Insidious (2011) Title Sequence Textual Analysis

The font is blood red- conveying a convention of the horror genre. In addition the 'smoke' effect on the text resembles spirits, which conveys the supernatural horror hybrid genre of the film. This createsa very dramatic atmosphere.

The background of the clip is still black, but the orb of light represents purity that is surrouned by darkness (which connotes danger.) james Wan is a veteran horror film director, so his name is focused in the centre third of the screen with a different background- notice how his name is larger than the other text, and has been placed over the white background whilst the other text is smaller and against a black background.

The protagonist of the film is introduced. He is a young, inncoent, vulnerbale child. A common convention of supernatural horrors is that vulnerbale people (such as children) are the most likely to be possesed. In terms of lighting, the shot is still quite dark. Despite being realesed in 2011, the setting of the film is not modern day. Another convention of horror films is that they are set in the past, but either within the last 30 years of in past centuries. Common time periods are the Victorian era, the 1960's, 1970's and modern day (2010's.)

A tracking shot allows the audience to view the whole house, which is the main setting of the film. The clips have limited lighting, which again is a convention of the horror genre. Using darkness in clips is said to enhance the other senses, which makes the viewers more sensitive to their surroundings. This would increase the 'scare factor' of the film.

 

The titles are red in colour which have connotations of blood, another convention of the horror genre. The font type seems to be Gothic-inspired, which has its of connotations and associations with death and the supernatural. In my main brief we will go with a similar colour scheme to further connote death and danger, and use a font that conveys the conventions of horror (either gothic-inspired, etched to resemble scratches or dripping to resemble blood.)

 

 

The titles reveal the names of the cast and crew in the same font as the main title which further suggests a gothic/supernatural horror theme. This is supported by the shadow effect that use to make the font appear and disappear off of the screen. This could be referring to spirits or apparitions as they are usually described as shadows. The still images move in chronological order around the house, starting with the exterior and moving into the hallway and living areas. This follows a common theme of horror openings for films that take place in a house. The camera will usually use a follow shot of a character as they walk around the house which reveals the main location of the film. By using still shots in the opening of Insidious, the audience will get the impression that the house is trying to hide something as the pictures can only show a snap-shot of time.

 

 

The footprints that appear on the floor confirm Insidious' genre as a supernatural horror because there is no one visible in the shot that could be leaving the footprint trial. This follows Barthes Theory of Enigma, as the audience will want to continue watching the film to see who or what is leaving the trail.

 

 

The colour scheme transitions from grayscale to colour. In horror films women are often portrayed as weak and vulnerable. In supernatural horrors it is more commonly seen for women or young children to be possessed by any supernatural spirits or demons (such as in "The Conjuring" or "The Woman in Black.") Traditionally the main character (can be either the protagonist or antagonist) is first character you are introduced to in literature and film. As we are first shown Renai, it would be safe to infer that she is the focal point of the film. Similarly in my main brief I will use the main protagonist in the first shot as this would enable the audience to identify that character as the main focal point of the film. 

The Gallows (2015) Opening Sequence Textual Analysis

The Gallows Opening Scene - Hanging (2015) Horror Movie HD

The opening is shot on a home-video recorder that includes the date and time in the bottom left hand of the screen. This makes the audience feel like they are watching real life footage, which would make them have bigger reactions to shocking events. The same effect is also achieved with films that state they are "based on a true story", which 'The Gallows' is.  It is also imitating the amateur 'found footage' filming style that was made popular for use in horror films following the success of "The Blair Witch Project" that was also shot in this style.

The jumping of the recording mimics modern-day jump cuts which are commonly used in horror films as they scare people. The setting of the scene is a high school production, and the production is set in the Middle Ages in Britain where hangings were the most popular methods of executions. This forshadows the events of the film and the key themes, as the antagonist uses a noose to scare the protagonists. The diagetic sound is dialogue from admiring parents and audience members and the occasional applause which add the amateur affect of the opening scene. The atmospheric music is ethereal which has connotations of the Church and religion. Religious iconography is a key convention of the horror genre.

 

"They did a great job on the gallows"- dramatic irony

 

The orange/red/purple lighting resembles natural lighting in the evening creates an ambient mood and relaxed atmosphere, which would then relax the audience. When the scene suddenly takes a dark turn it would have greater effect on the audience due to the contrast from a relaxed atmosphere to a sense of panic. For the reason we have decided to film my  main brief in the evening where the natural lighting will contribute to the atmosphere and levels of tension.

 

The iconography of the Gallows contributes to the conventions of the horror genre. Weapons are a generic convention of horror and key iconography is used to foreshadow forthcoming events of the film. In "The Gallows" the iconography of the gallows and noose foreshadows the upcoming death of the Antagonist (Charlie) but also makes indications that the noose will be used throughout the film as to intimidate the protagonist/s due to its reference in the films' title.

 

The audience are distracted by the dialogue of the play being acted out on screen. This would create a naturalistic feel to the film and make the audience feel like they were watching the performance in real life.  This would put both the audience in the right mind-set, so the action of the noose breaking would resemble a jump-cut and cause  the audience would react in the same way they would in real life, but also in the same way as the characters in the clip.

