Mood Board

This mood board should help us to come up with ideas for our horror film and get the creative ideas running.

#1 Frightened - Actors will have to show a lot of fear, this would help put the audience in the same shoes, or same place as the actor being scared, message would be easier to get across, and quality of film would be better. Serious horror films require just as much preparation for a role as other genres. It's imperative that the audience believes in the world of the film. The believability of the character is an integral portion of that believable world.

#2 Make-up blood - This will be key to show cuts and injuries on people, audience could think that it actually happened and draw them into the film, with this, we could dramatise the situations and make the audience feel sympathy for the actors. Any horror film we are acting in is a world that needs to come across as believable. True, it's not every day that we might get stabbed in the heart or have our friend's head fall in our lap, but it is our job as actors to make these moments as real as possible.

#3 POV shots - Point of view shots, would be ideal to be seen, as its found footage based, and a trailer, I would like to make some of the shots look blatant that we(actors) took them.

#4 Masked antagonists - Potentially saving us getting an extra actor, this would scare most audience as being seen with a mask thats covering the face, covers the identity, most people would link this to crime, and that they are about to do something bad, easy way to outline the bad guys.

#5 Facial Make up - Including cuts, wounds, scars, scratches, if all good, it would increase the quality of the film, just running around looking fine won't look realistic, but using makeup to fake injuries and accidents would surely make it more realistic.

#6 Group of survivors - Instead of using one person, use a group of friends or just survivors who got together to stay alive, this would be more effective as the audience can pick out their 'favourite' ones, and create a social interaction with each other, talking about it at school, work etc and making the film more popular.

#7 Hideouts - Using creepy abandoned places, to set a scary setting, of course editing and changing the colours would be a priority to make these good. But showing a few quick hideouts and conditions of the place, would bring the 

#8 Screaming - Acting in horror films almost always requires some sort of noise of distress at some point or another...usually it comes in the form of a scream. Screaming shows fear and being frightened, audience will see how scary it really is just by hearing the sound, yet some people may even just get scared by the scream.

#9 Woods - Many people find the unknown scary. The woods are not typically where people live. They may live near a forest, but they seldom live in one. Forests have predators, some of them large enough to kill humans. It's also easy to become lost.

#10 Creepy acting by diseased creatures - This would put the audience in discomfort, making them believe this could be realistic and make them scared.

#11 Knifes - Fake of course, using props like this would again, make it look more realistic as its something everyone thinks about when scared.

#12 Chainsaws - How scared would you be if someone was running after you with a chainsaw? Very! I am not sure how or where we could get one, or even a fake one, just to take a shot of one of the diseased creatures running after one of the survivals with one. But I think its a good idea to work around.

#13 Survival - Similar to hideout, show the horrendous conditions the survivals will be going through, stand out how difficult and disgusting some things are, for more drama and sympathy and fear. 

#14 Blood trails - Anyone seeing this would freak out, this would mean someone has been seriously hurt or even killed, with blood being on walls, ceilings etc and still dripping, would look fresh and that in only just happened, so the audience may be engaged in the sense of being with the survivals. 

Own Film brainstorm

Below I have embedded my brain storming ideas on the website www.mindmup.com. 

My Horror film ideas so far on MindMup

Practised Film Titles

In this blog I examine different types of film titles and analyse whether each one would suit our film.

This title is quite simple, I made it red to connote danger and blood; I used the font ‘crazy killer’. For me it looks too sketchy and not big blockbuster material.

These fonts are 'Scream' like fonts, with the sharp 'W' stretching down lower than where all letters are aligned, these fonts could make viewers associate our film with Scream, which we could argue has a good reputation but then again we want to have our own movie known for how good it is itself.  

Very similar to the first title, I think this would have a great influence on our trailer with titles with this style as it seems as if the killer wrote it himself on a wall, with the victims blood. 

For me this being the most favourite one as it looks as if the killer wrote it on a wall with the victims blood. For a horror movie, this would be spot on. Only bad thing is maybe making it red would be more attractive.

Film title research - Scream 4

This table shows the 3 part of the trailer of the film. Under the description of what happens, I included screenshots of the actual trailer.

