Horror film narrative.

This is the narrative of our film that we will take ideas from to condense into a trailer.

The film will be called 'Slenderman' and is based around an urban myth of a creature of the same name. The film is set in the present day; however, it will be based on a home film that was recorded 60 years ago which was owned by the recorder, Margaret. She had passed away recently and her house had been abandoned. A group of 4 teenagers decided to break into the house at night for fun and discovered the home video in the attic. After watching the video, 2 of them were scared of the video. The others were calling them names and said there was nothing to worry about. Then they proceeded to wreck the house.

They all go home. The next time they meet up at the house, one of the teens looks out of the window and sees slender man. None of the others believe him and make fun of him. The teen becomes hysterical so the others lock him out of the house as a joke. He bangs on the door hysterically as the others laugh before suddenly falling silent. The others think he is messing around but when they go to let him in he is nowhere to be found. They come to the conclusion that he must have found another way into the house and is hiding potentially trying to scare them. They split up and look for him in the other rooms, one of the boys, Jeffery, looks out the window and see’s a tall shady black figure underneath the street’s lamp, he is unusually tall and lanky, with extra long hands. Jeffery immediately realises that he just saw slender man and ducks under the window in shock; he then calms himself and looks again. The figure is gone. Jeffery tells the others but once again they do not believe him, thinking he is in on the joke. They soon realise that their friend is genuinely missing and the whole group begins to panic.

They decide that the safest thing to do is get away from the house and return to their own homes. They make their way down their usual route down an alley but are cornered by Slenderman. They run away in the opposite direction, towards the woods, Slenderman’s preferred domain. The leader urges the group on, saying if they can make it through the woods they can escape through the other side. They run from Slenderman but every time they reach the end of a path he is standing waiting for them. All they have to light their way is the light from their phones and these soon stop working leaving them in complete darkness (Slenderman interferes with technology)

The group have no choice but to use matches to keep Slenderman away (he doesn’t like light) but these don’t last very long. The film ends with the group desperately grabbing matches and trying to keep them alight for as long as possible, but they eventually run out and are taken by Slenderman. The audience think that all the teens have been killed but it is revealed at the end that one of them managed to escape as they had a torch in their bag. The screen goes black. Dot of light gets bigger in the distance. It is revealed to be light from the torch of the final girl. Final shot is of her running past the camera.

Slenderman.

My group and I have started to think in detail about the narrative of our horror trailer. We have decided as a collective that we want to make a horror film based around a myth, similar to the Blair Witch Project. This is because the film was a huge success despite its small budget and lack of famous actors and we can easily use similar camera techniques as the ones seen in the film to great effect. We have decided to base our movie on a German myth called 'Slenderman', a tall, faceless man who hunts and abducts those who know of his existence.

The Slenderman myth has become increasingly popular within the media over the last year, with the release of a game and several websites dedicated to it. It is especially popular with teens, which is one of the main reasons we chose to use it, as this is the audience we will be aiming our trailer at.

The Slenderman game is probably the biggest reason for the recent surge in popularity for the myth. The aim of the game is to walk around the woods and collect 8 hidden notes whilst avoiding Slenderman. If he catches you, the game is over. All your character has to help them see in the dark is a lantern, which eventually will go out, increasing the chances of Slenderman catching you. The limited vision coupled with the deep, droning music creates huge tension and the game has become extremely popular due to its fear factor.

Screenshot from the game

Notes from the game

Video of gameplay. 

After researching and watching footage of the game, we have been able to take away a few interesting concepts that we think will make our trailer very effective. 

First of all, light is a big part of the slenderman myth, as it is the one thing that will keep him away. We can play on this in our trailer, using the dark as a tool to create fear. We could possibly use black screens and focus on using music and sounds to create tension.  In the game, the character is given a lantern in order to light their way, which will eventually go out. In our trailer we want to include a similar idea, but instead of a lantern, have our characters use matches, which could be even more effective, as matches go out very quickly. 

