Research

Representation of women in horror movies:

Women are represented in many different ways in films, some might be represented as a victim/ weak character, and some might be represented as the 'scary, villain' element of a movie.

In the movie 'The Exorcism of Emily Rose' the girl is represented as a scary/possessed person. She has had an exorcism performed on her by a priest which adds the religious element.  Emily Rose is a young girl, and often to make movies more scary and more sinister filmmakers use young girls or boys to be the villain, to be the possessed person, or to be the person with a mental illness. Emily Rose is a child so she has that sense of innocence about her, and as you see the link between her and ghosts/spirits in the movie, the viewer feels more emotion towards the character than if the role was played by an older women. In a way the film is made frightening by the fact that the child is a young girl because young girls are stereotypically nice, sweet, and innocent but none of these qualities are shown in film so the viewers would be more interested.

In the movie ‘Psycho’ (1960) there are two main women represented, the first women is the typical women who works as a secretary. She steals money from her employer’s client and runs away with it, subsequently she gets murdered, and she is shown to be the victim in this. This is the stereotypical role we would expect to see from a ‘blonde women’ as they are usually considered to be the weaker characters or even the ‘damsels in distress’. The second woman is an older woman who is quite the opposite to the first women. She is first shown as a motherly, old character who lives with her son, and they both own a motel. Later on in the movie she ends up being shown as the murderer, as she kills any people who do stay at their motel, we never actually see her face so we don’t know what she looks like but from the way she is described we can tell that she has always been like this. In this film there are two very different women who might seem similar to us at first but as the movie progresses we get to know what they are like, and they contradict each other massively.

To conclude i think that there are many different ways in which women might be represented in films, like victim, villain etc, and sometimes the viewer can predict what the characters role might be or how they are going to end up in movie, for example blonde, dumb characters are usually the ones who get killed off first or the victims. But other times , it might not be so easy to guess what a certain character is going to be like in a movie as it might be that the way the character is shown to us at first is not actually how the character ends up to be in the end, for example the mother in Psycho. 


We used these movies, as a guideline as to how women are usually represented in horror films, seeing as the main character in our movie is a women. We found out that women are usually seen as victims, as the vulnerable ones, however there are also films, that outline the female character as the 'villain' or as the 'evil' one. For our movie, we have decided to make the main female character the seemingly evil character with a hint of goodness in her, as we see in her flashbacks. This will connect to our target audience as they can relate to both her good side and her bad side.   

SIMRANJEET

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The Representation of Young Women in Horror Films

Young women can be represented in different ways in a horror movie according to the plot and style of the film. Generally in horror movies, young women are portrayed as being venerable, helpless victims and innocent but they can also be represented as the most sexually active or seen as a sex asset to the men or villain and horror films that occasionally show women’s nudity at their sentenced time of death. They are also usually depicted as being weak, helpless and in need of male protection. They scream all the time while the male characters hold it together, the use of non-diegetic sound through screaming really builds up fright and tension for the viewers as they are anxious to know what might happen next, it creates a strong effect on the watchers.  Women are not usually shown as strong characters or the villain, it’s rare.

There is one type of young woman, in which most horror movies use as the venerable victim or the sex asset which is the ‘dumb blonde’. For example in Final destination 3 a young dumb blonde student known as Ashley is one of the first victims to be killed by some kind of strange supernatural instinct in the film. She is rendered as the flirt and one whom is most worried about her appearance and looks because of her flirtatious behavior towards men, as she ends up dying in a tanning machine.  The dumb blonde is usually the actress in which shows a lot of attitude and bullying towards other characters especially the protagonist, this could create hatred for the ‘dumb blonde’ by the audiences so when they do die or get killed, most watchers aren't surprised by this fact. The make-up and costume to make the dumb blonde girl look like what she is meant to be, it makes it easy for the viewers to recognize . Such as the short miniskirts, the constant pink, the orange tan skin etc…  

On the other hand sometimes woman are seen as completely the opposite from the ‘dumb blonde’; the protagonist, the life saver and the brave. This side of women is rarely portrayed but when it is the woman usually have a really strong character which is fearless but does experience trauma that she faces a point where she is close to losing this asset but that’s what causes conflict and drama in the movie, which makes it entertaining for the viewer. The non-verbal aspects of posture and expressions can give a lot away about the character’s feeling and emotions, if she had fear, she would have a much tensed facial expression or the posture of her body might be curled up which suggests she hasn't got the courage to stand up straight. Because sometimes dialogue, doesn't give all the features for the movie.

