Isolation- This is less of a key part in modern horror as it was before but it is still used. Variation in isolation has decreased drastically because most horror films nowadays are set in the woods. In older films isolation was far more creative, for example in Don't Look Now, the isolation is in the fact that they can speak very little Italian. It is used in these films because it highlights the fact that the victim is helpless.

Blood/Gore- This is used to indicate the villains presence and where he/she can go, for example a man comes home to find a bloodstain from a murder, he now knows that it can happen in his home. It may also indicate danger, in some films blood is used to warn the viewer and add tension. Some people are scared by blood and gore so the film has more potential to scare the audience.

Lair- In a large amount of horror films the main villain has a lair, the victims are usually trespassing in it and the villain takes the appropriate measures against them. People in the film always think it is a good idea to investigate the mysterious building or hole in the ground. For example in the Evil Dead (2012) they find a basement that was used for witchcraft, naturally they find a book and decide that it is safe to mess around with the book. This is the catalyst for the whole film.

Night Time- There is at least 1 night time scene in all horror movies, if this isn't the case there will be a scene where the visibility is low, such as fog or rain. This will sometimes be accompanied by a point-of-view shot in which there is sudden movement and scares the viewer. The reason films have scenes where your vision is obscured by something is that you will then fear what you cannot see. It also builds up the tension in the film.

Saturday 9 November 2013

Silent Night Deadly Night Part 2 Opening Sequence.

From the start of the film we see red text being used on a black background. This was used frequently in horror films during the 80's. In the opening titles the distributor is named first and the the producer is named second, after this the film names its cast starting with Eric Freeman. Ominous music is used in the opening sequence, from this music you can tell that it is either a horror or a thriller and it also tells you how old the film is. The name of the film is shown and a tilt is used to reveal the character Ricky Caldwell, while this is happening less important cast are named. The text is white with a black background to stand out against the hospital walls. This is a positive because the titles stand out but do not look out of place, an example of a film with titles that look out of place is Day Of The Dead (2008). In Day Of The Dead the titles are red on top of a shot of woodland greenery. This contrast of colours is unnecessary and looks bad. There is a gap between where the film names the cast and where the film names the people who are have more technical roles in the film such as creators of the music and the story. I find this to be useful because it breaks up the roles and allows for people to understand what kind of role they had in the film. Some people may find that this gap is too long and allows people to lose concentration of the titles. The producer and the director are mentioned last.

Ricky is in the centre of most of the shots and there are close ups on his face and hands. This tells us that he plays a main part in the film, I find that this is a negative because it gives this away too much and you can guarantee that he is the killer. A man enters the room, during the time he is in the room he doesn't take his eyes off him. When he does, Ricky opens a lighter and the man immediately turns round. This suggests that he is extremely dangerous and is unpredictable. This is a negative because there is very little mystery left in the character when considering that he has killed people without reason.

The opening titles are well ordered because it shows the cast first, this makes people appreciate the cast and acknowledge how plays a part in the film. The director and producer are last because they are usually known by the audience.


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