EVAL Q1a CONVENTIONS

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Part of our Question 1 evaluation for conventions used in our film opening, we talk about how we have challenged and used conventions and represented social groups and issues. The style is based on James Cordons carpool karaoke and sees us driving around Luxembourg while talking about our film opening.

IDENTS

I found after looking at many general genre film examples that the average amount of idents to be shown at the start of a film is 2-3. For our opening we have 3 idents, Gingerbread films, LugNut productions and CLINNICKmedia. Also, the average duration of the idents of these films that I have looked at were between 5-10 seconds, for all 3 of our idents the time is 22 seconds, the longest being CLINNICKmedia which is 9 seconds.

TITLES

After looking at many film examples I discovered that the font and font colour of titles connotes genre. Specifically the titles in Slasher movies usually have a font which is sharp to represent the blade of a knife and the font color is usually red on a black background.

DURATION OF FILM OPENING

The average duration of film openings were between 3-6 minutes.

OPENING SHOT

After looking at many different general genre film examples I discovered that the opening shots varied. Opening shots were all establishing extreme long shots which is a typical convention of films for the opening shot. The opening shot usually establishes the setting and time of the film to the audience.  Our opening is opened by a series of establishing extreme long shots inspired and based off of the opening of psycho with the camera moving closer and closer to the window with a series of cross fades.

SCREAM QUEEN

The term scream queen is used to reference a young, attractive, sexually active and rebellious woman, the convention is that the scream queen is the first to be killed. A perfect example of a scream queen is Drew Decker is Scary movie. To read more about scream queen here is my blog post.

In our opening although the scream queen is not blonde she is portrayed to be sexually active, young, rebellious and reflect many of the key scream queen conventions.

Final Girl

The final girl is a term used to describe a female character that is usually tough, resourceful, nerdy, unattractive, innocent and not sexually active. The key archetype for a final girl is Laurie Strode from Halloween. To read more about final girls here is my blog post.

SOUND

The sound in horror slasher films is usually very scary, suspenseful, creepy and makes the audience's heart beat fast and irregular. Also, the music can make the audience hold their breath unconsciously and therefore feel more scared. At the beginning of the opening the music has long drawn out notes with a high pitch but as the opening progresses the notes become shorter, more urgent and of a much lower pitch.

LIGHTING

Lighting is used in horror films to give the effect of something bad is about to happen for example shadows and light flickering makes the audience feel scared and nervous. This can be seen during both the scene when Santa is on screen as well as in the garage scene. The lights flicker in both these scenes, when santa is on sceen the effect if this is it makes the audience uneasy however in the garage it is used to make the audience unsure as to what is about to happen.  

OS VODCAST 7: Slasher titels and titles we will use

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In this vodcast we go over the titles used in 6 different slasher movies and we talk about how they are effective. We go over the way the titles are designed to connote the horror genre. We also go over the fonts we will be using for our own titles and personal preferences along with audience feedback.

TITLES 5 Fonts in Slasher Film Opening Titles

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5 fonts for slasher movie openings from ChristianStricks

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Here are 5 examples of titles in other slasher film openings, which will be applied to research towards the font we will finally pick for our film opening.

CONVENTIONS Research So Far

Reasearch on Cherry Falls
Film Distribution of Four Lions (Warp)
'71 (Warp) v. The Worlds End (Working Title)
Questionnaire Audience Feedback
Distribution of micro-budget films
Slasher Franchises
Typical Title Sequence
Titles of film "Austin Powers"
Vodcast on past coursework
Film Opening Analysis
Shot Types
Favourite Film

RESEARCH Cherry Falls

Verdict

The film opening of Cherry falls is a couple who are being intimate and showing obvious sexual attraction between the two. The cuts are mostly close up and are short. The editing is fast paced with sinister non - diegetic music in the background which makes the audience hold their breathe. The couple have a small argument and the shot goes from inside the car to the outside from a stalkers POV.This is a common convention in slasher films. There is non- diegetic sound in the background such as crickets chirping and wind blowing to create the verisimilitude. There is another car that pulls up and the male gets out of the car to play the role of the strong hero, while the girl stays and watis for him to return. The actress holds her fright and sadness throughout the film opening and never 'recovers'.

