Horror Opening Title Credits - Who appears in the credits

When looking at the credits of a horror opening, i looked at the film Se7en

- New Line Cinema Presents 
- Arnold Kopelson Production
- A film by David Fincher

Starring:
-  Brad Pitt
-  Morgan Freeman
- Gywneth Paltrow
- Richard Roundtree
- R.Lee Ermey
- John C. McGinley
- Julie Araskog
- Mark Boone Junior
- John Cassini
- Reginald E. Cathey
- Peter Crombie
- Hawthorne James
- Michael Massee
- Leland Orser
- Richard Portnow
- Richard Schiff
- Pamela Tyson

Casting By:
- Billy Hopkins
- Suzanne Smith
- Kelly Borden

Music By: 
- Howard Shore

Costumes Designed by: 
- Michael Kaplan

Edited by:
- Richard Francis-Bruce

Production designed by:
- Arthur Max

Director of photography: 
- Darius Khondji

Co-Producers: 
- Steven Brown
- Nana Greenwald
- Sanford Panitch

Co-Excutive Producers:
- Lynn Harris
- Richard Saperstein

Executive Producers: 
- Gianni Nunnari
- Dan Kolsrud
- Anne Kapelson

Written By: 
- Andrew Kevin Walker

Produced by: 
- Arnold Kopelson
- Phyllis Carlyle

Directed by: 
- David Fincher

Typical synopsis of a psychological horror

Typical Synopsis of a Psychological Horror 

Psychological horrors often follow the story line of a young family moving into a new house, however being unaware of the past. Typical psychological characters are young children, this is because it is believed that children have some sort of sense and communication with ghosts, spirits etc. Furthermore psychological horrors/thrillers often involve either a stalker or pursuer that adds an aspect of terror into the film because the characters may or may not know that someone is keeping a very close on them eye.

A perfect example of a psychological stalker movie is Cape Fear 1991 its synopsis revolves around a convicted rapist who has been released from prison who then stalks the family of the lawyer who to begin with stuck up for him.


                          

Iconography

Iconography is the use of images or symbols to portray a specific subject.

We use iconography in order for the audience to establish the genre of the film. It is made much for the audience to take note of the specific genre with the use of certain props/objects. For example if we were to see a saloon, long dusty roads and cowboy hats, we would identify these in a western film. On the other hand, in a horror film we could expect to see an innocent character(s) due to the fact that we see them as less capable of being able to defend themselves. We would also expect to see the use of dark lighting in order to have a more stronger effect on the audience when a moment of shock occurs in the film. Furthermore we could expect to see 'normal' everyday objects, this is because the film will then feel more realistic to the audience as the props that are used might be things that they use in their everyday lives. Finally the setting that we could expect to see is an abandoned house, this is to make the audience worry for the characters due to the fact that no one is there but is being used as the setting for a horror film so they worry that terrible things could happen to the character(s).

                                  

Audience Analysis

In our AS Media, we were asked to create a questionnaire for other people's opinions on horror films. Below are the results that we got from the questionnaire. 

 Here this pie chart shows that the majority of the audiences feel that a male antagonist has the greater effect. However on the other hand, these results show that in fact some people find a female antagonist more scary, this could be because it is stereotyped that the male is more scary, to some audiences it is more scarier to see a female antagonist as it is unusual.

This pie chart helps us to understand that audiences find a stalker over he age of 30 most scariest in a horror film.

Looking at this chart, we can see that the majority of audiences feel that a basement is the best location for a psychological film. This may be because that the basement has the strongest effect on the audience as basements can be seen as very dark, so if you were to find anything in basements it would have a stronger effect on the audience as no one knows that anything is there. 

Here the majority of the audience feel that garden tools are the most appropriate weapon for a psychological horror. I feel that this is because garden tools are every day objects for anyone therefore they feel more effected by garden tools as the weapons. Therefore they are more relateable to everyone so has more of an effect. 

