What I Have Learnt From My Research

Audience and Institutions: Women In Black (Watkins, 2012)

Horror Trailer Analysis'

The Shining (1980)

This film trailer is for The Shining, 1980. It is a psychological horror which is produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick. The film is based on Stephen King’s 1977 novel The Shining, however the film and novel are different is significant ways.  Although contemporary responses from critics were mixed, assessment became more favourable in following decades, and it is now widely regarded as one of the greatest horror films ever made. American director Martin Scorsese, writing in The Daily Beast, ranked it one of the 11 scariest horror movies of all time.

The first shot the audience see is an isolated area, this is a common horror convention for the narrative. It also starts off with a voice over, in this the audience can hear the word such as ‘tragedy’ which grabs the audience’s attention to tell a little about the narrative. By having a voice over it allows for the audience to have a little insight what it going on. This is a convention of horror trailers. There is non-diegetic music in the background to build up the tension, this is another horror genre convention. The audience firstly sees a close up of a man, we then assume this is the main character because it’s the first person we see. The shots are quite long and look normal; this also builds up the tension and shows the equilibrium. There is a use of different camera angles; some include high angle, long shot, medium and pan. By using a range of camera angles keeps the visual interesting. There is also a use of low key lighting to create a sinister atmosphere.

The voice over tells the audience a story about 1970, a man went crazy and killed his family. The use of sound is vital in horror trailers, this is because it is used to add tension; there is a good use of sound where the man puts the axe into the door, there is a loud bang and then everything goes quiet, the music then cuts out and we see who the voiceover is talking to and then a man says ‘well you can rest assure Mr Almond, that’s not going to happen to me’. Everyone laughs and then the scene cuts off. By this line, the audience can tell something bad it going to happen. There is a lot of questions unanswered in this, which will make the audience want to watch the film.

We hear a voice of a child and then see a family. The use of children are a horror convention to add innocence to the film, by the shot we see of him riding his bike links in with the pace of the trailer and also the innocence. We also see shots of mother and son, there is one of them in a maze which could suggest claustrophobia and confusion. The music then speeds up, in addition the pace of the shots speed up.

The use of a close up shows the facial expression and emotion of who the audience is starting to assume is the protagonist and who is also the villain. He is wearing black which is iconic to show evil and darkness. There is a use of low key lighting which sets the atmosphere. There are a use of similar medium shots of the mother trying to protect herself and her son. The audience can then see the use of weapons can be seen such as axes, knives and bats, this is often used to portray death and fighting. Then there is similar shots of the protagonist to show the audience his evil characteristics. The trailer does not show him actually killing the mother and son, however this is a trailer convention as it leaves the audience wondering. The word ‘murder’ on the door in the colour red is horror convention as it indicated death. The pace is very fast by this point and the phrase ‘here’s Jonny’ has become iconic.

In between some cuts there are black backgrounds with white writing, some of these say ‘based on the bestselling novel Stephen King’ ‘from director Stanley Kubrick ‘on May 23^rd’ ‘The Shining’. By having these they give information to the audience and are vital pieces to sell the film. By saying it’s based on the novel by Stephen King or is directed by Stanley Kubrick could attract an audience who are fans of them. By having the film name at the end of the trailer, makes people remember the name and will encourage more people to see it.

My opinions of this horror trailer is that I think it works very well as a trailer, the narration draws the audience in and helps the audience understand what is happening as it adds context. I think the sound used helps to keep the audience on the edge as they are loud and harsh in addition the trailer doesn’t give too much away which will leave the audience wanting to know what happens. 

Paranormal Activity (2007)

Paranormal Activity is a 2007 American found footage supernatural horror film. It was written, co-produced, photographed, edited and directed by Oren Peli. It is the first entry into the Paranormal Activity film series. Originally developed as an independent feature and given film festival screening in 2007, the film was acquired by Paramount Pictures and modified particularly with a new ending. It was given a limited U.S. release on September 25, 2009, and then a nationwide release on October 16, 2009. The film earned nearly $108 million at the U.S. box office and a further $85 million internationally for a worldwide total of $193 million. Paramount/DreamWorks acquired the U.S. rights for $350,000. It is the most profitable film ever made, based on return on investment. There is now 5 Paranormal Activity films.

There is a little Apple sign at the bottom right corner, this shows that the trailer was edited on iMovie. This means that it was edited on a cheap software and reveals the trailer to be low-budget, which helps add to the realism of the film.

The first shot is of a long shot of a line of people with the words ‘In September 2009, a screening was held in Hollywood California’. Then there is a low angle showing people sitting in the cinema, with words on the screen saying ‘this audience was among the first to experience the movie ‘Paranormal Activity’. There is a final long shot showing the cinema full and it says ‘this is what they saw’. I think by having words on the screen and no speech builds up and tension and makes people pay attention. There are loud booms when this is going out, which also builds up the atmosphere. However this start to a horror trailer is very unconventional that it features the audience more than the characters. This concept of the trailer is to show the audience’s reaction to the film. This also encourages the realism of the film; which makes it scarier for the audience.

The next shot is of the main characters who are a couple. The use of a hand held camera also emphasises the realness of the film. The couple looks like they are in their early 20s, which is a part of the target audience and could encourage people to watch. There are simple camera angles used for example long and medium shots and also the camera movements are very shaky, this is could show the simplicity of the film which also could relate to the realness. In addition by using the hand held camera the audience seeing a point of view shot, this also helps with making the audience feel included. The trailer follows horror conventions are it is mainly set up at night; this makes it scarier as its dark. There is low key lighting used in this trailer; this is a horror genre convention. By having low key lighting creates a spooky mood and also darkness connotes the idea of the unknown and danger. However there are also some moments with high key lighting, which is used to emphasis a subject. I think that this makes the audience feel uncomfortable as the lighting is very bright and harsh.

There are is a shot of a swinging chandelier; this is using a medium shot. It then cuts back to the people watching it in the cinema; there are close up shots used to show peoples expressions and emotions. This could be used to make the audience more scared. There is a loud bang and then people from the cinema scream; this is used to build up the tension. The next shots all used a montage and the speed is quick, this is edited to allow the trailer to have maximum impact on the audience. The calmer more balanced scenes which are shown at the beginning and the more frightening, shocking scene towards to end makes the trailer look unbalanced but are used to play with the audience emotions.

When looking at the editing used in this trailer, they haven’t used straight cuts. Instead they have used dissolve transitions to remind the audience that this is a home video. The pace of the trailer is made faster through quick cuts making the video faded. This has an effect on the audience as it makes it harder to see what is actually happening and allows them to use their imagination. There is no incidental music, there is very little sound tension built because the audience are expecting things that will make them jump. In addition by having no incidental music there is a sense of realness as the setting is normal and the background music is not needed in order to create an atmosphere. This makes the plot more relatable as the audience could see it happening in their lives. Using silence or very little sound is another convention of horror films as they use it to build up tension and suspense.

My opinion of this horror trailer is that I like the thought of making it feel real by using a hand held camera, for this this personally makes it scarier and I think it makes the audience feel involved. In addition the fast pace speed of the trailer and the jump scares keeps the audience on the edge. I also like the introduction of the characters, as it makes the audience connect with them straight away. However to improve this trailer, I think they could have develop the story a bit more, for example the fast pace was a bit too fast and it was hard to understand the shots used. 

Saw (2004)

Saw is an American gore and torture horror film, released in 2004 and directed by James Wan. The film stars Cary Elwes and Leigh Whannell as two men who awake to find themselves chained in a large dilapidated bathroom, with one being ordered to kill the other or his family will die. It is the first installment of the seven-part Saw franchise. Saw was first screened on January 19^th 2004. Lionsgate claimed the rights and released the film in the United States and Canada on October 29^th 2004. Saw performed very well at the box office, grossing more than $100 million worldwide and becoming, at the time, one of the most profitable horror films since 1996's Scream. The success of the film prompted a green-light of a sequel soon after Saw‍‍ '​‍s opening weekend, which was released the following October.

This trailer starts off with an over the shoulder shot with low key lighting. The over the shoulder shot lets the audience see what the character can see, meanwhile the low key lighting is a horror genre convention. The first character we see we assume this is one of the main characters. The flashes contrast against the dark lighting and the sound of the camera within the silence creates an atmosphere. There is a long shot to look into the distance in addition the diegetic voice fills the silence and by saying “is someone there?” This gives the audience the thought that some is there, then there is a loud high pitched laugh, which could also be a horror convention this is because quite a lot of horror films used high pitched voices, could be insisted to be a child. The trailer then speeds up in pace which could also speed up the audiences thoughts.

The diegetic sounds are made more extreme to emphasise them. The fades to black and short clips are also used as a slow paced and keeps the audience interested. There is another contrast using low key lighting and high key lighting. The quick close up of the mask and then quick change to medium shot shows who we assumes is the villain. We can assume this because it is a horror convention that a villain wears a mask. The sound of a static television creates tension meanwhile the voice over does not sound like a real voice. There is faint non-diegetic music is the background which fills the silence and creates an atmosphere. The voice over then gives the audience context in what the film is about, this then grabs the audience’s attention as they will want to know what happens. This also slows down the pace of the trailer.

Within the editing there is a green filter to the lighting and green, which connotes the idea of jealousy and greed, it also connotes freshness and safety; however we can see in this trailer this is not correct. I think the green filter does signify greed and also gore and blood and this sets the tone for this trailer. The speed then speeds up using quick transitions, by having these it creates a sense of urgency. However I think this makes the trailer less fluent. Towards the end of the trailer becomes faster as the victims panic and struggle. There has also the use of flashbacks, this allows the audience to understand the plot more and know the history of what happened before.

The text in between the clips also gives more context for the audience. Words like ‘voyeur’, ‘madman’ and ‘psychopath’ are words use to describe Saw. The font used for these words are bold and in capitals which makes it stand out. The background is dark and the font is blue and white, which are all cold colours. The use of colours are a horror convention. The trailer it made more personal by saying ‘and it’s your move’. This makes the audience feel more involved. The text at the top ‘twisted picture’ is wrapped in barb wire which makes it feel the need to escape and it also reflects horror conventions.

My opinion of this trailer is I think it works well. The plot is well explained using flashbacks and voice overs meanwhile the low key lighting and harsh sounds follow horror conventions. However I think in the middle where they are explaining the plot is loses it pace and the audience could lose interest a bit. I think to improve it they could of sped it up more meanwhile explaining the plot.

Film Distribution and Marketing

Teaser Poster

Teaser Trailer

Main Trailer 


Main Poster

Warner Bros were the distributors of The Conjuring

Sourced from Wikipedia

The Representation of Women in Horror Film

The Crazies Analysis

The Crazies was made in 2010 and is an American horror film set in the fictional town of Ogden Marsh, Pierce County. It was directed by Breck Eisner and is a remake of the 1973 film of the same name by George A. Romero, who was also the executive producer of the remake. The plot of the films follows David Dutten, his wife Judy and fellow people other their town when their water supply is accidentally infected with the ‘Trixie’ virus after a plane crashes into a lake where the town gets their water supply.  

The first scene of the burning town

The Crazies doesn’t follow Todorov’s Classical Hollywood Narrative Structure. First thing we see is a burning town and we don’t see any people. This draws the audience in and gets the hooked as they will want to know what happened. This is an unusual setting and not the normal equilibrium. The audience sees what is going to happen in the future. We then go to ‘2 days before’ in which we now have the equilibrium of the people of town playing a baseball game. The disruption is when Rory comes onto the baseball pitch with a gun the sheriff (David Dutten) assumes he is drunk as Rory is a recovered alcoholic and the sheriff shoots him and kills him. At the time they do not know that Rory has the virus which is the overall disruption. The recognition is when David, Judy and the deputy, Russell discovers what has happened. There is an attempt to resolve the disruption when David asks the mayor to turn off the water supply. However overall I don’t think that The Crazies follows the Classical Hollywood Narrative, this is because of the scene at the beginning. In addition at the end there isn’t a new equilibrium. We find out that the virus has spread to another town which David and Judy are now going to. They are about to go through the whole thing again which affects the audience as they feel sorry for the characters. There are also 3 important time durations during this film, the screen time is 92 minutes, the plot duration which is 3 days and story duration; this could be years as it is hard to tell how long the government had been creating the virus and also the audience knows Judy is pregnant, this is at least 9 months.