This is a documentary that conveys the Slenderman myth as true and presents evidence to prove that he exists. It is yet another internet sensation that has recently hightened interest in the Slenderman myth. The documentary explains Slenderman in great detail which will be very useful for us, as we can derive information from it that will be useful to use in our trailer.  

Useful Conventions and Theories.

I have researched numerous theories and conventions both in and out of class, and I hope that I can use them to help me create a high quality horror trailer. My favourite theory that we have learned about is the Final Girl theory, as I can relate it to almost every horror film I watch and it has made me realise how important the convention of the final girl is.
Slasher films such as Psycho and Halloween have influenced me a lot as I realise you do not need to have a lot of onscreen gore in order to make a movie scary, you can achieve it through suggestion, which will help a lot with my trailer as I will not have a huge budget to spend on special effects, so creating fear through suggestion and things that people do not see on screen will be a very effective technique.
I will definitely not be using any kind of villain that will be difficult to use effectively, such as a ghost, so I think it would be better to use a slasher villain, or like in 'The Blair Witch Project', not show the villain at all.

Ways to Market a Horror Film.

Effective marketing is extremely important for the success of any film, with horror being no exception. I have been thinking about some of the ways in which horror films are marketed and come up with the following:

• Posters
• Billboards
• Buses and Bus stops
• Phone boxes
• TV adverts
• Radio adverts
• Adverts in cinemas
• Online (Web 2.0)
• Official movie website
• Social Media (Facebook, Twitter etc)

'The Blair Witch Project' (1999) is a film that used extremely effective marketing at its time of release, causing it to be extremely successful despite its low budget of only $25,000. It was one of the first movies to push a huge marketing drive on the internet, as its potential had previously been unrealised. The official movie website created huge interest, set up to look like a fact file on the Blair Witch with images of supposedly 'missing' people and their details. 

The 'Saw' movie franchise also has an extensive marketing campaign. Unlike 'The Blair Witch Project', there has obviously been a lot of money invested into it, but it is very effective. They even have a ride and maze at Thorpe Park. The designs of their posters are not what you would expect of a typical horror movie, as they present unpleasant imagery on pure white backgrounds which is very contrasting and different.

Her Body, Himself: Gender in the Slasher Film - Carol J. Clover

I have been reading an article by Carol J. Clover called 'Her Body, Himself' which explores the Final Girl theory within Horror films, particularly in the Slasher subgenre. From this article I learned that the killers in slasher films are often extremely complex characters. They are not just men who enjoy murdering people, but individuals that often have deeply disturbing and scarring pasts. Although they are male on the surface, they often have a vulnerability about them that suggests they might represent femininity rather than masculinity. Although I did find it very interesting, I find myself disagreeing with this article on quite a few occasions, as it seems to contradict itself a lot, analysing the Final Girl theory from absolutely every angle and viewpoint and never really reaching a real conclusion.

Tension.

Creating a feeling of tension is an extremely important part of any good horror film. One of the main reasons audiences watch horror movies is to feel on edge and essentially, to be frightened by them. I have looked at the film 'Halloween' (1978) and analysed it to see how the director, John Carpenter, has created tension. I have focused on the opening scene as I think it contains a lot of the common conventions of horror which have been put to great use and are very effective, creating an extremely tense atmosphere for the audience.

Carpenter creates tension in 'Halloween' in numerous ways, using music, mise en scene, camera angles and various editing techniques.

Carpenter uses effective editing techniques throughout the opening sequence, such as documentary style text seen at the beginning of the scene. By making the film seem documentary like, the audience get a sense of realism, as though this could actually have happened. This is very unsettling for audiences and creates tension before the movie has even begun. At the end of the scene, there is a slow zoom out from the child holding the knife, revealing the scene around him and emphasising the scale of what he has just done in comparison to his size and age. This creates tension, as it gives the audience time to take in exactly what has just happened, which is very disturbing as children are widely thought to be very innocent and pure. Seeing a young boy murder his sister is very unsettling to watch.