 

When the noose breaks we can head diagetic sound of audience members screaming and calling out the name of the Antagonist. This installs fear and panic into the audience because the break was sudden and the 'found footage' filming style puts the audience in shoes of the characters so they would react naturally.

 

The shaky cam is common with "found footage" films, documenting all of the events through POV shots. This technique places the audience in the position of the characters, so they can only see what the characters can see and can then only react how the characters react. The constant movement of the camera after the noose breaks is designed to disorientate viewers and confuse them so when the return to normality they will be thrown into the panic on screen. The sudden cut to black acts as a cliff-hanger and refers to Barthes Theory of Enigma. The audience will continue to watch the film because they are intrigued by the mystery of why there was a prop malfunction and want to know the outcome of the accident. The pause allows the viewers to reflect on the events that have occurred before them and holds them on an edge building up tension until the next scene begins and the tension is relieved. 

Levi-Strauss Binary Opposition (Narrative Structure Research)

Claude Levi-Strauss was a French social anthropologist that explored the myths of tribal cultures. He came to the conclusion that every story reflects the values, beliefs and myths of its culture. These are usually expressed as binary opposites. Levi-Strauss adapted this to media by claiming that all narratives are driven by a conflict caused by opposing forces (binary opposites.) Analysing a narrative means identifying these opposing forces and understanding how the conflict between them will drive the narrative on until some sort of balance or resolution is finally achieved.

Examples of binary opposition in a narrative structure include:

•Good versus Bad
•Wealth versus Poverty
•Strong versus Weak
•Sanity versus Insanity
•Peace versus War
•Boy versus Girl
•Young versus Old
•Woman in White versus Stranger in Black (relatable to horror genre, helpful in research for Main Brief.)
• Black versus White
•Protagonist versus Antagonist
•Domestic versus Foreign/Alien
•Natural versus Supernatural
•Nature versus Man-made/artificial
•Empowered versus Victim (also relatable to horror genre.)

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

Abraham Maslow sought to explain why people are to driven to do certain things at certain times. He came to the conclusion that human needs are arrange in a hierarchy from most to least important/ necessary. We will try to satisfy the most important need first. Once this need has been satisfied we will move onto the next most important need.

Hypodermic Needle Theory (Audience Theory Research)

This theory suggests the mass media can influence a large group of people by directly 'shooting' or 'injecting' them with an appropriate message designed to trigger a desired response.

The media injects its messages straight into the passive audience (Croteau, Hoynes 1997). This passive audience is immediately affected by these messages. The public essentially cannot escape from the media's influence, and is therefore considered a "sitting duck" (Croteau, Hoynes 1997). 

 

Reception Theory: Encoding and Decoding (Audience Theory Research)

Stuart Hall theorized that the meaning of a message is not fixed or determined by the sender, the message is never transparent and the audience is not a passive recipient of meaning.

When a producer constructs a text it is encoded with a meaning or message that the producer wishes to convey to the audience. In some cases the audience will successfully decode the message or meaning, and understand what the producer is trying to convey. In other cases the audience will reject, or simply not understand the message that is trying to be convened.

Hall describes three types of audience:

•Dominant- When the audience correctly decodes the message of the producer and agrees with it.

•Negotiated- When the audience accepts, rejects or refines elements of the text in light of previous held news (neither agreeing or disagreeing with the message.)

•Oppositional- When the dominant meaning is recognised but rejected for political, cultural or ideological reasons.

Media Synergy

Synergy- When two companies work together to mutually benefit each other.

Synergy works when different media conglomerates created linked products to promote their product.

Disney Synergy Case Study- High School Musical (HSM)

Disney had synergy following the release of 'High School Musical' in 2006. There were multiple products created off of its release and its franchise (including 'High School Musical 2' and 'High School Musical 3'.) These include:

-DVD Release (Disney Channel Original Movie)
-Official Soundtrack
-'High School Musical: the Ice Tour/On Ice (Feld Entertainment)
-Disney store merchandise such as Clothing, Dolls and Home ware.
-HSM Magic 8 Ball (Partner with Magic 8 Ball)
-Various videogames partnered with PlayStation and Wii
-High School Musical Top Trumps (in partner with Top Trumps.)

Skyfall Synergy

Skyfall was produced and released to mark the 50th Anniversary of Bond. Many industries and brands took advantage of the occasion and partnered with Bond to create products to promote the new film. These include: 

-O.P.I Nails released 12 new lacquers inspired by the film's blend of glamour and danger. From metallic and glitter to jewelled and jet black, the lacquers capture the film's glamorous and sophisticated look.
 

-James Bond 007 Eau du Toilette for Men was released, with the bottle taking the pattern/texture of a grenade.
 

- Bollinger partnered with Bond to create 007 Champagne called '002'
 

-Coca Cola created cans and bottles with the iconic gun-barrel shot from the opening sequence of Bond printing onto the outside. They also ran a competition offering people the chance to win tickets to see Skyfall
 

-Heineken sponsored the film and used Daniel Craig as 007 in a TV advertisement and poster. They also offered people the chance to win tickets to see the film.
 

