Audience Research

Are horror fans mainly male?

Which Horror sub genre do our target audience like to watch?

Do You Prefer voice overs or narrative structure?

From this audience research i have gathered through a questionaire i have more of an idea in what type of audience i am trying to target. From my reaserch my pie charts show that the genre 'horror' is more aimed at the male gender as females are more attracted to other genres such as romantic comedies. From my pie chart i can also see that my target audiences are more interested in phycological horror rather than the sub genres; thriller horrors, supernatural and gore based horrors. By this information i will therefore choose to produce a trailer in which hasa phycological plot, to attract the biggest audience.
Ive also found out that in horror trailers audiences prefer the plot to be delivered by a combination of both voice overs and narrative, this therefore gives me an idea of how i wish to portray my film and keep my target audience happy.

What are some of the conventions of the horror genre?

In horror films typical conventions are used to potentially scare the audience, using the right conventions to suit the film genre can seperate a good horror to a bad by creating the right suspence and drawing the audience in. There are many textual elements in which create the horror genre to be distinct, these include: the setting, technical code, iconography, narrative structure, and characters in the film.
The most obvious convention I feel is the iconography which signifies to the audience that they are watching a horror genre. Objects used in the mise-en-scene would include: blood, masks, and icons of the supernatural such as ghosts, moving objects, bladed weapons and references to religion like crucifixes, gravestones and pagan symbols. All of these connote the audience to feel uncomfortable as these aren’t seen regularly in everyday life for example ghosts, vampires and monsters or objects in which lead to or signify death, gravestones, axes and knives.
Anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss studied binary opposites in fims in which I have related to horror films. These are used to convey the loss of child innocence as dolls are iconic to childhood and purity which are binary oppositions- evil/innocence.
Horror can be signified by other sources of iconography by other visible signifiers such as the dark black and red colours used in which have obvious connotations of: darkness, evil, blood and danger. The use of black has been used through the low key/high contrast lighting, emphasising shadows such as the moon, creating the lighting to be more expressive and non-naturalistic, connoting hell and primitive instincts. This is because when we distinguish black objects we instantly imply death as death is promoted as a dark thing.The majority of horrors are set at night time/ out of hour places which convey a characters innocence, as these are when a person feels alone and most venerable.

Audiences also expect the story to be set in small communities or rural isolated places as this offers the audience to feel unsafe in a community in which could harbour a secret, for example: a village may hold a curse. The commonly used houses are quite large and have several floors, easy hiding places which portray more mystery and suspense for the audience.

On the technical approach in horror films the ambient sounds of footsteps and heartbeats high in the sound mix, and camera work is made to be very expressive, meaning the camera angles used are more creative and can even portray a specific mood, as this is all used to try frighten the audience by creating suspense. From changes in the depth of field, watching hidden movement in the back and foreground, to high and low canted angles that both create the audience to feel disorientated and uncomfortable, as they are looking onto the situation in an imbalanced prospective. Extreme close-ups and point of view shots are frequently used, to allow the audience to identify with the characters expressions, influencing us to share their emotions. By the use of these shots this makes the audience feel we are looking onto the situation in the monsters eyes, invading their personal space and experiencing their situation. The editing of shots creates suspense and tension by the pace of long shots which are quickly cut to close ups becomes unsettling, as usually smooth transitions with mid shots have been used.

The main narrative character roles and narrative structure conventions in horror films have a key protagonist, often the victim who becomes the hero. This is usually “the final” girl. The final girl tends to be virginal and is terrorised. She is also usually the pure, slightly masculine girl who’s friends with a group of stupid immoral teenagers.

Lee_Curtis_as_Final_Girl

click on the image to see analysis on the screen shot of Laurie the final girl in the horror film Haloween.