To conclude, young women are represented in many different ways in horror movies weather it is good or bad. They all are there to create a specific effect to make the movie interesting. 

PALWASHA

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Research on Summit Entertainment

Summit Entertainment is an American film studio founded in the early 1990s and launched in 1999 by Patrick Wachsberger, Bob Hayward and David Garrett as distribution organisation. Summit Entertainment became an official independent film studio in 2006 when Summit Entertainment became an independent film studio.

Some films distributed by summit entertainment:

The twilight saga

Spider-Man

The Dark Knight

Harry Potter

The Hurt Locker

Letters to Juliet

Bloody productions chose Summit Entertainment to be the main distributor for 'Incurable' because they have released films such as the whole twilight saga which has also the vampire conventions and the non stereo typical vampire film. Our aim was to produce a different film and with the help of Summit Entertainment that attracts the same audience as twilight does.

BY ZOHAL SAMIM 

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Director research

(Information from Wikipedia)

1. Brian De Palma

Films he has directed:

- Dressed to Kill (1980)

- Scarface (1983)

- The Untouchables (1987)

-Carlito's Way (1993)

- Mission Impossible (1996)

Themes:

- Psychological thrillers ( Dressed to kill)

- Commercial films ( Mission Impossible)

Most of De Palma's films have graphic violence in them, and some of his films, like Scarface, have been at the center of controversy with the 'Motion Picture Association of America, Film critics' and the viewing public.

Camera Shots:

De Palma often uses slow sweeping, panning and tracking shots throughout his films.

To put emphasis on a dramatic scene he often uses a 360-degree camera pan.

Awards:

De Palma has won many awards, some of them include:

- Blue Ribbon Award (best foreign film, 1988)

-Silver Lion (best director, 2007)

-Saturn award (best director, 1981)

2. Tim Burton

Films he directed:

- Alice in wonderland (2010)

- Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

- Sleepy hollow

- Beetlejuice

Camera shots:

Tim Burton uses Dutch angles, Stop-Motion, Point of View shots.

Awards:

Emmy Award - outstanding animated program (Beetlejuice)

National Award of Review award- best director (Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet street)

SIMRANJEET

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Cinematographer
 

PALWASHA & SIMRANJEET 
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Horror film Audience

As part of our research we needed to consider who our target audience would be and what would be a suitable age for us to to certify our film at. Seeing as we were producing a horror film I used the internet to find out what age range is most likely drawn to watching horror movies. The pie chart below shows that 37% of the Horror Film Audience are between 19-24 years and that they are more prone to watching horror film in comparison to the other age groups. However to increase our potential target market we decided to aim our film at audiences 15+ as this was best suitable.

KIRAN
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The Aspects of Light & Sound

KIRAN


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Women's Representation in Horror Films

When looking at the representations of young women in horror films, they are normally portrayed as victims where their personality trait reflects them to be very vulnerable and prone to danger. Not only this but ideally they can be seen to be very innocent and therefore adds to the fact that they will be more likely to experience dangerous encounters that involves them being victimized. Moreover when contributing to the way in which women are represented as victims, these aspects tend to be drawn from the previous ideology of men being more dominant and powerful in comparison to women-who are represented to be weaker individuals. As a result horror films use this to their advantage of portraying men as the offenders and generally the ones who commit crime against women i.e. murder. However in some cases women may take the role of committing an act against men but when referring back to the idea of women being the vulnerable ones, their actions are normally a reflection of their innocence being taken advantage of and therefore seek to gain revenge. Moreover women also tend to take the role of being very promiscuous and desirable to men in terms of being seen as sexual objects. As a result women are normally helpless in times of crisis and therefore end up being killed by a male figure.



KIRAN 

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How Young Women Are Represented In Horror Films

Paranormal Activity 4 is a lead up from all of the other Paranormal Activity films. The story is developed further in the fourth movie five years after Katie killed her boyfriend Micah, Sister Kristi, her husband Daniel and kidnapping their baby, Hunter. Story focuses on Alex and her family experiencing supernatural activities since the new neighbors moved in the town.

