1. HorrorBy Sam Warren 2. Horror has been around since stories began and have been used as a way toentertain and scare people for centuries. Originally being passed around frommouth to mouth, horror stories eventually became forms of literature andevolved many sub genres, such as gothic horror, which is one of the originaltypes of horror and was the basis for many of the starting silent horror films.The very first horror film was made in 1896 by Georges Meiles and was 3minutes long called Le Manoir du Diable. However until the 1930s, what weknow as Horror films were referred to as spook tales. Other early horror films include: the Granddaddy of Horror made in 1919called The Cabinet of Dr Caligari, The first monster film The Golem(1915/1920) and the first vampire film Noseferatu (1922) based of the storyof count Dracula.History Of HorrorSource:www.horrorfilmhistory.com 3. frantic chase sequence typical of an action film. Contains a lot of violence and gore and themost common entity the characters have to fight is the zombie, although most horror relatedbeings can be used, such as demons or vampires like in the film Blade. Body Horror: this features graphic and disturbing destruction of the body. It also includesstrange body movements that are unnatural and limbs being the wrong shape or in thewrong location to create a monster, for example Frankenstein. A famous body horror film isThe Thing and Clive Barker is one of the most recognised directors. Comedy Horror: Combines humour and horror together, usually black comedy with use ofgore as a comedic factor. Shaun of the Dead is a good example of Comedy horror as itcontains standard horror conventions such as a monster ( in the form of a zombie) andgore but is creative in the way it uses them, to make something that is usually frightening,funny. Tim Burton has directed comedy horror in the form of sleepy hollow which was basedof the legend of the same name. Gothic Horror: Combines Goth and horror. This means it usually has a romance and issuspenseful. Gothic horror is prominent in a lot of vampire films because of a vampirescharm. A lot of the earliest films belong to this genre and the most notable is Dracula basedof Bram Stokers novel of the same name. Natural Horror: Features things that you would see on earth but with a difference, as theymay be mutated, for example, insects and animals turned into killers. Steven Spielberg isone of the most famous directors of the genre having directed JAWS, one of the mostfamous natural horror films. An interesting fact about JAWS is that a lot of the suspense isbuilt because you dont see the shark, a lot of the attacks are from its point of view. This isbecause the mechanical shark was broken for most of the film. Psychological Horror: Relies on the characters fears, guilt and beliefs in addition to sinistermusic and sound effects, as well as the mental stability of a character to build tension. Themost controversial film of this genre was the 1973 Exorcist by William Freidkin. A spookyfact about this film was that a number of accidents accrued whilst filming and the film wasbelieved to be cursed. Sci-fi Horror: In this version of horror, the antagonist is usually an alien, mad scientist or anexperiment gone wrong. One of the most famous films is Alien by Ridley Scott.Horror Sub-genres 4. Setting: Usually an isolated place with either a dark or sad history, or where theinhabitants are strange or nowhere to be found. Good locations include: Spacestations, Asylums, Mansions, Dark forests, Cabins etc. Camera work: High and low angles to connote nightmares. Point of view shots areused to see through the monsters eyes. Handheld shots are used to make actionseem frantic and confusing. The depth of field is changed to make it harder tonotice things so it is scarier when you do. Sound: Disturbing sounds are extremely important. For instance ambient soundsthat are diegetic can puncture silence creating an eerie atmosphere as do nondiegetic sounds such as a heartbeat and even the soundtrack. Editing: Creates an unsettling feeling due to the tension and suspense it creates. Ifthe editing becomes slower and less frequent then it hints that something bad isabout to happen. Visual: Dark colours with a lot of black and red to connote fear and death, blood andevil. Lighting: Generally low key lighting to help build shadows and create an unsettlingatmosphere. Props and costumes: many costumes and props can be identified with iconiccharacters or monsters, for example, a burnt red jumper and a five fingered gauntletis related to Freddy Kruger, whereas rotting flesh and torn clothes can beassociated with a zombie. Knifes are linked with slasher flicks and cloaks and fangsmake you think of vampires. Good props and costumes are very important as it givethe film an identity that sets it apart from others, as well as making the setting seemmore authentic. Characters: Protagonist=victim, Antagonist=monster/alien, often some sort ofpolice officer, Teenagers to die, ghosts, strange children etc. Themes: Good vs. Evil, Survival, Religion, Dark history, Insanity, Apocalypse etc.Conventions of Horror 5. In horror a typical structure follows the 3 act structure. The first act consists ofthe main