The representation of women in horror films

In this essay I am going to be writing about how woman are represented in horror films.  To help me come to my own conclusion, I will first look at theorists such as Carol Clover and Laura Mulvey and relate their theories to a range of horror films old and new.  After that I will then compare these critics theories to each other using evidence to back up either side.  Finally, after I have finished with all of that, I will give my own personal opinion on the matter and try to decide who I believe to be more accurate.

I am going to relate Clover's 'Final Girl Theory' to a number of films.  The first film I am going to relate is Halloween which was released in 1978.  Halloween is a prime example that works with Clover's theory.  The final girl, Laurie Strode, is the only adolescent girl to survive being stuck in a pre-pubescent state.  She is the one who doesn't take drugs, doesn't have sex and is the most sensible unlike her friends who are the first to be murdered.  She fights back when the killer is trying to murder her and ends up surviving for it.  The second movie I will be relating to Clover's theory is the modern version of The Crazies.  Originally made in 1973 this remake of the film was made in 2010.  The final girl in this film was Judy, this was the only female resident of the tow we know of that escaped.  We see throughout the film that Judy does have some masculine traits.  She fights back to save her friend Becca by distracting the "crazy man" long enough to be rescued.  She also saves her husband David a couple of time, swapping gender roles with him on occasions.  The third movie I will be relating to Clover's theory is Sinister which was released 5th October 2012.  This film is hard to relate to Carol's theory because the film ends with everyone dying ad there aren't any strong female characters in the film.  Ellison's wife Tracy tries to stop him for carrying on with Scream which was released in 1996.  Clover's theory can somewhat be related to the opening scene with Drew Barrymore.  Casey is the first victim of ghost face; when Casey is outside on the ground, she is fighting for her life, she does have some masculinity in her as she resists and manages to fight back to a certain extent.  She is, however, eventually overwhelmed and does not survive but survived much longer then a defenceless damsel in distress although could not come to using the knife she picked up.
his investigation however the stronger masculinity of Ellison ignore Tracy's much weaker assertion.  The final film that I will relate to the theories is

I am now going to relate Mulvey's theory on the 'Male Gaze' to the some films.  The first film I am going to relate is Psycho

Evaluation question 2

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

The film distributor is in charge of getting a film as much public appeal as possible.  This is done by using promotional techniques and advertising on the right platforms in order to promote their content to the target audience.  As well as getting advertisements on to the right platforms so that their target audience see's the content, the content needs to be attained towards them.  For example a horror movie advertised on Cartoon Network would not be a suitable platform to advertise from as fans of the genre would not be watching it as well as the potential freight it would bring to children.
 

The movie poster for UP looks as if it is aimed towards a younger audience as the art style shown is typical of animated Disney movies.  The Disney Pixar text reinforces this as Pixar movies generally make animated movies for the whole family to enjoy.  The font of UP is bold, rotated and has a swerve effect to fit with the ludicrous picture of the floating house.

On the other hand for the movie poster for Friday The 13th features a much more grim and dark background with Jason holding a machete.  The font much more rigid and colored a blood red.  The background gives an dark a scary atmosphere and features the tagline "WELCOME TO CRYSTAL LAKE" telling the audience where the movie most likely takes place.

As well as strong public appeal it is also important to maintain a strong unified identity as not to confuse the target audience.  Advertising a horror movie as a comedy will attract the wrong audience and then disappointing that audience when they come to watch it.  The DVD cover for Friday The 13th and the poster use the same picture and maintain a unified identity.

The age classification for Black Death is for ages 15+, this is because of the violent subjects such as death and torture but not violent or graphical enough to be an 18.

 The relationship between my movie poster and trailer is that they focus of the plague doctor being the main antagonist of the movie.  In the trailer the plague doctor is featured in a number of scenes from the middle to the end of the trailer and is the main hype of the film.

The poster that I used for the inspiration for my poster was from the modernized adaptation of Halloween.  I have used a similar layout to it as well as having my antagonist centered in the poster.  My tagline is located at the top of the poster with my title being located near the bottom in a distinctive font.

Evaluation question 1

In what way does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Teaser trailers are important in terms of marketing as they are what get the target audience to become interested in possibly paying to watch the film when it is released.  To be a good trailer, the trailer must follow generic conventions for aspects like narrative structure, mise-en-scene, sound, editing and camera work.  These will vary based off the genre and even sub-genre of the film.  Some universal conventions that usual should be met but has been challenged are conventions like the 180 degree rule and continuity editing, these conventions are here to prevent the footage from become confusing.

The horror trailer my group made was called Black Death and aimed to give a more atmospheric experience similar to a movie like The Women in Black.  The horror aspect was intended to be presented in a more mysterious fashion rather than a slasher film.  The aim was to give a more deep connection to the characters rather than being the murderer’s fodder.  Because of this we tried to follow conventions in order to show the audience the main characters.

I am going to show similarities between my groups trailer and other horror movie trailers by capturing stills of both and explaining how they meet the same codes and conventions.

 The still on the left is from a trailer for a movie called The Butterfly Room and share a convention with Black Death because of the close up on the mysterious object giving it a greater importance and plot to the story.

The 4 show a fade transition which is present in both The Butterfly Room trailer and Black Death trailer.  This is a common effect used around more calm part of the trailer and makes for a smooth transition in to the next shot.

The still showing the title is one of the most obvious conventions to include in a horror trailer and has been included in Black Death as well as the trailer for The Last Will and Testament of Rosalind Leigh.

These stills are from somewhere in the middle of the two trailers.  The one on the left being from a trailer for The Host and Black Death for the right.  They both relate to the footage that is being displayed and have a visual effect to make them more appealing to read.

The shot on the left is also from The Host trailer and uses a montage of close up shots where if the picture was larger, you could see the common trend that the peoples eyes are a bright blue indicating they have become a host.  In Black Death a close ups are also used for dramatic moments like show here.

Here in these two trailers we have a shot where the supernatural ominous figure appears in the distance they are not very identifiable and are usually shown in this way first before you can get a closer look.  The trailer on the left is for The Woman In Black.

Torture is a common theme in horror movies and is shown in these two trailers here.  The left screen is from trailer for King Of The Ants where the man is holed up in a shed being hit in the head with a baseball bat.  In Black Death the torture element is less focused on but does have a scene where the main characters friend is being cut down the face.

These two stills are shortly captured after each other and indicate some match on action within them.  The first trailer being from Crawl (2013) shows somebody lighting a match then immediately light candles with it.  On the other hand in Black Death the main character is looking through her contacts on her phone.

Finally for the 9th comparison, both of these horror movie trailers have jump scares at the end.  The still on the left is from grave encounters where the bed floats in the air and a scream and loud noise can be heard.  In Black Death you get the closest proper look at the plague doctor and a loud lightning storm sound for more of a dramatic effect.

The use of sound included in the trailer is also similar to that is included in more atmospheric horror trailers for movies such as The Woman In Black.  With no voice over in the horror trailer, the trailer was aiming to aim for a more story driven horror movie then a thriller.

Poster design

Finished trailer

Sketch plan for magazine cover

History of horror class powerpoints

Tyler and I worked on the PowerPoint which focused on classic literature