Target Audience Research

An audience is basically the people who consume texts, however it doesn't means just book it also means through films, TV etc. An audience contains many different groups:

Group A                                         Group B                                                       Group C1 

-Lawyers                                         - Teachers                                                -Junior Management

-Doctors                                          - Middle Management                             - Bank Clerks 

-Scientists                                       - Fairly well paid professionals                - Nurses
-Well paid professionals                                                                                  - White collar


Group C2                                       Group D                                                         Group E
- Electricians                                  -Manual Workers                                          -Students
-Plumbers                                       -Drivers                                                         -Unemployed
- Carpenters                                    - Manual Labourers                                      - Pensioners
-Blue Collar

Why are audiences important? 

Essentially audiences make TV shows, films, books how big they are today. They have a huge influence on media. However producers take advantage of the audience to; increase the popularity of their media, gain financially, educate the audience and simply in some cases just to entertain. Furthermore if there was no audience in media then there would be no profit made and so more advanced movies etc wouldn't be able to be made because there wouldn't be a budget that is large enough available. 

Analysing horror audiences

Woman In Black

 The woman in black is a supernatural horror which involves a male lawyer trying to sell a large house, however it isn't that straight forward as that, there is an unexpected surprise when he arrives at the house.. I feel that the woman in black is aimed at Group A and Group B. This is because the film is about a lawyer who is well paid. I also see this as a group a and b film because the film connects more personally with them due to there profession. 

Paranormal Activity

Paranormal activity is also a supernatural horror film about people who are a haunted by a supernatural presence. I feel that this film is targeted towards Group C2, D and E. This is because i feel that it is more relevant to them because all the audiences in this group spend a lot of time either working or not working in houses. Professionals such as electricians and plumbers spend most of their working time in houses and on the other hand students and unemployed audiences spend the majority of their free time in the home. Therefore this is why i feel that paranormal activity is aimed at these groups. 

 

The Conjuring 

The conjuring is about 2 parents with their 5 children who have moved into a secluded farmhouse, where a supernatural presence has been made aware of. Therefore i believe that this film is aimed at Group D and E, because there are 5 children which is more relevant to them as they are based in this group. I also included this film in group D because in this group as we see manual workers etc so therefore this could be aimed at farmers because the film is set in a farmhouse so they can relate this film to their every day job and has a stronger effect on them due to this. 

Film Title Analysis

Evil Dead is a supernatural horror film that was produced in 2013. I believe that they have chosen this font because it represents that there is violence and blood throughout the film hence why they have chosen the bold, red font. The bold font on the dark background makes the title stand out more and has a stronger effect on the audience as it is symbolic of the film. The tree branches that are in the letters can show that the film could be based in a forest.

In the title of the film the '4' represents an 'A' however we could associate the number with a knife. The antagonist in the film is a killer with a knife. The '4' is in a red colour so therefore can signify violence and danger throughout in the film. However the other letters in title are all coloured white, and possibly we can make a judgement that all the victims in the film are innocent.

The title used for 'Prom Night' installs the feeling of fear into the audience. This is by using the bold, red title, this portrays that there is danger ahead in the film and that violence is being foreshadowed. The blood dripping off the letters shows that the film contains gore and that the film is a violent film, which to some audiences is their favourite type of horror film.

Production Company Research

BBFC Classification

What is the BBFC?

The BBFC stands for the British Board of Film Classification. The BBFC examines and age rates films before they are released. An example of the things the do is child protection, the BBFC examines whether there is unsuitable and harmful content in the film/video in order to determine the rating.

So what is the mission of the BBFC?
- Protect the public, especially children, from content which may harm.
- Empower the public (especially parents) , to make informed viewing choices.
- Respect adult freedom of choice
- Respond to and reflect changing social attitudes towards media content
- Work in partnership with industry to develop innovative service models to provide content advice which support emerging media delivery systems.
- Provide an effective service to enforcement agencies. 

Films are rated in many different ways: 

The 'U' symbol represents Universal. If a film is rated a U it is supposed to be suitable for audiences aged four and over. In a ' U' rated film there should not be any insights of discrimination, drugs, nudity or violence. Furthermore if there is any bad language it will only be very mild and infrequent. An example of a U rated film is 'Toy Story'.

