Friday 18 November 2011
Friday 11 November 2011
Thursday 3 November 2011
Creep Analysis
Creep was realised in 2004 and was about a young women that gets trapped down the underground while trying to get away from an unknown killer after a night out. Directed and written by Christopher Smith this film stars Franka Potente, Sean Harris and Vas Blackwood. This film demographic is middle class and working class of both genders which have an interest in the horror gender.
The setting itself makes the audience feel uncomfortable because it such an secluded area especially at night it is also a well know place and a lot of people pass it everyday which makes the film more realistic this also helps the audience to relate it to there lives because its a place they go all the time. People tend to normally feel safe at the underground however may never have been there alone. This film also is very clever because every time the audience is near or thinks about the underground it can relate to this movie which will also helps its promotion. Also if people are talking about the setting people that go there often will be curious to know what the film is about. You first start to realise she is in trouble when she falls asleep and misses the last train and she is all on her own this also helps audience interest because a lot of people do fall asleep on public transport. The director Christopher Smith has used a very interesting setting which works really well for the film he also is challenging the stereotypes of the horror gender unlike Halloween and Scream they are both set in the same type of setting the “suburbs” this film already has a bigger success than the others just based on the difference of settings. This setting also works because there are so many hidden corners and other parts of the underground that is unknown to us it is also massive and stretches for miles so when and where the killer is going to come we don’t know that darkness doesn’t help either. In this underground there are loads of abandon rooms were the killer has turned into his killer office as soon as you see the first room it can make you feel unsettled he has made it into his own operating room which is dirty and filed with unusual objects like babies in glass bottles and knifes which are covered in blood and the room its self is dirty and old there are also old creepy toys. This room helps to show the mental state of the killer the fact that he has babies in glass bottles and pictures of him when he was younger with a doctor shows he was some kind of experiment that went bad and now the killer is mentally unstable and is a danger to everyone. This also adds terrier to the audience because we don’t know all parts of the underground which makes us feel like we haven’t got control so it could be possible that something like this could happen.
Kate is the main character who is played by Franka Potente she is a potential victim at the start. She is a young woman in her early 30s who is down to earth and a party girl. This reinforces the stereotypes of young women being the victims and surviving which also happens in other films like Scream and Halloween. Kate gets locked down the underground and she can’t get out the director has made it look like we are watching her to show the audience that some is watching and is after her. We later get a jump from her friend from the party that she went to beforehand Guy we think at first that he will try and help her but then he tries to rape her which makes us think that he could be then killer. But when we see Guy being pulled of Kate and dragged under the cube which makes the audience feel revenges too Guy for trying to rape her so the audience don’t really care what’s happing to Guy. We then realise that the killer is very strong and has no concern for his victims. As we see Guy cry for help Kate is frozen. At this point we are still not sure what and who the killer is and who he is after. This makes the film a lot more intense because we can’t see the killer it makes you think that it can be inhuman when we see what has happened to Guy it looks like something has eaten him but we are still not sure what it is. Later in the film the killer appears but he still looks inhuman he is skinny with dry curtsy pale skin with a disfigured face and body he is covered in scars and blood with an inhuman sounds coming from him.
From watching the killer who is called “Craig” we can notice that the killer is psychotic with a number of metal issues doing things like washing his hands with no running water, having his own operating room where he eats people and tears people apart with his special tools we see him just about he perform his operation on his female victim. We meet this character before she was a homeless young women who tried to help Kate along with her boyfriend that she is in love with because they are homeless you notice that they only have each other. When the young girl is in the operation chair while crying out for her boyfriend Jimmy this is how the director has created the audience to have symphony towards the homeless girl. Kate’s character at the start is very different to how we see her in the end at first we see her as a posh rich women who thinks that she is better than everyone else. She looks down on people and is seem to be an independent strong woman. Towards the end of the film we see her breaking down as more of her friends of being killed along the way we see her as helpless, dirty and now looks like a homeless person which is the irony. But we also see her as a stronger person because she was the hero that killed the killer.
