Sunday 3 May 2015
History of Horror
The horror genre is a very forward thinking form of media and has progressed over the past 25 years. Starting from the 1900’s, horror films around the start of the 1900’s included all things related to concepts surrounding monsters and ghouls. The first adaptation of Frankenstein was in 1910, although it was a short quarter-of-an-hour film it was notable due to the fact Thomas Edison produced it. 1910 also saw several adaptations of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Supporting my point on the fictional ‘villains,’ in 1913 The Werewolf was released, which was directed by Henry Macrae.
In 1920 the release of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, was the first successful screen adaption of the novel. This was followed by the controversial adaption of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, (which caused Stoker’s family to sue the film-makers over copyright issues) which was titled Nosferatu and was released in 1922.
Between the 1900 to 1930’s films were known as the ‘silent fear’ due to the lack of sound/ dialogue in most films. During the silent era, Universal Studios were responsible for the few achievements in American horror most notably the Lon Cheney Sr. films: The Phantom of the Opera and Hunchback of Notre Dame.
Onwards from the 1930’s where talking pictures were now the norm, films still continued to be filled with vampires, monsters and mummies. These were called the ‘classic creations’. Universal Studios really got involved with the horror genre and pioneered Dracula (1931). James Whale then produced the Invisable Man in 1933, Stuart Walker’s Werewolf in London (1935) and Hambert Hillyer’s Dracula’s Daughter in 1936.
This Universal Gothic Horror Cycle started to lose its steam and fell into a pit of self parody with film titles like The Invisible Man Returns, The Mummy’s Hand and Frankenstein meets the Wolf Man in 1943. The period between the post World War II years and the 1950’s were likely to be the most difficult time in Hollywood. From Supreme Court rulings splitting apart the studio system to a death match against television for patrons, this time period saw an increasingly protective Hollywood trying desperately to stay relevant. The horror genre still stayed popular with teens, looking for a thrill out of the narratives. Horror films began to illustrate this Cold War fear of invasion blending into a Pulp Science Fiction cycle with films like The Thing From Another World and The Day The Earth Stood Still, both from 1951.
By the mid 50’s the sci-fi cycle wore down and this sprung the ‘Psychology, Sex and Gore’ explosion in the 1960’s. Different styles and cycles in the horror genre gained popularity, prestige and freedom, due to the censorship of the Production Code being abandoned in 1964. Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960) helped mark the change between monsters to reality fears. Norman Bates was an everyday human on the outside but a psychological monster in the mind. Hitchcock then delivered another ground-breaking horror called The Birds in 1963. Back in the United Kingdom, Hammer Films Productions rebooted Universals Gothic Monsters but added sex and gore in films such as Terence Fisher’s The Curse of Frankenstein.
Horror was starting to be taken seriously both at the highest craft of film production and at the lowest: setting the stage for important horror sub-genres that come in the following decades. Films about Satan and Supernatural forces (the occult) became popular, big budget subjects. The Exorcist (1973) claimed to be the greatest entry in the Occult cycle.
Moving to the 1980’s The Shining, which in true Kubrick fashion defies any category or imitation. Friday the 13th (1980) and A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) were both studio stacked slasher films that were a great success with numerous sequels.
The slasher films came to a halt and psychological and thriller horrors carried on running through the 1990’s and into the early 2000’s, including films like The Ring, Sixth Sense and The Silence of The Lambs.
In the early 2000’s a new era exaggeratedly called “Torture Porn,” this emphasised extreme gore, grunge and often tortuous violence. The Saw franchise, was the most successful series of films to cover the torture porn genre, starting from 2004. The monster villains also returned in 2004 with Shaun of The Dead, (the parody of 2004’s Dawn of the Dead). This was also followed by The Walking Dead television series, whose popularity has continued to grow so much that it regularly gets more than 12 million viewers per week in the USA.
Horror films have continued to push boundaries using body horror and other deep narrative methods, using Evil Dead (2013) as an extremist blood bath film, but also still shocking audiences with psychological thrillers like Oculus (2013) and The Possession (2012).
Friday 1 May 2015
Side by Side Magazine Cover Analysis
In my magazine cover for Francesca I followed many key aspects and conventions of a magazine cover. My masthead is featured at the top of the cover, as seen in the Entertainment Weekly magazine. I used a bigger size font to create immediate attention. This is also a convention of magazine covers for practicality with being able to notice it when stacked on a display, as the top of the magazines usually stick out at the top.
The image on the magazine cover is of the director of Francesca; I chose to compare this to the image on the Entertainment magazine as it’s more of a sophisticated picture, rather than a weapon, villain or victim. In both my magazine and Entertainment the photograph is directly addressing the audience by looking straight to the camera. This effect is used to invite the reader in and encourage them to buy the magazine. The images also conventionally lay over the masthead, just to ensure they are the main focal point.
The main cover line is significantly bigger than the other cover lines and also uses the font on the poster for Francesca; this is so that in advertising the film would get immediate recognition and connection to the film. The main cover line also links to the image on the cover to link the 2 together; this is seen in both the magazines. The quote from the director on my magazine also communicates to the audience through the realism it contributes.
The other cover lines on my magazine are a simple and bold font to communicate the stories quickly, without the reader needing to take time and pick it up; this would increase the rate of sales with the easy understanding of cover lines. The cover line “Who’s next for dinner?” addresses the reader and challenges them the question, almost hinting they could be next, which threatens the reader. This effect would make them want to read it to clear up that answer.
The colours used relate to the horror genre and represent real life media products, like the Entertainment magazine cover; as all the colours I have used are also seen on that magazine. The red connotes danger and blood but is also alarming to draw attention. The black is a statement colour which also connotes danger and darkness. The white text used is used for clear practicality of clear reading but is effective against the black.
Side by Side Poster Analysis
In my poster for Francesca I have included many generic conventions of horror. Similar to the Hatchet poster the image is a close up shot, this is a well-known convention of horror films as it is used to build suspense and hide the audience from the full information of what’s in a shot. They can also be used to intensify emotion in a scene. Both images in my poster and the Hatchet poster are of a weapon or object which would be helpful to a killer. My image is of a wooden chair arm with rope tied around it to suggest someone has been tied up and tortured. This is also reflected in the second half of the tagline ‘Is torture ever justified?’. The Hatchet image is of an axe, which has dried up and fresh blood on it, again to suggest it has been used.
This links to the convention of blood and body horror in the horror genre. I have incorporated this in my poster through the blood on the rope and wood, along with the blood splatters seen over the rest of the poster. This can be compared to the blood on the Hatchet poster which, has been contained on the axe. The use of blood in the 2 posters proposes there will be the subgenre of body horror in the films and that it will be a main element in the films.
The colours used in my poster are conventional for the horror genre. This is because the colour red connotes danger and blood, which are two common themes which run through horror films. Black is another conventional colour as it connotes darkness and evil which the majority of horror films feature. The white writing used is usually used to be able to depict it from the dark backgrounds; however I used it specifically to symbolise the ruined innocence of Francesca. This is also shown through the slashed up font with the black running through to imply the innocence being taken away and over ruled by darkness. The Hatchet poster uses similar colours with the black and white but uses a darker red and introduces green to represent the text ‘stay out of the swamp’ as most swamps are seen to be green.
Another convention of horror is low key lighting, this is displayed in both my poster for Francesca and Hatchet as the black background has an overall dark effect which uses low key lighting.
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