To sum it up

• Fast paced editing.
• Large variety of different shots.
• Use of close ups (with hand placement, to show more emotion).
• The characters are frightened throughout. 
• Use of diegetic and non - diegetic sound to create verisimilitude.

How will we apply this to our film opening?

1. We will use a variety of shots and shorten our takes from our previous rough cut.
2. There wil be close ups of hand placements to signify more emotion.
3. To create verisimilitude the actor/actress will need to seem frightened even after the scare.
4. Have fast paced editing to keep the audience engaged. 

PODCAST 7 - Update on filming ideas

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• Discuss last weeks filming
• Issues faced
• Ideas we will improve 
• Scream queen
• Camera shake
• Costume (mise-en-scene)
• Set change 

SLASHER CONVENTIONS: 5 Setting

Setting in Slasher Films

The setting for a slasher film are either one of the two:

1. An abandoned cabin in the woods, or some isolated place in the forest
2. A house in a remote or rural area away from 'help' such as police

In general the setting is in a isolated place or remote area. It makes the victim seem vulnerable and helpless. There is often pathetic fallacy with either rain or thunder just to further anchor the theme and genre of horror. Slasher films are often also set in the dark as it connotes evil terror. A notorious example of this convention is Friday the 13th (1980) directed by Sean S. Cunningham.

This is a cabin in the woods at 'Camp Crystal Lake' it is not night, However it is quite dark and foggy which also helps connote evil and horror. This is very isolated place far away from help such as the police or other people. There is no place to run or hide. 

Possible influences:

• We will most likely use the isolated house
• fits better with the plot
• did location scouting and found the house was best place to film 

SLASHER CONVENTIONS: 3 Opening Shots

Halloween
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0220-0242 (22 seconds)
An extreme long shot that tracks into the house to the front door where the next scene starts


Friday 13th
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0000-0026 (26 seconds)
An extreme long shot aimed at the moon, the camera pans to the left to perfect darkness and then down too an extreme long shot of the campsite

Pyscho
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0013 - 0105 (52 seconds)
Multiple extreme long shots over the city which pan and then crossfade between each other, each crossfade the camera gets closer and closer towards the window. It has a total of 5 shots until it reaches the window and zooms in then pans around the room setting the scene to what is about to follow.

All of these opening sequences share similar features, for example they all open with extreme long shots that establishes and sets the scene, they show the location, most opening shots in slasher films span about 20-25 seconds with the obvious exception of psycho which is 52 seconds.

Possible Influences

• Inspired by Psycho zooming into window
• Panning from both left and right to show the remote area 
• Have soundtrack in background

SLASHER CONVENTIONS: 2 Duration

Slasher Film Opening Durations 

The duration of film openings can vary largely being from 2 minutes long all the way to 15 minutes. An example of a very long film opening is "Scream" made by Wes Craven in 1996 which is 13 minutes long. A Nightmare on Elm Street which is also created by Wes Craven in 1984 is 4 minutes long which is significantly shorter than Scream even though it is directed by the same director.

Possible Influences

• Our film opening will be within 2-3 minutes.
• Short and punchy film opening

SLASHER CONVETIONS: 1 Idents

Look at our previous blogpost about  GENERAL CONVENTIONS Movie Idents for the whole outline of the conventions for idents and an example of the variants used in Friday 13th II

Generally

In general the company Idents for slasher movies are as a basis, like any other ident. However some companies focussing more on horror will have signifiers and other sorts of tweaks to anchor that they are doing a horror movie. For example, Blumhouse Productions is a production company who have made countless horror movies such as  Insidious(James Wan)(2011), Paranormal Activity(Oren Peli)(2009) and Split(M. Night Shyamalan)(2017). Their ident is filled with horror signifiers, intertextuality, creepy colour schemes, some dutch angles (connoting something is odd), shaky cam (common in low budget horrors). Here is a full clip of their ident below

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Apart from this very different example the idents for the most part are the same as any other ident.

Variants

Another way that idents for slashers can be altered to connote and anchor the horror genre is through variants. There is already an example in another blogpost(mentioned above).  The ident with LionsgateTwisted Pictures for Jigsaw(Spirit Brothers)(2017) has a high amount of intertextuality with the SAW franchise. The cable wrapping around the metallic cables and then being tightened gives a very torturous feeling. The cables then release at an extremely high rate and leaving "blood scrapes" on the letters. It is such a gruesome and SAW like way to kill a person, therefore very fitting for the movie. 