At the beginning there is a close up image of a women’s face covered in blood and fear as she comes out of the dark the film has a quick cut to a party which is a completely different setting and environment it makes the audience curious about the context for the film and what it going to happen in the film. There are many POV shots used to show what the characters are thinking we see one from the killers POV watching Kate running around in fear and generally just being watches but by whom or what we don’t quite know yet but we know that something or someone is after her. POV shots are very powerful within films specially the horror genre because you can see what they are seeing it puts the audience in the characters shoes. Which can make the audience feel unstable because they know what’s going to happen but the victim has no idea. There are close ups used on the peep hole of the diver door in the tube to make the audience feel that they are looking through the peep hole there self as if they are a part of the film. When you see the driver covered in blood with a disfigurement on his face which makes you go back to the question who is the killer and what is the killer as if he is super natural or some kind of cannibal killer. This is to show what kind of danger of what Kate is facing. As Kate runs through the tube there is 3 positions used and the directed has cut to all of them jump shots with the 3 shots in hand held with the three shots behind her, in front and point of view. This is to show the killers view the victims view in jump shot to show reaction and the thoughts in both character which also adds fear to the audience because they know how both the character are thinking. When Kate is running through the tube the camera is coming towards her to show that she is in danger and that someone is coming towards her then there is a close up shot on Kate’s face with connotations of her being stranded and not being able to escape which also make the audience unsettled. As the camera circles around her she realises that she is alone and there is no hope for Kate. She is stuck and doesn’t know which way to go as she makes a quick decision it makes the audience think has she taken the right one? There is a shot taken at the top of the escalator to show there is a long way down and at the end of the escalator there is endless nothing. This shot is a high angle shot to show the structure of the stairs and to show it leads to nothing and no one.
They use a number of stereotypes of a horror gender like sharp knives and blood this is shown in some of the most intense seen to show the audience the danger and the true horror of the film. As you look around you can see the blood leading to the victim as you follow the trail of blood it makes the fear of the audience increase as it takes you into his operation room. There are other scenes that show a real strong horror genre for example when guy gets captured you can see the side of his body looks like you can see parts of his organs while blood is pouring out of him so using insides of peoples bodies also are an effective iconography of the horror genre he also uses the body parts to feed to rats.
There is different types of lighting at different types with this film a lot of the time in this film the less light that is used the better in the opening scene of the film they are walking through a dark tunnel and all you can see is the touch light they are using and at some point in the film it all goes dark to question what has happened to one of the two men as the light all go out it is surrounded by darkness as the touch swishes back on you can see one of the men dead on the colour and the other man’s horror on his face with a harsh touch light hitting his face to highlight his fear. The mise en scene is a tunnel which is natural dark so any light used under the tunnels is very little but works well with the horror genre. This also works because you don’t know who is in the dark looking for you can hear things but you can’t really see who or what is after you. On the platform there is normal bulb light used however the killer is never seen to be on the platform and the only light is use around the killer is none or soft and a harsh touch light. When the killer is his operation room the light in that room is an of yellow lighting because the room its self is very dirty the lighting empathises this. The torch light helps to guide the audience to wear Kate or the other victims are going and this is what you focus on because there are no other lighting used in the tunnels. At on scene in the film the light goes off while Kate is running and you can only hear breathing and the viewer isn’t sure who’s it is as the touch goes back on the harsh light hits his face showing the true disfigurements of his face. This is one of the scariest scenes in the film because you aren’t expecting this to happen. As Kate finds a door she uses just a flame of a lighter to help her see which has connotations that she is really in trouble because that’s the only way that she can see around these long dark tunnels.
The use of sound is one of the key elements which made this film such a successful horror because sometimes you can only hear what’s going on and aren’t able to see them the sound effects have to work with this film because sometimes you can see. In one of the scene you heard echoes of female screaming then would go into a shot of the killer with the female homeless victim. So the screams had connation’s of a murder just about to happen or happening. The sounds would give the audience a clue to what is going to happen for example in the scene when Kate is running from the victim and her touch goes off all you can hear is breathing which gives the audience a clue that she is scared or that the killer is right next to her. However some sounds are put there before anything is going to happen to keep the audience engaged. There is a soundtrack that is related to the killer it isn’t always played to not make the film a cliché but in certain scene when you hear that music you know the killer is out to get you. When Kate is running away from the killer the music is played to also work with the jump shots to show her trying to get away. The music connotes fear and helpless it also has a slow metal style to it which relates to death. When guy gets dragged under the tube there is now image of what going on the sound is what suggest what is going on with the screams and the inhuman noises coming from under the track it leaves the viewer to imagining what’s going on in fear. When Kate is looking where the killer does his operations she sees some very distributing babies in jar as this shot is shown you can hear a number of babies crying but they overlap each other which causes an uncomfortable sound and makes the viewer question what happened to the babies. The when you first hear the killer talk it is a very powerful dialogue with him mocking a girl that he had previously killed his voice is very creepy and he is trying to make you feel sorry for him which also makes the audience hate him more.
This film can makes you question who is going to survive throughout the film although we do see Kate at the end when she does get captured you think she is going to die but she gets out. At the beginning you meet Jimmy who is a very strong charter and the way he acts you think that he is going to get the killer because he comes across as a very aggressive which makes you think that he will be able to take on the killer and that Kate will be safe. As the film progresses there could also be another pretension survivor which was the man at the beginning of the film however at the end we realise that Kate was the only survivor.
The setting itself makes the audience feel uncomfortable because it such an secluded area especially at night it is also a well know place and a lot of people pass it everyday which makes the film more realistic this also helps the audience to relate it to there lives because its a place they go all the time. People tend to normally feel safe at the underground however may never have been there alone. This film also is very clever because every time the audience is near or thinks about the underground it can relate to this movie which will also helps its promotion. Also if people are talking about the setting people that go there often will be curious to know what the film is about. You first start to realise she is in trouble when she falls asleep and misses the last train and she is all on her own this also helps audience interest because a lot of people do fall asleep on public transport. The director Christopher Smith has used a very interesting setting which works really well for the film he also is challenging the stereotypes of the horror gender unlike Halloween and Scream they are both set in the same type of setting the “suburbs” this film already has a bigger success than the others just based on the difference of settings. This setting also works because there are so many hidden corners and other parts of the underground that is unknown to us it is also massive and stretches for miles so when and where the killer is going to come we don’t know that darkness doesn’t help either. In this underground there are loads of abandon rooms were the killer has turned into his killer office as soon as you see the first room it can make you feel unsettled he has made it into his own operating room which is dirty and filed with unusual objects like babies in glass bottles and knifes which are covered in blood and the room its self is dirty and old there are also old creepy toys. This room helps to show the mental state of the killer the fact that he has babies in glass bottles and pictures of him when he was younger with a doctor shows he was some kind of experiment that went bad and now the killer is mentally unstable and is a danger to everyone. This also adds terrier to the audience because we don’t know all parts of the underground which makes us feel like we haven’t got control so it could be possible that something like this could happen.
From watching the killer who is called “Craig” we can notice that the killer is psychotic with a number of metal issues doing things like washing his hands with no running water, having his own operating room where he eats people and tears people apart with his special tools we see him just about he perform his operation on his female victim. We meet this character before she was a homeless young women who tried to help Kate along with her boyfriend that she is in love with because they are homeless you notice that they only have each other. When the young girl is in the operation chair while crying out for her boyfriend Jimmy this is how the director has created the audience to have symphony towards the homeless girl. Kate’s character at the start is very different to how we see her in the end at first we see her as a posh rich women who thinks that she is better than everyone else. She looks down on people and is seem to be an independent strong woman. Towards the end of the film we see her breaking down as more of her friends of being killed along the way we see her as helpless, dirty and now looks like a homeless person which is the irony. But we also see her as a stronger person because she was the hero that killed the killer.
