"A little girl home alone finds herself face-to-face with pure evil."
An example of an effective short film is "The Smiling Man" the bases of the film is a little girl being left home alone and is led to a sinister death through a series of balloons. What I like about this short film is that it is so simple and not over complicated yet so effective. It does what all horror films do which is scaring their audience yet this is done under 10 minutes. This is done through using camera angles and sound to build up tension to leave the audience on the edge of their seats.
How will I apply this?
When I first saw this short film I was attracted to it but at the same time repulsed due to it being very disturbing. This is what I want to in my own short film I want it to be simplistic but yet disturbing and effective. This is done through the narrative of the short film.
To make my short film as effective as "The smiling Man" I'm going to focus on my narrative but also camera work and sound as this is just as important as the narrative. Here are some effective camera angles shown below:
The first effective camera shot is from a high angle looking down at the girl. What I like about this is that its telling the audience a lot. It showing the girl as being weak and vulnerable compared to what is in the house. In my short film I'm going to use high angle and low angle to tell the audience what characters are weak and powerful. But this is also puts the audience in the eye of either the "watcher" or "killer" that is in the house which is very effective.
Another shot which I find very effective is this close up shot of the "killer" what I like about this is that it shows all of the detail of the "killers" face and its very disturbing due to the cracked skin and red around the eyes. When creating my film I want to focus on detail so that the it is very high quality, I will do this through costume,makeup,editing and camera work.
This film has helped me in the development on my film and how I want to create about it. Im going to take a lot of inspiration from this short film by focusing on a simple narrative which is still effective and will still scare the audience.
There are several theories about the Horror genre focusing on why we are attracted but also repulsed by them.
The Philosophy of Horror (Noel Carroll)- His main idea is that we are both attracted by Horror and Gore but also repulsed by it but can't help looking. An example of this is Vampires we fear them yet fancy them like in the film "Twilight" pretty much every teenager was attracted to the main vampire yet feared his family and his powers. Mainly we can't stand watching the film however can't stop watching as we don't want to miss anything.I agree with this theory even though i'm scared of Horror films when they are on i can't help but look because im attracted to it as i want to know what is going to happen to the characters.
"Visual pleasure and Narrative cinema" Laura Mulvey- Her big idea is "Male Gaze" in horror films, us as an audience are positioned in the male eye as if we were spying on the female we sympathise with the protagonist yet we are seeing them from the killers point of view for example in Halloween. However there is a shift from seeing through the killers eye to the final girls allowing the audience to see different point of views. I have noticed in films such as Halloween at the beginning we as a audience are looking through the eyes of the killer suggesting that we relate with parts of the killer but at the end we are looking through the eyes of the final girls suggesting that parts of us are actually good and that we are all vulnerable.
"The Shadow" Jung- The Shadow is a projection of all we fear and dislike onto a external but it can also be parts of us for example "the monster" in horror films is all the worst parts of us that we try to hide. I relate to this theory as when we are watching the film us as the audience are watching through the killers eyes.
Carol Clover- Argued that horror films offer teenage male viewers to revel their feminine side due to seeing the killer through the eyes of the female which is rarely done but during the final girl it allows males to identify with a triumphant female protagonist who saves the day instead of a male. So a genre that is seen by must people as "sexist" due to women being the target for the killer and shown as weak isn't actually sexist after all as the female saves us all from the killer. This theory allows us to see a different side of the Horror genre instead of the stereotypical way.
Adam Lowenstein: His idea is "spectacle Horror" as the genre uses a combination of special effects, camerawork, gore music etc. as the genre is able to be as unrealistic as it wants to be and over the top this creates a medium about appreciating the editing and special effects of the genre and not just the dark storyline. As something amazing about the genre is that it needs to be able to build up tension so that the audience are on the edge of the seats to prepare them for the "monster" as without this it wouldn't be as scary.
