Halloween Timeline

Halloween Timeline

• 00.04- Film institution shown
• 00.09-Director/producer name(credits shown in orange)
• 00.15-Flashing pumpkin on dark background
• 00.18-Important actor's name
• 00:26-Film title "John Carpenter's Halloween"
• 00.34 Prodution names
• 00.41-Character/actor names
•            CREDITS: (Jamie Lee Curtis)
• 00.47-Nancy loomis
• 00.53-PJ Soles
• 00.56-Charles Cyphers
• 01.02-Features credits
• 01.07-Screenplay credits(slowly zooming into pumpkin)
• 01.14-Director of photography
• 01.19-Film Editors
• 01.25-Music by John Carpenter
• 01.32-associate producer
• 01.38-Production designs
• 01.43-executive producer
• 01.54-Camera zoomed into pumpkins eye/lantern goes out
• 02.00-Location revealed "Haddonfield , Illinios"-white text
• 02.07-Halloween Night 1963 (date shown-relates to film title)
• 02.17-Establishing shot of house(location)
• 02.23-Zooming in on house-nightime.
• 02.32-Zooms in on front door , show silhouettes, some must be home.
• 03.13-Tracking shot round the side of the house, Pumpkin shown again
• 03.35-Camera zooms in on open door,makes it seem like the camera is a moving person.
• 03.47-Light turns on, camera turn to draw, green sleeve appears taking out kitchen knife(murderous weapon)States the camera is the person who took out knife.
• 04.00-Begins walking through the house(shows setting)
• 04.24-Boy (teenager) pulls down shirt on the stairs and walks out of the house (not target of murder) camera turns to walk upstairs.
• 05.05-Arm reaches mask on floor and puts it on (hides identity).Mask covers the camera so it look like the audience is looking through mask.
• 05.18-Camera follows trail of clothes to a singing naked women combing hair.
• 05.53-Arm stabs woman repeatively.Woman screaming.Shows knife stabbing up and down through mask.
• 05.42-Camera looks down on bloody naked woman.
• 05.56-Camera goes downstairs at a quick pace.
• 06.11-Police cars and people arrive to take off mask. Shows a confused little boy in a clown outfit was the murderer.Boys young age portrays innocence.
• 06.30-Camera zooms out and shoes the scene from a bords eye view.
• 06.42-New location "Smith's Grove , Illinois"
• 06.51-New date "0ctober 30th ,1978"
• 07.06-Car drives through rain in the dark,wide shot
• 07.16-Shows possible main character in car.
• 07.21-Shows nurse driver , both have a negative expression on faces, linked to recent happenings shown
• 09.00-See something has happened and pull up to the gate.
• 09.50-Hand smashes through wndow and grabs nurses hair.
• 09/59-Woman escapes and man drives off with car.

A nightmare on Elm street

 

 A Nightmare on Elm street opening presentation

History of horror

                                          History of horror

Horror Films date back to the 1890's when films where black and white and special effects where non exsistant. Eventhough nowadays the films will seem ridiculous and non-scary , back in the day they where seen as terrifying. As audiences of the 1890's had never seen horror films and where not used to the bizarre story lines . It was not uncommon for audiences to faint in these movie theatres due to the suprise of horror.

1896-Le manoir du diable

The first known horror film appeared in the silent shorts created by the film pioneer Georges melies in the late 1890s. The best known of these films was Le manoir du diable which  is seen as the first ever horror film. The title in french means : The house of devil . The film is only two minutes long btu has been seen as the birth of horror films.
The plot of the film involves satan,skeletons ,bats ,ghosts and witches which shows the peoples fears in the 1890's .


Internationally film makers began to succesful and well knowncreate horror films , between the 1890's-1920's such as;
-The Hunchback (1909)
-The Love of a Hunchback (1910)
- Notre-Dame de Paris (1911)
^- The Golemn(1920)
-Dr.Jekyll And Mr Hyde (1920)
-Nosferatu (1922)
-The monster (1923)
-Waxworks (1924)
-The Lost World (1925),
-The Phantom of the opera (1925)
-After Midnight (1927)

 

Universal pictures had a big impact on horror film in the 1930's when they released a dark horror film series which became successful. This began a film spiral releasing one after the other. Popular films such as Frankenstein and Dracula . After this ,different ideas where introduced like The mummy (1932) introduced Egyptology , this added fear towards mummification. Another ,The wolf man (1941) introduced werewolf's into the horror genres. This has influenced more recent films such as The Mummy Returns and Dog soldiers(2002)



 

 

 Towards the 1950's , horror films began to include more non-fictional and creative characters , like aliens , deadly mutations ,plants and insects. The creatures became more ridiculous and unknown , such as Godzilla . Films began to become more supernatural . Eventually films started to turn into the gore-shock zombie films similar to the ones we see today. One of the first "Night of the living dead" which frightened people in everyday life.

