Health and Safety Assessment

Horror Moodboard

The two images of the women represent our final girl and main character. She is a strong woman who kills men which have given unwanted sexual attention to her and other females. This is because she was sexually abused as a child by her father. Unconventionally, our female killer is blonde and goes against the archetypal killer. This links to the female killer in Kill Bill (top left hand corner) which was betrayed by a male and seeks revenge. She reflects our blonde killer with the courage and heroine vibe.

Although she is strong and independent, there is still innocence about her and she is still a ‘little girl’. Therefore, there is a likeable sense about her and she is an anti-villain. This reflects the other image from Carrie (bottom right hand corner) where she is a teenage killer but still frightened and somewhat normal at home. This is shown in the image as ‘Carrie’ is seen looking at her hands and frightened of what she’s done.

We have included an image of a symbol that represents feminism as Francesca’s actions are very biased towards women, and protecting herself and others from men. Some men view women in a motherly, stay at home and serve the husband role, in a functionalist and patriarchal society. Our blonde female killer subverts this role and dominates over men and their stereotypical thoughts of a ‘blonde bimbo’.

We will be focusing on a lot of body horror as this is our main genre theme. Also, because the blonde killer will be involved in alot of murders which will occur in various different ways and effects. 

A stereotypical psychological/gore horror fan

Description:
Name: Ruth
Job: Teacher
Likes: Sport, horror films, cooking.
Dislikes: Government.
Lifestyle: Feminist whose life ambition is to give children a better education.

Demographic:
Age: 25
Race: White British
Social: B1 (professional teacher)
Gender: Female

Psychographic: Reformer which is someone who wants to change the world and this works well with the interest of horror films as they portray strong opinions and usually a strong female character. An example of a strong female character is Ana from Dawn of the Dead 2004.

Dawn of The Dead (2004) image analysis (3)

This is a still shot taken from the opening credits of a reporter on the news talking about terrorism. This news report is being filmed on what looks like a phone as it is from a Middle Eastern country. In contrast to the original Dawn of the Dead (1979) it focusses on the ideas towards terrorism and infection and not so much on consumerism. In the original most of the film exhibited ideas towards consumerism, whereas there’s only a montage of about 2 minutes in this film. This film very much focuses on the historical context of Ebola and Islamic terrorists (9/11). These two events were fresh in the audience’s minds and haunted their thoughts, making this film shocking again. The song ‘The Man Comes Around’ by Johnny Cash is played during the opening credits. The song lyrics link to the story of the film and then action involved, therefore it's parallel music. The song references to Judgement Day and the Old Testament within Christianity. This links to the films tagline of ‘When there’s no more room in hell, the dead will walk the earth.’ Meaning there are too many sinners and they have been brought back to Earth as zombies, linking into the subtext of religious war. Janet Staiger is the main critic behind audience studies. She explained how understanding the context of a film is key to understanding the films content and effects how the audience respond.

Dawn of The Dead (2004) image analysis (2)

In this shot Ana is about to shoot Steve. Ana is the ‘final girl’ and goes against the conventions of blonde females in horror films through her courage and independence. This supports the rise in feminism in society. Ana is a nurse and therefore can cope with blood and body horror as she deals with it on a daily basis. Steve plays a very self-centred character in the film; showing arrogance, selfishness and plain bullying. He is a rich man with no feelings towards anyone but himself. This is shown in different parts of the film where he is on the roof of the mall telling Andy to kill zombies, which look like particular celebrities. Throughout the film he shows no remorse at all towards the killing these previously normal people’. He was also given the job to hold a door open while some of the other men went to save Nicole and Chips but he failed to do this and almost got everyone killed. Even during this scene he was not unapologetic. Even though Ana is seen shooting Steve, this was an ironic scene as Steve had earlier said to her “If I ever turn into one of those things, do me a favour and blow my f***ing head off” and she kept to her promise by fulfilling this by using a typical phallic weapon but claiming its symbolic male power. Although Ana is portrayed as a strong character, she does show compassion to Frank when he is bitten and shows her intelligence by working out how the infection spreads.