One of 'The Crazies'

When looking at Claude Levi-Strauss’ theory of the binary opposites there are a few in The Crazies. Firstly good vs evil, which is an obvious binary opposite for a horror film genre as it is conventional. The audience can see that David and Judy are the good guys; this is because they want to everything to go back to normal and are trying to survive. The government however could be seen as the evil ones as well as the infected crazies, this is because they are the ones who are killing innocent people and they were the ones to release the virus in the first place. Another binary opposite is past vs present, this is because of the scene at the beginning with everything of fire. This is actually from the middle of the narrative and then we are shown 2 days before this occurred. There are different links made of past and present throughout the film. Another example is when they find the plane which crashed, as the audience we don’t get to see it but it happened 3 weeks before. The idea of this for the audience is for us to make links which include us within the film. Another binary opposite in the film is normal vs strange. The audience can see that there is a clear difference between ‘the crazies’ who are the infected and the normal humans such as David and Judy. The infected cannot think straight and want to kill everyone, which is a strange desire. The normal people are shown as living normally, an example of this is when Judy comes home with David and Russell to collect the care and she is taking down the washing off the washing line. She is trying to make it seem as normal as possible. Another binary opposite is order vs chaos; an example of this is again at the beginning the scene of the burning town then, it swaps to 2 days later when everything is normal and in order. In addition there is also order and chaos in the characters; at the beginning it shows David and Judy. At first you can see the town is very well run, with a sheriff and deputy as well as doctor and nurses however then when the virus spreads people are going wild, killing each other which create the chaos. There are a few more binary opposites in which I think are in this film, these include: sanity vs insanity, healthy vs unhealthy, alive vs dead. All these are to do with ‘The Crazies’ in relation to David, Judy, Russell and Becca.

Deputy (Russell), Sheriff (David),
Judy and Becca

Vladimir Propp identified 8 character roles after looking at over 100 folk tales which include:

Hero – our main protagonist and victor.Villain – the bad character.
Donor – who provides an object or powers to the hero.

Helper – who aids the hero.

Princess – the hero’s ‘reward’ and object of the villain’s scheme.

Princess’s Father – who rewards the hero.

Dispatcher – who sends the hero on his way.

False Hero – the double agent who hinders the hero rather than helping him.
In the terms of The Crazies, it is clear that the hero is David Dutten, who is the sheriff of the town. He rescues his wife when the government takes her away as they think she’s got the virus, he is also alive at the end of the film. The donor and helper is the same character in this film who the deputy, Russell. He is the donor because firstly he gives his life to distract the government so that David and Judy can get away and he is the helper because he saves David’s life 3 times during the film. The princess is Judy, this is because she saves people and also is the reward for the hero in addition she also rewards the hero with a baby. The villain in this film is the US government and army, this is because they are the reason the virus exists and also they kill innocent people who they think have the virus. The villains are also the infected crazies as they do try and kill people, only because they have the virus because of the government. The false hero is the mayor; this is because he refuses to turn off the water. He thinks he is doing this for the good of the town people are they are a farm town who needs the water for crops etc, however he doesn't know that the water is infected.

In relation to ‘The Male Gaze Theory’ by Laura Mulvey I don’t think it plays a big role in this film; even though there were some females in the film, Judy and Becca. The females in this film appear to be smart as they are both doctors. They are not sexually objectified in the film, they are both covered up and in addition Judy is pregnant.

Judy is the final girl in this film, even though she is the ‘princess’ she is the reward for the hero. She doesn’t exactly fit the final girl theory by Carol Clover. This is because as Judy is pregnant the audience can assume she had sex even though we do not see it in the film. However she is smart because she is a doctor.

Halloween Analysis

Halloween was originally made in 1978 and is a horror film. The director was John Carpenter. The film is set in a quiet town, Haddonfield, Illinois which is a horror genre convention. This setting is common for a horror genre because it means that it could mean to anyone which creates fear for the audience. The plot of the film followers the psychopath antagonist Michael Myers after murdering his older sister Judith Myers. 15 years later on 30th October 1978, he escapes from a psychiatric hospital and begins murdering teenagers from his home town on the following day, which is Halloween. By having it set on Halloween night helps create the the horror iconography as there are pumpkin lanterns, children dressed in costumes and trick or treating. 

A sense of innocence when the audience finds out
that the killer is a little child.

