DW Institutional Context

Discuss the ways horror films are produced and distributed.

Industrial and independent films are produced and distributed differently by their respective companies. When it comes to horror films, they generally have a set of codes and conventions for each sub-genre, that predetermines a lot of the factors of production. For example if a company knows they’re making a slasher film, the chances are they’ll be a hidden villain who seeks revenge, with a hand help weapon like a knife and an innocent final girl who challenges the villain, and defeats him at the end.

Orphan

Industrial companies like Warner Bros benefit from being part of a conglomerate company, in their case, Time Warner Inc. This helps them to produce and distribute film due to their increased expertise as a whole company. One of the recent horror films Warner Bros were behind was “Orphan” (Collet-Serra, 2009).

- The film was produced in partnership with Leonardo DiCaprio, and distributed by Warner Bros.

- The budget for Orphan is not been stated by Warner Bros, however it is estimated to be very high, at around $20 million.

- The film was shot in Canada, in the cities of Burlington, Toronto, Port Hope and Montreal.

- While shooting the film, there were several different scenes that were shot that were then cut in the edit. This includes alternate endings and variations of the script. For example, Esther hanging another orphan child near the start,  and her being shot at the end. 

- The film was released on the 24th July, 2009 in the United States

- It was released on DVD and Blu-ray on October 27, 2009 in the US by Warner Home Video.

- It was released on DVD and Blu-ray in the UK on November 27 by Optimum Releasing.

- The home media versions include alternate scenes and clips, and the alternate ending.

- The film made back over $78 million, so is therefore seen as a success, as it is over 3 times the budget.

- Although the film was distributed by Warner Bros, they didn't take huge advantage of all their subsidiaries, and didn't use their available synergistic promotion activity to its full potential.

- There are no websites or forums for the film, and there was no real use of viral marketing to promote its release. This is very ineffective, as these methods are all important to the distribution of horror films.

- One thing to remember with horror films is that there is a stock audience of male 15-25 year old's, and they are usually a dedicated horror audience. Because of this, there is a lesser need to advertise as much.

- The trailer was released to advertise the film to the target audience, and catch people's attention. 

- A word of mouth buzz was also created through the use of preview screenings, and the film got a lot of good reviews before it's release.

This film is particularly useful to look at for me because it has a similar theme to what our group is thinking of producing, in the fact that there is an innocent little girl who turns out to be a psychopathic killer (although we are thinking more supernatural). 

A Night in the Woods

One of the good things about horror films is that they are generally lower budget and cost less to produce than other genres of film like action for example. This greatly helps independent film companies, and in this case Vertigo Films with "A Night in the Woods" (Parry, 2012).

- Although the film's budget was never stated, it was very low.

- The concept for the film, literally a night in the woods, allows the location to be very minimalistic and therefore very cheap.

- The film is shot in the style of found footage, so is all hand held, POV shots from the actors in the film. This also allows it to be low budget, as they are not large, expensive cameras, and there are no large, expensive shots like tracking, helicopter shots, etc.

- Pro-filmic effects are also used a lot in the film, as opposed to more industrial films that would perhaps add effects in in post production,this again allows the price to stay down.

- Because of the found footage style, Parry thought it best to use an improvised script, so that the actors became more natural while filming themselves. This dramatically reduced the cost by not having a professional script writer.

- The film premiered at the UK film festival Fright Fest in August 2011.

- The film was released on the 7th September 2012.

- Since it's release, the film has been made available on DVD and VOD services.

- As with industrial horror, the target audience is male 15-25 year old's. Because of this, the main marketing strategy was through the use of the trailer, broadcast on Youtube.

- This is a useful way to market film, as it is easy to access and share on varying social media platforms, and used most by the target audience.

- Youtube and social network site are also free, so distribution costs would have been very low.

- The trailer of this film focuses on the conventions of horror, and the scariest moments in the film to entice the target audience.

- There are no websites or forums for the film, and there was no real use of viral marketing to promote its release apart from the youtube trailer. This is very ineffective, as these methods are all important to the distribution of horror films.

This film is also particularly useful to look at for me, because it has a similar style to what our group is thinking of producing. One of these styles in the use of first person shots to identify with the characters, and see from their point of view. The other style is to have the sense of the unknown, and something almost possessed.