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The New Line Cinema variant for the Friday 13th franchise is a very famous example. (see previous blogpost) The audio is what strikes me the most after the obvious colour scheme change. With the creepy, ominous, slow soundtrack and the sound of knives being sharpened. This approach to an ident has made it overall very effective and fitting to the franchise. 

Our Idents

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For LugNut Productions we chose not to have any music as to follow the ambient sound approac. It is also more effective this way as we hear the sound of the lug nut being put onto the floor and the wrench turning back. This can somewhat give a hint of horror as there is often tools being used to kill off characters in slasher movies.

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For Gingerbread Films we chose to have an animation again with ambient sound as we wanted to emphasise the chewing effect on the gingerbread man. It is a bit of an inside joke our group had as there are two members with ginger hair. We made it so the gingerbread man would slowly become more dead and it links in more with the zombie horror genre we were originally planning, however it also fits well with our new idea.

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Our most horror based ident is definitely Clinnick Media. We are simulating opening a bag of guts and pulling out the company name. It is a play on the words Clinic as Clinnick is the last name of one of our members. Therefore we gave the ident the feeling that a  surgery is happening, with the white latex gloves and absurd amount of blood everywhere. It also has eerie music over it as the sequence plays out. With the red colour scheme of the ident it anchors the horror genre very well

JC SLASHER CONVENTIONS Final Girl

"The final girl is a trope in horror films (particularly slasher films). It refers to the last woman alive to confront the killer, ostensibly the one left to tell the story. The final girl has been observed in many films, including The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, Halloween, Alien, Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Scream." - Wiki

Here are some examples of Final Girls in Slasher movies:

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Scream - Sidney Prescott
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In this clip we see Sidney Prescott fighting back, she is clearly a Final Girl and follows many of the key conventions, for example, she is tough, resourceful, intelligent and survives till the end due to her fighting back.

Halloween H20: 20 years later- Laurie Strode
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Laurie Strode is another very clear final girl example and is a key archetype to the final girl conventions, she is a brunette, not sexually active, an introvert, tough, resourceful and uses her intelligence to survive.

Scary Movie (deconstruction = postmodernism) - Cindy Campbell
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Scary Movie is a great example of a final girl character as it is a post-modern deconstruction of many movies, in the clip it is a deconstruction of Scream. In scary movie, the characters roles are amplified and shown more intensely, this means that Cindy Campbell's role as a final girl is amplified and shows her to be extra resourceful, tough and a fighter all key parts of a final girl role

Carole J Clover:

The Final Girl Theory was first made famous by Carol J Clover in the essay "her body, Himself: Gender in the slasher film" (1987), in this essay she stated that Slasher movies presented woman in a way that gives a very clear picture of the sexual attitudes of men towards woman at the time. Clovers theory lay in the reversal of the male role and scream queen role in which the final girl defeats the killer instead of being the first to die.

The Archetype:

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Laurie strode is the key archetype for a final girl, as can be seen here (girl on the left with books) she is nerdy, intelligent and in this scene it is made clear she does not have a boyfriend and is not sexually active. In this scene she she also says that she forgot her book at school to which her friends mock her for. Her friends are also smoking and talking about plans with their boyfriends, Laurie does not smoke or say she has plans which enforces her role as a Final Girl.
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The costume of Laurie Strode wears helps to signify her role, this is because it is very conservative, unrevealing and stereotypically worn by someone that is nerdy.

Other Examples of Final Girls:

Here are some other examples of Final girls in a variety of slasher movies, all of these reflect parts of the Final Girl convention.

Friday 13th - Alice hardy

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Psycho - Lila Loomis

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Nightmare on Elm street - Nancy Thompson

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Texas Chainsaw Massacre - Sally Hardesty

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Many of these characters reflect the same conventions of the final girl, they all dress conservatively, they are intelligent and tough and they either die lateen the movie or survive, juxtaposing the traditional scream queen role.

Possible Influences 

• Will have conservative clothikng 
• She will be seen as a smart/intelligent character
• Will be the last character to survive (along side scream queen in which we have challanged the convetions) 

SLASHER CONVENTIONS Scream Queen

The term scream queen is used when referring to a young, attractive, sexually active and rebellious women. The convention is that the scream queen will be the first character to be killed. A scream queen is usually blonde, busty and seen as 'dumb'.