This trailer starts off with the conventional modern twists with texting/facebook. This is very similar to the first scream trailer. The audience may notice this and think it is a parody of the first movie however the killer is unpredictable and the convention changes. The kill sequence challenges them and reinforces the convention.

Film title research - The Dark Knight and Spiderman 2

The Dark Knight

The Dark Knight’s (an action movie) opening titles are very interesting and effective. The high use of graphical content gives the audience a sense of the film being a big blockbuster movie. With use of label/image rotations and the use of black background and blue of shiny blue for the titles is very good for because it implies that the film is going to sinister and have negative events that occur. I'd say the highlight of the intro titles is when the blue flames of explosion suddenly appear on the screen and the Famous Batman logo emerges closer to towards the screen as if it's coming towards the audience. The use of this is very effective in setting the genre and building tension because the use of explosive flames would suggest the film will have epic moments of explosions and tragedy, and because the Batman logo emerges suggests that Batman will come to be a saviour which in itself shows some insight into what the audience might expect in the film. With the blue flames coming at the end of the intro titles is also another use of usefulness as it helps to lead into the opening scene of the film. Along with all the graphical use used, the music (which leads into the opening scene as well) could be also considered as effective as all the other aspects of the intro titles because the music used sounds like a countdown/time limit. This helps to compliment the rest of the intro titles as it adds a great level of tension and engagement to draw from the audience which could be said is key for the opening of the Dark Knight. Also, because the opening scene of the film shows a group of thugs attempting to rob a bank amazingly links the intro titles with the opening scene itself as the countdown feel is in the characters current situation within the opening scene which helps to greaten the quality of the opening of the Dark Knight. The title into this film is definitely one of the best constructed and effect ever in film. The intro titles to this film I should look for guidance as my film as well is a similar genre and planned to be opening type of tension and feel to the my film so this could be useful.

Spiderman 2

The choice of soundtrack, in this opening titles sequence, is very different to that of The Dark Knight Rises'. A very different feeling lingers within it. Though it is quite upbeat it feels lighter than Batman's. This could be because they are aiming it at a younger audience. If so, it works well in ensuring appropriateness. The font is consistent and capitalised. It is Mata-regular. This is a symbolic font for Spider-Man and is used throughout the sequels. This compels the audience to recognise it. Throughout the titles, a red colour scheme is used. This is also symbolic. Also, a comic book effect is used with carbonised characters. This is effective because the film came from a comic and this digs up the film's roots. Very effective technique and not used by other films. Anyone not familiar with the film can easily get an idea of what is expected. As the titles reach an end, the music gets increasingly emotional this is emotive for the audience and makes them feel what the director wants them to feel. It is effective in involving the audience emotionally.

Film Title Ideas

Here are our initial ideas for our trailer:

·        Nocturnal Eyes

·        The Last Ride

·        Black Trip

·        Sharing The wilderness

·        Against Expectations

·        Lie in wait

·        Desperate

·        One Way

·        Hell

·        Pray for rescue

·        1 week

·        They Watched or Watched

·        More than human

 I like the last two names the most, '1 week' and 'They Watched'. Both are quite vague and dont give a lot away, would have the best effect on the viewers making them want to watch it.

Audience Research and Profiling

Below is a description of the typical person who represents the marketability of the film. His hobbies, interests and pursuits are all linked in some way to the genre I have chosen: thriller, action and of course horror.

· BBFC rating of 15.

· 15 to 50 year olds.

· Both genders

· Old teens and young adults.

· Horror lovers and horror film enthusiasts.

TARGET AUDIENCE PROFILE

This is John. He is 18 and is currently studying A levels in Psychology, Law, Media and Maths. On the completion of his A levels, John hopes to go on to University and study Law and one day hopes to be a barrister. He has an interest in Law and crime. This is also due to the fact that his Dad is a security guard at a prison who deals with criminal and thieves daily.

John is very active and enjoys sport. His hobbies include going to the gym, swimming and playing football with peers who are the same age as him. John also enjoys going to parties as he likes to spend time with his peers and likes to socialise. He also enjoys spending time with his family and friends by watching movies together at the cinema. He frequently watches films at the cinema with his peers and has a particular interest in the action and thriller genre. This is due to influences such as his family's occupation and his particular interest and studies.

