Slasher genre overview vodcast

Here is mine, Dec's and Ben's slasher genre overview vodcast.

Assessing past coursework

Tiny Terror

• title intertextuality from Scream 1996.
• long slow notes used in music.
• sounds like a kids toy.
• title sharp serif font fades in and out.
• connotation of point of view shot with the branches signifying hiding.
• false scare nice and early, always nice in a slasher movie.
• intertextuality from the omen 'Damien you little devil'.
• ellipsis signified by fade out then in.
• girl room signified by pink walls and posters etc.
• dutch angle signifies something not quite right.
• Dialogue is used for exposition.
• Bra thrown on the box to suggest sexual activity, cut away shot also providing with the throwing of the object.

Underground

• holding a bottle of booze which signifies your dead.
• titles white on black.
• camera is shaky to signify the boy is drunk.
• camera in bushes to signify someone is watching.
• ellipsis is poor because it does not show the killing and just jumps to someone been dragged, also no digetic sound.
• good blood effect on the show to signify he's been hurt.
• good narrative enigma.
• CCTV effect to show the character high angled shot to signify it is CCTV and the editing on the camera.
• not quick enough shot pace, too slow, not as much of a sense of panic as there should have been.

Red Run

• missing digetic sound,just slow drawn out music.
• lack of verisimilitude e.g. kettles been turned on yet we do not hear it.

Class notes 24/1/2013

In the 50's and 60's the horror was mainly about monsters. Creature feature (Godzilla). With Hammer Horror which was dominant across the country in the 60's used mature upper class adults. The protagonists used middle and lower class people in films like last house on the left and TCM. Hammer horror used a castle a lot in their movies, they were quiet theatrical where as LHOWL were ultra realistic in their design.
Hammer horror is a very stage however the early slasher movies (72/74) Halloween created a whole series of imitators such as peeping tom which was seen as sick and disgusting so producers wouldn't dare make films like this. The idea of scream queen were refereed to hammer movies - busty blonde's.
Use a communation test when you don't know when the convention is used or where it has to be and would dull the fear factor for the audience. Hitchcock was the first idea of an auteur and doing the music for the shower scene. In general each film is different, the most general for slasher movies are, 15 - 24 year olds, if your movie is BBFC (British board of film classification) rated. Death of a stranger is a TV movie which is very little of the gore and the explicitness and by suggesting a primary target audience is a key factor for example 15 - 24 which is the key stage of a target audience. Core audience is the 15 - 24 age range with the minor intertextual references and 18 - 24 is still classed as youth range. Characters are teens to attract teen audience and the dominant figure such as sheriff or a headteacher which are useless. Halloween became the most profitable movie ever made at the time. An exception for dis equilibrium is maintained in the Halloween movies 1 and 2 which carry on from one another.

Slasher Example: Babysitter Wanted

Babysitter wanted 

(Jonas Barnes,2008)

Budget:

10 key points:

• 2 idents
• long note music to slow heart beat
• digetic music
• cu shot of victim
• mise-en-scene i.e. killers weapons
• sound effects i.e. rusty lamp been turned
• narrative enigma
• 7 titles
• fast tempo music to build suspense
• POV shot form victims perspective

Slasher Example: Scary movie

Scary Movie 
(Keenen Ivory Wayans, 2000)


Box Office
Budget:$19,000,000 (estimated)
Opening Weekend:$42,346,669 (USA) (9 July 2000) (2912 Screens)
Gross:$278,019,771 (Worldwide)

10 key points:

• mise-en-scene i.e. knife rack
• false scare (popcorn on stove poping)
• final girl
• fast tempo music
• use of weapon
• diegetic music
• fast pace editing
• opening title
• 2 titles
• inter textuality (from halloween)

Ident Ideas

My Ident idea is Smart picture productions, this ident has not been used before for films. The idea itself is unique and i think that it would work well for a film ident. Here below is the image which i will use for my production company ident. I created this ident using some software called Sony Vegas Pro.

Class Notes 23/1/2013

Looking at the other overview vodcasts from the class

• Poppy, Kate, Millie

Looking at psycho and the archetype of the girl in the opening shot shows an early archetype and earl final girl and scream queen. slasher name is linked
with the killing.

Texas chainsaw massacre was a massive hit with slasher genre. showed vast improvements from the older slasher film psycho. despite being a low budget film the violence scenes kick in almost instantly.

Black Christmas TCM are examples of films which have been remade.

Black Christmas was a good  example of the slasher genre being easy too shoot because you can film it it any one house meaning that the location isn't large and therefore money can be saved.
Black Christmas TCM and psycho all have been remade showing that they were good films but need tweaking to make them good. some characters from previous films tend to be in the sequel as they have survived the killer in the first film.
Final girl as the movie goes on becomes more physically and mentally tough. Usually the final girl looks old fashioned and not very sexually appealing. Childish attributes for the scram queen and silly behaviour often occurs. The final girl generally is portrayed as intelligent, brunette and not sociable.
The two type of musical techniques used to make a psychological impact on the viewers are, raise the tempo of the music (speed) to raise your heart beat and then the second is to use long notes which make you hold your breath. If both can be mixed together it messes with your heart and can cause a scare.

• Tilly, Hannah and James

Looking at peeping tom and the sub genre  of horror and slasher contrasting with one another. proto slasher is another way you would say what the genre of the film is linking in with the film scream and the 'who done it' sort of aspect to the film. A tropp is something that occurs quiet frequently which is largely recognised.  The first sign of scyfi coming into the genre would be from 'Halloween' where Micheal Myers is shot repeatedly and when they go to find his body he is no longer there. The more modern types is Leprechaun. Hybrid movies are genres mixed together. Postmodern slasher, first example is 'scary movie'.

Slasher Example: Sorority Row

Sorority Row 
(Stewart Hendler, 2009)

Box Office
Budget:$16,000,000 (estimated)
Opening Weekend:$5,059,802 (USA) (13 September 2009) (2665 Screens)
Gross:$11,915,856 (USA) (25 October 2009)

10 key points:

• 29 titles and cast names
• Summit Entertainment Ident
• Use of a crane for opening shot
• false scare
• POV shot throughout the house
• diegetic music
• mise-en-scene immoral issues i.e under age drinking
• Panning shot of party scene
• use of foul language

 

Prelim

This is my prelim i have shot at home with my father and my brother.

Editing in stalking and slasher scenes

Camera Shots

The amount of shot variety in slasher films has increased through the years of the genre being highly shown and being a popular genre. The pace of the fast editing to create more suspense and no long takes gives the slasher films a better effect of scaring the audience or showing an intense chase or killing scene when you follow the "killer's" point of view or the "victim's" point of view. However the older slasher films such as Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho showed some signs of shot variety for example from the famous shower scene. This is developed so much into films such as the Nightmare on Elm Street remake in 2010 by Samuel Bayer, it is show throughout from the dreams to real life,this all contributes to the verisimilitude making it more realistic.

An example of this is Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho" which used fast paced editing during the famous shower scene where the killer brutally stabs his victim to death.