characters being introduced and finding themselves in a threateningor frightening setting. The next act consists of the characters encountering thevillain and there being an initial onslaught that kills some characters. They thenwarn the others but eventually start to survive and try and find their way out ofthe situation. The climax ends with a final confrontation with the villain, withvarying results depending on the film, for example in the saw franchise, themain character usually suffers a horrible fate, whereas in Friday the 13th Jasonis killed, however almost all horror films end with the possibility that the villaincan come back. Noel Carroll came up with a horror philosophy that they all follow. The Onset phase: disorder happens, usually caused by a monster Discovery phase: Characters discover that disorder has occurred Disruption phase: Characters find the source of the chaos and destroy itrestoring normalityNarrative Structure 6. A Horror film is defined as a piece of media with the purpose of shocking andterrifying its audience. Therefore the target audience of a horror film is peoplelooking to be scared, however lots of people find different things scary, andparts of horror may be in other genres of film such as action or sci-fi. Horror movies are typically aimed at people in the age range of 15-25 andusually male. This is because the action and gore of a horror film isstereotypically associated with what the male gender like and older peoplemay find the over the top gore and violence too off putting. However recently it has been shown that women have watched more filmsclassed in the horror genre than men, the first time this has happened. Butanother reason why males find it appealing may be due to the fact that almostall directors and producers of horror films are male and so will cater it to whatthey feel is good which may be different to a woman.AudienceProfile 7. There is no denying that the horror genre is one of the most popular genres ofall time because some of the very earliest films, such as Golem and Nosferatu,are horror films, and on the list of the top 100 grossing films of all time, twelveof them are horror films. They are rooted in film history, as they are generallycheap to make, usually sticking to one setting, so directors and producerscontinue to make them. It is most popular with younger audiences, around the age of 15-25 years old,however it is still popular with an older audience. This is because it is good forcouples on dates, both married and newly together as the fear and suspenseof a horror films makes it easier to comfort each other and have something totalk about after the film. People keep coming back to horror for different reasons. One being gorewatching. This is the people who watch a horror film for the violence andemphasise most with the killer. This type of watching is mostly in males as it islow empathy and low in fear. Another reason is thrill watching, people whokeep watching horror films because they enjoy being scared and like thesuspense the films build throughout the film. The next reason is independentwatching, is when people identify most with the victim but in a positive way, sothey are rooting for them to survive. The last way of watching is called problemwatching and again this is when someone identifies with the victim but in anegative way, for example wishing for them to fail or believing they will notmake it.How Popular Is Horror? 8. Alien: This film was made in 1979 and is one of the best examples of sci-fihorror in history with a number of sequels, spin offs (Prometheus or Aliens vsPredator) and video games being made because of the popularity of theoriginal. It was directed by Ridley Scott and starred Sigourney Weaver, the plotfollowed the crew of a space vessel returning to earth who intercepts adistress call from a nearby planet, where they find an unknown alien egg whichhatches and a creature latches onto one of the crew. What follows is adesperate fight for survival made scarier by the claustrophobic environment ofa small ship and for the audience at the time seeing and hearing a creaturenether before seen. The film brought about iconic sound design, such as thebeep of a motion sensor and the screech of a hunting xenomorph. Theambient noise that was created made an extremely thick and nerve-rackingatmosphere as the creaking of the spaceship could be heard in the silence ofspace. The special effects and props also added to the atmosphere of the film.The famous chest burst scene is even more disturbing as it is not CGI but anactual physical pops and makeup. This is even more impressive consideringthe film was made in 1979 when technology wasnt as advanced as it is today,yet it is still considered one of the best films of its genre.Three Of The Most Iconic Horror Films- Alien 9. The Shining: The shining was based of the novel of the same name by StevenSpielberg, one of the best Horror writers of all time, so it should have beengood given the source material. However the film, directed by Stanley Kubrick,was initially met with a lot of criticism from fans of the novel sating that it didntstay true to the novel, although eventually it did end up turning a profit.Nowadays the film is