Katheryn Newton plays the tragic role of Alex in this film. Alex is stereotypical 15 year old girl that experiences supernatural activities in her own home when her neighbor comes to stay and live with them for a while. In the film, we see that Alex develops a relationship with her friend Ben and he encounters the idea of exposing the supernatural activities that are happening. Alex is seen as brave and daring when it comes to what is happening in her house. She conquers through the horror scenes and still manages to try and find out what is happening that is causing so much chaos in her house. However, Alex later on dies in the movie

The Roommate is a horror/thriller film that was released in February 2011. This film is based in college as two roommates become really good friends and one of the girls gets a bit obsessive with the other and things start to turn into a bit of a disaster.  Minka Kelly plays as Sara Matthews a victim and one of the young women in the film. Leighton Meester plays Rebecca Evans as the obsessive roommate. In this film, Sara Matthews is portrayed as a strong and brave character as she urges to find out more about the case of Rebecca Evans and get to the bottom of things. Rebecca Evans is shown as the compulsive girl that tries to destroy everyone that gets in between her relationship with Sara Matthews. 

With this information, Bloody Productions was able to investigate and research how I (Zohal Samim, vampire of Incurable) will have to be represented and portrayed.

ZOHAL

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Research for Production using previous films created

The Uninvited

'The uninvited' short film that we created helped Bloody Production research on some of the camera angles that were used. A continuous shot was used, this creates a horrific effect as it builds tension. This is what Bloody Productions desired as part of their opening scene.

 

Master Shot

This short film also helped Bloody Production when it came to building suspense and tension throughout the opening sequence. By using non diegetic sounds this emphasises the tension that is being created. From this experience, Bloody Productions also used non diegetic sounds to create tension and suspense.

 Shadows

This short film helped Bloody Productions as it had particular camera angles that we researched to include in our opening film of 'The Incurable'. It also links to the horrific genre that Bloody Productions was aiming for.

Where's My Earrings?

'Where's My Earrings?' helped Bloody Productions test the continuous angle shot that was carried out throughout the whole of the film. This enables us to widen the variety of camera angles and shots that we could use for our opening film. Non diegetic sound was also used to create and build tension, this helps meet Bloody Productions desire to create tension throughout the whole of the opening sequence.

ZOHAL 

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Target Audience Research 

Our target Audience for Incurable is teenagers and young adults with a rating of 15. We have chosen this particular age group because we believe our film may be too gruesome and scary for younger viewers. And also this specific age group will interested in this kind of vampire horror because it has a different romantic aspect to it than the typical romantic love. Older viewers may also be interested because the genre of the movie is horror, and may have a more dramatic and scary approach to it, also adults could relate to the issues raised in the film. Incurable is aimed at both male and female viewers, because they could relate to the diverse characters such as the doctors, the romantic couple etc. Also we believe that the storyline isn't more appealing to a particular gender more than the other as there is a horror and a romantic aspect to it, so both male and female viewers could relate to it.

Let The Right One In 

This film relates to our target audience for Incurable because they both have a similar genre; gore, blood, killing, vampires and locations. We used this movie as a guideline as to how successful it was and what aspects of it made the target audience interested. We used Let The Right One In, as an example as we liked the location and the cold look of the opening sequence.

Psychographics: The lifestyle of our target audience could be people who enjoy gruesome horror films and thriller films with a twist, but also people that like romantic films, and issues raised in them.

SIMRANJEET & PALWASHA

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Make-up

Make-up is a really important aspect in our our opening scene, as it sets the character's tone. Zohal as the mental patient, is whom we need to ensure the make-up is appropriate to set the genre for the audience. Her first look in the opening sequence, before she turns into a violent vampire is a very pale & unflattering tone to her skin which also expresses her feelings. Similarly, to Edward's make-up from Twilight;

After her extreme pale look, the bold red colors will come forth after her flashback when her inner vampire emerges. The make-up will be very strong and will instantly make it clear to the audience about the genre of the film. The red eyes and the bloody fangs represents the gruesomeness of the horror facet. Like the following look:

For the doctor the make-up will be very soft and casual, nothing especially different as they are only setting the atmosphere for the mental asylum. The dramatic make-up won't make it realistic. The following picture is an appropriate look for the doctors,that we have opted for:

Costume

The costume is also important, as it sets the differences between the characters whether it be the patient or the doctors.