Anthologist theorist Vladimir prop a Russian critic had a theory in which there are 8 character roles in which are: the hero, the villain, the donor (the provider of an object with some magic property, the helper (who aids the hero), the princess, her father (who rewards the hero, the dispatcher (usually sends the hero away) and the false hero. I feel this theory works for most horrors, yet more than one character can fit into a specific role, as some characters with mental issues change from villains to heroes or by being made psychotic by early events. The return of the repressed is often used in horrors as previous experiences of characters are put into their unconscious, until an object or something iconic, forces them to remember the previous incident. This is used in horror as these previous experiences tend to be bad memories in which they try to forget, until being forced by something else to remember and be re-visited by the past.

Children are also used in horrors to frighten the audience as children are so venerable and precious, as they don’t have a lot of experience in what is right and wrong, therefore easily influenced or killed quickly.

Other media theorists have different ideas on the stereotypical narrative structures Tzvetan Todorov believes classic Hollywood structures evolve in horror films. For example the film starts of with normality moves on to the enigma then finding a pathway to resolution resulting with closure, or a hero finds an agent of change in which goes on a quest to resolution resulting with closure. Some films use false closures so left ambiguous to create a deeper meaning in the plot, or left to enable a sequel.

All of these key conventions make up the genre of horror, as this is what the audience expect to, and want to see, creating them to be scared.

In this Halloween trailer the key conventions of a horror film are

addressed, and clearly back up my essay.

Marketing Plan

As the Film Distributor's Association says, "the marketing objective is to create visibility, raise awareness and engage interest, cutting through the blizzard of competing messages for other films. However big or small the marketing budget, audiences, must be met using different ways. When constructing a campaign, distributors aim to reach as much of their target audience as possible, yet cost effectively. Different audiences are met in different marketing techniques.

Different types of marketing techniques include posters, cardboard standees, banners, window clingers, posters and trailers in which are mostly shown in cinemas attracting cinema goers."

Exhibitors select appropriate trailers in which the audience in the screening may find interesting; this is usually done by the genre. Films are also advertised on the internet and on TV, in which is a great visual advertisement yet advertising on the television and in popular cinema screenings is much more expensive, than posters and posting advertisements on the internet and radio. UK film distributors invest around £170 million a year in media advertising to launch and sustain their releases. Editorial advertising can be very successful as the public are often drawn in by independently written news stories and features, in which is a very clever way of advertising as its not paid for in the same way as displayed advertisement. Films are also advertised by the use of tie-in merchandise by selling soundtracks, games, books, clothing and action figures anything that may appeal to the target audience. Premiers, award shows and preview screenings and film festivals are also other techniques in which advertise the film in a cheaper yet useful way.

The most cost effective sort of advertisement in which i feel is most effective are films in which have been advertised through the use of word of mouth. This could be a personal recommendation from a friend or a colleague in which could make you want to visit the cinema to watch the film, yet negative word of mouth is very hard to overcome as this will convince you that the film is bad. However a combination of good word of mouth and further advertisement will attract the audience into viewing the film.

Distribution Plan

The Distributor consists of being a partner in the project, contributing to the films development/production costs and later on bringing the film to the market. Individual distributors may release from 1 or two films a week, or as much as 25-30 a year.
Every film has its own tailor made distribution plan in which the producer and distributor work closely together. The most important decisions are when the distributor is to decide when the film should be released, and how to release the film in order to optimise its chances. Therefore the distributor would have to gather a combination of market knowledge, have commercial experience, do statistical research, and use professional judgement to determine the audience for each film.
The distributor should also have considered what the film may earn, as therefore if they feel they will earn a high amount they can use more money to market the film without loosing valuable money as the extra audience they have attracted would make up for the money they have spent on launching the film.
The distributors challenge is always to attract as wide a spread as possible- identifying niche interest groups as well as the broad mainstream, and ideally helping a film to 'break out' and 'cross over'. Yet the distributor should never loose sight of their core target audience in which they have to consider; age group, gender, lifestyles, and social networks and media consumption patterns.
The most frequent cinemagoers tend to be teenagers, students, young adults in which more than half of these 15-24 year olds visit the cinema in the UK once a month. Therefore the distributor would have to find when in which they can release their film in order to catch their target audience. This can vary quite a bit as to looking at what other films are to be released that will also attract a similar audience, as there is allot of competition in which you have to create your target audience to watch your film instead of theirs. The Competition is very large in public holidays as this is when the majority of films are released, as therefore a wider audience will visit the cinema.

Mirrors teaser trailer

This teaser trailer for the horror film Mirrors, is short yet attention grabbing as it leaves a big impact on the viewers, by its strong use of sound crescendos and silences in synchronisation to the jumpy cuts used. This therefore clarifies the horror genre, the character 'Kieth Sunderland' is also addressed, promoting the film as he is a well-known strong actor.
Intertitles have been used and have broke up sentences into clauses, with dialogue between each clause in which ia very comman in the horror genre to create suspence and mystery.

A nightmare on Elm street teaser trailer

This teaser trailer uses alot of the stereotypical connventions of a horror film. It instantly indicates that its of horror genre, by the use of mise-en-scene and sound. The sound carries alot of mystery and has a haunted feel to it as it builds up a series of crescenndos then cuts to silence, this creates the suspence, and also disturbs the audience to feel unsafe. The sound then transforms into the feint singing of children. Children are used alot in horrors to potray the loss of innocents, as children are stereotypical for being naive and guiltless.

The storyline has been told through the use of dialogue from the characters, this creates us to identify with the characters drawing us into the film, addressing the problem then leaving us with no resolution. This therefore grabs the audience ito wanting to go watch this film, to see what happens in the end of the film.

This teaser shows typical trailer conventions by showing information, such as the film is directed by Micheal Bay in which is a well known film maker. The title is then shown, all the text is written in a red blood splattered font, in which emphasises the genre of the film.
Actors have also been slightly adressed at the end of the trailer alongside of the film company, and the date of the films release.

A Nightmare on Elm Street teaser trailer screen shots

media screen shot
Originally uploaded by Yasmin westveer de mul

click on the image to view connotations of the screen shots.

Saw 2 trailer

This is the Saw 2 trailer in which holds the typical conventions of a horror film through the use of mise en scene.
In the trailer lots of diegetic sound has been used stereotypical to this genre, such as screams, emphasised heartbeats and shouting signifying the scary situation they are in.
see the posts below to see my analsysis of certain stereotypical shots I've found.

screen shot media
Originally uploaded by Yasmin westveer de mul

click on the image to view analysis on typical horror film screen shots.

ecu saw 2
Originally uploaded by Yasmin westveer de mul

This is a typical horror trailer. For example this ECU is a common shot for the genre.
Click the image to read about it.

Pandorum teaser trailer

This is the Pandorum teaser trailer. When watching this trailer the genre becomes more clear the more you watch, in the beginning a blue/grey colour scheme has been used which represents a typical si-fi genre, yet as the viewer continues to watch it becomes clear that the genre is a si-fi horror as the colour scheme changes to black and greys.
The genre has also been highlighted by the music and soundmix used of heavy breathing,screams, gradual orchestral crescendos to sudden silences, and long unsteady notes, as well as sirens in which are both significant to si-fi and horror genres creating tension and a sense of fear.

An overwrite and vioce over has been used in flashes, in which are typical conventions in which to create suspense and draw the viewer in. Cuts have been used in between other shots to emphasise information such as the film company, producers in which are behind other well known films,concluding to the title of the film then the date in which it will be released. The actors havnt particularly been mentioned, in which connotes the actors are wellknown, therefore need not to be mentioned or are not recognisable.

Do narrative theories work on The Shining?

