assignment 2.1 Horror Research

The following links guide us on what makes a good horror, movie and what mistakes to avoid…

http://www.avclub.com/article/how-make-good-horror-movie-9-lessons-genres-latest-216315

This web link contains a guide of key components that would be used to create a horror movie.

This particular paragraph illustrates that in order to make a good horror movie, one must focus on the genre of their movie rather than attempting to make theirs original and stand out.  This useful information will help me to produce an effective movie as it indicates what the moviemakers should be thinking about when creating their movie. This is because “about every species of monster imaginable has been unleashed on audiences.”

Another tip this webpage gives us to relate our horror movie to real life events, this could be fears that many people share such as spiders, or betrayal from friends or family etc. The purpose of this technique is that it has an effect on the viewers, which makes them feel as if they are in the movie themselves. If the viewers cannot relate to the movie then they won’t think much of it. “In this case, newlyweds Paul and Bea arrive at their honeymoon getaway in a less-than-populous lakefront village, and Paul almost immediately begins to wonder if there’s something terribly wrong—not with the locals or even the surroundings, but with the person he just married.”

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/cutting-edge-leadership/201410/the-top-ten-things-make-horror-movies-scary

This web link tells us what elements can be formed to improve the scare factor of a horror movie, relating to our fears. I will refer to this webpage through the process of making my horror movie to ensure that I have implemented these elements to the best of my ability.

One of the main elements I shall focus on is the suspense as this is what keeps the viewers scared and focused on the movie.

http://www.empireonline.com/movies/features/best-horror-movies/

This website lists what are regarded as the best horror movies of all time. This would benefit me as I can learn what each horror film did to become successful and popular. The purpose of the top 50 list is to help me pick up information on what these movies included to be regarded as good movies

 http://www.imdb.com/ 

IMDb is a popular website for researching movies and films, it contains information about the movie, and a rating provided by viewers. When in the process of making my movie, I will use IMDb to research horror movies that I have watched, for information on the characters, use of elements and reviews to see what people liked about a specific movie

https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/4rq5y2/in_your_opinion_what_makes_a_horror_movie_good/

This webpage is very important, it consists of information on how to prevent myself from making a bad horror movie, this helps as not many website tell one what to avoid. Also, it also includes information on how I can create a quality movie.

What is great about Reddit is that it’s a forum page, allowing many different people to talk and express their opinions. This gives me more ideas and inspiration. This screenshot provides very useful information

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1-GLLM_Elg

This video titled ‘How to make a horror movie’ was uploaded to YouTube and is very helpful for numerous reasons. The video explains how to create a horror movie by describing scenes that could be used in the film. For example, the narrator tells us to have a main character with friends that enter an abandoned school at night; we are told to provide a reason as to why they are entering the school and shown tips to create an even scarier scene.

http://www.slideshare.net/isaac97media/horror-film-target-audience

This would be very conducive to increase the total amount of sales for my movie

This website gives me a rough idea on the audience I am going to sell my movie too. This is important as I want my movie to be suitable to the targeted audience otherwise it wouldn’t be considered as a good horror movie.

Magazine clippings of horror movies

The following magazine pages contain advertisements or knowledge of horror movies. I will try to use these examples for my own horror movie.

The first magazine I noticed was this advertisement for the horror movie: Splinter. There are a combination of elements used in this advertisement such as the use of imagery and the pun. The imagery can be seen with the hand on the DVD cover, it has splinters coming out of it which relates to the name of the film. We also notice the pun on the cover which reads “It will get under your skin.” (May be hard to read.) Another use of imagery is the images at the bottom which quickly summarise the movie without giving out too much information.

This advertisement of Night of the Living Dead uses a combination of large fonts and colour to stand out. It used a black and dark green colour which reflects on the hand. The use of this colour clearly represents the dead, hence the name of the film. It also includes some short reviews to advertise it as a good movie.

This page also uses colour to demonstrate a mood. Notice how the title reads “Out of the dark” with a dark black surrounding the character.

                                        

This article is based on a very old horror movie (1922) the purpose of using this article is to learn about the different camera angles, costumes and special effects that were used in this movie. The reason this article is important is because I can learn about the conventions that this horror movie once displayed. If I were to implement the use of these conventions into my own movie, die hard horror movie fans will notice the resemblance and enjoy the effects of my film. The article also talks about how the film survived the test of time and could possibly see a remake. This is inspiring as it allows us to be inspired to make the perfect horror movie.

Pages of books

This page in the book depicts the process of the making of this movie in 1922; we learn that despite not having the rights to the original book, the movie makers were still able to create what is regarded as the most disturbing horror movie made, simply by changing the names of the characters and location in order to face legal issues. This proves that anyone can overcome difficult obstacles when making a movie. This page also informs us on how some of the film relates to modern day such as “the link between sex and disease are more topical than ever in the aids era.”