At the beginning there is a close up image of a women’s face covered in blood and fear as she comes out of the dark the film has a quick cut to a party which is a completely different setting and environment it makes the audience curious about the context for the film and what it going to happen in the film. There are many POV shots used to show what the characters are thinking we see one from the killers POV watching Kate running around in fear and generally just being watches but by whom or what we don’t quite know yet but we know that something or someone is after her. POV shots are very powerful within films specially the horror genre because you can see what they are seeing it puts the audience in the characters shoes. Which can make the audience feel unstable because they know what’s going to happen but the victim has no idea. There are close ups used on the peep hole of the diver door in the tube to make the audience feel that they are looking through the peep hole there self as if they are a part of the film. When you see the driver covered in blood with a disfigurement on his face which makes you go back to the question who is the killer and what is the killer as if he is super natural or some kind of cannibal killer. This is to show what kind of danger of what Kate is facing. As Kate runs through the tube there is 3 positions used and the directed has cut to all of them jump shots with the 3 shots in hand held with the three shots behind her, in front and point of view. This is to show the killers view the victims view in jump shot to show reaction and the thoughts in both character which also adds fear to the audience because they know how both the character are thinking. When Kate is running through the tube the camera is coming towards her to show that she is in danger and that someone is coming towards her then there is a close up shot on Kate’s face with connotations of her being stranded and not being able to escape which also make the audience unsettled. As the camera circles around her she realises that she is alone and there is no hope for Kate. She is stuck and doesn’t know which way to go as she makes a quick decision it makes the audience think has she taken the right one? There is a shot taken at the top of the escalator to show there is a long way down and at the end of the escalator there is endless nothing. This shot is a high angle shot to show the structure of the stairs and to show it leads to nothing and no one.
They use a number of stereotypes of a horror gender like sharp knives and blood this is shown in some of the most intense seen to show the audience the danger and the true horror of the film. As you look around you can see the blood leading to the victim as you follow the trail of blood it makes the fear of the audience increase as it takes you into his operation room. There are other scenes that show a real strong horror genre for example when guy gets captured you can see the side of his body looks like you can see parts of his organs while blood is pouring out of him so using insides of peoples bodies also are an effective iconography of the horror genre he also uses the body parts to feed to rats.
There is different types of lighting at different types with this film a lot of the time in this film the less light that is used the better in the opening scene of the film they are walking through a dark tunnel and all you can see is the touch light they are using and at some point in the film it all goes dark to question what has happened to one of the two men as the light all go out it is surrounded by darkness as the touch swishes back on you can see one of the men dead on the colour and the other man’s horror on his face with a harsh touch light hitting his face to highlight his fear. The mise en scene is a tunnel which is natural dark so any light used under the tunnels is very little but works well with the horror genre. This also works because you don’t know who is in the dark looking for you can hear things but you can’t really see who or what is after you. On the platform there is normal bulb light used however the killer is never seen to be on the platform and the only light is use around the killer is none or soft and a harsh touch light. When the killer is his operation room the light in that room is an of yellow lighting because the room its self is very dirty the lighting empathises this. The torch light helps to guide the audience to wear Kate or the other victims are going and this is what you focus on because there are no other lighting used in the tunnels. At on scene in the film the light goes off while Kate is running and you can only hear breathing and the viewer isn’t sure who’s it is as the touch goes back on the harsh light hits his face showing the true disfigurements of his face. This is one of the scariest scenes in the film because you aren’t expecting this to happen. As Kate finds a door she uses just a flame of a lighter to help her see which has connotations that she is really in trouble because that’s the only way that she can see around these long dark tunnels.
The use of sound is one of the key elements which made this film such a successful horror because sometimes you can only hear what’s going on and aren’t able to see them the sound effects have to work with this film because sometimes you can see. In one of the scene you heard echoes of female screaming then would go into a shot of the killer with the female homeless victim. So the screams had connation’s of a murder just about to happen or happening. The sounds would give the audience a clue to what is going to happen for example in the scene when Kate is running from the victim and her touch goes off all you can hear is breathing which gives the audience a clue that she is scared or that the killer is right next to her. However some sounds are put there before anything is going to happen to keep the audience engaged. There is a soundtrack that is related to the killer it isn’t always played to not make the film a cliché but in certain scene when you hear that music you know the killer is out to get you. When Kate is running away from the killer the music is played to also work with the jump shots to show her trying to get away. The music connotes fear and helpless it also has a slow metal style to it which relates to death. When guy gets dragged under the tube there is now image of what going on the sound is what suggest what is going on with the screams and the inhuman noises coming from under the track it leaves the viewer to imagining what’s going on in fear. When Kate is looking where the killer does his operations she sees some very distributing babies in jar as this shot is shown you can hear a number of babies crying but they overlap each other which causes an uncomfortable sound and makes the viewer question what happened to the babies. The when you first hear the killer talk it is a very powerful dialogue with him mocking a girl that he had previously killed his voice is very creepy and he is trying to make you feel sorry for him which also makes the audience hate him more.