PG stands for Parental Guidance. This means that whenever a film is rated a PG it is suitable for general viewing, however in the film there may be some scenes in the film that are inappropriate for children. These films will not contain themes irrelevant or inappropriate to children. In a film in this category you could also expect little violence and mild bad language. An example of a PG film is 'The Goonies'

12 and 12A rated films are generally for audiences who are only 12 and over. However the 12A means that children under the age of 12 can watch the film but must be accompanied by an adult. In 12A films there is allowed to be moderate violence therefore there is not much gore able to be in the film. Furthermore a 12 film can include a brief account of sexual action and references. Finally in a 12A there may be an infrequent sight of drugs and dangerous behaviour. An example of a 12/12A film is 'Quantum of Solace'.





When we see a rating of 15 on a movie it means that no-one under the age of 15 is allowed to go the cinema to watch the movie or to be able to buy or rent it when it comes out on DVD and Blu-ray. This is because the film contains material that isn't suitable for audiences who are under the age of 15. In these types of films you can expect to more strong language, strong violence, sexual nudity, drug taking and many more. An example of a 15 rated film is 'Taken 3'.

18 rated films are rated for adults only. No person under the age of 18 is able to watch the film in the cinema or buy/rent the movie.This is because the film contains material that isn't suitable for anyone under the age of 18. In these films you could expect very strong violence and language, strong horror, strong views of blood and gore, drug taking and sexual violence. An example an 18 film is 'The Exorcist'.

I believe that my groups film will be rated a 15. This is because throughout the film strong horror and violence will be displayed. 

Prop Analysis

Below is my prop analysis for the chainsaw used in Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Setting Analysis

Costume Analysis

Below is my analysis of the costume of It the clown

Conventions of Psychological horror

The sub-genre that our group decided to make our horror opening on is the psychological horror.
I am going to analyse the typical conventions of a psychological horror.

Conventions are what we expect to see at a specific place, time etc.

Weapons:
 Weapons are not actually physical weapons but are more supernatural or psychological. An example of this would be a killer in a psychological horror who doesn't actually posses a weapon but yet is still able to kill people

Setting: 

There are a few settings we are most likely to see. Some of these settings are shown below:

Other settings we are likely to see are hospital, schools, basements, warehouse. The reason these settings are likely to be used is because they are more realistic to everyone as they are involved everyday in these settings

Sights:
 When we watch a psychological horror we see that the killer has flashbacks to why there is a problem with them and why they have ended up doing what they are doing.

Sounds: 
 Psychological horrors usually use non-diagetic sounds. These are sounds that are played off screen and you can't see how the sound matches an action in the film. There are a variety of non-diagetic sounds played during the film but usually we hear creepy music being played over the top of the film. By playing the music it makes the audience feel uncomfortable.

Characters
 Obviously the most important part of the film is the character and in a psychological horror the character is different to normal horrors. The psychological horror relies on the character's fears, guilt's and their beliefs.

Horror opening analysis - Camera Angles, shots and movements

Horror Opening Editing Analysis

Horror Opening Sound Analysis - JAWS

Horror opening: Mise-en-scene Analysis

Mise-en-scene analysis: The Women in Black

When analysing mise-en-scene we say what can we see and the start of the film we see three girls in their bedroom who then end up jumping out of the windows.

It begins where the girls are having a little tea party between them with their dolls. Then all of sudden they look into the corner of the room and then stand up. They drop everything the dolls, tea cups etc... and slowly start to walk towards the windows, the camera moves to the windows then back onto the girls and it shows an extreme-close-up of the girls opening the windows before jumping to their death. 

Now this scene can be viewed in different ways. Firstly you can interpret the woman in black as an evil witch as she may have gone into the room to posses the girls which has made them jump to their death. Secondly , By looking at the dresses and the colour of the dresses that the girls are wearing we can infer that the girls are innocent and are being targeted for no reason. 

Another factor we look at when analysing mise-en-scene is the characters facial expressions and their body language. At the beginning of the opening scene we see that the girls are very happy and are having fun with their 'tea party' but then suddenly their expressions change as soon as they look into the corner of the room. They look into the corner and then turn around and look straight for the window and then when we see a close up of their faces we see that there is no expression at all and there body language changes from the beginning also.