On this page, we see a comparison between two movies: Fritz Lang’s M and Nosferatu. Fritz Lang’s M is a movie based on a paedophile that is wanted by many people for his crimes. Whilst this page is mostly about comparison, I believe that it is important to include as it lists what both great movies did to be regarded as good films. If I follow the footsteps of these film directors then it will help my film become successful.

I found this book to be very useful, it notifies us on how a good horror movie can relate to certain events in time “In Britain, in recent months, two of the most sensational Murder trials of the century have involved discussion of the same rental video; Child’s play 3. The first case was that of James bulger, a toddler who was beaten to death by two ten year old; the second case was that of Suzanne Capper, a teenager who was kidnapped.” What this sentence means is that, horror movies that have a similar genre to recent events (a killer child’s toy movie being released the same time as two children are kidnapped/killed.) this means the movie becomes more relevant and increases its audience.

Queston1. What is your age?

Question 2. What type of sub-genre do you like?

Question 3. What scares you the most in a horror?

Question 4. What do you expect in horror movies?

Question 5.What aspects don’t you like of horror films?

Question 6. Any favourite horror films?

Question 7. How often do you watch horror films?

Question 8. How long would you expect a short horror film to last?

Question 9. Most memorable horror film you’ve seen?

Question 10. Do you enjoy any horror films and do you know any stores that could be turned into a horror movie?

Interviewee 1# Marie Mosconi

Queston1. What is your age? 51

Question 2. What type of sub-genre do you like? Ghost/demon movies

Question 3. What scares you the most in a horror?  Graphic gore

Question 4. What do you expect in horror movies? Jump scare, eerie music, interesting storyline

Question 5.What aspects don’t you like of horror films? Unnecessary music

Question 6. Any favourite horror films? The exorcist (1973)

Question 7. How often do you watch horror films? Very rarely (once every two months)

Question 8. How long would you expect a short horror film to last? 15 minutes

Question 9. Most memorable horror film you’ve seen? The exorcist

Question 10. Do you enjoy any horror films and do you know any stores that could be turned into a horror movie? Not a particular fan of horror movies, doesn’t know any stories that could be turned into a horror movie

Interviewee 2# Mark Mosconi

Queston1. What is your age? 25

Question 2. What type of sub-genre do you like? Zombie

Question 3. What scares you the most in a horror? Jump scare

Question 4. What do you expect in horror movies?  Jump scare, blood, music that fits with a scary moment

Question 5.What aspects don’t you like of horror films? Characters that make stupid decisions

Question 6. Any favourite horror films?  28 Days Later

Question 7. How often do you watch horror films? Once a month

Question 8. How long would you expect a short horror film to last? 25 minutes

Question 9. Most memorable horror film you’ve seen? Sinister

Question 10. Do you enjoy any horror films and do you know any stores that could be turned into a horror movie?  Enjoys some horror films, a horror movie could be made based on current riots in the US

Interviewee 3# Mitchell Taylor

Queston1. What is your age? 18

Question 2. What type of sub-genre do you like? Zombie

Question 3. What scares you the most in a horror? Jump scare

Question 4. What do you expect in horror movies? A good amount of gore, jump scare, average storyline 

Question 5.What aspects don’t you like of horror films? Bad editing (CGI) and lack of props

Question 6. Any favourite horror films? The Conjuring 2

Question 7. How often do you watch horror films? Once a week

Question 8. How long would you expect a short horror film to last? 20 – 30 minutes

Question 9. Most memorable horror film you’ve seen?  The shining

Question 10. Do you enjoy any horror films and do you know any stores that could be turned into a horror movie? Horror movie fan, possibly make a movie based on serial killers

Interviewee 4# Ryan Gorey

Queston1. What is your age? 17

Question 2. What type of sub-genre do you like?  Murderer

Question 3. What scares you the most in a horror? Jump scare, gore, leading up to an intense scene

Question 4. What do you expect in horror movies? Gore, dark music, dark environment (night time)

Question 5.What aspects don’t you like of horror films? Too much jump scare, lack of action

Question 6. Any favourite horror films? As Above, So Below

Question 7. How often do you watch horror films? Once every two weeks

Question 8. How long would you expect a short horror film to last? 15 minutes

Question 9. Most memorable horror film you’ve seen?    As Above, So Below

Question 10. Do you enjoy any horror films and do you know any stores that could be turned into a horror movie? Likes horror movies, make a horror movie based on terrorism.

Interviewee 5# Laura Farrugia

Queston1. What is your age? 32

Question 2. What type of sub-genre do you like? Ghost movies

Question 3. What scares you the most in a horror? Suspense, graphics scenes

Question 4. What do you expect in horror movies? Good storyline, gore, scary scenes, action

Question 5.What aspects don’t you like of horror films? Slow build up, uninteresting characters

Question 6. Any favourite horror films? Psycho

Question 7. How often do you watch horror films? Very often

Question 8. How long would you expect a short horror film to last? 30 minutes

Question 9. Most memorable horror film you’ve seen?  The shining

Question 10. Do you enjoy any horror films and do you know any stores that could be turned into a horror movie? Fan of horror films, could base horror film off events in recent times such as murder, or kidnappings.