Because of technological convergence, anybody is able to produce high quality films for a low budget, through the use of free editing software, and cheap HD consumer cameras. They can then market and distribute the films over the internet and social media sights, which played a huge part in “A Night in the Woods”. However although horror films are low budget in general, larger (industrial) companies can use huge special effects teams and employ big pro filmic stunts, to create a much more realistic, personal feel. This in all creates a very pluralistic media landscape, not only in the genre of horror.

In conclusion, industrial and independent horror films are produced and distributed quite differently, but also quite similarly. They are different in the fact the industrial films have much higher budgets, and are then for example able to employ special effects teams in post production to add certain features that you wouldn't find in independent film. They are similar however because they both target the core horror audience of 15-25 year old males, and spend significantly less on distribution in relation to other genres of film, because horror mainly relies on genre appeal rather than the film itself. 

Typography Ideas

In today's lesson I completed a piece of typography that uses our working title 'Betsy'. This is a possible idea for the text we may use for the concept of our film idea.

Storyboard Ideas

I spent the lesson drawing ideas for frames for our horror opening. These may or may not be used in our final horror opening, however we thought it was a good idea to get some ideas down to help develop our concept.

WB Institutional Context

Discuss the ways horror films are produced and distributed. Use a detailed case study from Vertigo films and Warner Bros as evidence.

 

The production of films from both Warner Bros and Vertigo films are very different. Due to the magnitude of money that is put into Warner Bros films, they have a much larger production and distribution campaign. Production labels such as Vertigo films rely on film distributing companies such as Netflix and LoveFilm more as there movies will not be played in the cinema. Monster being one of Vertigo films biggest films still only had a budget of $500,000. This is in contrast to Warner Bros ....

 

Production of 'Monster'

- The filming equipment for vertigo films cost approximately $15,000, with the budget coming in way under $500,000.

- They used prosumer cameras to capture digital video rather than more expensive 35mm film. This contributed to the production of the film being so cheap.

- All the settings used in the film were real locations and the extras were people who just happened to be there at the time.
- Edwards got the idea for his movie whilst witnessing some fishermen struggling to haul in their net. He imagined a futuristic world when hauling a dead sea monster seemed perfectly normal.

Marketing and Distribution of 'Monster'
- On 3rd December 2010 (the weeks leading up to the release of Monster) a marketing campaign was released using the social network site Foursquare.
- Cineworld and Vue Entertainment set up 'infected locations' which gave users specific information to 'Monster' content and special prizes.
- Was distributed by Vertigo Films and Magnet Releasing.
- Was released on 29th October 2010 in the USA and in the UK on the 3rd December 2010.

Production of 'The Blind Side'
- This film was produced by Alcon Entertainment.
- The school scenes were shot at both Atlanta International School and The Westminster Schools in Atlanta, Georgia. Many of the extras within these scenes were students that attended the school.
- Julia Roberts was offered Sandra Bullocks role first but turned the job offer down.
- Sandra Bullock also declined the offer three times before being convinced. She even took a pay cut and instead took a percentage of the profits. At first she didn't believe she could portray a devout Christian very convincingly.

Marketing and Distribution of 'The Blind Side'
-This film was released on November 20th 2009.
-The film was distributed by Warner Bros.
- 'The Blind Side' was released on DVD and Blu-ray on March 23rd 2010 and was offered to rent in Blockbusters for 28 days.
- Customers of Redbox and Netflix had to wait 28 days before they were able to rent the movie due to the settlement of a lawsuit brought by Redbox against Warner Home Video who refused to sell wholesale titles to Redbox in order to boost DVD sales.

Conclusion
We can see that there is a clear difference in the production and distribution of industrial films and independent films. Industrial films such as The Blind Side are able to attract big names such as Sandra Bullock within the production of the film whilst independent films like Monster do not pay the actors huge fees meaning big names are not attracted. There extras in Monster were just people who happened to be there at the time showing the low budget that they work with. This is shown within marketing and distribution too as The Blind Side was released on DVD and offered to Blockbusters for 28 days, being available to rent. This is in contrast to Monster in which there whole marketing campaign was on the social network site Foursquare. Thus industrial films generally appeal to the mass audience whilst independent films usually focus on a more niche audience. Nevertheless, they can be just as successful in their own right.

Wilderness Woods Short Film

DW Technical Analysis of "The Shining"

	Camera	Duration	Mise-en-scene	Sound & FX
1)	Extreme long shot, tracking in, handicam	16 seconds	Shows a pale green hallway, that looks like a hospital corridor, connoting illness and mortality. Our eyes are drawn to the centre of the screen where a small child, wearing a red jumper, connoting blood and energy, is riding a trike to the end of the corridor before turning off.	There is a powerful crescendo, as a string section plays chromatic slurs, followed by a sharp burst from a horn section. This is really useful in building dissonance and setting the mood for the sequence.
2)	Medium long shot, tracking in, handicam	10 seconds	Shows a warm colored corridor that looks like a hotel or apartment block of the time, which adds realism and a domestic feel. The child is still in the centre, lower third. The fact he is riding his trike round a corridor is slightly odd, and adds a sense of mystery to his character. We are still shown the back of the child’s head which hides his identity. As he turns the corner at the end of the corridor, he stops, and we see two little girls standing in the distance.	As he is cycling along, the strings continue to play a chromatic slur, very quietly in the sound mix, which keeps the suspense on edge. As he turns the corner and sees the two girls, a gong strikes, a classic sound effect for a climax, and sharp rise in tension.
3)	Medium close up, stationary, tripod	2 seconds	Shows the child's face in full view in the centre of the screen, revealing his identity as a young boy aged around 5/6. His facial expression is very important, as he looks quite shocked and intimidated by the two girls standing at the end of the hallway. This gives us the connotation of a naïve, innocent child.	The fading of the gong can still be heard, and there is then a sharp bang. This connotes a realisation in the child’s mind as to what is going to happen, and that the two girls are dangerous, because it is as if he knows them from a previous event.
4)	Medium long shot, stationary, tripod	6 seconds	The shot is the same as the latter part of shot 2, showing the back of the boy’s head in the foreground, and the two girls in the distance at the end of the hallway.	There is a low pitched sustained string part that is heard over this shot, which builds tension and creates a fear factor around the two girls. The girls then say “Hello Danny” to the boy, which is heard in a weird voice that has clearly had effects added to it to make it sound ghost-like, and as if they are possessed. The use of first name terms implies they know each other, like suggested by the “bang” heard in the previous shot.

5)	Medium close up, stationary, tripod	9 seconds	Shows Danny’s face in the centre of the shot again. Except this time he is breathing very heavily, showing his fear of the two girls. There is also a distinct look of fear in his eyes, further reinforcing this point.	The same low pitched strings can be heard. The girls then say “Come and play with us” in the same weird tone of voice. This is as if they are trying to entice him in, and encourage him to come closer. At the end of the shot before the cut, there is a chromatic string chord that adds a level of disruption and fear.
6)	Medium long shot, stationary, tripod	6 seconds	This shot is the same as shot 4.	A smaller gong sounds at the start of this clip, again connoting the start of a battle or something climatic. The girls then repeat, “Come and play with us, Danny”, enticing him in further. Using first names makes it more personal and is a false reassurance for Danny.
7)	Long shot, stationary, tripod	0.5 second	This shot flashes up, and is of the two girls lying in a pool of blood, with blood splattered up the walls, a chair overturned, and a bloodied axe in the foreground. This is a shock to the audience as we are not expecting it at all. The way the girls talk to him infer he killed them himself and is having a flashback to when he did it.	A chromatic chord played by a number of different instruments is heard, and rings out through the next few shots to emphasise the shock of the two girls dead.
8)	Extreme long shot of girls, although closer than before, as camera is in front of Danny, stationary, tripod	2 seconds	This shot shows the hallway with the two girls standing at the far end, standing together. We see them better than before, and they are wearing matching mint green dresses with white ribbons. This shows them to be very innocent.	The chromatic chord can still be heard. The girls say “Forever”. By them saying they want Danny to play with them forever, implies they are trying to seek revenge on him, and if he dies he will be with them forever in the after life. This has a religious connotation attached to it, further representing the girls as innocent in the sequence, as a dominant ideological discourse on religion is that it is peaceful and loving.
9)	Long shot, stationary, tripod	0.5 second	Same as shot 7.	All that can be heard is the dying out chromatic chord.