Looking at Todorov’s narrative structure, Halloween closely follows his structure of equilibrium (the normality of the setting), disruption (something disrupting the equilibrium), recognition (the characters realise there is a disruption), resolution (trying to fix the disruption) and new equilibrium (everything goes back to normal) however I think there is two sets of this narrative. The film starts with a very brief equilibrium, this is of Judith Myers and her boyfriend. There is a use of point of views shots and silence to build up the tension within the narrative which keeps the audience hooked. By using these they are following some conventions of the horror genre. Then it’s the first disruption, which is Michael Myers killing his sister. The recognition is when his parents find Michael with the knife, there is a sense of innocence when we see the killer is actually a little boy. The resolution is when Michael is sent off to the psychiatric hospital and then there is a new equilibrium created. However; then a new set of Todorov’s narrative structure is set. Then the other disruption is when Michael Myers escapes the hospital, we then see an equilibrium of Laurie and her friends lives. There is a use of non-diagetic music, this builds up the tense and intensifies the fear and suspense.The recognition is Laurie realises Myers is trying to kill her and her friends and the resolution is then when Laurie thinks she kills him and a new equilibrium could happen, however we then see his body has gone, so there isn’t really a resolution to this film. However as there is a sequel, that might be the resolution. I think it does follow this structure, however not fully. This is because firstly the first set of Todorov’s narrative structure is in order, however the second set the audience see the disruption because they see the equilibrium and there is a resolution.

Another narrative theory is binary opposites which was introduced by Claude Levi-Strauss. Binary opposites are sets of opposite’s values which reveal the structure of media texts. In Halloween there is a binary opposite of good vs evil, which is Laurie and Michael Myers. Laurie being good is supported by her being good at school and not drinking or having sex. By having binary opposites helps to develop our understanding the narrative. Another binary opposite from Halloween is smart vs stupid; this is demonstrated in Laurie and her friends. Laurie cares about her studies and is smart meanwhile her friends don’t care which ultimately leads them to their deaths. By having this opposite it also suggests the final girl theory. There is also an opposite of past vs present, this is used when Myers kills his sister and he is put into the hospital in comparison to the present when is he back in the present day. Another one I think is used in this film is light vs dark. This is because in the day their lives are normal and compared to the dark when Myers tries to kill them. The use of lightening at night creates the tension in the film. There is a use of small motivated lighting to create shadows and creates fear. 

Vladimir Propp identified 8 character roles after looking at over 100 folk tales which include:
Hero – our main protagonist and victor.

Michael Myers with a knife. This image
demonstrates he is a villain.

Villain – the bad character.
Donor – who provides an object or powers to the hero.
Helper – who aids the hero.
Princess – the hero’s ‘reward’ and object of the villain’s scheme.
Princess’s Father – who rewards the hero.
Dispatcher – who sends the hero on his way.
False Hero – the double agent who hinders the hero rather than helping him.
It is common to have one character play more than one character, an example of this is the donor and helpers. In Halloween the hero is Laurie, she is the main protagonist and is the one to fight against the villain, Michael Myers. This is unconventional as stereotypically the hero is male. Michael Myers is the villain because he kills his sister and then returns to the town to kill Laurie and her friends, the audience has an idea how truly evil he is. Dr Loomis is the helper, this is because he is trying to track down Michael Myers and stop him. Not many others of Propp’s characters are used in this movie as there isn’t a quest to be set on.

As I said before Laurie demonstrates the final girl theory by Carol Clover. Even though Laurie is also the hero she follows the final girl theory; this is because she is virginal, pure and does not smoke, drink or have sex. She is good at school and is smart. She has a name which is not traditionally feminine. In addition she has quite a masculine voice. By having all these traits it means that she survives until the end. In makes sense that she is the final girl and she is also the hero.

Laurie at school, shows she is a good girl getting on with her work. Also demonstrates as the equilibrium. 

Bordwell and Thompson defined narrative as “a chain of events in a cause-effect relationship, occurring in time and space”. This basically means an event will occur and then consequences will follow. In Halloween I think there are a few moments which relate to this theory. First example of this is when Laurie drops the keys off at Michael Myers old house and he sees her through the window. This sets up the narrative for him to target her for the rest of the film. He follows her around, firstly killing her friends and finally tries to kill her, even though he is unsuccessful. Another event which has its consequences is that use of sex to tell the audience when that character is going to die. For example firstly Michael Myers kills his sister just after she has sex with her boyfriend. We don’t know if that was the reason he killed her, or if he is just pure evil. Another example is when Annie is was her way to meet her boyfriend assuming to have sex when Michael strangles her in the car. In addition Michael Myers also kills Lynda and her boyfriend after they have sex in Annie’s house.

The Horror of History

Horror Film Poster Analysis'

Magazine Front Cover Analysis'