RESEARCH: Genre

My genre research is all here in this powerpoint, and can be seen by clicking through each slide to make it easily accessible. 

Research Into Similar Products - 2000s

The Ring - 2002
Director: Gore Verbinski
Genre: Horror
 Cover:   See Right
Certificate: 15

The establishing shot of the film is an extreme-long-shot. It shows us that it is night time, a stereotypical time of day for a horror film to be set, and that the setting a large house, looking almost creepy in the setting. In the foreground there is a bare tree, which shows a forewarning of one of the key themes of a burning tree throughout the film.
There is seemingly only one light on in the house, which gives the impression that the characters are alone.

Just as the camera jump cuts, we see a two shot of two teenagers discussing tv. The sound is diagetic of the television in the background, and the conversation of the two girls. One of them is quite unsettling to look at, with dark circles and long thick black hair that makes her look a little disturbing, immediately unsettling the watcher slightly. The girls are clearly having a sleepover, as the viewer can see pillows and slippers for both girls around the room.
The camera jump cuts to show the girl turning the television off, which could be significant when viewed as the whole film, because it focuses on a cursed tape.
The camera jump cuts to a shot of the two girls as a long shot, and the dynamics of the characters change because one girl climbs onto the bed with the other.

Their discussion of a cursed video tape is shown through a shot/reverse shot conversation which allows the audience to see the facial expressions of both girls. The girl telling the story – the more “creepy” looking one – has an almost sadistic look on her face as she tries to scare her friend, but her friend looks first sceptical and then scared. She slowly becomes more horrified and panics, making the viewer even more tense than they have been. She begins to talk of watching the tape, shown in a close-up shot to show her fear and panic about dying after watching the tape.

Research Into Similar Products - 1990s

The Blair Witch Project – 1999
Director: Daniel Myrick, Eduardo Sanchez
Cover: See Right
Certificate: 15
Genre: Horror

The first shot in this movie is actually an insert, showing a white text against a black screen offering up a short prologue with detail as to what the film is about. The establishing shot shows a blurry camera mid-shot of a teenage girl. There is dialogue between her and the cameraman, meaning everything we see is a Point-Of-View (POV) shot from a character.
The camera zooms out to a long shot and shows the audience that the girl is in her home, which she then tells us, and the audience are treated to a tracking shot of the room.
A long shot of the girl is then again shown at the end of the track, where she then explains what the whole film will actually focus around. This is again like a forewarning or prologue to the film, allowing the user to make assumptions on what could then happen.

The camera then jump-cuts to a shot of various books, all of which focus on surviving in the woods, except for one. This exception is a clearly old book, that seems worn and typically unreadable from the cover. The girl explains how it contains a legend, furthering the audience’s knowledge into the film and the reason behind it.
We then jump-cut again to an outdoor shot of a car pulling into a drive. The camera is still shooting a POV shot of the cameraman, and we are taken to see the newcomer, unloading a car-boot-ful of supplies, and a larger camera. There is a tracking shot combined with dialogue of the first cameraman circling the newcomer, then the shot jump cuts to the other camera, showing a black and white shot of the first character we saw, the girl. This shot is given as a POV from the newcomer and his larger camera, distinguished by the removal of colour.

The penultimate jump cut moves the camera inside again with more character dialogue, showing us the newer character face down on a table complaining. We see a very short shot of this, before the final jump cut takes us to inside a car, a POV shot of one character leaving his house. There is an introduction of synchronous diagetic sound of a car stereo playing in the background.

Research Into Similar Products - 1980s

Friday The 13^th – 1980
Director: Sean S Cunningham
Cover: See Right
Certificate: 18

The establishing shot of this movie shows a wood or forest of some form, with insert editing in the right hand corner telling us the date of the events happening. The whole shot is very dark and hard to make out, but we can see trees and rain falling down, which is a generic feature of most horror movies. There is some non-diagetic sound in the form of creepy music to set the audience on edge, almost warning them that something is going to happen soon.

The camera jump cuts to a shot of an old wooden sign, which the viewer can just about see ‘Camp Crystal Lake’ painted on it. This shows us that we are at some form of camp or Scout location, connoting that the area is probably quite deserted or out of the way. The camera tracks underneath the sign to give the impression of the audience entering the camp, drawing them into the action and the film itself.
Straight after this, there is a lightning flash effect, which would have been edited in afterwards, and a young woman runs onto the screen from the trees. There is diagetic sound in the form of her cries and panting of terror, which connotes that she is perhaps being chased by something or someone. The fact that she is holding her stomach implies that she has been injured somehow, and as she runs to the camera this becomes clearer as she is limping.
She keeps running towards the camera, with the camera jump cutting to further away from her. This gives the illusion that she is never going to escape, and will always be running towards her goal. The final jump cut of this sequence takes us to an extreme-long shot of the girl in one corner of the screen, surrounded by muddy landscape, and rain. There are patches of grass and mud around her, implying that it rains often there, and the emptiness of the shot denotes that so far, she is completely alone.