Almost the entire scene is shot from the murderer's point of view. This means we hear and see the same things the character does and know no more about what is going on than him. This creates tension, as the audience feel as though they are committing or contributing to the terrible crime that the boy commits, which most people would never dream of doing. They are made to feel powerless, as though they are being made to do something against their will. This is very uncomfortable for many people, as they like to be in control of their own actions. When the child puts his mask on, the viewer then sees through the eyes of the mask, creating the illusion that they are wearing it. This adds to the impression that the viewer themselves is the killer.

Music and sound is used very effectively in the scene. In the opening credits, piano music can be heard. This music is in a minor key, which is often used in horor films as it connotes darkness, despair and doom. Clashing chords are also used which indicate disorder and sound unnatural to the audience, causing them to feel uncomfortable. It immediately sets up the movie as a horror by making it obvious to the viewer that bad things will happen. Throughout the opening credits, the sound of ticking can be heard, giving the impression that it is counting down to an event of major significance, creating tension as the audience wonders what this could be.

The use of high pitched Psycho strings as the villain enters the house and makes their way upstairs creates extremely high tension, as it tells the audience that something terrible is about to happen, Psycho strings have become a very common feature in horror films after their debut in the film 'Psycho', as they succeed in creating high levels of tension, keeping the audience on the edge of their seats.

By using all these methods and techniques, Carpenter successfully creates an extremely tense atmosphere in the opening scene of 'Halloween'. I hope to use some of these techniques myself in my teaser horror trailer in order to make it as effective as possible. I have learned from analysing this sequence, that music, mise en scene, editing and camera angles are all equally important in making a good horror movie and I will need to thoroughly plan and think through all of these elements.

Uses and Gratification Theory

Definition

• Popular approach to understanding mass communication.
• Places more focus on consumer or audience instead of actual message itself.
• Asks what people do with media rather than what media does to people. 
• Audience members are not passive - they take an active role in interpreting and integrating media into their own lives. 
• Audiences are responsible for choosing media to meet their needs.
• People use the media to fulfil specific gratifications. 
• The media compete against other information sources for viewers' gratification. 

Basic Model

• It is suggested that the uses and gratification theory has to fulfil one of the following when we choose a form of media:
• Identify - being able to recognise the product or person in front of you, role models that reflect similar values to yours, aspirations to become someone else. 
• Educate - Being able to acquire information, knowledge and understanding. 
• Entertain - What you are consuming should give you enjoyment and also some form of 'escapism' enabling us to forget our worries temporarily. 
• Social Interaction - The ability for media products to produce a topic of conversation between other people, sparks debates (eg who is left on X-Factor)
• Uses and gratification theory can be seen in cases such as personal music selection. We select music not only to fit a particular mood, but also in attempts to show empowerment or other socially conscious motives. There are many different types of music and we choose from them to fulfil a particular need.

 

 

The Internet

The internet has had a large effect on the way the Uses and Gratification theory has been perceived in the last 10 years.

• We can identify more products and people thanks to search engines like Google.
• Music has benefited from sites like YouTube enabling us to watch any music video we choose.
• Wikipedia and other such sites allow us to gain knowledge of almost any subject we please. It could be argued that the internet has developed our education drastically over the last 10 years. 
• We can be entertained whenever we please because of sites such as YouTube and even on demand websites such as 4oD and BBC iPlayer which allow us to watch TV whenever we want online. 
• The internet gives us freedom and offers us an escape from every day life. People have access to websites that make them happy and they find enjoyable. 

Definition.

Mcguffin: Something in the movie that drives the plot forward, motivates the characters and focuses the attention of the audience, but has no actual impact on the overall plot.

This technique is used in "Psycho". The storyline surrounding Marion Crane and the money has no real impact on the overall plot of the movie, but is used to distract the audience from the main event so it is more of a shock then it happens.

History of Horror.