Do narrative structures work?
Our teacher set us out the task to look at different narrative media theorists to see how well their theories worked on horror films, these include Vladimir Propp and Tzvetan Todorov. After watching the horror film 'The Shinning', i have tried to fit its narrative structure into these theories.
Vladimir Propp found that all Russian folk tales shared common properties, no matter how widely they differ in characterization, setting or plot, they shared certain structure features. Propp's theory is that all narratives have 8 character roles and 31 narrative functions, the character roles include:
-The villain.
-The Hero.
-The donor- who provides an object with some magic property.
-The helper who aids the hero.
-The princess: the reward for the hero and object of the villain schemes.
-The father: who rewards the hero.
-The dispatcher: who sends the hero on his way.
-The false hero.

Propp has also outlined a list of 31, in which are organised in narrative groups indicating their place in the development of the plot. These narrative groups in order include: Preparation, complication, Transference, Struggle, Return and recognition. To test if Propps theory worked i decided to compare the narrative structure from 'The shinning' to one of the narrative groups.

Recognition:
1. A member of a family leaves home/ Jack goes for an interview.
2.A prohibition or rule is imbosed on the hero/ Jack needs to look after the hotel.
3.This prohibition is broken/ Jack and Danny go into room 237.
4.The villian makes an attempt at reconaissance/ Jack disables the radio.
5.The Villain learns something about his victim/ Jack learns that Danny has the shining.
6.The villain tries to decieve the victim to get prossedion of him or his belongings/Jack wanting Danny's powers.
7.The victim unknowingly helps the villain by being decived or influenced by the villain.

From this i have found that Vladimir Propp's theory doesn't always work in chronological order, as some narrative structures work in the opposite order. For instance some more modern films start with flash backs or clips from the future to create more suspense and mystery. Therefore these type of narrative structures wouldn't fit into allot of theories made. On the other hand the characters from 'The Shining' can fit into his 8 character roles, some in which fit nicely into two roles. In 'The Shining', Danny is both the 'hero' and the 'princess', as he is the prize, the villain in this case the dad wants Danny, yet Danny is also the Hero when he and his mom, are trying to escape.
Another narrative theorists Tzvetan Todorov, had a less specific theory, in which therefore fits film narratives better. This was that each story begins with an equilibrium, a potentially balanced world. This is then interrupted by an event, the disequilibrium, creating a chain of events resolving to a new equilibrium.
This i feel works in the the majority of stories, as each film starts in an equal manor until something changes, therefore creating a a series of events to fix the problem. This works in 'The Shining' in the sense that in the beginning there is a pleasant relationship between the family member, until the father becomes mad, therefore the family is put at risk (the disequilibrium) yet this is then solved through the pathway of resolution until the closure (the new equilibrium).
As a conclusion these theories move you from thinking characters are real people, but as a narrative man made character in which goes through a series of events.

The return of the repressed

The return of the repressed is when repressed elements, often distressing memories, thoughts, or feelings from the conscious mind, have been preserved into the back of your mind into the unconscious. These repressed elements in which only reappear in consciousness or behaviour. A person could forget something, and only remember it again after being reminded of something else or seeing a specific thing.

Horror Trailer

I chose this trailer because it is filmed in the London Underground, a place which i can identify myself with.
I can also see myself being in similar situation as the main character,creating the trailer to be more realistic.



In the "Creep" horror film trailer, certain stereotypical connventions are used to highlight the film as being of the horror genre, this therefore attracts their target audience. The tailer has been openned instantly with a dramatic breathing soundmix and unsteady handheld camera work, which allready signifies to the audience someone is scared worked up. We are put in the characters eyes in a point of view shot, struggling towards the escalator. This signifies that this is a horror film as she is struggling by herself, possibly limping, in a isolated place ( stereotypical setting of a horror film).
The music in the trailer is a huge give away as to the film genre by bulding up crescendo's leaving us wanting more. Bursts of sounds have been use such as screams and heartbeats in which are shyncronised with the gradually getting faster pace of the shots, building tension and suspence.