Thursday 6 October 2011
Thursday 29 September 2011
Changes in horror films
I will be writing about changes in horror throughout the years and why there was a change in the horror genre with reference to Halloween and Scream, two very ionic films. When horror first came out it was very different to horror today, they were more low budget films with actors that nobody knew and the narratives within the films were all too cliché. The films also were very unrealistic that you knew people wouldn’t do that with common sense, for example in Halloween when they knew there was a killer in their town, they still went out late at night. Also there was never anyone around when the violence was going on to help them; the police in the horror films reinforce the stereotype of them being useless they also never get there on time. Also it was young teenagers home alone, there were never any parents around so it was seen in these films that it easy to get away with violence because there were no consequences. These films were also perceived as too violent and they used young children in the films as killers which was giving the children the message that violence is a good thing and they can get away with it. However I feel that this still hasn’t really gone and there is a lot of this is films today however the only difference is the age restriction has gone up in horror films to avoid young children watching things that they shouldn’t because it can give them the wrong message. Horror back them was male dominated so therefore a large part of society was offended and wasn’t watching horror as much because of the way women were shown in these films. It would mainly be helpless young teenage girls who not always have clothes on. This is why men were more likely to watch these films than women. In Halloween I would argue is a male dominated film as there were naked helpless women who are the victims and the male is the killer so I feel this film could be seen a sexiest. This reinforced the male gaze theory that argued that films were too often made to satisfy the male ‘gaze’. Women were represented as sex objects in horror films to please male fantasies.
There is a big difference between Scream and Halloween because Scream was the first film to change the conventions of previous horror films and was not seen to be a cliché. They avoided this by not following other horror films like not using steadicam (sophisticated handheld camera often used for stalking scenes), also through the story they made the fights between the victims and the killer more equal to make it more realistic unlike Halloween. Also in Halloween they would go out at night even though there was a psychotic killer on the loose, whereas in Scream they were just at home and the killer comes and finds them. Wes Craven the director of Scream knew what was needed to make it a good film by making it different than the others; throughout the film they are continually mocking the clichéd conventions in Halloween. In Scream they laugh and joke about how overused these horror clichés are, for example “don’t say I’ll be right back” This clever use of pastiche makes fun of the outworn clichés, constantly mocking them. . They also mock the fact that horror was very sexiest and when the girl (Drew Barrymore) is on the phone to the killer she was saying how ‘it’s all male dominated and that it’s always a lost girl with blonde hair and big boobs that gets killed’. I feel in Scream they don’t use sex to relate to the horror. Another factor that Halloween was not as much as a success is the music that was used, very little money was spent on the music. They use nearly all the same music throughout the film; they also play it at specific times so you know that the killer is there. However the music in Scream has a much wider variety and is played at the right times. This helps builds up tension and also makes the viewer scared in Scream, they have synchronised the high tech sound track well to compliment the action so when it is scary the music will appropriately build up tension and create suspense.
There is less voyeurism in Scream because you get to see it out of both eyes the killer and the victims. Whereas in Halloween you only really see it from the killers point of view as the audience are positioned to see it from the killers POV. In Scream this gives the audience a chance to put themselves in the victim’s shoes which makes the audience have more sympathy for the victims which consequently adds more value to the film.
Scream used a number of big and well-known actors and actresses such as Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, Henry Winkler and Drew Barrymore who was also used on the promotional poster for the film which made the audience think that she would be the main protagonist in the film. She was also featured at the start of the film and uncharacteristically gets killed early on, which is unusual for a big star to die in the beginning of the film. Wes Craven did this because they knew she is a big star and that people would want to go watch the film if they knew that she was in it. This was because they had a high budget to play with whereas Halloween didn’t. This also helped when it came to editing the film and the fast moving camera work unlike the hand held in Halloween, money can make a really did difference.
I will be writing about changes in horror throughout the years and why there was a change in the horror genre with reference to Halloween and Scream, two very ionic films. When horror first came out it was very different to horror today, they were more low budget films with actors that nobody knew and the narratives within the films were all too cliché. The films also were very unrealistic that you knew people wouldn’t do that with common sense, for example in Halloween when they knew there was a killer in their town, they still went out late at night. Also there was never anyone around when the violence was going on to help them; the police in the horror films reinforce the stereotype of them being useless they also never get there on time. Also it was young teenagers home alone, there were never any parents around so it was seen in these films that it easy to get away with violence because there were no consequences. These films were also perceived as too violent and they used young children in the films as killers which was giving the children the message that violence is a good thing and they can get away with it. However I feel that this still hasn’t really gone and there is a lot of this is films today however the only difference is the age restriction has gone up in horror films to avoid young children watching things that they shouldn’t because it can give them the wrong message. Horror back them was male dominated so therefore a large part of society was offended and wasn’t watching horror as much because of the way women were shown in these films. It would mainly be helpless young teenage girls who not always have clothes on. This is why men were more likely to watch these films than women. In Halloween I would argue is a male dominated film as there were naked helpless women who are the victims and the male is the killer so I feel this film could be seen a sexiest. This reinforced the male gaze theory that argued that films were too often made to satisfy the male ‘gaze’. Women were represented as sex objects in horror films to please male fantasies.
There is a big difference between Scream and Halloween because Scream was the first film to change the conventions of previous horror films and was not seen to be a cliché. They avoided this by not following other horror films like not using steadicam (sophisticated handheld camera often used for stalking scenes), also through the story they made the fights between the victims and the killer more equal to make it more realistic unlike Halloween. Also in Halloween they would go out at night even though there was a psychotic killer on the loose, whereas in Scream they were just at home and the killer comes and finds them. Wes Craven the director of Scream knew what was needed to make it a good film by making it different than the others; throughout the film they are continually mocking the clichéd conventions in Halloween. In Scream they laugh and joke about how overused these horror clichés are, for example “don’t say I’ll be right back” This clever use of pastiche makes fun of the outworn clichés, constantly mocking them. . They also mock the fact that horror was very sexiest and when the girl (Drew Barrymore) is on the phone to the killer she was saying how ‘it’s all male dominated and that it’s always a lost girl with blonde hair and big boobs that gets killed’. I feel in Scream they don’t use sex to relate to the horror. Another factor that Halloween was not as much as a success is the music that was used, very little money was spent on the music. They use nearly all the same music throughout the film; they also play it at specific times so you know that the killer is there. However the music in Scream has a much wider variety and is played at the right times. This helps builds up tension and also makes the viewer scared in Scream, they have synchronised the high tech sound track well to compliment the action so when it is scary the music will appropriately build up tension and create suspense.
There is less voyeurism in Scream because you get to see it out of both eyes the killer and the victims. Whereas in Halloween you only really see it from the killers point of view as the audience are positioned to see it from the killers POV. In Scream this gives the audience a chance to put themselves in the victim’s shoes which makes the audience have more sympathy for the victims which consequently adds more value to the film.
Scream used a number of big and well-known actors and actresses such as Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, Henry Winkler and Drew Barrymore who was also used on the promotional poster for the film which made the audience think that she would be the main protagonist in the film. She was also featured at the start of the film and uncharacteristically gets killed early on, which is unusual for a big star to die in the beginning of the film. Wes Craven did this because they knew she is a big star and that people would want to go watch the film if they knew that she was in it. This was because they had a high budget to play with whereas Halloween didn’t. This also helped when it came to editing the film and the fast moving camera work unlike the hand held in Halloween, money can make a really did difference.
To conclude Wes Craven challenged and subverted the outworn horror clichés by making fun of them using parody. By having 2 ordinary killers instead of 1 superhuman strength killer it surprised the audience and made it more believable. He did however still keep some of the old generic conventions used in previous horror films like Halloween such as the use of knives as a weapon which are iconic props used in horror films and I think always will be. Scream was a box office success and got horror fans interested in going to see more horror films, prior to this it was a fading genre as it was becoming too predictable.
Friday 16 September 2011
Thursday 15 September 2011
Project Brief & Horror Collage
I will be designing and developing a promotional package for a new Horror film which will include a teaser trailer (maximum 60 seconds), a film magazine front cover, promoting the film, and a promotional movie poster. I will also have to create an original soundtrack for the trailer and all images must be my own. here is a collage of a number of different horror movies which i have collected.
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