Lara’s Pages

Analysis of Three Colours BlueThree colours Blue sequence starts with an unknown sound, it seems to be something moving in high speed but the viewer does not have how to actually see what is it really; the shot than moves off darkness and the viewer begin to see that it is a tyre, also the high speed object begins to move under tunnels or bridges and then the viewer can finally realise that the moving object is a car. The viewer then listens to a horn and another car moves to the slow lane, the viewer can now guess that the high speed car is in quite a big hurry and it’s trying to get somewhere or off somewhere quickly. The time seems to be around dusk because lighting is not very good. The shot then follows to a hand waving some type of wrapping out of the window; the hand seems quite small so the viewer assumes that there is a child in the car; again the speed is emphasized as the wrapping is suddenly snatched from girl's hand by the wind. Then the shot moves to the girl; she’s at the back of the car and a close is made on her face, she looks bored and tired as she yawns, then the viewer is taken to a POV shot of the girl, it is now concluded that the girl is tired and sleepy as her vision begins to go blurry and distorted. The time now seems to be quite late in the night. This POV shot together with the time shot is essential to emphasize that this car has been driving for quite some time and that the passengers may be as tired as the little girl. From this point, the viewer might begin to guess the following events of the movie. The following shot comes quite unexpected as the little girl just runs away from the car to some bushes on the roadside, but then the viewer realises that she’s just off to make her necessities and is when the viewer gets the first look on the father; his face is not shown but as he stretches the viewer can conclude that he must be quite tired. The time seems to be around dawn which implies that the car has been moving throughout the night and that its passengers must be completely exhausted by now. The viewer again begins to foretell what might happen in following shots. The next shot is focused under the car around the breaks area and the viewer see that the breaks liquid is dripping off, immediately the message is print onto the viewer’s mind that an accident is about to happen and as the girl moves on the unfocused background a feeling that this accident may injury or even kill the little girl arouses. It is also the first time that we get to her a voice of an older female character and she calls for the little girl to hurry back to the car. The next shot involves a new character to the movie, a teenage boy; as he plays on the roadside the viewer hear again the sound of a horn, this make them think back on the first scene where the car horn was used to announce the hurry of another car, this makes the viewer think that the car is again in high speed. The boy signalise to the car intending to get a ride but as the car goes off in high speed he goes back to playing with his toy; this is when the viewer hear the sound of breaks and as they have “seen” the car situation before, they know that the breaks are failing; as the breaks completely fail and we hear the car crash, the viewer’s prophecy is then complete.

Analysis of Children of MenChildren of Men tell the story of a world where human beings are no longer able to reproduce anymore. The year is 2027

In the opening sequence of Children of Men the viewer begins by hearing a narration of what seems to be a TV broadcast of the latest news. The news narrate that the youngest person alive has just died at the age of 18 years old, this narration of facts gives the viewer something to start to guess upon the happenings of this world. The shot has not been presented yet as the narrative goes on a black screen. The sound playing is diegetic as both the viewer and the character are hearing it. There is a cut and the viewer is taken to a shot of a coffee shop, onto this coffee shop there is the TV that has been broadcasting the news of this so young and valuable boy, the place is crowded with people that want to know in full details what has happened to this young boy, everyone at the coffee shop is aged 20+, also everyone is wearing big winter coats, however there is a lack of colours and brightness in the lighting of this shot that tells the viewer that this future in which they are living in is not the very best thing that could have happened to them, the choice of costumes for this shot had to be dull and greyish to add the feeling of monotone life style, sad expressions are also very present in this shot ; as the narrative continues the camera focus on the apparently main character as he enters the coffee shop. This scene is very important to establish the central character. Non-verbal actions are taking into account in this scene; as he enters the coffee shop and differently from the rest of the people that are in the place just to watch the news, he goes straight to the counter and orders himself some coffee; this "odd" action again reinforces that he is the central character. There is a small dialog between him and the waitress and for the first time looks at the TV; then there is a cut. The cut shows the TV news in greater detail and relevant information is displayed here, as this is his POV shot. As he steps out of the coffee shop a 180 degree shot is made to establish the tone of the movie. Here the viewer gets a full view of the city and so they can again guess the whys of the lack of reproduction. The well-known London red bus is in this 180 degree shot which helps to establish were this story is being recorded. As he steps out of the coffee shop the viewer can see the differences between this so called future and our time, animated banners took over the place of normal banners, different styles of cars are present in the street but the major difference between the now day time and this narrated future is the pollution. The sky is no longer blue and the air carries smoke in it. Again the lighting of the shot is quite dull and grey and it contributes to reinforce the lack of "life" in this new era. The main character then quietly walks in the street as the viewer experiences enhanced sounds of cars and motorbikes, he then stops to pour himself a generous amount of alcohol in his coffee, another 180 degree shot is taken here, this shot is important to establish his distance to the coffee shop and once again pin point his location in the street, then a bomb goes off, generous amount of sounds fx are used in this bomb blast and also after the blast when the viewer hear screams and a fire alarm.

Analysis of City of GodCity of God is a Brazilian movie, shot in the well-known favelas of Rio de Janeiro, the movie depicts the troubles of a boy that is born on the favela and wishes to get out of this way of living.

In the opening scene of City of God, the viewer is presented with multiple close up shots and cuts of lots of things going on at the same time; a knife is being sharpened against a rock, chicken is being killed, plucked and cleaned; samba is being played and danced, a shot of cooking pan and barbecue, all going on at the same time, but they all represent something different; the knife being sharpened against the rock represents death and danger, sound fx enhance the sharpening sound which gives the viewer the impression that someone will be in danger in this movie, the chicken can be considered a metaphor in this movie, that people that are born in the favelas are always bound to either become part of gangs or risk their lives on an uncertain future off the favelas. The samba being played and danced represents some of the Brazilian culture but it also represents a relaxed weekend in where people gather together for a meal and some entertainment, this makes the viewer guess that even though is a common weekend day something may still happen to someone in this movie. As the chicken observes the other chickens being caught one by one, killed and plucked it starts to pick the thin rope that is tying its leg and frees itself. Again it can be considered as a metaphor that if one fights to get out, it could actually make it happen. The chicken begins its run for its life but the gang chef spots that the chicken has scape and orders some of his men to run after the chicken, various of his men go after the chicken armed, even though is unnecessary to carry a gun to chase a chicken. A close is made on the gang chief face and his expression reveals enjoyment, he’s enjoying to see many of his men run after a chicken armed. Then a shot of two boys walking, talking about Rocket’s need of a good photo for a job opportunity at the newspaper. The other boy adverts Rocket that he may be risking his life status in the favela if he suddenly goes around taking pictures for a newspaper but Rocket is convinced that he must take the risk to finally change his life. There’s a cut back to the chicken chase, here we see that the chicken is starting to annoy the gang chef and he shots to one man in the street to grab the chicken but he fails to do so, he then pushes the man to the side and points his gun at him shouting that he should have gotten the chicken for him. The run continues and where taken to a little shot of Rocket and his friend, Rocket is willing to get this jobs no matter what and even jokes at his friend that for the gang chef to get him first he would have to find Rocket first, this is when they come across the chicken and following the chicken is the gang chef and his man, now face to face, the gang chef shouts at his to get the chicken, Rocket prompts himself to get the chicken and she that all the man are taking their guns out and pointing towards him the gang chef shots at him again to get out and he then realises that the police is on his back, and the gang to his front.

Visual:

the light settings in this movie begins a bit dull, the dullness of the beginning represents lack of life, also as the viewer follows to the image of killing chickens to eat, this light setting helps to picture the lifelessness of the situation, however plenty of sunlight is present to represent the Brazilian tropical weather.

The choice of costume is also chosen to match the circumstances of the habitants of the favela, to point its extremes, to point the poverty, the need to get out of such place, this all favours Rocket’s wish to become part of the newspaper photographers.

Aural:

Many diegetic sounds are present in this opening scene, the constant sound of a knife being sharpened at the beginning of the scene indicates the dangers of such place as the favelas, also enhanced sound fx and Foley has been used for the plucking of the chickens and the actual killing and cleaning of it. The dark atmosphere of the beginning of the scene establishes that the movie is going to be in some parts dark.

Verbal:

Only after the chicken frees itself and run is that we begin to hear the voices of some of the characters, we hear the gang chief ordering his man to run after the chicken and later in the scene we hear the dialogue between Rocket and his friend.

Non-Verbal:

Some non-verbal expressions are taken into account in this opening scene, the gang chief seems quite amused at first when the chicken runs but then he turns a bit annoyed, later on the run when he pushes the man on a corner his action of pulling the gun at the guy just because he wasn’t able to catch the chicken for him implies that he’s a quite merciless and aggressive guy.

Rockets expression when he’s in between the gang and the cops is one of the most valuable ones of this movie; it shows fear and a little despair as well

Analysis of “The Godfather”.In The Godfather opening scene we begin with a narration of facts, the first words spoken are in a black screen, so the viewer cannot see whose talking; the black screen starts to fade as the narration continues. The lighting is quite dark, close to none, it’s a little flickering so the viewer assume that the man is at candle light, he is well dressed, as for opera or a high appearance event, the camera is quite close to his face but as he carries on with the narration the camera slowly moves afar from his face, this makes the viewer curious about the location in where this narration is occurring. As the camera still moving afar from the man, the viewer begin to see that the man is sat on the company of another man which is directly in front of him, across a table, the viewer spot this second person as his hand moves in front of the camera, the movement of his hands shows the viewer that he was listening to the narration of events carefully and analysing them; this is part of a 180 degree shot. The man that has been narrating the quite sad story of his abused daughter is offered a drink to recompose himself by a third male character which is also dressed quite well. The narrator of the facts carries on relating his story until he's feeling quite angry because of the facts that has befallen him; the man directly in front of him them ask why the man had taken such attitude instead of coming to him first. And this is the first dialogue of the movie, the narrator then offers the other man anything for justice, and he steps up and whispers on the other man's ear, here there's a 180 degrees shot and the camera moves to the man who was behind the desk, it focus on his face for a brief moment and there a cut to show the location of the character into that scene, it’s a business room and the camera is again set on the back of the room so the viewer can see it all, the lighting is not actual candles but small lamps, one in each side of the man behind the desk, the viewer notices the presence of a fourth man whom was just sitting on a corner that was not filmed yet. The camera then moves to the back of the narrator man and focus on the man behind the desk. He is petting a cat; this action shows the viewer that he's been calm. The scene then follows to an extensive

dialogue with a 180 degree cut and again a whole location cut, while talking the man behind the desk then steps up and the camera is slightly behind the narrator man, as the camera follows the second man whose moving towards the narrator man, it crosses the back of the narrator man and breaks the 180 degree line, the dialogue continues and various 180 degrees cuts are made in this part of the scene until the two man come to an agreement, the second man half embraces the narrator man and the camera moves along to the side of then, the second man is leading the narrator man out of the room, they reach the door and the narrator man leaves. The second man then gives a few orders to the third man while sniffing the rose on his suit.

Research on camera techniquesMatch on action is a video editing technique were cuts from one shot to another, matches even though the shots may be taken hours apart they’re made to complement or to give the sensation of a continuous sequence to each other.

180 degree rule is basic guideline which determines where the character will be in the shot, for example 2 people are talking the first will always be on the right of the second person and the second always to the left of the first, the camera can move along one side this “axis” that connects the two characters, therefore making the 180 rule, when the camera moves to the other side of the axis, it’s called jumping/crossing the line.

Common Horror Movies Conventions.Horror films genre seeks to stimulate a negative reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's fears. Horror films often feature scenes that frighten the viewer; the macabre and the supernatural are frequent themes.

What are its conventions?Location:

horror movies are often played in small areas and/or isolated places, anything that indicates aloneness and reclusion, dark places such as deserted alleyways, abandoned houses/cabins, forests and countryside cities are very welcome on the horror genre to create the illusion of the alone or remote. Usually such places carry dark past or curses on them which causes it to be so dreadfully dark.

Camera Technique:

Camera techniques is very unnatural in horror genre, low camera angles usually imply the vulnerability of the character toward the creepy, POV shots are taken to make the audience empathise or feel that characters feelings (usually fear) at that moment, running or speedy handheld shots usually disorientate the audience making them believe that they have left behind that brief moment of safety (if any occurred) for the unknown that lies ahead, this usually makes the audience unsettled. Close ups are quite effective to give the audience that big “jump” if the monster is creeping behind the character.

Lighting:

Lighting is very important for the horror genre, dim light creates a disturbing feeling for the character and audience as their eyes cannot see everything that surrounds them, this makes easier to manipulate the audience’s feeling and to maintain them in constant uneasy. Focal lighting also enables the area to become quite creepy looking as the light will be focusing at one specific point where everything else remains in darkness.

Sound:

The use of diegetic sound is very important on horror movies because we want the audience to hear what the character is hearing and make them anxious. Any sounds from loud bangs to quiet footsteps are very important to engage the audience and make them feel connected to the character.Non- diegetic sounds such as soundtrack are equally important in the horror genre; a creepy rising lullaby in the background unsettles the audience and makes them feel aware that danger is around and coming towards them.

Editing/Manipulating Time:

Quick cuts on a chasing scene makes the audience feel the rush of the character and even its fear if it is being chased by something, slow-mo. cuts are equally important as it makes the audience feel the unsettledness of the character (footsteps approaching slowly as the character is hidden but listening to it).

Analysis of iconography in vampire movies:

Dracula: in Bram Stoker’s Dracula, a lot of iconography is presented in the first couple of seconds at the beginning of the movie. We see a cross at the top of a church, that cross is on the foreground shooting giving the idea of strong, however the background sky is red giving the idea of fear and darkness and blood; the cross then began to be covered by dark smoke, the usage of the smoke to cover the cross gives the impression of evil prevailing over good, also as the cross fall helplessly down the church and breaks on the floor again we are reinforced this idea of the good being overwhelmed by the evil. We are taken to a small shot of a map which focuses on “Transylvania”, the place that by myths is where vampires come from. Further onto the story we are given the information that the surname of the main character is “Draculia” which is quite similar from Dracula; He wears a red armour suit that looks like skinned flesh, once again the idea of blood and raw flesh comes up to us as we see this armour and believe that he may be the vampire in this story. As he follows to battle we see the outline of his figure which is now wearing a helmet that gives the feeling of a bat with pointy ears, as he carries on battling we see his cruelness and hard heart and believe even more in the idea the this character is truly Dracula. Further onto the story, we see he curses the heavens for have taken away his love and in desperation stabs the cross on the hall of his home, the cross starts to bleed and he drinks the blood coming from that cross and is finally turned into a vampire. In this movie the main weaknesses of the vampire character is the cross and prayers. On this film Dracula is able to walk in the sun as he walks towards the reincarnation of his beloved wife Elizabeth in central London. In this movie the vampire love to a human is shown and his intentions are to transform her into a vampire as well to live forever with him. The mode of “transformation” from human to vampire is by sucking its victim’s blood until they are almost “empty” and refilling them with vampire blood.

Interview with a vampire: in the film interview with the vampire, less iconography is used compared to Dracula’s film, however in the first couple of minutes and increasing dramatic non-

diegetic song is being played therefore building up tension on the viewer. As the camera follows up the building we see that there is a person looking out of the window, the shot follow to the back of this person, it is a man in a rather fine looking suit, his hair is pulled back in a ponytail, and from here the viewer might begin to wonder if this man is a vampire. This doubt is soon confirmed to be true as the interviewer guy asks the man “what do you do?” and he answers “I’m a vampire”, also as he moves with quite a quite superfast speed to turn the light on so they can speak easily. His eyes are quite colourless and his face is very pale. Louis states that vampires love the light, this is rather a controversy of his situation as he or any other vampire can no longer walk under the sun, he tries to abstain himself from human blood quite a lot of times throughout the film and most of the time he refuses to kill for pleasure as Lestat does so often, this again contradicts with what he actually is, a vampire, by giving him a more “human” approach toward life itself. Some generic conventions were applied on this film, as Louis quotes “coffins unfortunately are a necessity”. As Claudia tries to kill Lestat but he comes back to life because she did not stab his heart, further as we see Louis and Lestat putting fire in the vampire theatre and all those vampires come to an end, further on we see that Claudia and the new made female vampire dies from being exposed to the sun.

True Blood (season 1): in true blood season 1 we see that lots of modern things were adopted on the vampire theme giving a new twist to old traditional vampire movies. Thanks to Japanese scientists that have created synthetic blood vampires are now able to “leave the shadows” and reveal their existence to humans as they no longer depend on living off human blood .As vampires are allowed to live within society normally and are given similar rights unless they come to kill a human, vampire and human relationship supposedly was to be though quite normal, however many issues are exposed such as the struggle for equal rights, discrimination and violence against subgroups and homosexuals, drug addiction, the power and influence of faith and religion, the control/influence of the media, and the importance of family. The TV series does not carry many conventions with it but still had the fundamental ones that remind the viewer that those are vampires, such as day light restrictions, problems with silver, the traditional method of changing a human onto a vampire, by sucking them dry and replacing their blood with vampire blood. In True Blood, Bill the vampire acts and tries to fit into the small town to live in the house that belongs to him following the death of his last relative, he then fall in love with Suki a telepathic girl. The human – vampire relationship is well enforce in this series as firstly Suki takes an interest over Bill and he then falls in love with her and wants to protect her from any type of evil that may befall her. Many other forms of supernatural are presented on this series as well as the vampire.

Representations, genre and wider context: the vampire metaphor by Duncan Yeates

Watching and analysing.

Let the right one in

Genre: horror/drama

Subgenre: vampire/supernatural

Technical codes:

Editing:This opening scene varies between upper fast jump cuts to quite long duration close up shots. This gives the impression that even though the movie is scary and lots of supernatural things happens fast there is also a story going on behind the scare maze. The quick shots are integrated in the impression to the audience the “villain/monster” has overwhelming power and speed over its prey ;together with flashy lighting and quite loud bangs or usually screams of the victim, these cuts are definitely efficient when it comes to scare the audience. As for the long duration cuts, they are usually close ups focused on the victims reactions, on the conversation between the boy and the vampire girl or the boy’s alone reaction to something the vampire girl said/done.

Sound:The sounds used in this opening scene are quiet ambient sounds or loud bangs and/or screams, completely opposite types of sound but yet they work perfectly to create suspicion and tension in the audience.

Camera:A good range of shots have been taken onto account on this opening scene it varies a lot between close ups, long shots, medium shots and others; however not many scenes seems to be hand held shots, so even though close ups offer a space for the audience to sympathise with the characters you don’t feel completely on their shoes at some points that it would be quite useful.

Mise-en-scene:As for Mise-en-scene the whole of the imagery contributes for a scary feeling; this horror story is being shot at winter, where everything seems to be frozen and dead. The night only hunts creates that feeling that going out at night alone is dangerous and that one should remain safely indoors until the sun is up again.

Narrative

Enigma codes;The whole of the opening scene is quite enigmatic as the characters do not follow the their convention codes precisely, we’ve got the boy who is quite pale and restricted and quiet but very angry when it comes to take out the pain from his bullies at school, and we’ve got the girl which is pretty “healthy” looking and innocent but she is “the bad guy”. It is very hard to predict the protagonist and the antagonist in this movie as the characters possesses benefits and drawbacks from both roles.

Theory of equilibrium:I could not quite see an initial equilibrium on this opening scene; therefore I believe that it already begins at a disequilibrium point and then follows on to the equilibrium (ending)

Character archetypes:Again it is very difficult to categorise the characters of this movie as they do not follow the convention codes for the horror genre. However as we do spend quite a lot of time with the boy and girl we begin to believe that the two of them are the protagonists.

Binary oppositesThe binary opposites for this film are a bit messed to identify as the boy who is human possesses the looks of the vampire stereotype, and the girl who is the real vampire villain possesses the looks of abnormal human kid; therefore I think of them as a complementary.

Representation of the vampire:In “Let the Right One In”, the vampire is represented by an innocent looking girl. This may have a moral/political impact on the audience and society; Sweden has the highest rate of mental health issues among children and young people; therefore why not take reality facts and make a movie where the child can go on and murder as a relief of its mental distress?

The lost boys:

Genre: Thriller / Horror

Subgenre: supernatural/ vampire

Technical codes:

Editing:On average the lost boys have longer shots than “let the right one in”; the editing pace is quite slower but yet quite effective.

Sound:The characters barely speak and instead diegetic sounds fills the scene and let the audience thinking why the characters are so mysterious.

Camera: As for camera techniques, the choice of shooting the scene on a carrousel makes the audience imagine that they are there with the character as well because all the rest of the background is circling with them. Most of the shots are long to medium shots.

Mise-en-Scene:The whole of the scene is quite bright and colourful as the shot is happening at a fun fair, the characters move slowly in contrast with the carrousel which is moving quite quick, this gives a sense of mysterious to the characters indicating that they might be dangerous.

Narrative:

Enigma codes:The character are much more stereotypically represented as bad guys in this scene than in the other movie; they’re dressed as punk/rocker type of clothing which makes them easily recognised as the “troublemakers” or the villains.

Equilibrium Theory.From the small sequence I saw I believe that the equilibrium started with the darkness prevailing, the disequilibrium would follow with the introduction of a hero and the new equilibrium would be restored when darkness was defeated.

Character archetypes:It’s quite easy to identify characters on this opening scene; we have the villains (the troublesome looking guys) the helpless victim (the girl in the carrousel) and the authority.

Binary opposites:As no hero has been introduced yet the only opposite to compare is the villain to the victim.

Representation of the vampire:The vampires are represented by the punk/rocker looking boys, they look troublesome and dark, they are represented as the type of vampires that like the type of blood splashing hunt with lots of gore and human parts all over the place.

Directors.

Steven Allan Spielberg (born December 18, 1946) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, and business magnate. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as archetypes of modern Hollywood blockbuster filmmaking. In later years, his films began addressing humanistic issues such as the Holocaust, the transatlantic slave trade, war, and terrorism. He is considered one of the most popular and influential filmmakers in the history of cinema. He is also one of the co-founders of DreamWorks movie studio.

Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, renowned as England's best director

Timothy Walter "Tim" Burton (born August 25, 1958) is an American film director, film producer, writer, poet, and stop motion artist. He is known for his dark, gothic, macabre and quirky horror and fantasy films such as Beetle juice, Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, Corpse Bride, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Dark Shadows and Frankenweenie, and for blockbusters such as Pee-wee's Big Adventure, Batman, its first sequel Batman Returns, Planet of the Apes, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Alice in Wonderland.

Vampire clothingThere are two very opposites when it comes to vampire clothing, when we think of it the first thing that pops into our heads are long, dark clothes with cloaks, pointy hats and canes and for female long dresses with long sleeves

However nowadays we see that in many vampire movies, vampires only want to blend in with humans and carry on a normal cosy vampire life therefore modern vampires are much like us humans in clothing style

As modern vampires seems very eager to look like humans and blend in, we decided that our own vampires would wear normal clothing, nothing that would be characterised as iconography but nothing that would give us humans a hint that they are different from us.

Conventions of a horror movie genreHorror films are designed to create a feeling of suspense, fright and panic on the general viewers; it also should cause dread, alarm and arouse our deepest and worst fear. Generally horror movies present characters that have different types of fear such as fear of vulnerability, fear of the unknown, fear of nightmares, fear of alienation and more, these types of feelings are presented on the horror genre as a way of connecting with the audience, connecting with the audiences fear.

The first representations of supernatural events appear in several of the silent shorts created by the film pioneer George Melies in the late 1890's. During the early period of talking pictures, the American Movie studio Universal Pictures began a successful Gothic horror film series. Tod Browning's Dracula (1931), with Bela Lugosi, was quickly followed by James Whale's Frankenstein. Some of these merged science fiction films with Gothic horror, such as The Invisible Man (1933) and, reflecting the earlier German films, featured a mad scientist. These films, while planned to thrill, also combined more serious elements.

Settings of horror films:

Nay place that connotes isolation is quite fit for the horror genre; it can be anything from a dark alleyway to a haunted house. Mostly common places for horror movies are: Abandoned houses, Barnes and farms, Cities, Cabins, Creepy hotels, Graveyards, Pirate ships, Basements, Hunting places.

Technical Codes:

Camera work is very expressive and not natural; high and low an angle connotes fear and domain, usually the character that creates horror is framed in higher angles whereas the victim is framed in a lower shot.

POV shots are important because they allow the audience to see the world from the monsters or victims eyes, especially when in a confrontation; therefore the audience can connect to the character’s feelings.

Sometimes framework uses depth of field, making it harder to see the monster creeping up, creating tension and sometimes a feeling that you know more than the actual character there in the movie.

Iconography:

Visual style: often dark colours are used such as red & black linking to evil, blood and danger, either the main character or the monster will be in such darker colours, it connotes that they are somehow linked and that the horror story will unroll around them.

Common objects include: weapons, masks, icons of the supernatural/religious etc.

The iconography of the monsters helps to connote extreme fear, disgust, and terror: werewolves, vampires, mummies, Frankenstein and many more.

Low-key lighting can help to create dark shadows and unfamiliar shapes in the blackness, linking it to the fear of the unknown, usually it one of the most effective ways of scaring both the character and the audience.

Type of Characters:

- Main protagonist, can be either the victim or the hero or both, it can be a single character or multiple characters.

- Main antagonist/villain: these can be human or not therefore monsters, mutations, aliens and serial killers all qualify as villains.

- “Stupid” characters, usually friends with the victim/hero that most often gets killed.- Side cast (sometimes animals): Ghosts, zombies, demons, angels, psychopaths, werewolves,

cheerleaders, creepy children, hissing cats, angry dogs and many more.

Common themes for horror genre:

- Good vs. Evil- Depression- Religion- Childhood issues- Revenge- Supernatural (vampire, werewolf, alien)- Beyond death- Science gone bad- Zombie Apocalypse- Insanity- Lust/Envy.

Soundtrack:

Soundtrack for horror genre movies are quite simple, they consist of suspenseful, instrumental music, generally quite dark and cool. This type of music is placed at the most suspicious moments in the movie causing the audience to feel chills; this type of music are specifically made to reach down on the psychological responses of the audience and make them feel on the edge.

Upbeat/chase music: reserved for chases, this type of music is the perfect match for a physical chase to the victim, it is a contrast to the suspenseful music but still the equally efficient to put the audience on the edge as it builds up when it gets closer to the character giving the sense that the villain will finally catch the victim.

Also horror genre depends a lot in special effects sounds and Foley again to boost suspense and promote scares/jumps.

Poster Analysis.

Common representation of women is shown here by having the girl in the background; she is being addressed as the damsel in distress. Even though they may have tried to break this convention by putting an axe on her hand so that she may protect herself all other character (male) on the poster stand in from of her diminishing her, her clothing is short and tight which again is a common representation of that they can use their looks to try and get the best of whatever situation she is in to.

Male lead character stands In front of everyone else giving the sense of heroism. He is half way turned to the girl’s side implying that they are a couple and he will be there to protect her from any befallen evil. He holds firmly an axe in his hand showing that he can use it fluently, his head is slightly tilted to the front giving a sense that he is looking down, and this can show that he is looking down at his enemy therefore making him appear even more heroic.

Evil character. He is placed in second place in the poster to show that he is the great evil in this film and that the only one above him and his power is the hero. His bloody shirt and face shows that he is comfortable with killing but also by having his head slightly to the side and a hand in his mouth gives a sense of wilderness and sexual appeal towards women. This can indicate that he may try to approach his victims by using his looks and charm.

Sidekick friend, this character is placed at the very back of the poster this can indicate that although he will be helping the hero to combat evil he might be afraid of it. Although he is starring right back at us with a confident look, his body position tells us differently, and by the way he holds his weapon at the back of his head, it can be concluded that he may overestimate his abilities but possibly he will end up getting into trouble himself.

Font in the format of fangs indicating this will be a vampire movie. Splash of blood indicated that the movie may be gruesome to some extent. Only the name of the hero and the villain in present in the poster again giving the viewer the feeling that this confrontation is only between the two of them and that it may be for other reasons quite personal.