John enjoys spending time with his family and is interested in the stories that his father relates about work as a prison officer. As John and his father are both interested in crime, they regularly watch crime shows together. They also have an interest in TV drama and the crime genre and therefore like to work out who the criminal is without many clues before it is revealed to them.

John is intellectual and is getting high grades in his current subjects that he is studying. He also likes to know what current world events are happening, economically, politically and socially.

As a student who doesn't have a lot of money and doesn't currently have an occupational job, John would fit into the DE social class category. Above is a table from the BFI statistical yearbook 2012 and shows the films with an above average DE audience share. From this, there are not many clues as to what sort of film would appeal to the DE social class.

 

From the table above, however, it is clear that there is a market for the crime, thriller, horror genre and it would appeal to the age group of 15-24 so this would also appeal to the typical person in the marketability of my film. As 127 hours is at the almmost top of the table with 57% of the audience being in the age of 15-24 shows that the marketability for this film is interested in the idea of partying. Also, it could suggest that this age group would also be interested in films such as the Inbetweeners movie because they might be able to relate to the characters more so than in other films, therefore increasing the interest in the film.

From this information, I can incorporate certain and ideas and themes that are popular in the films listed above into my own film. For example, I think the idea of scaring and using horror will really appeal to my target audience (15-24) as this age group is interested in films such as the inbetweeners movie which has this theme of having a good time throughout as many people enjoyed being frightened. Also, I can use the idea of the main characters being in the region of 15-24 years old as this would help the target audience to relate to the characters and the film more and are therefore more likely to watch the film.

In the target audience profile of John, the typical person who is likely to watch the film also enjoys socialising and going to parties themselves so are also more likely to be interested in watching a film that incorporates these themes.

Why is the audience important to us?

It’s important to get an idea of what my potential audience would like to see and what they do with their time, so I can advertise in the right places and not somewhere that they wouldn't see - like the newspaper. 16-24 year olds are the most common users of social networking sites, so it’s obvious that I would try to advertise my films on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

Another clever marketing strategy I would be likely to use would be advertising on buses and billboards because it will emphasise on my film being an urban theme. Also a lot of college students and university students are likely to catch buses and be walking around cities and towns - with my film on display for all to see.

The best marketing strategy, arguably would be word of mouth as its quick but effective - as you tend to trust your friends and family as they have actually seen the films to judge whether it was good or not.

Found Footage Horror Research

For our research and planning, James and I have decided to do a documented horror film, this is due to that documented horror films have a more of an impact of the audience and that they're fun to make and also have a low budget as the movies have a set location, group of friends/colleagues and two/multiple cameras. We have researched various different types of documented horror films; here are some of the films we have looked at:

·        Grave Encounters 1 + 2

·        The Blair Witch Project

·        The Paranormal Activity

·        As above, so below

·        The Devil Inside

·        Cloverfield

·        A Night in the Woods

·        Diary of the Dead

·        The Collingswood Story

·        Unaware

These are just a couple of the audience’s favourites, the main reason why all of these horror films have in common is that they're all 'Found footage' horrors. The 'Found footage' horror films tend to be the most scariest, most tense horror films as it gives the audience the feel that they're withdrawn into the film, making them a part of it. This is one of the main reasons why James and I have chosen to do a 'Found footage/Documented' horror film. This gives us a reason to put a high level of effort into making the film most excitable for the audience and make them want to watch more.

Horror Trailer Analysis - Saw 1

The trailer goes straight into the action and the audience are thrown straight into the moment of disequilibrium. The trailer does not have an equilibrium or a moment of disequilibrium. Adding more fear to the audiences' mind. Although, audience are quickly shown some newspaper articles which indicate the equilibrium. The audience does not know what happens in the end. This also obeys with Barthes Enigma code by leaving the trailer as unknown; making the audience want to watch to whole film..

Prop’s character theory is also shown in the trailer: The innocent victims portrayed as being helpless; the police officer is the helper; the masked man (Jigsaw) is the villain. By wearing a mask it keeps his identity unknown, this follows the structuralism theory of the killer being unknown.