Dawn of The Dead (2004) image analysis (1)

This scene from Dawn of the Dead (2004) features Andre and Kenneth. Andre is confessing to Kenneth all the criminal actions he has committed and explaining how he wants to change. Kenneth is the ‘male hero’ and pursues a very respected job as a policeman. With his job comes a lot of authority and superiority, this is shown in the still shot through his size compared to Andre. He is closer to the camera and therefore displaying he is more powerful. He is also seen in most of the film with a large phallic symbol, which is a shotgun; this reflects his butch personality and ego. The shot also exhibits his clean reputation compared to Andre as he is wearing a white top to connote innocence and goodness. Whereas, Andre is wearing a black top to portray his criminal past and darkness. Andre holds a negative black stereotype with a criminal record, but Kenneth contradicts the stereotype and is a tough but soft-hearted ‘male hero’ archetype. This is shown in the film when he makes good friends with Andy, across the street and genuinely cares for him. He is smart and survives at the end, which supports the Blaxploitation film style with powerful black stars, for example Track Turner (1974). Despite Andre's reputation, he is trying to turn his life around and is desperately trying to protect Luda and his unborn child. This inter-racial relationship with Luda is no longer shocking due to the change in historical context. However, would have been a new and challenging idea when the original Dawn of The Dead (1979) was released.

Dawn of The Dead (1979) image analysis (3)

This famous scene from Dawn of the Dead (1979) was cut from the initial release of the film in Britain in 1979 because before the film was released a school shooting in Britain occurred and therefore didn’t want to portray the power of guns after these events. The still shot is of a black man being shot by racist white man, called Wooley. This is during an attack on an apartment where some zombies lived, however the man in the image was not a zombie. Wooley is soon after killed in the film by the black hero, Peter. This was another way for George Romero to portray the recklessness of racism. This shot shows another aspect to Romero’s personality as auteur as he liked to push the boundaries of gore. This effect of the head explosion was created by Tom Savini; who specialised in make-up and special effects. Tom Savini served in the Vietnam War and experienced some horrific sights and this inspired him to work in the arts of body horror and film. His effects show the truth of violence and death as he has experienced it for how it really is. The Vietnam War was within the society in the 1970’s, which spread general misery, along with President Nixon and the Watergate scandal.

Dawn of The Dead (1979) image analysis (2)

This scene from Dawn of the Dead (1979) looks at the concept of consumerism. This is through the action of holding the money up to the camera, promoting and praising it. George A. Romero (the film's “auteur” according to the theory set out by Andrew Sarris in his essay “Notes on the Auteur Theory in 1962”) was very anti-consumerist and by emphasising the stupidity of consumerism; the zombies, in their state are still taking part in the consumerist side of the film. This shows the stupidity and meaningless side to money and possessions. The context of the time links to Dawn of the Dead (1979) because America was obsessed with money and malls were a rapidly rising idea. Romero often links his films to context and strong opinions within society, for example, Land of the Dead (2005) which was about terrorism. Also Day of the Dead (1985), which was about the power of the military. As well as consumerism the film also presents ideas towards racism. This is shown in this scene as the wide shot captures Peter as a large figure compared to Stephen which shows his power and authority over Stephen. Romero was also very anti-racism as he was born half Cuban. This scene clearly illustrates Andrew Sarris’s focus on the impact of auteurs' ideologies in the content of films.

Dawn of The Dead (1979) image analysis (1)

This is the last scene of Dawn of the Dead (1979) with the only 2 survivors from the group. The auteur of the film (George A. Romero) commonly illustrated the stupidity and immorality of racism within his films. This was shown in the end of Night of the Living Dead (1968) where the rednecks killed the black hero (Ben) and burnt his body. He has shown his hatred towards racism in this film by having a black male hero. This also linked to his auteur signature of challenging horror conventions. He has gone against character stereotypes through having a black hero and a blonde final girl, as typically a blonde female would be the first to die. By having male and female survivors it hints towards an interracial relationship, which could have been quite a taboo in the 1970’s, but this was just another way for Romero to illustrate the stupidity of racism.  The use of a mid-close up shot captures them both as well as some of the background. This shows the interior of the helicopter, which reminds us of another heroic part of Fran’s personality as she has learnt to fly it; further distorting the conventions/stereotypes of a blonde female.  

