J Horror Genre

Japanese horror also known as J-Horror is a unique thematic and conventional treatment of the horror genre in light of western treatments. The focus is mainly on psychological horror and tension building particularly with ghosts and poltergeists. The themes mainly revolve around Yokai and precognition. As seen in the more popular J-Horror in the west, The Ring, The Grudge, and One missed call. Yokai translated literally means demon, spirit or monster. It is a class of preternatural, meaning supernatural but have rational explanations as yet unknown (such as the Loch Ness monster) who are creatures in Japanese folklore. The origins of these creatures and the inspiration for the movies can be traced back to ghost story classics, known as Kaidan, told in Japan during the Edo and Meiji period. Due to the success of The Ring in western theatres, it bought about the knowledge of Yurei, which had always existed in Japan for centuries. Yurei are Japanese ghosts bound to the physical world through strong emotions that do not allow them to pass on. This is displayed in The Ring, The Grudge, and One missed call, whereby the ghost is bound by desire for vengeance these are called Onryo. Onryo have a traditional appearance and follow a set of rules; they are often female, although there are male Onryo, and wear white clothing which is the traditional funeral garment, they have long black hair tied in with the tradition of growing it and keeping it pinned up only letting it down in death. All of these characteristics are found in The Ring’s Sadako and The Grudge’s Kayako. The Ring was directed by Hideo Nakata on a budget of $1.2 million, although it is unknown how much it made, the American remake directed by Gore Verbinski, made with a budget of $48 million, made a worldwide profit of $249,348,933. Ju-on The Grudge was directed by Takashi Shimizu made $3m worldwide, the American version directed by Takashi Shimizu again had a budget of $10m and made $187,281,115 worldwide. Due to the success of these movies, it seems that the western audience have fully embraced J-Horror.

Horror Genre

Horror films are made to frighten and awaken their hidden fears. There are different sub-genres within a horror film which could trigger their hidden fears for example; slasher, j-horror, supernatural, serial killers, satanic, Dracula, Frankenstein, etc. The sub genre I am going to go into detail about is Teen Horror. Teen horrors are made to scare teenage girls so the would want a hug from their boyfriend, they also have a predictable storyline, these storylines always out a teen in trouble that only a teenager would get into for example if a group of teens go on a road trip and their car brakes down, they would go and find help but they would come across an abandoned shelter which we then know something horrifying is going to happen but these teens have no clue as most of the teens in horror movies are jocks or the ‘cool’ kids (jocks are thought of as dumb and know nothing apart from sports). Furthermore parents would never understand never understand what kind of trouble the teenager has got into resulting in either them dying or the teen. The characters themselves are almost always in jeopardy because they did something stupid, irresponsible or wrong (broke curfew, smoked pot, used their parents' car without permission, explored the old mine shaft with warning signs posted, had sex).
Teen movies are about the action and thrills. Typical cast include a jock and his girl, a nerd and a misfit. The misfit often comes out as the hero or heroine who everyone always ignores. Teen horrors are often set in ordinary places where teens usually hang out like in a high school, also the events occur on special occasions like prom night for example. - Andy. Luc

Introduction to horror

This year for A2 Media Studies, we are going to be creating a teaser trailer of a horror movie. As well as a movie magazine cover and a movie poster. Our group consists of four members, all of which play a different role in making our trailer.



Pentagram - Goat of Mendes.

Horror Films are movies that provoke emotions such as fear from the audiences. Often they use scenes that deal with the human subconscience so that even if we appear not to be frightened it is always in your mind afterward.

Horror films are based around situations that make the viewers uncomfortable, mainly by how grotesque and taboo they appear. The majority of Horror films are based around the supernatural, something that is a unkown to us. Other genres and themes could/are based around serial killers, a disease/virus and/or the surrealism of the characters world.

Most plots within the horror genre involve the intrusion of an evil supernatural force, event, or personage, commonly of supernatural origin, into the everyday world.

Other conventional creatures for horror movies are:- ghosts (The Grudge), werewolves (Wolf Man), satanism (The Devil Rides Out), demons (Paranormal Activity), Vampires (Dracula, Nosferatu), cannibals(Silence of the Lambs), Mummy (... The Mummy), Zombies (Shuan of the Dead) and serial killers (Scream).

As we move from genereation to generation the definition of horror changes. From the man made montrosity to the supernatural plane of exsistance.

Make Up Design (Hand)

These are the firsts attempts we made at trying to create a hand that was terrifying but also very realistic. Like many of the disembodied limbs of a antagonist we have made it/them white, made sure that the hand had long fingernails and that the you could clearly see wrinkles

Posters

Below are some posters designed by Andy

(click to enlarge)

Poster Designs

Andy - Textual Analysis of The Strangers Trailer

The Strangers teaser trailer analysis
At the beginning of the teaser trailer we are shown a sideshow of houses and under each picture we see different sentences, these different sentences tell the audience the reason why people choose certain houses for example some people choose homes ‘For the neighbourhood’(Figure 1 and 2). As the trailer moves on the houses start to get more luxurious and then the quality of the pictures start to change, they seem to look like the photo was taken a long time ago as if the ‘strangers’ have already targeted the house and this is indicated by the red cross on the last few photos(Figure 3). Under the last few photos of the slideshow the sentences start to become more sinister as the following words are used ‘But some people choose a house for a completely different reason’ this tells you ‘the strangers’ are crazy psychotic people and that something horrifying is going to happen to some innocent people.

Figure 1
Figure 2

Figure 3
Once we are shown the last picture it cuts straight into an establishing shot of that house, which shows it in what appears to be the woods. It is set at night time. This very typical in horror films because it shows that the place is out in the open and if something bad were to happen no one would find out and also the darkness shows that the area is dangerous and evil. After the establishing shot it fades into a shot of a middle aged man who is well dressed and this indicates that he is quite successful. Then there are quick cuts between him and his girlfriend who is also well dressed, these shots show that the couple are in love and are very happy as if nothing has gone wrong, this gives the audience a nail biting situation because they know something horrible is going to happen but they don’t know when. While the couple are hugging and comforting each other they hear a knock on the door which startles them, the door is then shown in the next shot to create a mysterious atmosphere as the couple are oblivious of what or who is at the door and for what is about to happen to them. The next shot is a medium close up (Figure 5) of the women up close next to the door to show she is listening for something outside of it, when she says ‘hello’ she gets a reply from the other side and this voice says’ Your going to die’ and from this point on the trailer get more intense and frightening. From the medium close up there is a fade into a black screen and then cuts into a shot of a weapon. The weapon is introduced which adds to the horror of the film, as the shot quickly shows the axe knocking through the wood. This shocks the audience because after the black screen it comes when it is unexpected. It then cuts into a medium close up of the couple screaming and jumping, this shows that the couple are powerless towards the strangers (Figure 8). Then there are quick cuts of the terrifying events to come. Within the cuts we get to see the people who are terrorising the couple. These quick cuts give the audience too much too take in and this gets them baffled and scared at the same time.
Before we are given another black screen we see in the last image ‘the strangers’ (Figure 6) with the couple beneath them, this shows that the couple are powerless towards the strangers doing and they can only watch what will happen to them effortlessly. We are then shown the movie title followed by a shot we the following words ‘inspired by true events’, this gets the audience thinking how can people become so corrupt and want to mess with others lives, which gives them more reason to go and watch the film. Lastly there is a last slideshow showing the women clawing towards the camera (Figure 7) as if she is trying to escape after the countless assaults from the strangers. This tells the audience that they are not in for a happy ending.

Figure 4 Figure 5

Figure 6 Figure 7

Figure 8
SOUND
The song used at the beginning of the trailer is "If I didn't Care" written by The Four Inkspots. This was a classic in the 80s. With the combination of the recording quality back then and the situation in the teaser the trailer it creates a sinister and suspenseful atmosphere within it.
Non diegetic music is then played when we are introduced to the couple, this sound is suspenseful and creates tension giving audience a hint that something is about to happen. There is a loud knock on the door and the couple get startled, tension is then built quickly from this point on and we are introduced to a diegetic sound. At the end of each slide shows from figure 5 and onwards we hear a scream. This gives shock value to this part of the trailer.
From Figure 5 the woman gets a reply ‘Your going to die’. This gets the audience on the edge of their seats because if you heard someone say that to you, you would be rather scared and with this feeling the audience know what the character within the movie is going through.