The doctors will dressed in a white jacket and a shirt to make it look formal and sophisticated for a mature look; the doctors jacket is also a way for the audience to recognize the being for the character.

Whereas for the mental patient (Zohal), It is a straight jacket outfit to make her look like a genuine mental patient, that is out of hand:

PALWASHA
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Establishing Shot

This will be our establishing shot for the mental asylum as it is a great location to film due to fact it really brings out the genre of horror as it looks abandoned and rather spooky, therefore this will be a great shot to take.

 

KIRAN

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Conventions of a vampire film

 

Seeing as our film is based on a vampire horror genre, we decided to research some of the main conventions of vampire so that we have the basic analogy of what we should include when filming as well as revealing narrative. Below are some are the key conventions:

                                                              

Blood

Blood can be seen as one of the main conventions of a vampire movie as it is needed for them to survive. Humans tend to play an important role in relation to blood as they are the main victims of prey when it comes to vampires feeding. Within our film we will be using fake blood to ensure that this convention is emphasized.

 

 

Pale white face

Another vampire convention is their pale skin. The audience are easily able to identify a vampire judging by their appearance as an indication of their white face resembles those of a vampire.  Therefore when it comes to makeup/costume we will be using a white face paint or makeup such as white face powder to create this scary vampire look.

 Fangs/Neck Biting

A common vampire convention is normally associated with fangs, where the audience watching a vampire film will easily be able to distinguish a vampire from a non-vampire based on their sharp teeth. These fangs are used to bite into their victim’s neck, where they will withdraw blood in order to feed themselves. We will be buying plastic fangs to create this vampire look in our film.

Graveyard/Coffin

A typical horror genre will consist of a scary scenery where props are vital in creating this. An aspect of a vampire film will tend to involve graveyards/coffins to pursue this creepy genre. Films such as Dracula are seen to be one of the infamous vampire movies, where a coffin is to portray a vampire convention. As part as our filming we may consider taking a few camera shots, such as an establishing shot of a grave yard to show this.

KIRAN


Garlic/Holy Water

Another noticeable vampire convention we researched was garlic and holy water. The purpose of these within a vampire movie is to use as a shield against vampires, in other words it is a form of protection so that one is not victimised.



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 Camera Shots

Some of the shots will be using when filming are:

180 degrees rule

This shot is framed from behind a persons shoulder,  where the position of each person can be established and also to get the feel of looking at one person from the other's point of view.
 The 180 degrees will be used when the camera is positioned 'over SIMRANJEET'S shoulder (Right); the camera is focused on KIRAN.' This will be effective in showing a conversation between the two people.


Establishing Shot

The establishing shot will be important in setting the scene of our film so that the audience get a glimpse of the setting as a whole. In our film production we will be using an establishing shot of the mental asylum to reveal the settings location. This will also play a big part in revealing narrative.


Medium Close up

The medium closeup is half way between a mid shot and a close up. This shot shows the face more clearly, without getting uncomfortably close. We will be using this shot quite a few times within our film.



Extreme close up

The extreme close up shot is a good way of really zooming into something. For example it effectively shows emotions as well reactions and therefore can be quite a good camera shot to use when filming. One of the ways we will be using this shot is when the main charachter will be turning into a vampire, where her eyes will turn red- Here we will use an extreme close-up shot to show this. 

KIRAN

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Opening Scene Analysis of Interview with the Vampire

The opening scene is an establishing shot of the location where the scene is being set. As the camera zooms into the city we as the audience get a glimpse of the San Francisco board sign which is written in red. This instantly signifies danger as it is symbolic in revealing narrative as well as establishing the genre of horror conventions. The diegetic music further emphasizes the genre of horror as the church choir with the instrumental organ sound resembles the iconography of a vampire movie. Moreover as the audience carry on watching, the audience are still not fully aware of the vampire genre, but realize that there is something intriguing about the character with his back to the camera. We also come across a male interviewer who begins to ask questions to the man with his back turned, however even though he replies we notice that we still don't see his face. This makes the audience curious as we suspect that he will have a main role within the movie, judging by his dominant figure. The moment he turns around to the camera, the vampire genre is confirmed based on his appearance of his pale skin, fast pace as well as his devious green eyes.

KIRAN & PALWASHA