Introduction to a narrative

A narrative structure is about two things the plot is the basic structure of beginning, middle and end which is obviously shown to the audience. Whereas the story is something that the audience would have to figure out for themselves and it isn't explicitly shown. The narratives explores the conventions of the genre, character, form and time which forms the basis of a story.

Linear structure: There are several different narrative structures in films. A linear structure is a basic structure that we see in films its where it has a beginning (where the audience is introduced to the characters and story), a middle (where the events of the story build up) and finally a end (this is the closure of the film).

Open structure:
A open structure follows the same rules of a linear structure until the end of the film there is no closure letting the audience to wonder what happens next and are left to make sense of it for themselves. Soap Operas follow this structure as it will make the audience want to watch the following episode as they want to know where the stroy-line will go next shifting from each character with several different story-lines.

Closed Structure:
This is where there is a definite ending and clear conclusion for the audience with 'the end' to complete the story. The time is compressed to fit into a typical length of a film which is around 2 hours and it's not in 'real time'. 

Circular Structure: 

This is where the narrative begins at the end often with a climax to begin with. This allows the audience to be taken back on a journey and the film finishes in the same place.In other words it is filling in the blank for the audience. A example of a film that uses this structure is "Pulp Fiction" the narrative is told out of chronological order and follows three interrelated stories. It begins in the diner and finishes there also making it a circular structure. 

   

Stages of genre development

The stages of a genre developing is a long process. The Horror genre developed in the 1930s from Gothic Horrors like Frankenstein. However, the genres seminal/pro-type were films like "psycho" which was made in the 60s. These Slashers started the tension building that you see in Horrors, even Horror films today still use the style seen in these films for example the basis of a Slasher film is that a man goes around killing several girls which are seen to be "slutty" and the final girl is a "virgin" this all started from "Psycho".

 

The Classic Horrors are "Halloween" and "Friday the 13th" these films aren't typically scary but do have some jump scares. They are Classics as they follow the typical conventions of Horror films from the Protypes. Even though these Horrors aren't seen as typically good or scary they have contributed to the genre and have made what is it today.

 

Next are the Revisionists these Horror films reference to the old protype however make it more interesting and fun as the genre starts to get boring after the classics. These are films like "Scream" it has a lot of reference to "psycho" which is seen as the first slasher film however I feel as if "Scream" is much scarier and modern but still follows some conventions but also going against some allowing new sub-genres to emerge.

 

Parodics are which typically take a film from the classics and revisionists and pretty much make it into a comedy which isn't really that scary for example "scary movie" which is taking influences from "scream" but making it funny and it is very over-exaggerated.

 

Finally, there is a Hybrid which is where two genres combine for example Horror and Sci-fi this allows the film to be much more interesting and different from stereotypical horror films. An example of a film that has both genres is "The FLY" which again combines horror and Sci-fi. I think this is more interesting as it harder for the audience to predict what will happen.

Auteur Theory

Auteur Theory is theory of film making that holds that a film reflects the directors personal creative vision. This relates to directors of Horror films for example Alfred Hitchcock "Psycho" in his film he used a variety of jump cuts to create tension in the shower scene with non-diegetic music over the top to add to this tension building to make the viewer be on the edge of their seat. Hitchcock style is classic due to his tension building style being used in a variety of slasher films like "scream".

Another example is Brian De Palma "Carrie" in the scene where carrie has pigs blood poured over her he uses a variety of effects like slow motion, split screen and kaleidoscope.You could say that his style is very over the top compared to other directors. It looks as if he is trying out every editing technique however it works in this specific scene due to Carrie being completely embarrassed in front of everyone and she gets extremely angry and these techniques showcase this.

In my own short film i will showcase my own creative vision by using editing techniques,costumes and without using too much dialogue.I will use styles and themes that i have seen in other horror films by different directors.

Imom

Imom is a short film directed by Areil martin and in her words it is "A dark look into the black mirror of a society where technology has exceeded humanity". This short film relates to the Horror Genre as it shows how technology has taken over our life's and how we rely on it too much, the film showcases what would happen if we had robots to care for our children instead of us.

 

What I like about this short film is that it isn't typically "scary" however its more realistic on what would happen in the future if we rely too much on technology. It has themes of religion running throughout as the child has to read Matthew 7:15 from the bible which states " 15Beware of false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. 16By their fruit you will recognize them. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?…" which relates to the iMom as she seen as being "pretty" and wearing normal human clothes which relates to her as being seen as sheep however from the inside she is actually a wolf and dangerous. As at the end we find out that she cooked the baby instead of the chicken. I really like this idea as we may believe technology is helping us and good for our world however its turning us lazy and it is dangerous as we don't the possible outcomes of technology.

 

In addition from the start of the film there is a graphic match of the baby and the chicken which is showcasing what will happen at the end of the film. But also the mum calls her baby "chicken" which led the Imom to do as well however there was a power cut during this which made her confused and thought the baby was a chicken. Which again shows that we cannot rely on technology because no matter how advanced it will never be as smart as the human mind and there can easily be problems with technology.

 

I like the style of horror short film as it is relating to issues that we face today and how the next generation are being brought up with technology and relying too much on it which is actually quite scary as we don't know what will happen in the future.

The Economics Of Horror Films

One of the great things about Horror films is that they are incredibly cheap to make compared to other box office releases. For example Paranormal Activity, the production costs of this was only $15,000 dollars and it generated $190 million at the global box office which was a huge profit. Compared to the pirates of the Caribbean which had a budget of $378.5 million which is even more than what Paranormal activity had as their budget but also their profit of the film. It made $1,045,713,802 in the box office which is a huge profit however it shows how cheap it is to make a good horror film compared to an action film which couldn't have a budget as low as $15,000 dollars as it wouldn't be good.

However there a some factors that hold Horror Films back from not being able to have high budgets and make huge profits. One huge limitations of the genre is that there is a limited appeal as the genre doesn't have a huge audience due to not being able to appeal to family audiences but also not a lot of people enjoy horrors so they wouldn't want to go watch it in the cinema as they could watch a romantic instead.

In addition, another thing that holds back the Horror Genre that it isn't considered as being "artistic" which means that a Horror film is very unlike to win any Oscars no matter how good it is.

Finally, by horror films being so cheap to make it means I don't have to invest millions into making a good short film but easily make a good short film by using less than £10 as the more realistic the film is the more scary.