-Adele partnered with Bond to create the theme song for Skyfall which was, ironically, called "Skyfall." It was published as a single on iTunes.
 

-The Omega Seamaster Watch has been worn by every 007 agent since GoldenEye in 1995. Omega created a new Seamaster to celebrate the release of Skyfall anda nother to commemorate 50 years of Bond. Omeha advertised their new product via TV and digital campaigns.

-007 Legends was released on PC, PS3, Playstation Move (with wand and carry case), XBOX 360 and Wii U.

The Two-Step Flow (Audience Theory Research)

This hypothesis was introduced by Paul Lazarsfeld, Bernard Berelson and Hazel Gaudet. It consists of two steps:

1- Opinion leaders get information from a media source.

2- The opinion leaders pass on this information, along with their interpretations of the information, to others.

The opinion leaders play close attention to the mass media and its different messages. They are seen as influential, and have similarities with those that theu influence.

The 'influenced' are not informed by the media directly. They often hear an interpreted view of a message and will look up to the opinion leaders.

A popular example of this is an election campaign- the candidate is the opinion leader with the public being the "influenced.'

Propp's Character Theory and Narrative Structure (Narrative Theory Research)

Vladimir Propp was a Soviet literary figure and scholar who entertained the idea that there a certain types of characters that are used in every narrative structure (Character Theory) is theory to fairy tales and fables, stating that they all follow the same specific narrative structure.

Character Theory- Where there are seven different character types in every narrative (I have used examples from Shaun of the Dead to link with my research of the horror genre):

•The Hero- Character that actively seeks out something, reacts to the donor and marries the princess (e.g. Shaun from Shaun of the Dead.)

•The Villain- Opposes and actively blocks the hero's quest, struggles against the Hero (e.g. The Zombies from Shaun of the Dead.)

•The Dispatcher- Sends the hero on their quest via a message/ sends the hero off (e.g. TV Reporter/Shaun from Shaun of the Dead.)

•The Donor- Prepares the hero, and provides the hero with an object with magical properties

(e.g. The Pub in Shaun of the Dead.)

•The Helper- Aids the hero on their journey/quest (e.g. Ed from Shaun of the Dead.)

•The False Hero- Disrupts the hero's success by making false claims, percieved as good in the beginning but emerges evil (e.g. David from Shaun of the Dead.)

•The Princess- Acts as a reward for the hero and the objective of the villain's evil plots ( e.g. Liz from Shaun of the Dead.)

Film Certifications

The BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) is a company set up in 1912 that is responsible for the national classification and censorship of films, videos, DVDs and some video games (most video games are classified by PEGI.) The BBFC control who can see what films based on their topics and content. Classifications and ratings take items such as nudity, profanity, language, drug use, discrimination, weapons and violence. The BBFC published these guidelines for what is acceptable for the 7 different classifications for films:

Main Brief: Target Audience Research

Using Google Forms we created questionnaires about horror films that were to be distributed amongst friends and family. The questionnaire asked the recipient about their age and gender (for basic target audience research) and their likes/dislikes about the horror genre. This included their favourite horror film themes, what scares them about horror films and what clichés they are bored of. The results were accumulated in a table.

Horror Film Research Questionnaire

Questionnaire Results

Our results showed that the most popular sub-genre of horror was psychological horror with monster/fantasy and 'based on a true story' being the second and third most popular options. Silence, jump shots, tense moments and blood/gore were equally common 'scare factors' amongst the recipients with clichéd storylines being the biggest hate of horror films. With this we have learnt what to include in our main brief and what not to include, especially not to use clichéd storylines (as described by this Tumblr Text Post)

Main Brief Pre-Production: Pitch

Here is the pitch we presented to our classmates. The pitch contained our initial ideas for our main brief, as well as ideas for media institutuions we could work with for our brief. We decided to have teenagers and young adults as our target audience as our research into film ratings revealed the most popular rating for horror films was 15. If pur film was reated 15, it would allow us to include more graphic, explicit and scary themes/ special effects whilst also allowing the majority of our target audience the opportunity to watch the brief.

 

We were inspired by Barthes Theory of Engima and Strauss's Theory of Binary opposition when creating the story line of our main brief. We used Barthes enigma theory towards the end of the opening of the brief, as the viewer is left perplexed about what happened to Rosalie (why she looks like she has battered) and why Caroline seems so affected by the appearance of Rosalie (the flashback reveals they were friends.) We were inspired by Strauss when creating our characters- Caroline (the protagonist) is wearing a white top, jeans and layers of coats. The antagonsit- Rosalie- is wearing a black lace dress and no jacket. There is a contrast of black and white with the clothing and there is also a contrast in the projection of the protagonist and antagonist- Caroline is loud and projects her voice well, whilst Rosalie only whispers. These elements reveal influences of both Barthes and Strauss.

Planning the pitch: