Task 4 Research

Genre Horror
Medium Film
Horror is a film genre seeking to elicit a negative emotional reaction from
viewers by playing on the audience's primal fears. Inspired by literature from
authors like Edgar Allan Poe, Bram Stoker, and Mary Shelley, horror films have
existed for more than a century. The macabre and the supernatural are frequent
themes, and may overlap with the fantasy, supernatural fiction and thriller
genres.[1]
Horror films often deal with viewers' nightmares, fears, revulsions and terror of
the unknown. Plots within the horror genre often involve the intrusion of an evil
force, event, or personage into the everyday world. Prevalent elements include
ghosts, extraterrestrials, vampires, werewolves, demons, gore, torture, vicious
animals, evil witches, monsters, zombies, cannibals, psychopaths, and serial
killers. Movies about the supernatural are not necessarily horrific. [2]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horror_film

The evolution of film

1890-1920s - The first depictions of supernatural events appear in several of the
silent shorts created by the film pioneer Georges Mlis in the late 1890s, the
best known being Le Manoir du Diable, which is sometimes credited as being the
first horror film
1930s1940s - During the early period of talking pictures, Universal Pictures
began a successful Gothic horror film series. Tod Browning's Dracula (1931) was
quickly followed by James Whale's Frankenstein (1931) and The Old Dark House
(1932), both featuring monstrous mute antagonists. Some of these films blended
science fiction with Gothic horror, such as Whale's The Invisible Man (1933) and
featured a mad scientist, mirroring earlier German films. Frankenstein was the
first in a series of remakes which lasted for years. The Mummy (1932) introduced
Egyptology as a theme; Make-up artist Jack Pierce was responsible for the iconic
image of the monster, and others in the series. Universal's horror cycle continued
into the 1940s with B-movies including The Wolf Man (1941), as well as a number
of films uniting several of the most common monsters. [9]
1950s1960s - With advances in technology, the tone of horror films shifted from the Gothic towards
contemporary concerns. Two subgenres began to emerge: the Doomsday film and the Demonic film.
[12]
Low-budget productions featured humanity overcoming threats such as alien invasions and deadly
mutations to people, plants, and insects. Japan's experience with Hiroshima and Nagasaki bore the
well-known Godzilla (1954) and its sequels, featuring mutation from the effects of nuclear radiation.
Peeping Tom (1960) was the first "slasher"; Alfred Hitchcock cemented the subgenre with Psycho
(1960), while his The Birds (1963) introduced natural horror, in which the menace stems from nature
gone mad. France continued the mad scientist theme, while Italian horror films became internationally
notable. American International Pictures (AIP) made a series of Edgar Allan Poethemed films.
Films in the era used the supernatural premise to express the horror of the demonic. The Innocents
(1961) based on the Henry James novel The Turn of the Screw. Meanwhile, ghosts were a dominant
theme in Japanese horror, in such films as Kwaidan, Onibaba (both 1964) and Kuroneko (1968). An
influential American horror film of this period was George A. Romero's Night of the Living Dead

(1968). Produced and directed by Romero on a budget of $114,000, it grossed $30 million
internationally. An armageddon film about zombies, it began to combine psychological insights with
gore. Distancing the era from earlier gothic trends, late 60's films brought horror into everyday life.
Low-budget splatter films from the likes of Herschell Gordon Lewis also gained prominence.

Target Audience
The average age for someone to watch a horror film is 15-25. It
is often the younger generations as they may want to
experiment and watch new things, and also want to have thrill.
Predominantly male, due to stereotypical thrill seeking which is
portrayed as usually males. Violence is also a large convention
of horror movies, which is often one reason as to why males
likes them. The genre is often aimed at the working class
community, this is due to the level of thrill and excitement
which is gained from a horror film. Its often said that the higher
classes are expected to watch films with a higher budget and
more of a dramatic genre.
Codes and Conventions
Horror films are created to be unsettling and designed to create
discomfort to the audience.
Frighten and make the viewer panic causing heart rate to
rise
Cause dread and alarm
Invoke hidden or even new fears, sometimes lasting
longer than the film.
Captivate and entertain us in a fearful and gruesome
manner
Conclude often in a way that shocks the audience.
A horror is film is that often creates one of the following;
Nightmares
Vulnerability
Alienation
Fear of the unknown
Death
Loss of identity
Distribution

This is the way in which films are made available for audiences.
This job is usually done by a film distributor who decides on the
best marketing system for the film. Films are often usually first
shown at the cinema, and then made available on DVD, to
download and also on a variety of websites. Over the last 2
decades, and the rise of the internet and downloading, a vast
majority of films are often streamed on illegal websites before
their official release.

Narratives http://www.slideshare.net/belair1981/horrornarratives
Typical three act structure
- The first act in a horror film focuses on central characters
beginning a venture into a strange and ultimately
threatening setting.
- In the middle they often experience a wave of violence
which leaves the vast majority of the protagonists die. Those
who survive usually begin to fight back. Those who have
experienced the monster/ghost try to warn larger groups
and societies, but no one ever seems to believe them.
- The climax of the film generally involves a dramatic ending,
and often features a showdown. In contemporary horror
films the resolution often leaves a possibility for a second
film.
Narrative structure provides a formula or template in film
productions.
It works as a contract the implicit agreement between a film
and its audience that governs the way fans enjoy it.
Without a typical narrative structure genre films would not be
recognisable to audiences and conversely films would not be
able to break with predictability.
Representation of characters
http://www.slideshare.net/JessMarston95/stereotypicalcharacters-in-horror-films