looked on much more favourably and is considered amust watch for horror fans and a cult classic. The film had very good camerawork and is famous for the tracking shot of the boy riding his tricycle throughthe hotel. It had a specially made low-pole version of the steady cam to dothis. The continuous shot accompanied with the low angle and the diegeticsound of the tricycle in the vast empty space of the hotel, makes the boyappear vulnerable, giving the impression he is being followed. This in turnmade the audience feel uncomfortable as there is no non-diegetic sound inthis scene building up suspense as you expect the boy to turn down a corridorwith something unnatural in it. ( Click the video to see the shot).Three Of The Most Iconic Horror Films-The Shining 10. The Exorcist: The exorcist (directed by William Freidkin) is a grateachievement in horror being the first of its genre to be nominated for bestpicture and grossing $411 million worldwide. Today its prop work and imageryis still extremely disturbing and made even more uncomfortable for theaudience because it was a young girl who was possessed but instead of herappearing helpless, instead she was doing disturbing actions such as a180degree rotation of the head. In addition the use of special effects and makeup was extremely good even for todays standards and it was made in 1973 ona budget of $12million. Special effects included levitation, unnatural bodymovements and revolting vomiting, all designed to shock and disgust theaudience. It has been voted scariest horror movie of all time by Entertainmentweekly and movie.com and also it was placed number 2 on channel fours top100 scariest moments. The spider walk is one of the most iconic scenes fromthe film as it is in high key lighting as the girl runs down the stairs finishing witha close up of the deformed position. This was very repulsive for the audienceas the high key lighting made for an inviting setting which was the familyhome. To have the body horror, that was the spider walk in this setting wouldbe chilling as it is an invasion of your safety and privacy by a demonic entity.Three Of The Most Iconic Horror Films- The Exorcist 11. Most horror films fall in the age category of 18 or 15, however some havebeen rated 12A for reasons such as their being no gore and only mild violence.A good example of this would be Woman In Black staring Daniel Radcliff, asit contains little blood with no swearing and is only mildly scary. Horror filmsclassified as a 15 are rated so, typically due to the strong violence theycontain, sexual nudity and strong language. If a horror film is rated 18 itcontains the same as the films rated 15 however it is all intensified and morefrequent. This is how the Uk classifies films, but it differs from country tocountry, for example the USA uses RESTRICTED instead of an 18 age rating.In addition film ratings will differ from country to country, for instance theconjuring was rated a 15 in the UK as it had little strong language and theviolence wasnt gory enough to be rated 18 whereas in the USA it is ratedRESTRICTED purely because it is scary.Horror Film Age Ratings 12. Vladimir Propp was a soviet Russian who developed this theoryafter studying fairy tales and noticing a pattern in their characters.This pattern can be applied to most films including Horror, thesecharacters are: Hero- character who is mostly focused on Villain- opposes the hero Donor- provides hero with something Dispatcher- sends hero a request/message False hero- disrupts the heroes progress by trying to help or bymaking false claims Helper- aids hero Princess- someone who needs to be saved or offers a reward Father- acts to reward the hero for helpingPropps Character Theory 13. This is the theory that maintains the more you are exposed to something theless you are affected by it. The theory suggests that the more you are exposedto specific actions, such as horror and violence the less of an effect it has onyou. This is extremely important for horror films as the purpose is to horrify. Forinstance the first SAW was very disturbing when it first came out and isconsidered the best of the franchise. Since then people have come to expectthe gore and imagery that the SAW franchise provides and since the first theyhave had worse and worse reviews. This is evidence that the desensitisationtheory is correct and has led to films trying to outdo each other, such as theHuman Centipede which was banned in the UK for being too disturbing.Desensitisation Theory 14. Famous Horror Actors 15. George Romero: Famous for pioneering the zombie genre of horror he isresponsible for directing some the most iconic zombie films including Night OfThe Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead, becoming thesource material for many zombie films after. Alfred Hitchcock: Famous for the suspense he created in his films such aspsychos iconic shower and the natural horror film Birds in which man eatingbirds attack a town. Stanley Kubrick: Famous for the controversial clock work orange and thepsychotic horror The Shining, all of his films have a scary setting andbackground adding to the suspenseful camera work , such as the famoustracking shots of the shining.Famous Horror Directors