A brilliant example of a scream queen is Drew Decker in the film Scary Movie(Keenen Ivory Wayans)(2000). This film has really taken every single convention of a scream queen and put it into one character. This convention relates largely to the male gaze theory as it is a women who is being objectified.

Sometimes the films also challenge the conventions and create a 'Scream King' which is basically a male version of a scream queen. We have done this in our own film opening.

Here are some few examples of scream queens in slasher movies.                                                                                                                                

Scream (Wes Craven)(1996) - Casey Becker
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In this clip Casey Becker is at home on the phone and the killer is on the other side telling her what to do and asking her questions. The killer then appears and she is chased throughout the house.  To her parents shocks she is killed at the end and hung from a tree.

Scary Movie (Keenen Ivory Wayans)(2000) - Drew Decker
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This is one of the first scenes in the film. It is a recreation of Casey Becker getting killed in Scream. With the same scenario of her being chased throughout the house. Drew Decker is a great example of a scream queen, there are shots where it shows how 'dumb' she is. For example, a sign saying saftey pointing to the left and a sign saying death posting to the right. Drew decided to go right where the sign says death. All this links into the fact that Scary Movie is a post-modern deconstruction of the slasher genre.

Halloween (John Carpenter)(1978) - Annie Brackett
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Black X/Cmas - Barbra Cord
Psycho - Marion Crane
Cherry Falls - Jody Marken
NoES - Tina Grey
Cry_Wolf - Becky
All the Boys Love Mandy Lane - (Scream King) Dylan
Babysitter Wanted - Rebecca Miller
TCM - Pam

Possible Influences 

• We will create the young and rebellious character 
• Will have mise - en -scene to suggest she is sexually active
• Will be seen as "dumb" 
• She won't have the blonde hair 

VODCAST 3: General Slasher Convetions

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A vodcast we created with the voice over of my colleagues about the slasher genre. It covers main points/conventions about titles and how certain scenes are played out.

Slasher Franchises

Friday the 13^th

Target Audience:

Primary: Male age 15-24

Secondary: Female 15-24

Age rating:
            Friday the 13th: 18 
            Friday the 13th Part 2: 18
            Friday the 13th Part 3: 18
            Friday the 13th The Final Chapter: 18
            Friday the 13th A New Beginning: 18
            Friday the 13th Part 6 Jason Lives: 18
            Friday the 13th Part 7 The New Blood: 18
            Friday the 13th Part 8 Jason Takes Manhattan: 18
            Jason Goes To Hell The Final Friday: 18
            Jason X: 15

Box office for Friday the 13th: 

Total: $59,754,601  
USA: $39,754,601

UK: N/A 
Foreign: $20,000,000

Budget: $550,000 

Scream

Target Audience:

Primary: Male age 15-24

Secondary: Female 15-24

Age rating:

Scream: 18

Scream 2: 18

Scream 3: 18

Scream 4: 15

Box office for Scream: 

Total: $173,046,663 
USA: $103,046,663

UK: N/A 
Foreign: $70,000,000 
Budget: $14M

Scary Movie

Target Audience:

Primary: Male age 15-24

Secondary: Female 15-24

Age Rating:
            Scary Movie: 18
            Scary Movie 2: 18
            Scary Movie 3: 15
            Scary Movie 4: 15
            Scary Movie 5: 15

Box Office for Scary Movie:

            Total: $278,019,771

            USA: $157,019,771

UK: N/A 
Foreign: $121,000,000
Budget: $19M

Halloween

Target Audience:

Primary: Male age 15-24

            Secondary: Female 15-24  

Age Rating:
            Halloween: 15 (2017 re - rating, was 18)
            Halloween 2: 18
            Halloween 3 Season of the Witch: 15
            Halloween 4 The Return of Michael Myers: 18
            Halloween 5 The Revenge of Michael Myers: 18
            Halloween 6 The Curse of Michael Myers: 18
            Halloween H20 20 Years Later: 18
            Halloween Resurrection: 15
            Halloween (2007): 18

Box Office for Scary Movie:
            Total: $ 70,000,000
            USA: $47,000,000

UK: N/A 
Foreign: $23,000,000
Budget: $325,000