10)	Close up, stationary, tripod	0.5 second	This shot is of Danny’s face, and him reacting to shot 9, the second flash of the dead girls. He throws his head back in shock and again there is a distinct look of fear in his eyes.	All that can be heard is the dying out chromatic chord.
11)	Long shot, stationary, tripod	2 seconds	Same as shot 8, we see the girls standing together, except slightly closer in this time, although no more detail is shown that in shot 8.	As well as the chord dying out still, the girls repeat, “And ever”, implying that they wont leave without what they came for, and they are angry at Danny for what he has done.
12)	Long shot, stationary, tripod	0.5 second	Same as shot 7.	There is a really fast run played up the chromatic scale on all the instruments, which creates a chaotic feel.
13)	Mid shot, stationary, tripod	2 seconds	Same as shot 8, we see the girls standing together, except slightly closer in again, that we can clearly see their faces. They are both very pale, and their facial expressions are lifeless and have no emotion, implying they are dead or some type of ghost.	There is a low drone note left from the run that plays, keeping the suspense there. The girls say “And ever” one last time, further reinforcing their urgency for revenge on Danny.
14)	Long shot, stationary, tripod	2 seconds	Same as shot 7.	In the first half of this shot only the low drone note is heard. In the second half, another fast chromatic run is played, again connoting the chaotic atmosphere.
15)	Close up, stationary, handicam	12 seconds	This is another reaction shot of Danny, after him seeing the previous shots of the girls dead. As like shot 10, his head is thrown back, his mouth wide open, and he has a distinct look of fear in his eyes, reflecting what he has just seen. He then covers his eyes with his hands, as if to block out everything for a moment, until he gets the courage to move them away and see again. This shows us his fear towards the two girls, and his pain for what might have happened.	Another fast chromatic run is heard, but this time it sustains on a minor chord and holds it for several seconds, before dying off. This builds up the tension and leaves it hanging, before falling away as Danny brings his hands down to reveal the girls have gone.
16)	Long shot, stationary, tripod	3 seconds	This shot is of the corridor on its own, without the girls at the end. It’s done to show that Danny was imagining the previous sequence, and reinforce the idea of a flashback.	All that can be heard is the dying out minor chord.

17)	Close up, stationary, handicam	8 seconds	This is another reaction shot of Danny, and we see him take his hands away from his face, in realisation that the girls aren’t there anymore and he’s safe again. His facial expressions convey that he is still scared, but heavily relieved.	The dying out of the minor chord turns into a low drone, that plays underneath this shot. There is also a slight crescendo in the high strings, playing a dissonant chord, but quickly fades out again to the drone.
18)	Extreme long shot, high angle, stationary, tripod	3 seconds	This is a shot from a high angle, behind Danny, looking down the corridor to where the girls were standing. This conveys the emptiness of the hallway and reinforced the flashback that Danny has just had.	All that can be heard is the low drone.
19)	Close up, stationary, handicam	29 seconds	In this shot, Danny realises what’s just happened and calms himself by talking to “Tony”, by moving his index finger up and down. This shows us that Danny can comfort himself in hard times, portraying him as calm and mature for his age. When he talks as Tony, his eyes stare at his finger in an evil manner, as if he has been possessed by an inner demon. Because of this we assume there may be something psychologically wrong with Danny due to the manner in which he acts as Tony.	In this shot, Danny says “Tony, I’m scared.” He the moves his finger and starts talking to himself as Tony, however puts on a deeper, croaky voice that you would stereotype with an antagonist in horror. In conclusion, this represents him as somewhat mentally unstable, what with the graphic flashbacks and talking to himself.

What did you learn from the process that has informed your concept development?

From my technical analysis of "The Shining", I have got an understanding of how camera, shot length, mise-en-scene and sound are combined to create an effect on the audience. Camera is effective by using tracking shots following Danny up the hall, this is a technique we plan to use at some point. Duration is key, for example in the vision shots where Danny sees the dead girls with blood everywhere. This is also good as we intend to use flashbacks in our opening sequence, to convey the past happenings in the house. Mise-en-scene is useful here, as we plan to have an old abandoned house, so we can take ideas of old fashioned mise-en-scene from this clip. Sound is also a big factor when it comes to building tension, as the use of crescendos and diminuendos have an effect on the audience. The use of instrumentation is also important as different instruments can have a different effect on audience, e.g. sustained strings will cause suspense.











 

WB Technical Analysis of 'Insidious' Opening

Analysed up to minute 2:30
         

	Camera Techniques	Duration	Mise-en-scene	Sound & FX
1.	Titles - fade in and out	6 seconds	Black background with red writing appearing. A grey cloud of smoke appearing over the writing, fading both in after the writing and fading out before. The fact that it is in black connotes blood and the smoke creates a sense of suspense.	A loud high pitch note is played throughout along with church bells being played, conventional horror music anchoring the writing.
2.	Close up - turning 180 degrees	23 seconds	Titles appear within a cream ball that appears on the screen. Whilst titles appear within and around the ball it slowly begins to turn 180 degrees. Once the ball is fully turned we realise that it is a light and the titles disappear.	The same music as within the first shot and then when the light begins to turn a long misty sound is played.
3.	Extreme long shot – panning down	6 seconds	From the light, slowly the camera pan’s down and we are introduced to a little boy sleeping in his bed. We are positioned in the narrative to see him as the protagonist that is in danger.	The long note played in the shot before continues creating a tense atmosphere.
4.	A tracking shot	16 seconds	Going from the bed along past items within his bedroom such as a lamp and desk. It continues tracking to the right and we go out of the bedroom through to the hallway.	The same sounds continue into this shot, enhancing the tension already created.
5.	POV - handicam	9 seconds	The angle of the shot changes and we begin to move forwards towards a curtain which has a shady figure behind it. This then continues into the hallway. This part of the action begins to give a POV feel even though the camera is steady.	A loud high-pitched sound anchors the visuals as the frequency gets higher and lower to match the action. This is played in a fast chromatic fashion creating suspense.
6.	Extreme long shot tracking into close-up	8 seconds	Whilst going down the dark hallway we see a light and as we get closer to that light we become aware that there is a figure standing there.	The high-pitched noises continue at a similar rate.
7.	Title – ‘Insidious’	8 seconds	The title of the film ‘Insidious’ appears in red like the earlier credits. It flashes throughout before fading out.	A loud high-pitched noise is played whilst the title appears. The frequency of the noises gets higher and lower in synchronization with the flashes.
8.	Panning slowly	6 seconds	Fade from black. A house is shown in black and white and then the credit appears in red slowly turning into a gray smoke that comes off it. Fades to black.	A slightly quieter high pitched noise is played with the frequency increasing and decreasing only when the credit appears.
9.	Panning slowly	6 seconds	Fade from black. A bedroom shown in black and white and then the credit appears in red slowly turning into a gray smoke that comes off it. Fades to black.	Same as before
10.	Panning slowly	6 seconds	Fade from black. A living room filled with empty boxes - shown in black and white and then the credit appears in red slowly turning into a gray smoke that comes off it. Fades to black.	Same as before
11.	Panning slowly	6 seconds	Fade from black. An empty staircase shown in black and white and then the credit appears in red slowly turning into a gray smoke that comes off it. Fades to black.	Same as before
12.	Panning slowly	6 seconds	Fade from black. An empty staircase is shown from a bird’s eye view shot in black and white and then the credit appears in red slowly turning into a gray smoke that comes off it. Fades to black.	Same as before
13.	Panning slowly	6 seconds	Fade from black. The top of the empty staircase is shown in black and white and then the credit appears in red slowly turning into a gray smoke that comes off it. Fades to black.	Same as before with some orchestral music played on top.
14.	Panning slowly	6 seconds	Fade from black. An empty bathroom with a wonky picture frame on the wall - shown in black and white and then the credit appears in red slowly turning into a gray smoke that comes off it. Fades to black.	Same as before with some orchestral music played on top.
15.	Panning slowly	6 seconds	Fade from black. An empty bedroom shown in black and white and then the credit appears in red slowly turning into a gray smoke that comes off it. Fades to black.	Same as before with some orchestral music played on top.
16.	Panning slowly	6 seconds	Fade from black. A view of a window and curtains – shown in black and white and then the credit appears in red slowly turning into a gray smoke that comes off it. Fades to black.	Same as before with some orchestral music played on top.

Through this analysis I have gained a lot of knowledge of what shots will be useful to use within our opening piece. The use of tracking through the hallways I felt was very effective and created a great deal of suspense. Therefore, we have used a similar shot within our piece. Moreover, the use of sound within this opening clip is very effective. An ambient sound is played to anchor the visuals throughout this opening and are planning to use a similar backing track within our production.