Conventions in genre is where that specific genre typically do things. Ad genres develop they start to have specific conventions that each film in that genre have. In the Horror genre the main storyline is based around "Good VS Evil" due to there being conflict between the protagonist and antagonist however each sub-genre of this genre have conventions as well for example "Slasher" the main basis of this sub-genre is that there is male figure going around stabbing women who are typically portrayed as being rather promiscuous. However the protagonist female at the end of the film is portrayed as being "pure" character who saves the day.
Other conventions of the Horror genre:
Mise-en-scene:
Colours- Typical colours used in Horror films are red and black as they have connotations of danger and death therefore suggesting something bad is going to happen to the audience.
Costumes- Characters typically wear "normal" clothing to make the film more realistic and scary but in "slasher" films the character that is portrayed as a "slut" is shown to wear much shorter skirts and dresses compared to the character which is portrayed as the "virgin" which is seen wearing less revealing clothing.
Lighting- Typically the lighting is typically dark to represent danger but also there is a use of flickering lights to create tension of something bad is going to happen. Horror films also use shadows to reveal a part of the villain without revealing too much.
Location- The location is horror films is typically old towns or abandoned houses which are quite isolated from other people meaning there would be no-one around to help. In addition in films like "the women in black" and "Blair witch project" the towns are quite old-fashioned and behind in time.
Time of day- Typically the film will be film during night time as we all know that everything evil comes out during this time as we are more vulnerable and less alert. Which comes back to our child-hood as must of us were scared of the dark due to there being monsters coming out to get us. There is less filmed during day time as we are more alert during this time and its less likely anything will come out to get us during this time.
Props- Horror films typically focus on weapons such as knifes instead of guns for props due to a knife being much more personal and scary then a gun which is why Slasher films typically have the antagonist using a knife to kill. There is also a focus on religious items in paranormal horrors such as bibles and crucifixes to warn off demons and ghosts.
Sound:
There is a use of non-diegetic music in horror films to build up tension and keep the audience on the edge of their seat as anything can jump out at any time. The music becomes more intense and faster when the antagonist is coming closer and something bad is going to happen. Without the music the film would be less dramatic and scary because there would be no build up.
Characters:
children- Horror films like to use children as we typically see them as "innocent" however in horror films they twist this especially in paranormal films as children are typically the ones who become possessed.
virgin- Slasher films like to use the idea of a "virgin" who will save the day and kill of the antagonist.
Slut- Slasher films also use the idea of a "slut" who gets killed off at the beginning of the film.
Clowns- Again Horror films like to take something which we see as innocent in our childhood and twist this to make it sinister and evil. As the audience won't suspect it.
Iconography:
- Jump scenes are a key feature used in Horrors where there is a intense build through non-diegetic music which builds up getting much quicker and intense which makes the audience on the edge of their seats. This is used in "Psycho" during the shower scene.
-Paranormal films typically have abnormal and unusual things taking place which we wouldn't typically see in our everyday day lives. This maybe items moving around, slamming doors and people being dragged.
- In modern day Horror films they typically focus on "the fear of the unknown" as this is what must of us fear as we don't know if its real or not for example ghosts and the paranormal.
Allan Cameron came up with the idea that contemporary cinema uses complex narratives to operate this trend which started in the 1990s within popular cinema. Modular narratives " articulate a sense of time as divisible and subject to manipulate.
He identified four types of Modular narratives:
-Anachronic
-Episodic
-Split Screen
-Forking path
Anachronic narratives- this involves flashbacks but also flash forwards making the story chaotic and not in order.
Episodic- A narrative is a story which is told through a series of episodes and segments. The episode is normally ended with a cliff hanger so that the audience want to watch the next episode as they want to know what is going to happen next. This is typically used in soap operas as they consists of a series of shorter tales throughout each episode and this story is carried out through each episode.
Forking Path- This is where the story shows two alternative endings which shows the different ways that the story could of gone if there were small changes to the story line.
Split Screen- This is where the screen is divided into two frames which allows two stories to take place at the same time which allows the audience to understand what is going on and gives them more information.