The Saw trailer creates a scary atmosphere through sound, editing, camera angles and shots.

The non-diegetic sound of the high pitched rumbling noise has occasionally been used to build fear. Clock ticking, chains, screams and laughter were used as diegetic to make a spooky atmosphere which makes the audience feel unpleasant. With the voices in the trailer are not clear and understandable; this creates a fear of the unknown in the audiences mind.

The trailer has many cuts, which creates suspense and make the audience feel unsettled. There are a lot of black screens which are on screen for a long time to make the audience feel uneasy. It also makes the audience feel vulnerable and involved in the trailer.

In the trailer there are a lot of canted angles used. These shots create an alarming and uneasy atmosphere for the audience. There are also a number of close up shots which show the emotions and instability of the characters; which makes the audience empathize with them

Horror Trailer Analysis - The Unborn

The Unborn trailer creates a scary atmosphere through sound, editing, camera angles and shots.

There is a diegetic sound of the whispering through the baby monitor, this can suggest that there is something mentally wrong with the child. The moments of high-pitched non-diegetic sound creates an eerie atmosphere and makes it uncomfortable for the audience. There are also moments of silence which creates a sinister atmosphere making the audience feel uneasy. Some of the voices in the trailer are not clear and understandable; this creates a fear of the unknown in the audiences mind.

There is many fades throughout the trailer, which gives the trailer a continuous feel. During the latter stages the pace of the trailer speeds up, this is done through jump cuts. The jump cuts create an irritating effect for the audience and put the audience at an edge.

There are a number of different camera angles, some are canted angles, and these create an alarming atmosphere for the audience. There are also variations of shot types; the first shot is an establishing shot showing the isolated setting. There are some of over-the-shoulder shots, in which the audience is positioned alongside the protagonist. There is an extreme close-up of the protagonist’s eye, which is symbolic to the plot of the film. There is also a number of point-of-view shots which place the audience in the protagonist position and make the audience emphasize with her.

History and Significance of Horror genre

Horror, as it has been for a hundred years now, is basically to scare people. The main effects of a horror is to make people jump, feel nervous or be ‘creeped out’ by something that has or is happening. Horror writers use the exploitation of fear to make their moves more real and more able when it comes to frightening people. A horror movie cannot be successful if it doesn’t not induce fear into the audience and use it to its advantage throughout the movie.

Many people enjoy being scared. Most of the audience that watch a horror film enjoy the idea of a fright every once in a while and can be sometimes said to have the fear of the unknown, which is why horror movies with a jump/fright scene can be successful.— Horror is not the best genre for the amount of viewers that watch the movie; however it will keep the audience going to many more movies.

“There are certain rules that one must abide by in order to successfully survive a horror movie. Number one: You can never have sex… Sex equals death… Number two: You can never drink or do drugs. It’s the sin factor, it’s a sin, and it’s an extension of number one. And number three, never, ever, under any circumstances say ‘I’ll be right back’, because you won’t be back.” (Craven, 1996) This quote is taken from the Wes Craven film Scream (1996) Horror is arguably films most excessive, extroverted, and exploitative genre, (using in many cases, grim prosthetic effects, sudden bursts of sound or music, incredulous resurrections, and unnecessary scenes of nudity to surprise or confuse the audience) it also has a very conservative undertone different to most morality tales. This undertone contradicts the violent uncensored approach that most horror films adopt.

Horror in the Silent Era
It was from Gothic literature that the first horror films found inspiration, and why not? The genre was popular in both books and theater at the time. Although the term horror did not come into use for film until the 1930s, early filmmakers and film goers certainly showed an interest in the macabre as evident in this snippet of a “Spook Tale” from 1895 created by the Lumiere brothers.

1920s

It’s hard to overstate the effect that sound had on transforming cinema in the late 1920s. It was a radical artistic leap, and probably more so for horror than any other, just try turning off the sound on your favourite horror film – it just wouldn’t have the same impact.

