Research Evaluation

Group Evaluation

·         Directors profiles

-We found out through this research what trademarks and techniques different directors of horror genre films used and how they all differ to each other. Also the different conventions of horror films that many directors used including blood, gore, darkness and tension.

-We found this useful because we will gain inspiration from their techniques to use in our opening sequence and how we can make ours unique. For example Alfred Hitchcock who inspires us to use his trademark of suspense through dramatic music to instill fear within the audience.

-At times it could be quite difficult to find relevant information for the director as some directors only used a few specific trademarks such as Steve Miner who mostly only uses tension which is a key convention of a horror film.

·         Questionnaire

-This information will help us plan and understand the codes and conventions of our genre because it states that the majority preferred a house as the setting. This is useful information as we have decided to include a house in our opening sequence.

-Serena found out what our target audience was so we could include characters that the audience can relate to and what we should include in our opening sequence so audience can enjoy it.

-Saffron found out which camera shots and camera angles would be the most useful to use. This was mostly the close up shots as they show emotion and wide shots to establish the place.

-Mohammad found the best type of music to use was the high-pitched violins in order to create the most suspense to keep the audience on the edge of their seat.

·         Genre grid

-Serena found out that in the horror genre, there is usually a character who is a false hero, who pretends to help the group making the audience think they are the hero however it later turns out they are helping the antagonist, heightening the fear felt.

-Saffron found that the narrative of a horror film usually starts off with a state of equilibrium; this includes an enigma code that ends with a surprising twist. Then it is followed by disequilibrium such as a supernatural occurrence or someone being killed.

-Mohammad found that villains come in supernatural, monster or serial killer form.

·         Textual Analysis

-Mohammad found that the camera work used in different opening sequences was unique to the horror genre

-Saffron found that specific colours were used, mostly red, white and black to portray the theory of binary oppositions between good and evil, also to represent blood, innocence, purity and darkness.

-Serena found that there are gender stereotypes in the horror genre, where the male is the hero or the villain and the female is usually the victim. For example in scream a young, blonde woman is used as the victim and a tall man is used as the villain.

·         Title Sequence

-We all found that music was a significant part of a title sequence because it builds up suspense to show horrifying events will happen. Moreover we found that the typography was large and bold usually with dark colours to connote evil and danger.

-The characters used were usually young children as they portray purity and innocence an example of this that Saffron found was in The Woman in Black, where the children played the victims.

-The lighting was always dark to represent the evil and to immediately instill fear so the audience feel entertained from the start. This is so the gratification theory can be used.