 

 

In the 1970's films such as the Exorcist (1973) involved possession and evil children that then became more popular . Storylines began to involve the devil possessing the most innocent of people. The 1960's counterculture influenced film which led to The Texas chainsaw massacre (1974) and The hills have eyes (1977).

 

The 1980's and 1990's had a huge impact on horror films as slasher films were released involving deadly phychos and vicious deaths . Popular slasher films that are popular today where made in the 1980's  like A nightmare on elm street (1984), Halloween (1978) and Candyman (1992). Up until present today films have become more realistic with special effects.

 

Throughout the years horror films have adapted to the viewers beliefs and the changes on the recent effects on society. In the past horror films  where based on the fantasies  and the creative minds of people . Whereas in present day there has been films based on true stories and disturbing ideas of many writers . Todays audience have made a higher demand for blood and sex and setting is mostly in towns and homes to make everyday scary. Sinister is one of the more disturbing resent films which involves a hanging scene in the first few seconds.

 

 



Evil dead

Evil Dead analysis

 

 

 



Analaysis of the Happening

 

 

 

The Happening

 

The title sequence  appears in a bold white font over the background . This is a worm's eye view of the sky, the clouds however are speeded up to look irregular as if something is happening out of the ordinary . This  foreshadows the panic that occurs later on in the film .The credits and  the  production company names fade in and out in the same font whilst the clouds speed up and get darker.

 

 

This moves onto a tracking shot of a man walking his dog which portrays a regular day. The camera is placed higher to make the dog look small and helpless . This also states the animals status. The eerie music sounds sinister and portrays the horror tone of the film.

 

 The place and time is layered over the moving image , this alerts the audience that an occurance is about to happen .The establishing shot sets the scene as  the scenery is exposed . The crowd of people suggest a normal day at Centeral park , however the dark and gloomy weather suggets otherwise.

  

 The two characters are shown exchanging friendly dialougue. The mid shot shows the body languge and facial expression of the character on the lefts reaction to something. Her face looks confused and shocked at what is happening. This shot also shows the other characters not reacting as if she is not affected.

 The long shot of the still crowd shows that something supernatural is occuring . The male that the camera focuses on begins to walk backwards which looks extremely sinister and frightening.

 The close up shows the expression on the characters face showing her emotion . The neutral face a lowered eyebrows show she is confused and unaware of the current goings on . It seems as if she is possesed as she mutters irrelevant dialougue.

The high angle shot looks down on the character , This shows she is inferior and powerless. The close up shows the hair pin is significant as the camera is focused on it slowly being pulled out of her hair. Her motion seems as if she is not in control.

 

 The camera is focused on the character on the right as the character on the left is slightly out of focus but still her emotion and reaction is still visible to the audience. The character is close to the character so it focuses on her neck .  It is apparent that the focus on the pinand neck would result in what we see here.

 

 

 

 



What is "suspense"

 What is suspense?

 

Suspense is a state or feeling of excited or anxious uncertainty about what may happen. This is used in Horror films to make the audience feel this way. It is effective in horror films as the audience should be unaware of what is going to happen so when it does it shocks and scare them.

 Music

Suspense is built up in many ways. Music is a an effective way of creating suspense as it changes to fit the scene from slow to fast. In classic movies a piano will be used to make suspenseful music. This may be done by starting of with a few simple keys and played slowly. At this point the audience know nothing is suddenly going to happen , however as soon as the keys get faster and more complex the audience are uncertain what is going to happen and when.

This background music is usually non-diegetic music , meaning the audience hear it but the on screen characters do not. This again makes the audience unsettled as they are preparing for the worst to happen whilst the character itself is unaware.

Camera angles

The camera angles are an important factor in creating suspense as it shows the characters reactions and hidden elements. Close-up shots can be used to show the facial expression on the characters face

(fear) , This will have the same effect on the audience as they will relate to the character and fear for whats about to happen. Long shots can be used to show location and reveal hidden features that the audience may pick up on , such as a mask on a far off table or a character standing in the shadows. This creates suspense as they know more than the character and prepare themselves what may or may not happen. This is exciting yet terrifying.

Lighting

Lighting is used in horror films as it makes the audience feel anxious as the shadow in the room may hide characters or weapons. This uncertainty of what is in the room is scary as the audience fear the unknown. This use of hiding characters in shadowed corners creates suspense as the audience have no way of knowing where on screen a character or object may be.

However the lighting does not have to just be dark to create suspense, flashing and blinking lights are often used to only show certain characters or objects at a time. This can be used to make a character get closer but hide there movement.







