Characters in Horror films.

Horror films have a lot of stereotypical characters, such as a very vulnerable blonde protagonist who is always the target of an axe wielding maniac for example. These stereotypes are displayed in most horror films, 'Scream' is an example of this stereotyping, as it shows a masked killer with a knife trying to kill a young woman. Young women are usually portrayed as victims in horror films as they are seen to be vulnerable compared to others, while masked killers are shown to be more powerful and dangerous.

These are the two main characters from 'Scream', the protagonist on the left, and the antagonist on the right, these two stereotypes are used in most horror films, as the characters are easily recognisable. Using these stereotypes would encourage the audience to watch the rest of the film, as they already know how some of the characters are going to act, without knowing too much about them.

Planning for our Horror film.

Main plot of film;
-Cursed book is delivered through the letter box of a house.
-Every occupant of this house receives the book through the letterbox.
-The occupants of the house begin to see strange things happening in the house after the book is delivered.
-The ghost/spirit that is haunting the house is also the author of the book.
-The ghost is taking revenge on anyone who lives in the house, as it is the site at which she was tortured and hung because she was thought to be a witch, and she uses the book she wrote to carry out this revenge.
-Eventually the ghost will set fire to the house, and claim its next vicims. This will the films main conclusion.


Title of the film;
- We thought of the idea that the name of the book, could also be the title of the film.
-Some of the title ideas we thought of; Revenge by the book, Household vengeance, Revoked Removal.
However, our working title is 'Chapter 4' We chose this because the story in the book will end at chapter 4, and when the occupants of the house read up to that, the film will come to its climatic conclusion.


Settings;
-The whole film will be set in modern house in England which was newly built on the site of an old house that was burnt down.


Props;
-old looking book.
-Cardboard boxes to emphasise that the couple have just moved in.

Music in Horror films.

Music in horror films is generally very dramatic and dark, this is to build and promote tension that could give some clues as to what will happen later on in the film. An example of this dark and gloomy music is from the hill have eyes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Df4HaJWfMzI&feature=related 


We've decided that the music in the title sequence will also be very dark, quite quiet, but loud enough to build enough tension to add clues about the rest of the film. This will give the title sequence a creepy and tension built atmosphere, which will encourage the audience to watch the rest of the film, because the initial title sequence provides tension that will build up throughout the film.

We also decided that the main part of the opening sequence will have no music, this will emphasise that the main characters live a normal life, not a very unusual exciting life, which is very stereotypical of most horror films that have been made. This causes the films to emphasise the fact that the events in the film can happen to anyone in any situation, which adds realism, which in turn causes the film to gather more tension and suspense. The only music that we will used will be very sudden and dramatic music when a strange dark figure appears in the mirror, the will cause the sudden event of an unusual figure appearing in the mirror, to be much more of a surprise for the audience, causing them to be drawn in to watch the rest of the film, because they want to know find out why the unusual event occurred.

Age Classification.

Most Horror films that are produced are usually given the age ratings of 18 or 15, this is because some of the material and images in the films, are unlikely to be suitable for younger viewers to watch. We've decided to give our film a '15' classification, this means that no one younger than 15 can watch a '15' rated film in the cinema or buy/rent one. We've chosen this rating because our film fits in with many of the conventions of a classified 15 film, which are;


Theme; No theme is prohibited, but they must be suitable for 15 year old's to watch.

Language; Frequent use of strong language is allowed, but the use of the strongest terms will be have to be clearly justified, also frequent use of aggressive strong language is permitted.

Nudity; Nudity is allowed but without strong detail.

Sex; Sexual activity is also allowed but without strong detail, and references to sexual behaviour is permitted.

Violence; Strong violence is permitted, but it must not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury. Scenes of sexual violence must be discrete.

Imitable techniques; Dangerous images (such as; Combat, hanging, suicide and self harming) should not dwell on imitable detail. Also easily accessible weapons must not be glamorised.

Horror; Strong threat/Menace is permitted, but the strongest gory images are unlikely to be accepted.