A short match-on-action sequence of the girl running ends with a close-up two shot, where she is grabbed by what we assume to be her attacker. The two shot is also very dark, omitting most of the facial features, keeping the audience in mystery as to who is running or attacking.
The camera jump cuts to a shot of the girl’s back, where the word “counsellor” can be seen clearly on her soaked white shirt. The fact that the shirt is white and going slowly transparent under the rain gives the impression of playing to the male gaze, with the fact that the woman is both pretty and younger. An extreme-long shot then shows us both characters and their proxemics, which are so far apart that they are on opposite sides of the screen.
A new sound is added in with the music of speech, delivered in a generic high-pitched, spooky voice.
The camera jump cuts to a close-up of a character hiding amongst the trees, showing the audience that the girl is not alone in her plight, as she has an observer.

The 2-minute clip ends with a small conversation between the chaser and the chased, using shot/reverse shot but at a long shot, to show the whole character. This technique with a long shot is uncommon, but allows us to see the dynamics of the character.

Research Into Similar Products - 1970s

The Crazies – 1973

Director: George A Romero

Genre: Horror

 Cover:   See Right
Certificate: 18

This establishing shot of this movie starts with a 5 second extreme long shot, showing a stereotypical farm house. It is in a field all alone, surrounded by countryside and grass. The dirt road at the foreground of the shot looks unused, which furthers the impression of the house being completely alone. It makes the house seem distant from the rest of the world. This tells the audience that maybe the people in this farmhouse are very private or secretive, creating mystery about them already. There is diagetic sound in the background of general nature, but it is all very still and quiet, giving a deserted feel.

The film then jump cuts to a shot of a cuddly toy sheep being placed down, which then becomes part of a match-on-action sequence of a young girl getting ready for bed. The camera angles are all from about waist height, showing things in a point-of-view (POV) shot of the little girl. The noise is again diagetic, setting the scene as completely normal and usual. A cuckoo clock can be heard chiming nine times, telling the audience the time, connoting that it is too late for a young girl to be awake anyway. It is likely that she has woken in the night, as the audience sees her getting a drink of water.
The clock chime is followed by a creepy, childlike giggle. The camera jump cuts to a close-up of the girl, which shows her scared expression. There is continuity editing with match-on-action to show the boy playing his prank, with jump cuts to the girl’s face again showing her reaction to these things. The girl is represented stereotypically as easily scared or naive and innocent, showing the male dominance in the film. The tension or suspense is lessened, as the audience can see why the ‘spooky’ happenings are occurring, and though the girl is calling out, it is not seen as too scary. 

When the boy ventures to the basement and is scaring the girl, the midshot shows the shadow creeping behind the girl on the wall. This gives the audience a new reason to be apprehensive, as the camera then jump cuts to a shot of the boy’s face, changing from amusement to fear, connoting that this new shadow was not planned by him.
This shadow is focused on by the camera and is seen to be flailing aimlessly, shown first from where the girl was stood and then from the doorway of another room. The furniture onscreen is all quite old, and is soon smashed up by a tall grown man with a crowbar. We watch the man from more POV shots of the children, with a close up two shot of them to show their reactions to this too. The young girl finding kerosene on the floor forewarns the reader that there could be a fire, as kerosene is a form of fuel and fuel often signifies fire.
The young boy getting left alone finds discovers his father through using his torch to view the face of the attacker, the diagetic sound of smashing temporarily halted as he speaks. Meanwhile, the parallel editing allows the audience to see where the girl has run off to, to awaken her mother. Upon
doing so, we see another POV shot of a midshot of a white sheet on a bed, a lump underneath signifying her mother. When rolled over, the woman is discovered dead and we see a closeup shot of her to show the wounds. There is also blood on the white sheet which contrasts and denotes what is about to happen.

Overall this film uses it’s opening two minutes to establish the character of the two children, one as a brave yet playful young boy and the other as a scared little girl. It also introduces mystery to the film as to how the mother died, and why the father is now smashing up his own house, etc. This withholding of information is seen as expected now with horror films.