Representation of horror and our own film

Prom Night Analysis

The film "Prom Night" is a horror and its poster is simple but yet very effective. There are a lot of mise en scene elements, such as props that connote to the target audience that it is a pure horror film that is aiming to scare its audience. The target audience of this film is teenagers and young adults, I know this because the title shows that it will have characters of the same/similar age to the audience and the events that may have or will experience for example, a prom.


Firstly, there are 4 colours that are noticeable and they are; red, gray, white and black. This is effective because it makes the poster seem bright because the colours go together and the colourful elements do not draw the target attentions away from the actual image. The colour pallet is a signal of ahorror genre for the target audience because it is dark and therefore the audience has a sense of not being able to see the picture in its true light

The poster has a worn and damaged look to it and this suggest the possible struggle that the character is in. Also the poster doesn't have a glossy, pretty look to it and this is ironic because prom is supposed to be glossy, pretty and stylish, which the poster isn't and obviously the poster suggests that it's a bad night. The target audience would have to watch the film to see why a stereotypical glitzy and elegant prom would be disrupted.

The film poster has followed  the conventions of horror genre ad the victim is female.
Females are often chosen as victims in a horror film because they are generally classed as inferior, vulnerable and weaker than mean and this therefore suggest that they are more likely to be the one who is more likely to get attacked by the villain because they are vulnerable.



The title is in red and this can be related to blood, passion and evil. The colouring makes the title stand out against the dark sinister setting but it does not steal the focus from the main picture because it is correctly sized and is in a basic font. The edges of the text is slightly blurred into the picture and in my view this gives off a feeling that the writing is glowing or that it could be written in blood and is now dripping down. This shows that the horror genre is targeting the audience by implying that violence and harm will be occurring during the film and that the person being harmed is the girl in the poster.



In this picture there is what I would call a tiara and this is one of the main focuses of the poster and its cleverly used because the glamour is linked with fear. It is a stereotypical element of high school proms and this reinforces the setting of the title. The tiara is placed on characters head and the hair is untidy and this suggests that the character distressed and could of been involved in violence such as a struggle because the prop is displaced and her hair is messy. The tiara covers the characters eyes and this makes the audience focus on the mouth and her expression is linked with fear because it looks like she is screaming for help, or something similar.

 

The expression of the character is the main focus point of the poster because it portrays terror and fear, and these two elements are very common and important to horror films and this factor of the poster displays the genre to the target audience. The mouth takes up a lot of the poster (around one third) and this suggest that its highlighting the importance and presents fear that will be created throughout the movie. In addition it looks like she is screaming and this expression would cause the target audience to imagine that she is in a distressed situation.



At the bottom of the poster there's a short slogan or tag line which says "A night to die for" this is clever because its playing with words as it is a phrase that is used by the target audience but in this context the word "die" actually does mean "die" and that something is obviously going to happen. The tagline/slogan is placed under the title so it is the second the audience reads after the naming of the film. The text fits with the colour palette because it is in white and it helps stand out from the main title as well as the background itself

notes about the horror genre part 2

Equirbliam music - "Motifs are incidental"
Equirbliam is when the opposing forces or influences are balanced or in the norm.

Erigm a code - A narrative by an unawnsered question
Proairetic/Action code - Drives narrative through antciptation of an actions resolution

Linear - Start to finish
Non Linear - Jumbeled
Circular - Starts where it finishes
Parrel Narrative - Two narrated parts of a story set in the same place and same time.
Convergent Narrative - Come together
Interweaving Narrative - Two people whose lives come together and go apart again
Flashback - A scene where the character has a vision from his/her past, usually something that gives a clue or something back for example death.
Ellipsis - Things such as scenes missing

Notes about the horror genre

Common Elements:

• Tension
• Fear
• Todorovs Theory
• Dark/Light Contrast
• Teenagers can relate
• Setting (Colleges/House/Small Towns) - Safety is theartned
• Final girl
• Element of suprise
• Disgust

The horror genre:

An attempt to make the audience experience fright fear or digust. Narratives often involve an evil force, event or supernatural character.

Gore fest = Zombie/Undead "Thriller" reflects to it

Denotation

Connotation

Camera Angle: 2 Shot

A two shot is a type of shor employed in the film industry in which the frame encompasses a view of two people (the subjects). The subjects do not have to be next to each other, and there are many common two shots which have one subject n the foreground and the other subject in the backgrouns. The shots are also used to show the emotional reactions between the subjects.

There are many genre's of horror such as:

• Psychological
• Science fiction
• Comedy
• Slasher
• Desomic
• Gore
• Apoclyptic/Armageddon

Heroine is usually the final girl, she s good looking and vunurable but resourceful, she usually has a past story such as her mother dying.
Villians can appear to be the hero. However this is not always obvious. This is driven by, revenge, mental instablity, love for the female and obessions. Ofren has an object/weapon (iconography) that signfies them, for example in "Scream" there is iconography of the phone, the mask and the knife.

Horror Film Conventions in reference to the film Scream

Horror Films are unsettling films designed to frighten and panic, and cause fear and apprehension. Horror films look on the dark side of life and focus on the forbidden, and strange and alarming events. They deal with our fears, vulnerability, and the terror of the unknown and the fear of death.

The classic conventions of the horror film include: the final girl, a frightening place, dark or threatening mise-en-scene , narratives that move from equilibrium to disturbance and back to a new equilibrium, a horrible human/monster, themes of death and destruction, iconography such as knives and masks, and a disorientation/disturbance of the audience

For example in Scream (Directed by Wes Craven) these conventions are employed literally and at the same time self-consciously. The dialogue of the film includes detailed descriptions of the mechanics and effects of the horror film.

In Scream the final girl is Sydney (played by Neve Campbell) fulfils the role of the final girl. Characters are being killed all around her and she is left at the end of the film having to meet head on the killers. This approach allows her to discover the true identities of the killers and find out the truth about her own mother’s murder. The final girl confronts her own past traumas and fears. Confronting fears face – to – face is a good thing to do in my own production, as it will create tension towards the audience.

In Scream the frightening place is not a gothic castle or an isolated house, but the domestic home, this somewhat goes against the conventions of horror but it still creates the edgy and thrilling side of the horror because it’s not normal. From the first killing of Casey  in her home, we realize that the place we would naturally consider to be safe is, in fact, not. I would use this in my production because its part of the create and fear can be generated from it. In Scream the killers attack in the home, and this makes the invasion that much more detailed and frightening

The opening scene of Casey’s killing also provides examples of the ominous mise-en-scene characteristic of a horror film. She often moves around the house lit by lamps which provides small amounts of light and shadow. The darkened spaces are frightening for both Casey and the viewer because they provide places for a killer to hide and later on make its move on attacking the victim, which is Casey. The lack of illumination in the scene is both literal and somewhat scary, but yet natural. When Casey looks out of the window the mist over the pool also provides an example of disorientating mise-en-scene.

The monsters in Scream are, of course the killers who bring chaos and death in the film. What is interesting about Wes Craven’s version of this convention, is that they are not damaged victims who kill for their own pain. (this could be argued) These are bored teenagers with little or no motive and for many viewers this is a far more frightening creation.

Horrors have something called Iconography and Scream shows a good example of this. Scream includes many classic icons of horror. We see knives and a mask in the opening sequence and these are used throughout the film to signify the killers. Knives are intimate violent weapons. The killers must attack from close quarters and often stabs many times, heightening the fear and pain of the victim Horror films use disguise as a means of confusing the viewer and obscuring the killer’s identity until the end of the film. I would use this in my production as it creates suspension and plays mind games with the viewer and makes them want to know who the killer is so therefore have to watch the entire film.