Drugs; Drug taking may be shown, but the whole film must not promote or encourage the misuse of drugs.
Our film  will not contain any scenes which contain strong blood and gore etc, the type of horror that we are using is the supernatural, not the type of horror where the main threat is produced from blood. Also, our film will contain frequent use of strong language, but will not feature any of the strongest terms, and there will not be any frequent use of aggressive strong language. The film will also contain very strong threat and menace, based around the supernatural, which easily fits into the conventions of the 15 classification.

Initial Ideas and planning for the title sequence of our film.

Title Sequence;
-A variety of Close/Extreme close ups of a person putting old photos and writing into a book.

-Newspaper articles on the table next to the old book.

-Old style music, or in the style of a girls jewellery box.

-Edit the title sequence into sepia, so it looks like it was made a long time ago, which will add to the effect of the background story in the film.


-Or the first part of the title sequence can be in sepia, then the second part can be in normal colour, this will show that the events in the film carry on through time.

-Show a person writing the book. - Writing the story.

-Candlelight is the main source of light, this gives the sequence a much more mysterious and uncanny feeling, it also means we can use any setting, and we don't have to make it look like it was being done a hundred years ago, which is when the book would have been wrote.

Stereotypical Horror movie fans.

The stereotypical horror movie fan is on average between the ages of 16 and 24, and is in some sort of further education, whether this is A levels, college or university.
Both of the photos below show some fans of horror films, we asked them what they like and what they do, which is shown in the tables below. Both the male and female fans are both not the stereotypical horror movie fan, they are counter types as the stereotypical fan is shown to be gothic, dressing in black and wearing black make up. In fact most fans of Horror movies are stereotypical teenagers or young adults. 

Male Fans;

Like	Sport, comedy, video games, films
Dislike	Reading, animals, shopping
Shop	Designer clothe shops, sports, music
Music	Rock, RnB, Heavy Metal
Clothes	Designer Clothes
Job	Paperboy, work in shops, lifeguards
Money	Medium Wage
Class Status	Middle class
Other Films	Comedy, action/adventure
Education	GCSE’s, at college, sixth form or university

Females
 

Like	Animals, Make up, Gossip, celebrities, reading, shopping
Dislike	Insects, sports, video games
Shop	Clothes, make up, accessories
Music	RnB, boy bands
Clothes	Designer
Job	Work in shops, Hairdresser, Teacher
Money	Medium Wage
Class Status	Middle Class
Other Films	Romantic comedies, comedy, musicals
Education	GCSE’s, and studying at college, sixth form or university.

Typical horror films and the conventions of them.

Background information;
The two first ground breaking horror movies that was made were Frankenstein, and Dracula, both made by universal in 1931, since then countless horror films have been made by a number of different production companies. One of the most famous and scariest was the exorcist made by Warner Bro's in 1973, it won several academy awards and is one of the highest rated horror movies of all time.

The horror genre has many different audiences, but it mainly targets young adults between the ages of 16 and 25. They do this by using the main characters as young adults, which the audience can relate to the people on screen and see themselves in the situations that they are in.


The Horror genre has many conventions that are seen in almost every horror film, for example the main section of the film is very dark and gloomy, which reflects the mood of the film. It also adds and creates tension for the film.

The mise on scene of every horror film is almost the same, there is always a lot of low key lighting, and a lot more towards the end of the film, where the tension is at its highest. There is normally some sort of prop which plays an importance in the storyline, and this is brought to attention by the lighting and the camera shots. This is shown in the picture on the right, which shows a dark figure inside with very low key lighting hifing his face, which adds to the tension and the suspence that the scene creates.

The camera shots used in horror films are used in an affect which gives scenes a lot more tension than they would normally have. They often leave a lot of important information out of the camera shot, which only gives the audience limited ideas in to what's going to happen next, this gives the film a lot more tension, as the audience does not know what's going to happen next.

The sound that is used in horror films generally gathers a lot more tension as the plot of the films gathers pace and momentum, this will generally make the film a lot more scarier, and gives the scenes a lot more tension, which keeps the audience watching.

Research on 'The Haunting of Connecticut'.

The Haunting in Connecticut;


Title Sequence;
0:00-0:35  Production Company logo's and sequences
0:35           Title 'Lionsgate and Cold circle films present'
0:37           Various other titles all in the same font
0:45           Old fashioned picture of a mid shot of a family dressed smartly
0:47           Old fashioned picture of a mid shot of two young girls
0:50           Flashed picture of an extreme close up of scissors (red filter)
0:51           Blood dripping from a table (red filter)
0:53           Old fashioned picture of children
0:57           Old fashioned picture of an old woman
0:59           Various quick flashes of extreme close ups of surgery
1:01           Mid shot of the same young girls
1:03           Enlarged photo of the family, this time shown to be next to a corpse
1:05           Close up corpses face
1:07           Extreme close up of a different corpse's eyes being shut
1:09           Enlarged photo of the old woman, this time shown to be next to a corpse
1:10           Long shot of two different corpses, then flashes to a close up
1:13           More various shots of surgery
1:15           Long shot of a middle aged couple next to a corpse
1:19           Blood running out of a pipe down a drain
1:20           Long shot of a corpse on a bed holding a dead baby
1:26           Long shot zoom of two boys, one appears to be asleep/dead
1:30           More camera shots of blood dripping from a table
1:30-1:35 Black screen
1:36          Title of the film 'Haunting in Connecticut
1:45          Title 'Based on a True Story'

The title sequence of The Haunting in Connecticut is very foreboding towards the rest of the film. It shows many different photographs of different aged people standing or sitting next to corpses in coffins, this gives a strong connotation towards death and misery, which sets the mood and tone for the rest of the film. From seeing this, the audience will now know that the main feature throughout the film is death, and the outcomes that come from it. Another main feature of the title sequence is surgery, and the connotations that it has. This, like the photographs of death, provide foreboding into what's going to happen in the film.

We could use some of the ideas in this title sequence, we could use images that would provide a strong connotation and foreboding to what would happen in the rest of our film, this would give the audience a slight idea into what the film is about and will encourage them to watch more, much like the title sequence in 'The Haunting in Connecticut'.

The Haunting in Connecticut was released in 2009 and was displayed on 2732 screens across america and made $23,004,765 on its opening weekend, and grossed $55,325,526 overall. It's about a family who move into a new house nearer a hospital, only to discover that the house has a curse on it and is haunted by its past. This is very similar to what our plans for our film is going to be, a family moving into a new house.

Title and opening sequence of 1408.

Seconds	Image
14	Black Screen with title ‘Dimesion Films presents’
29	Road at night, torrential rain. Pathetic fallacy-The rain could represent the mood of the whole film. Low key Lighting.
35	Pan shot across screen. Title ‘Samuel L Jackson’
42	Close up of the car and title of the film. The title gives connotations of a ghost, or ink caused to run by the rain.
45	Camera tracks the car reversing-Shows the driver may have gone the wrong way
54	Close up of the drivers face
56	POV shot of the sign, shows the drivers lost
59	Close up of him looking at a map
1:15	Long shot of a car pulling up to a house in the woods – shows isolation Actors names on the screen.
1:24	Rain has got harder when the person goes over a bridge. Also shows the place is isolated
1:31	Long shot of a big house, with more titles of actors’ names, also a POV shot, which looks like someone’s watching the main character.
1:37	The scene switches, mise en scene becomes a lot more light and happy, with high key lighting.
1:47	Dialogue; ‘Mike, Checking in’ This shows the audience that the big house is a hotel.
1:59	Shot reverse shot between the main character and the couple in the hotel. Finishes with “you probably want to hear about our haunted history”.

This title sequence iis very simple and set the mood for the rest of the film. The very beginning features a completely black screen with a title for the production company. Then the rest of the title sequence is merged into the opening of the film. The opening scene of the film sets the tone for the rest of the film, as its raining the audience know that the mood of the film is going to be dark and gloomy, this is called pathetic fallacy. We could use these ideas in our films, using the weather as a contributing factor into setting the mood for the film. Also, the first opening lines of dialogue suggests what the film is about; "you probably want to hear about our haunted history". This tells the audience that the film could be a horror/thriller, or feature some connotations of those films.