Film Genres

                                          Film Genres

Horror

Horror films are designed to scare/frighten the audience. This is achieved by following the key conventions. Horror films will usually include dark settings and suspense building music. There is a very wide variety of sub-genre horror films . This is because there are many horrifying creatures and physchos to include such as vampires , zombies , physchos , paranormal etc.

 

Popular horror films

A well known horror film is Halloween , the main story line is of  a psychotic man who kills off member of his family whilst covering his face with a mask. He wears a boiler suit covering up every part of his body possible . This film has a very well known theme tune which is with out a doubt terrifying. This film has done so well that there has been eight films and two remakes .The first film was made in 1978 and the most recent in 2008 . Michael Myers although staying the same has come a long way since then as horror films have changed and has a higher demand of blood ,sex and gore.

                                     

 Insidious however is a supernatural thriller .The storyline is about a father and son who can astral  travel into the further . By leaving their human forms it made it easier for demons to enter their bodies . This confusing film is filled with terrifying music from Tiny Tim and scenes that will shock the audience . Insidious 2 is currently our in the cinema as they are recent films but has again left a cliffhanger at the end so there may be more to come.

 

 

 

Comedy

Comedy films are made to be light-hearted and funny, This is to make the audience laugh. Many comedy films include memorable quotes which are then made into merchandise. These films can be set anywhere as long as it supports the story line but is mainly set in real life situations . Comedies will sometimes have more than one genre such as bridesmaids is a comedy/chick-flick.

 

 Bridesmaids is about a group of bridesmaids celebrating Helen's engagement . However two of the women are battling to be the maid of honour which resulting in humourous scenes . Hidden beneath the fun love is brewing between the other bridesmaids which ends happily ever after. This film has been labelled as the hangover version for girls , aimed at women.

                           Ted is a film for family guy lovers (animated comedy series). About a man and his alive teddy growing up and reaching adult hood. It is aimed at adults and contains drug use , scenes of a sexual nature and vintage film characters (Flash Gordon).

Adventure

 Adventure films will have an exciting storyline which can be set anywhere! The storyline will usually include a group of people travelling from a realisation to a new world .The adventure will be portrayed by someone having an adventure whether its back in time or on a treasure hunt. Many adventure films are set back in a historical era.

 Lord of the rings is a great adventure film as it contains mystical creatures and a long journey across middle earth. This is obviously a fictional film as such a world does not exsist but gives the audience a new experience .

 The goonies is a bit more closer to home as the search for treasure starts in mickey's loft . One eyed willy's treasure map was found by a group of young boys who unravel the riddles hidden within. This film contains humour , creature , pirates , skeletons and murder.

Musical

                      

 Musicals are a very self explained film genre . These films can variety from sad historical films to recent happy high school musicals. Any film with a continuous song outbursts are seen as musicals. These are usually fictional but some can be based on true stories. These musicals may originate from theatre productions.


The Rocky horror picture show is aimed at Adults as it is an 18 certified film.
This is a twisted musical about a couple who find them selves in a weird and wonderful castle. It includes a the well know "time warp"

  

                                            

This is a "family fun" musical set back in the 60's when blacks where discriminated against . This film was  a great hit purely by the celebrity line up
-John Travolta (past musical)
-Zac efron (past musical)
-Brittany snow (pitch perfect)
-Amanda bynes
-Queen latifa
-Christopher Walken
-James marsden
-Michelle pfeiffer

Science fiction

Science fiction film usually take place in outer space or involve aliens coming to earth. These films will often be a mixture of genres such as alien-is a sci fi-horror. Often sci fi's will have an adventurous  story line but have all the effeect of sci-fi's. Special effects are important as they make sci-fi's exciting and thrilling.

Star wars is a very popular science fiction film . It keeps to the setting of outer space and includes fun non-fictional characters . It includes lots of fight scenes  wwith space ships and lasers and of course the well know light saber.

Dark skies being a strong horror film is also a sci-fi . A haunting story of a young boy being possessed and stalked on earth by different types of scary aliens. This film is filled with suspenseful music . The aliens interfere with lights and electronic devices which is terrifying as random lights and TV's will turn on and off.

 

                                                    Romance/chick-flicks

These films are usually targeted on Women. These film are usually about a man and a woman going through some kind of journey and eventually getting together at the end. These films can be sad or funny . These are often set on earth in present and historical times.

Romeo and Juliet is a film made on Shakespeare playwright . The remake stars Leonardo Dicaprio and Clare danes. The film is about the two people from opposite families fall in love and ends in tragedy (suicide). 



The proposal is a chick-flick starring Ryan Reynolds and Sandra bullock where an important business woman who blackmail's her assistant to marry her so she is not deported. This ends in a funny et sweet film when they stay at the assistants parent house in Alaska and has a romantic ending.