Thursday, 29 November 2012
Wednesday, 28 November 2012
Homework on a vampire synopsis
Set in Malta, a small island in the Mediterranean Sea, in
1981, a story that explores the unusual activities going on inside the islands
mental institution ‘The Asylum of Valletta . A journalist looks into all the
unsolved murders that have happened on the island of which stretch back fifty
or so years that all have the same cause of death, bodies drained of blood,
decapitated limbs, headless bodies left to rot and for some reason every single
case always comes back to this institution. The Asylum of Valletta here is a
young girl, Maria Allegretto, sectioned by her parents after a horrific incident at a family gathering. At first the journalist laughs off the idea that this girl has anything to do with these murders, after all she is only seventeen and the last recorded death he has written down was nine years ago that would have made her eight years old at the time. Just out of curiosity he researches a bit more and discovers that this seventeen year old is indeed a vampire, and he goes on a journey with her to help her understand who she really is.
Wednesday, 21 November 2012
Research on how women are portrayed in Horror Films
Research
Tradition has it that horror is the preserve of the sweaty male teen, but the movie industry wants us to believe women are more and more interested in it all. The Tale of Two Sisters is a case in point: it's the highest-grossing Korean horror film ever made and Dream Works has bought the remake rights. What marks it out in the horror genre is that almost all the characters are female and that it relies more on suspense than gore (and even the gore has a female skew - at one point, the blood on the screen is menstrual, an echo of the Canadian werewolf movie Ginger Snaps).
Most horror films have always placed women as the weaker sex, they are the victims who are usually brutally murdered and the first few to die by the murderer / deranged stalker, etc., who is a male. There are seldom female killers. Certain scenes in horror films are inevitable – you will always be able to see a beautiful and voluptuous young woman (or young college / high school girl) running away from a deranged stalker who is apparently trying to kill her, although the reason is not revealed until much later, in the opening scene.
women are always seen as needy, needing someone, usually a male to save them from the killer and if a male character does not intervene, then the female characters will be killed. However, instead of always portraying women as helpless and vulnerable, we see a change in how women are being portrayed in horror films from 1974 onwards - they were able to defend, rescue themselves and fight back against the main antagonist in order to protect themselves and / or their family and friends.
The movie Carrie, produced in 1976, also breaks away from the conventional mold of horror films that women need to be saved from the killers who are usually male. However, instead of portraying Carrie as a heroine and a “final girl”, she is being portrayed as a killer.
Tuesday, 20 November 2012
500 words on the representation of young women in horror films.
Write 500 words on the representation of young
women in horror films. You must research this first and you must provide clear
examples from horror texts. Remember the analysis of representation must be made
through media forms.
The media uses ways to portray genders; in particular females. The initial thought that comes to mind when we think of women in horror films is victims who are usually brutally murdered and the first few to die by the murderer / deranged stalker, etc., who is a male. This showing us as the audience that men are perhaps superior to women, and even stronger mentally and physically. Films like 'Scream' portray women as pathetic and weak. and yes, sometimes annoying...
In the opening scene in one of the scream films, there are two girl best friends who are enjoying a night in, when suddenly a suspicious male masked ghost knocks on the door and disrupts there whole evening. Although they know there is trouble, they keep answering the phone to this man and then eventually he is in the house. This 'Horror, Spoof' portrays women as being pathetic, dumb and stupid. We notice that women are usually the people in films who open the doors for trouble; which in some ways creates a realistic belief that women in society are dumb, annoying and pathetic. Its a rather obvious trait that the media uses to make women look stupid, they make avoidable situations approachable, by making the female in the film bring the trouble in.
Throughout the media, we generally see genders being stereotyped; which can mean women being presented as ''objects'' mainly sexually and emotionally orientated. Women are usually seen as the more 'emotional' gender, as where as men are seen as tough, more masculine and less emotional characters. Women usually are portrayed to not make there own choices/decisions, and our dependant on others when a problem occurs. Years ago, women being portrayed all the time in this negative way was seen as normal and this is what most film directors would stick too (as this is what everyone knew). However, we could argue that perhaps because the media had this strong negative influence against women, it detached the female population from challenging the ways of the media. Marie Wilson however, decided she would not allow this negative influence to go on and she stated ''You cant be what you cant see'' stating the media portraying these women as weak, dumb characters will cause an influence of the popularity of women to act like this. However, if this convention were to be stopped, perhaps we would see a more strong, feminist society.
The presentation of female visibility in Horror Films is different compared to other media forms. The main female protagonists can turn into the 'Final Girl' and are therefore presented until the end of the film. The likeliness of this 'Final Girl' influence is fairly low in the horror media form than any other, as they do not want to break the convention too much and allow women to play a masculine, strong role; as they believe this is not what people want to see.
Age can affect the presentation of women. We tend to see all variety's of male characters, age,class and race, as where as we only usually see young females, mainly white, pretty, and sexy. This leading back to women being seen as 'sex objects'. It is known that older male actors are usually more well known than older female actors. Male actors such as Michael Cane and Matt Smith. For women, we could only associate a successful older actor, with lets say.... Dot from EastEnders. This contrast between the two is a big difference, and this yet again shows us that Males are seen as Superior to women actors.
In horror films there seems to be an imbalance with the presentation of women, there are usually seen as extremely strong, or extremely weak- Varied female protagonists do not tend to occur within horror films.
Horror, unlike most other forms of media, shows gender in a much more respected way, women can be portrayed as being more active rather than passive. There passive roles are usually portrayed in other forms of media. In some horrors like 'Buffy The Vampire Slayer' we notice that Buffy is the hero in this (and she's blonde). She is usually the character who 'Saves The Day' in which we do not see often.
The Final Girl Theory-
The final girl is a trope in thriller and horror films (particularly slasher films) that specifically refers to the last woman or girl alive to confront the killer, ostensibly the one left to tell the story. The final girl has been observed in dozens of films, including Halloween Friday the 13th and many more. This opens doors in the media for women to be represented as characters that 'save the day' unlike the usual perception of women.
In conclusion, In the genre of Horror films, females are usually presented as weak, and dependant on others, however... it is more common nowadays to see women used in films as 'The Final Girl' or the 'Girl Who Saved The Day'. However, This influence on women in the film industry leaves many people questioning whether or not women are seen as objects rather than characters.
The media uses ways to portray genders; in particular females. The initial thought that comes to mind when we think of women in horror films is victims who are usually brutally murdered and the first few to die by the murderer / deranged stalker, etc., who is a male. This showing us as the audience that men are perhaps superior to women, and even stronger mentally and physically. Films like 'Scream' portray women as pathetic and weak. and yes, sometimes annoying...
In the opening scene in one of the scream films, there are two girl best friends who are enjoying a night in, when suddenly a suspicious male masked ghost knocks on the door and disrupts there whole evening. Although they know there is trouble, they keep answering the phone to this man and then eventually he is in the house. This 'Horror, Spoof' portrays women as being pathetic, dumb and stupid. We notice that women are usually the people in films who open the doors for trouble; which in some ways creates a realistic belief that women in society are dumb, annoying and pathetic. Its a rather obvious trait that the media uses to make women look stupid, they make avoidable situations approachable, by making the female in the film bring the trouble in.
Throughout the media, we generally see genders being stereotyped; which can mean women being presented as ''objects'' mainly sexually and emotionally orientated. Women are usually seen as the more 'emotional' gender, as where as men are seen as tough, more masculine and less emotional characters. Women usually are portrayed to not make there own choices/decisions, and our dependant on others when a problem occurs. Years ago, women being portrayed all the time in this negative way was seen as normal and this is what most film directors would stick too (as this is what everyone knew). However, we could argue that perhaps because the media had this strong negative influence against women, it detached the female population from challenging the ways of the media. Marie Wilson however, decided she would not allow this negative influence to go on and she stated ''You cant be what you cant see'' stating the media portraying these women as weak, dumb characters will cause an influence of the popularity of women to act like this. However, if this convention were to be stopped, perhaps we would see a more strong, feminist society.
The presentation of female visibility in Horror Films is different compared to other media forms. The main female protagonists can turn into the 'Final Girl' and are therefore presented until the end of the film. The likeliness of this 'Final Girl' influence is fairly low in the horror media form than any other, as they do not want to break the convention too much and allow women to play a masculine, strong role; as they believe this is not what people want to see.
Age can affect the presentation of women. We tend to see all variety's of male characters, age,class and race, as where as we only usually see young females, mainly white, pretty, and sexy. This leading back to women being seen as 'sex objects'. It is known that older male actors are usually more well known than older female actors. Male actors such as Michael Cane and Matt Smith. For women, we could only associate a successful older actor, with lets say.... Dot from EastEnders. This contrast between the two is a big difference, and this yet again shows us that Males are seen as Superior to women actors.
In horror films there seems to be an imbalance with the presentation of women, there are usually seen as extremely strong, or extremely weak- Varied female protagonists do not tend to occur within horror films.
Horror, unlike most other forms of media, shows gender in a much more respected way, women can be portrayed as being more active rather than passive. There passive roles are usually portrayed in other forms of media. In some horrors like 'Buffy The Vampire Slayer' we notice that Buffy is the hero in this (and she's blonde). She is usually the character who 'Saves The Day' in which we do not see often.
The Final Girl Theory-
The final girl is a trope in thriller and horror films (particularly slasher films) that specifically refers to the last woman or girl alive to confront the killer, ostensibly the one left to tell the story. The final girl has been observed in dozens of films, including Halloween Friday the 13th and many more. This opens doors in the media for women to be represented as characters that 'save the day' unlike the usual perception of women.
In conclusion, In the genre of Horror films, females are usually presented as weak, and dependant on others, however... it is more common nowadays to see women used in films as 'The Final Girl' or the 'Girl Who Saved The Day'. However, This influence on women in the film industry leaves many people questioning whether or not women are seen as objects rather than characters.
Wednesday, 14 November 2012
Analysis Homework 'The Ring'
View the first 3-5 minutes of any of the films suggested.
How do they establish genre, narrative, character, ideology, through technical and symbolic code?
The Ring- a film based on a young girl who got terribly traumatised by her unruly mother, therefore she seeks revenge to do the same to other people. The film explores many themes, the main one being tragedy.
In the opening sequence of 'The Ring' we get a real glimpse that the film is aimed at young adults and perhaps an older audience, however we could say it appeals to every audience except children. I've made my decision based on the seriousness and the atmosphere of the opening sequence. The atmosphere feels gloomy and mysterious therefore this shows that this tension will lead onto something happening, and I'm sure this particular target audience would enjoy this horror type film.
In the first few seconds of the clip, there is a teenage, brunette girl introduced with a petrified facial expression which then creates the tension of the scene and makes the audience believe something is about to happen. Whilst holding the glass of milk we begin to see the girl trembling, which suggests she is scared. Further on a little, there is a close up of her face showing us yet again that something is about to happen.
She calls out to her friend calling her a 'bitch' thinking she is the one that's turned the tv on so it's just a fuzzy grey screen, so she goes into the living room and turns it off. There is a medium long shot in this part to show us her reaction to the tv being like that and the tv turning off. After this, as she begins to walk away, on a long shot, we see through the window that the tele turns itself back on, this suggests somebody's there and someone or something is about to appear.
After this the camera slowly begins to go towards her face as she is freaking out about the tv, this slow movement of the camera shows us yet again something is about to happen and even the girls beginning to notice something's not quite right.
There's a very tense camera shot when the girl and the TV are close up from a side angle, medium close up. This then begins to make the audience think that something s perhaps behind her at this point, it almost could suggest by not seeing behind her, she is not safe.
Throughout the clip, the pace of the camera was kept fairly slow, to create a gloomy atmosphere. However, whenever she would hear or see something she would run, and the camera would go towards her fast to let us know something is literally about to happen. This clip used high angle shot on the staircase which went really well with the genre of horror of the film, I thought this because the fact we could not see up the stairs created more tension, as we didn't no what to expect, because the camera didn't allow the audience to see certain things. Throughout the clip, this happened a lot to create the tension.
When she's upstairs the camera is on a floor shot, capturing her feet as she walked slowly towards the bedroom. This shot allowed the audience to see the blood scattered across the floor in front of her, which gave us a opportunity to know something bad was about to happen, before she even knew.
She then goes into the bedroom, there is a close up on the tele, and the a quick cut straight back to her petrified face, which then turns into one of the 'little girls victims' quite obviously.
Throughout the clip, there was little colour used and a low key lighting, which portrayed the themes and genre of the film very clearly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gIuCfnmPQg
Research on Directors
I'm going to research several directors who focus on making films with the genre of Romantic Comedy's.
Sharon Maguire- she is known for the very famous film 'Bridget Jones's diary' she started of studying English and Drama at uni. She then went onto acting and then began producing Bridget Jones's diary, which is actually a film based on her best friend.
Nancy Meyers- she is know to have made the film 'The holiday' which is also a romantic comedy. She has made many other films too, which are all based on Romantic Comedy's.
Aaron Seltzer- He is know for 'Scary Movie' however, he has made many other rom coms, and spoof comedy's that haven't been released.
Brett Ratner; He is known for directing films such as the Rush Hour Trilogy and is known for directing the pilot episode of the TV Drama, Prison Break. This shows that he has a variety of ways in order to film which engages the audience for its genre.
Sharon Maguire- she is known for the very famous film 'Bridget Jones's diary' she started of studying English and Drama at uni. She then went onto acting and then began producing Bridget Jones's diary, which is actually a film based on her best friend.
Nancy Meyers- she is know to have made the film 'The holiday' which is also a romantic comedy. She has made many other films too, which are all based on Romantic Comedy's.
Aaron Seltzer- He is know for 'Scary Movie' however, he has made many other rom coms, and spoof comedy's that haven't been released.
Brett Ratner; He is known for directing films such as the Rush Hour Trilogy and is known for directing the pilot episode of the TV Drama, Prison Break. This shows that he has a variety of ways in order to film which engages the audience for its genre.
Thursday, 8 November 2012
Master Shot
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