Horror-Genre Research

Horror

Horror is a genre in film that is often used to induce feelings of fear, shock, and terror. Some sub-genres that stem from horror include psychological horror, supernatural, thriller, etc. Viewers between the ages of 15-25, which are more prominently male, are the most common enjoyers of horror. Horror is able to attract its audience by creating suspense and mystery, and its viewers generally tend to be those who seek out extreme experiences. This trait is known as thrill-seeking.

Conventions

Conventions are described as elements that are commonly seen through many productions in one genre. Typically in horror films, aspects such as conflict and common fears(such as the fear of death-known as thanatophobia) can be seen in a story. In the production of these films, conventions such as suspenseful music and jumpscares are often seen in this genre. For instance, suspenseful music can be used by having an instrumental slowly build up the volume of this music while a shocking turn of events is going to occur. This will create anticipation from the viewer and attract their attention.

Marketing 

As previously mentioned, the target audience of the horror genre is typically males from the ages 15-25, often possessing the personality trait known as thrill-seeking. To attract audiences to watch horror films, advertisements generally focus on emphasizing the presence of the film's antagonist. This can be done in many ways, such as in trailers, posters, or social media advertisements. Additionally, horror films will build curiosity in the audience by advertising a mystery, enticing a viewer to want to find out more about the film. Horror films often bring a large amount of revenue for the producers, as the budget required to produce the film is low, and they often do good in the box office.

Film Samples

Jennifer's Body (2009) stars actors Megan Fox as Jennifer Check and Amanda Seyfried as Anita "Needy" Lesnicki. Needy is the protagonist, fighting against Jennifer as the antagonist, after she was sacrificed in a ritual and then turned into a demon when the sacrifice was unsuccessful. Jennifer begins to eat the boys in her surrounding town of Devil's Kettle, Minnesota. This film is an accurate embodiment of horror as it uses aspects such as gore, suspense, and jumpscares. As Jennifer often is shown eating the boys around her, special effects are often used to create a realistic visualization of this. This film also jumpscares to create feelings of tension and fear in its viewers. Jumpscares are defined as a way to scare the audience by creating an abrupt change in the picture. This is often paired with an unexpected sound.

Terrifier (2016) stars David Howard Thornton as Art the Clown, the antagonist in the Terrifier films. This film shows the story of two young girls on Halloween night, with the killer Art the Clown on the loose. He terrorizes the characters, as well as others introduced in the span of the film. Terrifier notoriously uses practical effects such as blood and gore to create a violent atmosphere. This film shows many killings and creates suspense by using numerous jump scares to frighten the audience. Terrifier was successful in making a profit, requiring a budget of $250,000 to be produced but gaining a profit of over $15,000,000. Terrifier has a sequel, Terrifier 2(2022), and a third movie is predicted to come out in late 2024.

Other Horror Films Include:

Black Phone(2021)

The Excorcist(1973)

The Nun(2018)

Smile(2022)

X (2022)

Scream VI(2023)

Sound Blog Post

My sound project is a production of solely audio, taking just over a minute and a half to tell a story. The story told by my production begins with a character walking outside, in a city environment. The story continues with the character walking into a coffee shop and ordering a drink. The drink is then being made.

The outline used when creating this project:  Soundscape Planning Outline

This production was split into two phases: finding the sounds to use for this project, and editing the sounds together. When finding the sounds to use in this production, me and my partner first created an outline of every sound we wanted to include in our project. Once this was decided, we found sounds to use this project in two different ways: creating our own sounds and using sound databases. We used Foley techniques to create some of the sounds in this project(foley videos can be accessed here:https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tTNaT06XvqTJMcXCMJP0y6gMEi3bow1V/view?usp=drive_link). We also used sound databases, to find the rest of the sounds in our production.

Once we had collected all the sounds to use in the video, the editing process began. We used Adobe Premiere Pro to create this video. To create a realistic soundscape, many pieces of audio were layered over each other throughout the entire video. Another technique used was the use of environmental sound. For instance, during the beginning portion of the project, sounds such as cars driving, ambulances sounding, and construction sounds were used to create the ambiance of a busy city. This allows the production to sound realistic, as if the listener was actually walking through a city.

The final project can be accessed here:

 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cIMOccPYfp3fw6aeqbSg8CBRQsvn5nH9/view?usp=drive_link 

Camera Shots Quiz Analysis

 This project requires that our story is told in 15 shots, and it must include different shot compositions, such as an establishing shot, a long shot, a medium shot, or a close up shot. Once the story was complete it was to be uploaded into a Powerpoint and each image would have a short analysis. 

My partner, Aggie, and I were able to develop our final product by using two inanimate objects, in our case we used markers, to represent the complexity of human emotions.

I was able to effectively tell my story while following the instructions of the project, but my shot composition could be improved. For example, I can improve on capturing an Extreme Close Up, as I have learned it should only show one aspect of a subject.

shots quiz.pptx

Introduction Post

 My name is Lucia. I am creating this blog to document my journey throughout the my AICE Media Studies class. This blog will be used for any future projects made in the school year.