It was important to have a good understanding into the institutions that commonly distribute or make horror films. Therefore I did research into the sort of companies that did so. 20th CENTURY FOX:
20 Century Fox is a major American production company
Films produced by it are mainly family focused, or in the genre of comedy
However it does have some successful horror movies under its name; Jennifer's body, however it is mainly the distributor of horror films as-suposed to the producers.
WARNER BROTHERS:
Warner Bros is another major American film institution.
Warnes Bros. produce films often in a wide range of genres, for example Sex and the City, the Dark Night and Slum Dog Millionaire.
However In comparison to 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros. to have more successful horror films under their belt, for example Friday the 13th, The Orphan, and House of Wax.
TWISTED PICTURES:
Despite not being one of the most known film institutions, Twisted Pictures has managed to gross half a billion dollars with horror films
The most infamous one being the Saw series along with Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Twisted Pictures was formed after the success of Saw in 2004, which lead to a nine picture distribution deal with Lionsgate. It then continued to produce 6 sequels to the Saw series as well as other films.
Standard release is the model of distribution most used of the five.
This type of distribution consists in:
1. Having the movie’s release first in cinemas
2. After approx. 16 weeks and a half releasing it on DVD.
3. After a few months make it available on Pay TV services.
4. At last after approx. two years after the movie’s theatrical release make it available on free TV.
Simultaneous release
A simultaneous release is when a movie is made available on many different media (cinema, DVD, internet, TV etc.) at the same time or with very little period of time distance one from another.
This release method has both positive and negative aspects:
POSITIVES
1. The audience can choose the type of media that most suits their needs
2. The production studios only have to run one marketing campaign.
NEGATIVES
1. The product might not get substantial investment or promotion.
Straight-to-video release
A straight to video release is when the distributors don’t consider the “theatrical window” and immediately release it on DVD.
Internet release
This method is still new to the film distribution platform.
Shrinking of the theatrical window
The theatrical window was originally conceived for a six months duration while today been reduced to little more than four months.
This happened in an attempt to make up for the substantial losses in the DVD market they've been suffering from.
Ex. When Disney announced that Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland would have been made available 14 weeks after the movie's release date (instead of the usual 17) in order to avoid competition from the 2010 World Cup. Theatre owners made threats not to show the movie on their screens,[18] but later reconsidered their position before the movie was released.
The mid shots on some young people from the crowd are used to introduce the theme of the movie: communication devices. All these scene have both diegetic sounds like for example people talking to each other that mix with a motif to create tension.
In this scene we have a mid shot of the guy’s back. Some horror movies tend to start with an happy beginning and slowly get to the scary part, this movie is different the fact that it’s really fast pace makes it introduce what we can define a “creature” in the first two minutes of the movie. By showing the danger behind the protagonist back represent him as vulnerable and unaware of what could happen to him. When the figure is shown in the mirror we can hear a sudden and short motif with a technology theme.
After the guy enters the building and goes through the security we have in the background the diegetic sound of the keys the guy puts in the box. When the security guard looks for the guy’s name on the computer there is a whole shot on the screen and that is how the director of the movie decided to introduce this character to us.
After introducing Josh’s character he sees what is probably the same “creature” as before on the screens behind the guard that are transmitting what the security cameras behind him are recording (here we have a shot on what he sees on the screen) but when he turns around fast (the camera shoots at Josh’s eyes hight) just like if his eyes were recording, he doesn’t see anything.
We also have the feeling like if something is wrong with the security guard even though nothing it’s going on with him, he was just represented this way by the guy’s anxious subconscious.
After this Josh takes the elevator and we have an extreme close up of him pushing the button to call it this creates almost a dramatic moment and leads the audience to expect something to happen in the elevator.
In the elevator we have again the same situation as the security guard before. In fact there is also an old man in the elevator with Josh, the man isn’t doing anything but the subconscious of Josh makes him feel not safe. Here we have a side close up of Josh nervous expression that also shows us the blurry figure of old man behind him.
As soon as the doors open the old man gets out and Josh finds himself in what looks like a library. Here the lightning already dark of the movies become almost totally black creating tension and the suspect that something might be hiding in the dark.
The most important part a good horror film, is having understanding of other horror films, and how they work/are edited to be effective. So before we began planning ours, we did plenty of research into other films.