                                                                                                                                      

So as you can see when comparing the two images the body language and expressions change dramatically. The fist image promotes happiness between the girls whereas the second image i feel shows the girls are quite timid. They look as though they are not sure what is going in and they are showing a lack of courage and character like they were at the beginning. To add to this point it could also be said that the seriousness increases between the two cuts, this creates more tension in the scene as the audience feel scared and tense as they are not sure what the girls are going to do and this could foreshadow what could happen to other children that appear later on in the film.

The colour of the room can tell us that the house the girls are in is an old house and gives us the impression that there is no liveliness around the house. When we look at the second picture of the girls we can see that the room is very dark which gives the audience a gloomy feeling of the room and out of the shot we can see that there is a glowing light. This can give us the impression that there is something that is possessing the girls.

Director Case Study

Font Analysis and Evil Dead Font Analysis

What is Font? 

Font are the style of writing used in books, movies and so on. Font is a set of characters in a specific style and size. There are thousands of fonts that are used worldwide. A specific font is used to specify the genre or character. 

Why use different fonts?

Different fonts are used to plot different ideas into the audience's minds.

For example, most people would recognise this font as it was associated with the horror genre because we can see the drips from the letters therefore we can infer that there is violence and blood either in the book or a film. Therefore this type of font is specific to the horror genre and helps the audience to connect the book or film. 

However on the other hand we would most likely associate this font as a font that would be used in fairy tales because we see that the font uses curls and tails we would associate this with fairy tales. Furthermore we wouldn't recognise this font in a genre such as horror because the curls and tails have no seriousness effect, we would see these as a non-formal font because it is very fancy. 

Evil Dead Font Analysis 

In the opening of the Evil Dead we can establish the bold, red characters. The font used in the titles is a sans-serif font the features of the font are used to make it more symbolic of the horror genre. By the use of the bold red colours it makes the audience associate the film with horror because the red colour can symbolise violence, blood and danger. The use of this font and the colour can be seen as a stereotypical view of horror because most horror involves either violence or blood. The bold font makes it more significant because it adds seriousness to the title. 

As you can see here the same font is used throughout the opening titles of the Evil Dead and intrigues the audience throughout the title scenes because the film seems very appealing just through the use of the font. 

Horror Opening Title Analysis - Evil Dead

Horror opening title analysis

When analysing the opening scene of a horror we think about the following questions:

• How does the title sequence establish genre, character and narrative?
• How does the title sequence attract an audience's interest? 
• What do you consider to be the target audience of the film and why? 
• Who has produced the film and how is that evident in the title sequence?

The Evil Dead

The Evil Dead is a horror film produced by Rob Tapert, Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell. This is shown clearly in the film opening when their names appear on the screen in a bold, red font which is used throughout the titles. By using this colour it makes the titles stand out. 

In the opening of the Evil Dead we can establish the horror genre through the bold, red writing displaying 'EVIL DEAD'.  To add to this, the font used in the titles is a sans serif font the features of the font are used to make it more symbolic of the horror genre. The colour red can infer to violence and danger so therefore is used in the evil dead because it is a horror film and the stereotypical view towards horror is violence and danger. When looking at the title scenes we cannot see any characters but we can infer what the characters are like just by the producers and the bloody effect that is used. By using this effect i can infer that one of the characters is a violent character who is the danger throughout the whole film. Furthermore i can say that there is possibly a few characters who are vulnerable to this dangerous character.

Then as it begins to delve further into the opening scene we can see that blood appears to be dripping down the stairs. By using this effect it intrigues the audience into the film as they may want to find out what the cause of the dripping blood was. Furthermore the title scenes only use a mix of red and black colours, by using these colours the audience can feel tension and sense that there is only danger to come in the film. Finally the music used in the title scenes can build up more tension as there is an opera signing over dramatic, deep music.

In my opinion of the film, i feel that the target audience is those who are very keen on the horror genre and those who have a great sense of anticipation. This is because in the opening of the film tension and anticipation is built up by the blood coming down the stairs therefore this foreshadows what could happen further on in the film. The Evil Dead is rated as an '18' and i believe that this is the suitable target audience for this film because of the violence that is foreshadowed in the film. I believe that a film like the 'Evil Dead' is targeted more towards the younger generation rather than the older because it may appeal more to the younger generation of over 18 as it is a relatively new idea of horror to them and they tend to feel more anticipation with horror films compared to the older generation who may have watched many of these kind of films before therefore feeling less excitement and anticipation. 