Psycho image analysis (3)

This picture from Psycho is after Marion was attacked by Norma/Norman. This scene exhibits the ideology of misogyny as it’s an archetypal female victim, which is attacked brutally in a shower and being portrayed as a sexual object. Marion is blonde as the Auteur (Hitchcock) was obsessed with blonde women and he enjoyed torturing them with practical jokes e.g. he purposely made the water of the shower freezing cold. This was evident in a lot of Hitchcock’s films, for instance in The 39 Steps where he handcuffed a blonde women to his male co-star and made out he had lost the key, although he had it the whole time. He is also known for using a lot of collision cutting, for example, how it falls quiet just before the attack. The use of a close-up is a horror convention used within the cinematography of film making. It is used in this scene to show emotion and the distress in the shot. The tear coming from Marion's eye shows the sadness and symbolises her last act alive was an uncomfortable and horrible situation. It is also used to make the audience feel empathetic of Marion’s pain. This shot is shown after an image of the shower plug hole where the water and blood are spiralling down. This connotes Marion’s life being drained from her body; this is another element to achieve an emotional effect. Marion is stabbed a multiple of times with a phallic weapon to signify Norman's masculinity inside of his mother’s actions. I feel that the use of the knife has connections to Norman’s sexual fantasies and that he is very sexually frustrated; he uses the knife as an act of penetration as a substitute. This scene spoke to the audiences of the 1960’s as it was one of the first horror films (along with Peeping Tom in 1959) to feature a human ‘monster’. All other horrors were about fantasy creatures like Dracula or Frankenstein.

Psycho image analysis (2)

This scene captures Norman (the archetypal psycho killer) in his office, having a conversation with Marion (the female victim). The expressionist low angle on Norman exhibits his power and dominance over the situation in the scene. This angle also shows that when the camera was to cut to Marion sitting down, it would be a high angle making her look inferior and weak in comparison to Norman. This is another example in Psycho where the ideology of sexism towards women is portrayed through the angle and his supremacy over her. The large stuffed birds represent Norman as the predator, hunting its prey and in this situation Marion is the prey. They could also been seen as other victims under the act of Norman as they are also dead in which they symbolise Marion. This is very ironic as Marions’ last name is Crane. The birds are also used to make the audience feel intimidated by them and therefore bring the same feelings towards Norman. Low key lighting is used in this scene to create deep shadows and imply the darkness hidden behind Normans’ ‘normal’ persona. This type of lighting is an aspect of mise-en-scene which is a conventional horror trait; this is also seen in the use of a creepy and enclosed location of the Bates Motel.

Psycho image analysis (1)

This scene is featured towards the end of the film where Norma (the mother side of Norman) has almost completely taken over Norman. The concept of transgender is highlighted by Norman dressing up in his mother’s clothes and wearing a wig to imitate her. He also speaks in his perception of her voice which compliments his psychotic behaviour. Norman/ Norma represent Ed Gein in this film which was a cannibal, serial killer only 3 years before the film was made. A lot of horror films relate to the historical context of their time. Ed Gein was also obsessive over his dead mother and preyed over women. The sadism ideology is seen in this image through Norman’s facial expression before he attempts to kill Lila. He looks excited and happy to be killing Lila. Another ideology seen is Sexism towards women as Norma is a man, about to attack Lila, a female. His weapon is a knife which is a phallic symbol to show his masculine side although he is Norma in this scene. The themes of loneliness and isolation are highlighted throughout the film because Norman lives alone. It is especially seen in this image as Norma is trapping Lila into this room by standing in the door way. The low key lighting produces shadows and dark elements in the photo which creates an unsettled scene.