1950s and past WW2
The period between the post-World War II years and the 1950s was perhaps the most difficult time Hollywood had ever gone through. From Supreme Court rulings ripping 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. Horror films got relegated to strictly B-film status as Hollywood preserved it’s A-list talent for lavish epics. But the horror film was still popular with the teens who wanted thrills even if the plot lines were ludicrous.

 

The 90s and Modern Horror

Monster films turned increasingly to CGI effects for scares such as Species, and Anaconda...

Psychological Horror and Thriller have remained popular throughout the 90s and 2000s including films like Silence of the Lambs, The Sixth Sense, Se7en, The Others and The Ring.

But there are three modern horror film cycles arose in late nineties and into the 2000s that are somewhat unique to our modern era. Torture Porn e.g. saw, cycle emphasizes intense gore, grunge and often tortuous violence.

The Blair Witch Project represents the first major film in the modern found footage horror sub-genre. However a copied idea from Cannibal Holocaust from 1980, The Blair Witch Project used the device of piecing together first hand footage to reconstruct the last terrifying moments of the original eye witness

And thirdly, the zombie cycle, Recent Zombie films feed our fears of a medical pandemic and the breakdown of society fears brought on by the financial meltdown in the mid-2000s. Still going strong with films like World War Z and the long form Television melodrama The Walking Dead, the Zombie Cycle may be seeing it’s fade out as comedic outings like Zombie land and Shaun of the Dead have poked fun at the formula.

Change of genre for my film trailer

After speaking to our course teacher (Mr Thornton), James and I have decided to change our genre idea from an Action/Comedy trailer, to a horror movie trailer. Reasons of changing the film genre was due to the difficulty of the action/comedy, trying to make the audience laugh, that if it was unsuccessful with the jokes we used, then the trailer would be a flop. Another reason for our change in genre was due to the other participants of our media cause doing Action Thriller, made us think of a change, so we decided between the both of us, while watching different various film trailers, we came across the horror movie trailers and how effective they are and we then decided to change our genre to being a Horror.

History and Significance of Comedy and Action genre

Comedy

Comedy is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. These films are designed to entertain the audience through amusement, and most often work by exaggerating characteristics of real life for humorous effect.

Movies from the comedy genre of film making began in the early 1900's, with screen greats such as Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, and Charlie Chaplin.  Technology was limited, which brought on silent movies.  These movie geniuses played out their roles using physical movements and facial expressions to get their ideas across to the viewing audience. Around the 1930's, sound tracks were added to the production of movies. In the 1940’s, most comedy films ran with the war or military theme. Production companies at this time decided to go with a more serious film topic and audience. By the 1950's, the big screen noticed conflicts with the coming out of more affordable televisions for home use. Not much changed until the 1980s, Comedy action films got off to a good start with massive hits like 48 Hours, and Beverly Hills Cop. Because of new technology, such as computer generated characters, today's films run the gamut of comical archetypes.  Even adults enjoy the characters from Shrek or Cars, all computers generated. Audiences are maturing at a much faster rate and nothing seems to carry much shock value.  Films of today are pushing the ultimate limit to bring us better, funnier and unique story plots, visuals, and lines.

Action

Action is a film genre in which one or more heroes are driven into a series of challenges that typically include physical acts, extended fight scenes, violence, and hysterical chases. Action films tend to feature a resourceful character struggling against incredible odds, which include life-threatening situations, a villain, or a pursuit which generally concludes in victory for the hero.

During the 1920s and 1930s many films featured as swashbuckling, these are action adventure sub genre films; they normally consist of sword fighting and adventurous heroic characters. The 1940s and 1950s saw a different subgenre of films, most films in the 40sand 50s were mainly in the form of a war film, or a cowboy movie. War films were generally related on warfare. The 1960s introduced a new subgenre of action films; this was the Spy Adventure Genre, These films, were something new, James Bond came into the whole equation. The 1970s, This is where bond saw a competition on his hands these were gritty detective stories and urban crime dramas, these consisted of this new action style, leading to a string of police officer films all of which featured an intense car chase, which they replicated of bonds popular stunt work of the Bond films. The 70s also saw the introduction of martial-arts films to western audiences. The 1980s saw the action film take over in Hollywood to become a dominant form of summer blockbuster this was named the Action Era. This introduced some of the main factors such as: Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, and Chuck Norris. The 1990s was an era of sequels and hybrid, sub genre actions films. These all were starting to parody them, with the growing revolution in Computer Gaming Imagery. The 20th and 21st Century Films had a whole new thing to them, with most films having budgets of $100 million. This meant that films were able to create thrilling, breath taking features. The ability to use CGI (Computer Generated Imagery) able films to have such spectacular graphics 