History of Horror

How horror has changed over time?

The genre of horror was first released on our screens in the late 1800's, to be precise the first horror film was released in 1896. This film was made by a Frenchman named Georges Mieles and he made the first horror film called Le Manoir Du Diable which is translated 'The Haunted Castle' only last approximately 3 minutes. Not only was it the first horror film to be made it was also the first film with no sound.

In 1920 another silent horror movie hit the screens it went on to be a very popular film at the time. The Golem : How he came into the world was a German film which was directed by Paul Wegener and Carl Boese. This film had an extraordinary increase length compared to the first ever horror film,The Golem has a run time of 85 minutes so therefore you can see the first stages of development of horror.

In 1931 saw probably the biggest change in horror, the film 'Dracula' was released. At this time people said that horror 'began to scream'. This film was the first of a significant change to the horror genre. Dracula was the first horror movie with sound, this maybe why the film was one of big films at this time. The introduction of sound to horror really changed the way people saw horror as without the sound the couldn't feel the anticipation like you can nowadays.  

1974 saw the release of  'Texas Chainsaw Massacre'. This film portrays a typical gore, guts and slasher film. The film includes a group of vulnerable teenagers who are in an isolated place and are hunted down and terrorized continuously by a chain-saw killer. At this time the film became the record seller making over $30,000,000 in box office sales. The release of this film saw a new style of horror, Texas Chainsaw Massacre was described as a slasher film and was a movie that scared the audience furthermore also making them feel disgusted by the gore 

                                                                                         

Just a year later, In 1975 saw the release of one of the most popular horror films to date.'Jaws' was one of the most popular horrors due to the story line of the movie and also the sound effects that are used throughout the film. We can see how big a movie Jaws was through the amount received from the box office, it was recorded that approximately $470.7 million. The release of Jaws improved the stature of the horror genre. It also saw the longest horror film up to this time lasting a duration of 124 minutes. 

In 1980, the film 'The shining' was released to our screens. The shining has been voted in top 5 horror films of all time, however despite this didn't make as much money from the box office sales as much as films like Jaws had done just 5 years before. In fact ' The Shining' made just $44.4 million dollars. The shining was one of the few horror films at this point to have the film setting in an isolated hotel in the middle of no where. The Shining may just have one of the most famous lines in horror history with "Here's Johnny". 

In the 1990's we had reached the modern era and in 1996 saw the release of Scream. Scream was a movie that started off the era of horror movies that were made to scare the audience. This was done in this film by the certain sound effects that were used in this movie. The release of Scream has believed to have been the saviour of horror because up until this point horror was considered almost dead. Scream was movie that made its audience feel tension and anxiety

By the time we had reached the 2000's, the horror genre had become less popular but then came the release of the first of many SAW movies. It took off from day one release in 2004 and has gone on to be one of  the most successful horror films of all time. SAW can be categorized into the 'slasher' sub-genre, the release of the films have really helped the horror genre's stature.

 Now to some of the most recent ideas for horror. 'Paranormal Activity' is a new idea for the horror genre and can be also be known in the 'found footage' sub-genre. This means that this is a film where there are believed to be presences in homes, hostels etc. Paranormal Activity has had a different effect on its audiences compared to the normal horror film you see. Given the fact that this has been filmed in a house and depending on the audience of the film it can make them feel extremely scared as they can think that this may happen to them. Since its first release in 2007, paranormal activity has been named the most profitable film ever made. This could be recognised as a psychological horror.

As time has gone by the horror genre has massively changed and in fact is still changing now. From the release of the first horror film to now we have seen a major change, for example the first horror movie ever made was only 2 minutes long and without sound where as compare that to horror movies nowadays they last a duration of between 1 hour 30 minutes and 2 hours minutes this as you can see is one of the drastic changes in horror.Horror has not just only been big as a movie genre it has also now become very popular in the video games and TV series industry. The horror genre has become so big in the latest era because more people are wanting to watch horrors to be scared and thrilled compared to when the first horror films were made to make people laugh. 


We can compare how sound changes films compared to having no sounds at all: