Sunday 31 March 2013
plot
The basic plot of ‘The Scarecrow’ is that Bethany Weir stays up late with her brother and watches a horror film against her dads wishes. The film scares her so she goes to bed. When she gets to bed she sees a scarecrow, thinks nothing of it and goes to bed. She is later woken by a tap on the window. She looks out and the scarecrow has moved. She goes and tells her dad who dispels her claim saying ‘it’s just a dream’ so she goes back to bed. Later she is woken again by the same ominous tapping and the scarecrow is even closer. She rushes to her dad in a panicked state to tell her dad who again ignores her claims. When she goes back to her room the lights switch off, the scarecrow emerges, the door slams and a scream is heard.
Friday 29 March 2013
script
(Jordan and Beth sat on the Sofa watching a horror film at night)
Jordan: I’m letting you stay up but dad said I had to put you to bed at 10, but I’m letting you stay up. Ok?
Beth: Ok
Jordan: You’re not going to be scared are you?
Beth: No I won’t be scared
Jordan: Promise?
Beth: Yeah, I won’t be scared
Jordan: Ok (gets darker and get further into film)
Beth: It’s scary (loud squeal from the film, Beth screams)
Beth: This is too scary, I’m going to bed. (Beth goes upstairs to bed)
Jordan: Why? (teasing) He’s gonna get you! (Beth goes to bed, looks out the window, sees the scarecrow but thinks nothing of it. She wakes up and finds the scarecrow has moved and runs to her dad)
Beth: (panicked) The scarecrows moved!
Stuart: What? What you on about, go back to bed. (Beth goes back to bed but is eventually woken by the same knocking, she looks and the scarecrow has moved even closer she rushes to her dad again)
Beth: (panicked) Dad, it’s getting closer!
Stuart: Look Beth it’s three in the morning bab, go back to bed it’s just a dream (Beth goes back to her room, the lights switch off, she turns around, the scarecrow emerges, the door slams and she screens. Dip to black and titles roll)
Jordan: I’m letting you stay up but dad said I had to put you to bed at 10, but I’m letting you stay up. Ok?
Beth: Ok
Jordan: You’re not going to be scared are you?
Beth: No I won’t be scared
Jordan: Promise?
Beth: Yeah, I won’t be scared
Jordan: Ok (gets darker and get further into film)
Beth: It’s scary (loud squeal from the film, Beth screams)
Beth: This is too scary, I’m going to bed. (Beth goes upstairs to bed)
Jordan: Why? (teasing) He’s gonna get you! (Beth goes to bed, looks out the window, sees the scarecrow but thinks nothing of it. She wakes up and finds the scarecrow has moved and runs to her dad)
Beth: (panicked) The scarecrows moved!
Stuart: What? What you on about, go back to bed. (Beth goes back to bed but is eventually woken by the same knocking, she looks and the scarecrow has moved even closer she rushes to her dad again)
Beth: (panicked) Dad, it’s getting closer!
Stuart: Look Beth it’s three in the morning bab, go back to bed it’s just a dream (Beth goes back to her room, the lights switch off, she turns around, the scarecrow emerges, the door slams and she screens. Dip to black and titles roll)
Thursday 28 March 2013
Monday 18 March 2013
Friday 15 March 2013
Research into existing products- Horror
In 1974 Christian Metz wrote a book entitled language and
cinema. Contextually his book stated that every genre goes through four stages:
experimental, classic, parody and deconstruction.
The experimental phase is the innovation of the genre, where
the rules and conventions are devised. In the horror genre these are films like
The Cabinet Of Dr Calagari (1919) and Nosferatu (1922) which was the first
screen play of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. These are both examples of German
Expressionist films. This movement was a period of art and films that were
dark, shadowy and atmospheric to signify the trauma felt, especially in Europe,
from WWI. The trauma of the great war on film makers inspired them to explore
dark themes and devise the horror genre.
The classic phase of a genre is when there are solid rules
and conventions which it follows and the genre is at it’s most popular and
successful. For horror this was in the early 1930’s. By this time the dark
themes of the German expressionist films had made it across the Atlantic to
Hollywood. This allowed horror films to be made with A list casts and big
budgets making them more appealing to a global audience. Examples of classic
horrors from this time include Dracula (1931) and Frankenstein (1931). Both
these films were made by Universal studios which is stereotypically considered
as a horror studio.
The parody phase would create films that mimicked horrors
with comedic elements. This came about because Universal in particular had lots
of exhausted horror franchises such as The Wolfman. To overcome this they
introduced the comedy duo Abbot and Costello to the horror storylines and the
Parody was born. This has continued since most notably with Carry On Screaming
(1969) and Scary Movie (1999).
In the 1950’s Hollywood entered a period of austerity
subsequent to the invention of television. This allowed British studios like Hammer
studios to prosper and make films Dracula (1958) and The Mummy (1959). These
films kept the horror genre going through the austerity period of Hollywood.
The deconstruction phase takes the generic elements of a
horror film but adds sub genres. An example of this is the psychological horror
Se7en (1995). The film incorporates classic horror conventions like murder and
mystery. But you don’t see any of the murders occur, all the action is in your
head. There are many other sub genres that have been added into horror films
such as skatterpunk horrors like Hostel (2005) and religious cult horrors like
The Exorcist (1973).
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