Action Comedy together

Putting both these genres together blends comic antics and action where the film stars combine wit and one-liners with a thrilling plot and daring stunts. The genre became a specific draw in North America in the eighties when comedians such as Eddie Murphy started taking more action oriented roles such as Beverly Hills Cop. These types of films are often buddy films, with mismatched partners such as in Rush Hour, 21 Jump Street, Bad Boys, and Hot Fuzz. It may also focus on superhero films such as Hancock and Kick-Ass. Jackie Chan among others brought up the sub genre of Slapstick martial arts films which became a mainstay of Hong Kong action cinema.

Idea for film genre

Targets for this year

The intensity of the footage – The power, strength, force and passion that the video would bring to the audience has to be very solid. Some of the shots we took were quite poor in terms of effectiveness, they didn't appeal to the audience as much as I would of liked them to, so I will have to make sure more shots appeal to the audience in the trailer.
 

The quality of footage – some of the shots taken were dark and the quality of it wasn't as good as I had liked it to be. In the trailer we need to make sure to film in lighter conditions in order to have better quality as it would entice the audience with much more effect.

Include a big institution to distribute our film this year -In theory this should be relevant for the institution, if it’s an action film, the institution being Pixar or Disney wouldn't be very effective, as these institutions would distribute the film to the younger generation who are more interested in animation movies. So making an action trailer and setting the institution to Warner bros. or 20th century Fox would be more effective as they produce and distribute a lot of popular action films, so it would reach the target audience set. I think it would work better if I combine next year’s chosen trailer institution, and this year’s ‘Paradox Entertainment’ to reach the audience more effectively and efficiently.

Time Management - Time management is always an issue, no matter how well the time is managed I believe there is always room for improvements, time is a special resource that you cannot be stored or saved for later use. Everyone has the exact same amount of time each day. Time not well used cannot be retrieved. In our opening two minutes some of the scenes we filmed weren't up to the director’s standards, so we had to take at least 4/5 shots of each part. This consumed a chunk of all the evenings we stayed in after school, in total being about 10 hours, which is an unbelievably long amount of time for 2 minutes of footage. Therefore this year we need to be clearer on what we do, and how long we take etc.

Hype the film - releasing the trailer on social websites such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube will create hype for the audience for when the actual movie comes out. Considering that I would want the largest amount of people to watch it to profit and reach my target market, I would launch Marketing campaigns as such as The Dark Knight with the 'WhySoSerious.com' website including games, interviews, videos and quests to keep the audience interacting and finding out little teasers about the film. This would entice the audience daily, increasing the hype and views for it.

Editing - I would like to learn how to edit myself without any help, last year most of the editing was done by my colleague, as that was his side of our work, where I was either starring, filming or blogging. I know a few basics of how to use Adobe CS4 Premiere Elements and Windows Movie maker, but I would like to learn how to use Pinnacle Studios software as my colleague last year used it and gave a lot of positive feedback about it. In the whole, I think special effects should be used in this years trailer, it would attract more audience and make the trailer look more professional e.g. light and sounds for a gunshot. It is something I will have to teach myself whilst editing which would be an interesting task for me.  

TeamWork - My colleague last year and I have decided not to work together this year, as I believe I could get a better grade without being held back. I have had a lot of debate on whether to work on my own this year meaning I would have an immense work overload but have all the decisions to myself without any arguments, or to join a group or work with someone else and have not much work to do and have not much say in anything we do. Either way I would need to bring together a group of actors again which would be suitable for my film.

Codes and Conventions of a Comedy genre

The comedy film genre belongs to the groups of films that evoke laughter/humour from the audience. 'Comedy' is the most important category in cinema, present in every national film culture and dominant in many. But much of the time comedy is enjoyed by audiences as an element across many films rather than as a distinct genre. 

Comedy films fall into two main sub-groupings: a) the comedian-led film, structured through gags and sketches; and b) the comedy situation film with a more coherent narrative. These two groups can sometimes overlap and indeed the 'pure' comedy film of any kind is a fairly rare animal. Most so-called comedy films are in reality hybrids, 'comedy hyphenates' such as comedy-horror, comedy-thriller, comedy-musical etc. 

In contemporary cinema, critics and theorists have been mostly concerned with defining specific hybrids, which draw on the broader repertoire of 'comedy elements' in easily recognizable ways: 

'Teen comedy' - often set in high school and involving adolescent sexual adventure and conflicts with authority

'Romantic comedy' - a popular hybrid, targeted at women and couples, especially in the 25-35 age group 

'Social comedy' - 'situational comedies' drawing on class conflict and social realism, a feature of British cinema 

'Gross-out comedy' - a currently successful cycle which may involve any of the above, but pushed more towards outrageous gags.

Theoretical work has focused on particular forms such as 'screwball comedy', the first great cycle of which appeared in the 1930s and 1940s with performers such as Carole Lombard, Barbara Stanwyck and Katherine Hepburn. The subversive nature of this cycle and its structural similarity to horror are just two of its critical attractions. 

In a comedy film, audiences respond to two different comedic elements: 

The Gag - visual, aural, verbal jokes, carefully timed and delivered for maximum impact; 

Comic situation - 'narrative comedy' in which it is the developing relationships between characters and the social environment that causes us to laugh. 

These two elements make a volatile combination since the performance of gags is often highly disruptive of the progression of the narrative. In most comedy films there is a tension between the gag and the narrative situation and between the comedian and the comic actor. 

The pedagogic problem with comedy seems to be that it is very difficult to pin down. As well as the tension between the gag and the narrative, there is a further set of categorizations which refer to the purposes of comedy and, linked to this, the status of the comedy form.

Here are four distinct types: 

Slapstick is 'visual and vulgar'. It is in one sense primitive and universal, relying on our almost instinctive reaction to characters assailed by danger, pain etc. At the same time it requires great timing and all round performance skills. And in the form of the traditional cinema cartoon it can become a highly sophisticated exploration of human behaviour (think Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote). 

Observational comedy is gentler and more subtle and presents everyday life as quirky with unusual behaviour in a realist context. Parody mocks existing forms, requiring audiences to have specific knowledge of media texts, although in its current incarnation as the 'spoof', this knowledge could be limited to what is available on mainstream television. 

Satire is comedy used to make political and social commentary. This requires analysis of the whole social context, implying an educated audience. These different types can be mixed together. (Monty Python's Life of Brian arguably displays elements of all the types.) 

Codes and Conventions of Comedy:

1. Film Language 

The secret of comedy is timing and performance. A person could analyse routines, gags etc. and see how they are used within a narrative feature. It would be interesting to compare a visual gag with a classic suspense sequence. Both involve a careful playoff between what we know as the audience and the awareness displayed by the character. Our pleasure comes from the gleeful anticipation of the humiliation of the comic character or our fear for the hero. 

2.Representation

Possibly the most productive approach, analysis of character 'types' and situations should open up comedy films for student analysis. Comedy, like drama, depends on conflicts, in particular between weak and strong characters. Much comedy arises from the success of the weak in deflating the powerful. On the other hand, comedy is also a weapon against fear of the unknown or 'the Other', so that the basis for comedy becomes racism, sexism etc. 

3.Audience

The advantage of comedy to producers is that it appeals across all audience groups. However, there are distinct differences in audiences for certain types of comedy. In the UK these are often class differences and age differences. The distinctions were particularly strong in earlier periods when genre production was still possible in British Cinema - e.g. the 1950s with Norman Wisdom (working class) v. the Doctor series (middle class). 

4. Institutions 

Comedy films may be quite good for studying institution. Historically, various cycles of films can be traced back to their origins in other forms such as music hall, radio and television and in the last twenty years, from club 'stand-up'.

Codes & Conventions and Cliches of a Horror genre

Codes and Conventions of a Horror genre:

·         Split into sub genres, often hybridised

·         Primary target audience – male, 16-24, Mainstreamers

·         15 or 18 Certification (promises of pleasure) – debates on passive consumption

·         Uses and Gratifications (active audiences) theory can apply

·         Extensive use of Narrative enigmas

·         Exploration of Narrative Themes

·         Slow pace of Editing, builds tension. Long takes

·         Three act narrative structure

·         Predictable narrative content (follows format)

·         Clear binary oppositions e.g. good v evil

·         Use of low key lighting

·         Use of CGI, FX

·         High production values but many low budget horror films

·         Dominant, hegemonic representation of gender: The Female Victim

·         Extensive use of close up

·         Incidental non-diegetic sound

·         Distorted diegetic sound

·         Extensive use of narrative off-screen space

·         Young/teenage characters

·         Use of hand-held camera: audience identification/realism

·         Point of view shots

·         Low angle shots

The Cliches:

The Protagonist:

·        Teenagers - mainly girls.

·        Daredevils/ rebels.

·        stupid.

·        College dropouts.

·        Even more stupid boyfriends.

·        Blonde.

·        Screams.

The Antagonist:

·        Ghosts

·        Zombies

·        Creepy children

The Story:

·        Unresponsive bodies.

·        Haunted houses.

·        Haunted graveyards.

·        Haunted towns.

·        Haunted hotels with equally creepy workers.

·        Shower murders

·        Creaky doors.

·        Creaky stairs.

·        Creaky rocking chairs

·        Dolls.

·        Pictures with blurry faces.

·        People coming out of pictures or TV's.

·        Creepy, suspenseful music.

·        Chainsaws

·        Knives

Codes and Conventions of a Romance genre

Normally aimed at female audience because it’s known those females are more emotional in a relationship then men. Heroes tend to be men. “The boy meets the girl” scenario. Hints given throughout the film suggesting that they may be a good “love match” and that there will be a “happy ending”. Characters end up in their separate ways due to an argument or disagreement. Finally they both reunite. Traditional ‘Happy ever after’ Prompts such as: Flowers/ hearts/ wedding bells very commonly seen. Story normally involves emotions/Feelings/Pain/Love/Failure to Victory/Flashback/Past story. Normally the story gets linked to audience’s emotions.

Characters:

· A stereotypical good looking male to attract the female audience

· A stereotypical attractive female to attract the male audience she is also more likely to have a different social status from him

· Family members or in laws

· Ex's or future partners

Setting:

· Beaches for the sunset or beach houses this is a romantic place

· Walks through parks in the winter

· Villages, small towns or a big city

· Stereotypical romantic places like meadows, by the sea or out in a bar/restaurant

Storylines:

· Often with a happy ending people who like this genre usually enjoy this sort of ending the most

· Two people meeting and showing their feelings and emotions develop through-out their relationship

· Always an obstacle the characters have to resolve such as; family members getting in the way, long distances or an illness

· Gives you escapism by showing someone else's life to make you feel better about your own

Props:

· Things that have an emotional attachment such as photos with old memories or ornaments

· Warm comforting clothes

· Mobile phone or laptop for communication

Sound:

· Music that compliments the mood for example slow music when there is a romantic moment between two people

· Limited dialogue to make some scenes awkward between characters

· Some of the film can be narrated usually in this genre by the female character it usually involves her thoughts being told out loud

Cinematography and editing:

· Many close up shots to enforce the mood of characters and the relationship between characters

· Over shoulder shots to help you get involved in characters conversations and make you feel involved

· Doesn't always have to be linear, it can involves flash backs of events from one of the main characters life

· Filmed in light airy spaces to show the mood of the film

· Filmed in dark places or in the rain if there is a dramatic change in the mood

I have learnt that there is a similar structure to most romantic dramas that involves an attractive male and an attractive female character that at some point fall in love. They have to overcome one or more obstacles to get their relationship to a great point. They always have a happy ending even if it involves someone being hurt or dying as it usually links in to the story and makes the film more realistic.