Applying Theory

In this video I apply 4 theories that I have learnt to the movie 'The Conjuring'

Propps, Todorov, Levi- Strauss and Aristotle

Here is a short video I made that gives a brief overview of 4 different theories that link to horror movies. I will be using these theories later when making my trailer

Evolution Of Vampires

http://janaan123.edu.glogster.com/evolution-of-vampires/
Here is a glogster I made based on the evolution of vampires. It also has a video that I made showing the development of vampire movies. To get the full view please select the full screen option in the top right hand corner. Should the glogster not appear there is a link above to the website and the video is below
 

Horror Conventions

Horror conventions from Janaan Jan

Above is a slideshow presenting an a look into some of the conventions we see in horror.
Should the Slideshare not work here is the ulr: http://www.slideshare.net/janaanjan1/horror-conventions-53335432 

Horror movie poster deconstruction

Here are three horror movie poster deconstructions that I have made

Camera Angles

Low angle- Used to make a character/ object look intimidating. It creates a sense of power and authority
Eye-level- Usually used to show the point of view from a character
High angle- This makes the character/object appear small and vulnerable
Worms eye view- This a more exaggerated low angle, usually used to highlight the height of something e.g. building
Canted- This creates a feeling of distortion and unsteadiness for the character. This is used in scenes where a character my be drunk and things become blurred, if they have been poisoned or if they are generally drained
Birds eye view- used to highlight how high something may be and to capture the whole scene
Here are some examples:
low angle-

We know that Sherlock is a character who holds a great deal of power and authority and this shot captures this perfectly

Eye-level-

In this scene of Alice in Wonderland the Mad Hatter appears to be talking to us as the audience making us feel more engaged

 

High- angle-

Here Harry Potter is about to be approached by a dementors. We can see that Harry holds little control and appears to be helpless

 

Worms-eye view-

 

This shot captures the sheer height of the building and makes us feel like we are there viewing it

 

Canted angle-

 



 

 

Here black widow appears to be fairly drained. She is tied up and looks like she has either been fighting, been beaten up or poisoned. The canted angle represents how faint and disorientated she may feel

 

Birds eye view-

 

 

 

 

From this shot in Les Miserables we get the full image of the workers and what they are doing. The order and organisation is captured well in the  shot to represent the strict rules and judgements that the characters have



Horror Timeline

Horror Timeline by Slidely Slideshow
http://slide.ly/view/6d0c3beebe0bad7183968cbdca85b85b

How do I feel about horror?

I would describe myself as a horror movie junkie! I love watching all kinds of horror movies. I feel that it is a perfect way to play on peoples minds and really test them. I find them to also be very clever. They all manage to find something that we are all scared of, if its not the story line itself then the characters, the setting, the make up or special effects and at the very least the jump scares. As a child I always wanted to watch horror movies but was never allowed and so I built this want to experience horror movies until I saw my first horror movie at the age of 12 which was 'Scream'. I'm pretty sure I was really scared but I knew in my head that it wasn't real. Horror just gives people a really good pump and pushes you beyond your boundaries. When you get to the end of a horror and look back at what you've just witnessed at put yourself through its pretty impressive to see what your capable of. I think I see it as more of a challenge, and I feel that's what horror movies should be. The more challenging they are to sit and watch the better they are because at the end of the day movie companies will always be facing the toughest thing with the audience which is: we know its not real and they therefore have to make it believable.

Heres a list of all the horror movies that I've seen:
Scream, Final Destination 3, the Blair witch project, poltergeist, Nosferatu, Saw, Cabin in the woods, Paranormal activity (all of them), Woman in Black (which I would strongly advise to see in theatre), Evil dead (2013 remake), Sinister 1, Sinister 2, The conjuring, Annabelle, Jessabelle, As Above so Below, Mama, Oculus, World war Z, The Possession, House at the end of the street, the devil inside, Prometheus, Quarantine 2, Apollo 18 and The last exorcism.
I think there's probably one or two more.
Another good thing about horror is that the movie doesn't have to be 100% horror, it could also be a hybrid. Meaning that there could be elements of action or comedy or even romance in it. The 2013 movie 'Hansel and Grettle: Witch Hunters' was a perfect example of this. This combined both horror and action to create a hybrid that both scared the audience the way a horror should and pumped them the way an action should. Another example could be 'Twilight' which is another hybrid of horror, romance and action.

Overall I'm feeling very excited about the year and can't wait to learn more about horror. As you may be able to tell from my list of horror movies I haven't seen many of the classics such as Phyco (1960), so it'll be interesting to see more of those. Something else that I am looking forward to doing is analysing movie posters. This is particularly because when I watch a movie I tend to watch the trailer straight away and don't spend much time if any actually looking at the poster to see what it has to offer and tell about the story.

Introduction to A2 Horror

This year in A2 we will be looking at horror movies, trailers and posters in detail. The first stage will be research into the genre of horror. We will analyse what makes people so scared of horror movies as well as what different people are scared of and how horror goes through different trends. The second stage will be the production stage. This is where my research will help to back up the decisions I make when I create my horror poster and the horror trailer. I will be posting through the production stage to show the decisions I am making based on the research. The final stage will be evaluation. This is where I will tie my research, planning and the production together and look over my progress through the year. I will be able to back up my key decisions with detailed evidence from my research and planning as well as using theory from horror that I would have learnt through the year.