Here is Lulu's research into a film:
Pulse
Contextual Analysis of a film in the same genre as ours.
Pulse is an American horror movie made in 2006 directed by Jim Sonzero. It stars famous actress Kristen Bell and Ian Somerhalder; the movie is a re-make of the Japanese horror film Kairo.
This movie is based on modern communicating devices such as: computers, mobile phones etc. and about our use of them.
I analysed the first two minutes and twenty seconds of the movie but before writing about that i also wanted to put in evidence the titles at the beginning that i really liked because of the adherence with the theme of the movie: technology. In this movie, the titles alone took up the first two minutes.
The movie starts with a mid shot of a crowd slowly focusing on one person in particular.
As you can see from the screenshots the lightning is quite dark, a mixture of blue and grey. This kind of light defines the horror genre, creating a mysterious ambience.
The first part of the opening is full of mid shots and close ups to highlight the guy’s nervous expression and the context, in fact he doesn’t look relaxed at all, he looks around and stares at the people that surround him in a suspicious way almost if looking for someone or that he had better check if someone is following him.
I decided to go back and do further research into films, but this time in the thriller genre. I did this to broaden my knowledge of films and what makes them successful.
1: The opening titles for this movie are very clever; they are designed to reflect the genre of the film- action. They move along the screen from right to left with the sound effect of a car moving at high speed.
2: This is used in films often, when applicable, as it instantly grabs the viewers attention.
3: This long shot of the car from reverse, pans from side to side across the road as the car does to. Also acting as a sort of establishing shot, setting the theme, period and location.
4: Cuts to front of car, showing a mid shot of the three main protagonists.
5: This shot builds suspense.
9: This extreme close up of just his eye, is clever as it continues to show the view he is looking at. It also is the start of his monologue, which plays as it slowly zooms about to show what he is looking at.
Here is Lily's research into the film 'Scream' and what makes it effective.
I took 8 screen shots from the opening to minutes, 30 seconds, and wrote about what made those shots work well.
The opening 2 and a half minutes of the movie 'Scream'
Here is the clip I used- from the beginning until 2 minutes and 20 seconds in.
THE CLIP BEGINS WITH THE TITLE SCREAM IN WHITE WRITING.
White is used for the beginning title, on a black background because the ghost is white and black, so it symbolises him. Instantly suggesting the theme of the movie.
IT THEN FLASHES TO RED.
As it changes the sound of a scream is used to build tension. It changes to red to symbolise blood, and death.
This is done to build suspense for the audience members. As more of the background is shown, it makes the audience more nervous as they then expect something to jump out, especially as they get a view of the window- they expect something to be outside.
Sound used is firstly used in the titles. The white text 'Scream' enters the screen and as it does so there is a bang. Many sound effect are then used, including a heartbeat, which builds tension, and a telephone ringing, which we later find out is a sound-bridge of the next scene. As the text changes to red, we hear a scream, which gradually gets louder, until the whole screen turns red. It then cuts to a close up of the ringing telephone, and that is the only sound remaining.
A CLOSE UP OF HER FACE IS SHOWN WHICH THEN SLOWLY ZOOMS OUT AND PANS TO SHOW MORE SURROUNDINGS.
Showing the surrounding and a view to outside if done to scare the audience, as they then expect something to happen, or something to jump out.
Diegetic sound is used in the establishing shot scene. This consists of a creaking swing as it moves forward and back. This is used as a sound motif.
ESTABLISHING SHOT OF HOUSE, AND GARDENS WITH SWING IN.
CLOSE UP
This close up is used because it has the reflection of her in the glass. This is clever because it at first looks like someone else.
MID SHOT OF HER FROM ACROSS THE TABLE.
The editing in this scene is very slow, at first, and contains many long pans of her walking around the house, on the phone, to set location and show the miss-en-scene- a young couples first home.
Close ups, such as the two above are used. These are predominately used just to focus on objects as supposed to the girl, or storyline for a second.
THE FINAL SHOT, OF THE OPENING.
This iconic shot of her face changing, the first time she feels afraid, is used. It is a close up of her face, once again showing the window and reflections in the background. The shot first begins as a mid shot but on the line 'because I want to know who I am looking at' it zooms in to become the close up above. As this happens an asynchronous, non-diegetic sound if used to scare the audience.
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