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The evolution of the horror genre
The evolution of the horror genre
Genre Analysis
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In the film industry, genre can be referred to the various types of techniques and particular themes that are used in the way the story of a film is constructed. Genre is a useful method to analyse film as it depicts what theme a particular film is about and enables the viewer to understand the film in a clear and concise way. The main focus throughout this research essay will focus on how genre is a useful method to analyse films. This will be displayed through two main aspects of which are; target audience and how genre creates the narrative flow of the film. Two significant films that display their own style of genre that will be made reference to are Jody Dwyer’s film ‘Dying Breed’ and Fred Walton’s ‘When a stranger calls’. Genre is a useful method to analyse films as it establishes what angle the film is taking, the plot of the story and how it makes the audience understand the moral of the film that is being visually shown. Significantly, in ‘Dying Breed’ the type of genre that this film is categorised in is horror. Horror is a significant genre in which it presents films in a fearful and gruesome manner. The main overview of ‘Dying Breed’ is a group of hikers that are in search of a Tasmanian tiger. Whilst searching for a Tasmanian tiger, the group of hikers come across a family of cannibals who are on a task to find fresh breeding stock to eat. Throughout the film, we experience a constant motion of unexpectedness and detailed imagery. Lowry, in his article states that a “spectators relation to a horror film is often quite active – screaming, covering the eyes and laughing either nervously or derisively” (1984, p.15). ‘Dying Breed’ evidently displays this exact description to the audience in the sequence of events crea... ... middle of paper ... ...e narrative understandable for the audience. All in all, a film can not have a narrative to construct without a particular type of genre. Any film needs a genre to distinguish the narrative. Overall, as displayed throughout this discussion on ‘Dying Breed’ and ‘When a stranger calls’, genre is a significant method in the way a film is analysed. The target audience and narrative flow discussed in regards to both the films, displays a thorough understanding towards the viewer in relation to the structural analysis of the film. In having a genre within a film, it assists the categorization of the film and in the cinema industry; it helps the audience in their viewing choice of which film to see. It is important to understand that within the film industry, if a film has no genre; a target audience and narrative would not be as significant to analyse.
Film Noir, as Paul Schrader integrates in his essay ‘Notes on Film Noir,’ reflects a marked phase in the history of films denoting a peculiar style observed during that period. More specifically, Film Noir is defined by intricate qualities like tone and mood, rather than generic compositions, settings and presentation. Just as ‘genre’ categorizes films on the basis of common occurrences of iconographic elements in a certain way, ‘style’ acts as the paradox that exemplifies the generality and singularity at the same time, in Film Noir, through the notion of morality. In other words, Film Noir is a genre that exquisitely entwines theme and style, and henceforth sheds light on individual difference in perception of a common phenomenon. Pertaining
The horror genre of film captives the frightfulness of individual fear, horror is the only genre that is meant captive the terror of the audience. The horror- the genre has been around well over one hundred- years there has been an extension of different types of horror and how the audience perceives horror. Many would even argue that horror films often reflect the fear of society in that certain time period. The evolution of horror reflects the evolution of society’s fear.
Run Lola Run, is a German film about a twenty-something woman (Lola) who has 20 minutes to find $100,000 or her love (Manni) will be killed. The search for the money is played through once with a fatal ending and one would think the movie was over but then it is shown again as if it had happened ten seconds later and changed everything. It is then played out one last time. After the first and second sequence, there is a red hued, narrative bridge. There are several purposes of those bridges that affect the movie as a whole. The film Run Lola Run can be analyzed by using the four elements of mise-en scene. Mise-en-scene refers to the aspects of film that overlap with the art of the theater. Mise-en-scene pertains to setting, lighting, costume, and acting style. For the purpose of this paper, I plan on comparing the setting, costume, lighting, and acting style in the first red hued, bridge to that of the robbery scene. Through this analysis, I plan to prove that the purpose of the narrative bridge in the film was not only to provide a segue from the first sequence to the second, but also to show a different side of personality within the main characters.
The genre of the film is how we know what kind of film it is. Genre is a French word which literally means type; it shows what category a film comes under. There are certain factors in a genre which will identify it. Things like settings, characters and themes can all be similar in one specific genre.
Barry, , Keith, and Grant, ed. Film Genre Reader III. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press,
November 1998, written for FILM 220: Aspects of Criticism. This is a 24-week course for second-year students, examining methods of critical analysis, interpretation and evaluation. The final assignment was simply to write a 1000-word critical essay on a film seen in class during the final six-weeks of the course. Students were expected to draw on concepts they had studied over the length of the course.
Film and literature are two media forms that are so closely related, that we often forget there is a distinction between them. We often just view the movie as an extension of the book because most movies are based on novels or short stories. Because we are accustomed to this sequence of production, first the novel, then the motion picture, we often find ourselves making value judgments about a movie, based upon our feelings on the novel. It is this overlapping of the creative processes that prevents us from seeing movies as distinct and separate art forms from the novels they are based on.
...r variations within the working out of a pre-established order." (461) However, his theory seems too eager to limit a genre film to achieving the same end in every incidence. I believe that Stagecoach reveals that it can be more constructive to achieve something new through the use of the conventional mode. It seems that it is only through the creation of an ostensibly new product by each recurrence of a generic form that a genre can continue. Theorists who deny the possibility of retaining enough of the original mode to make the film recognizable as part of a genre, while still capitalizing on the full range of variation available through plot, characterization, and style, underestimate the audience's capacity to simultaneously make connections and receive a new product. I believe an audience would rather be challenged than spoon-fed another "creative" recreation.
Film scholars around the world agree that all genres of film are part of the “genre cycle”. This cycle contains four different stages that a specific genre goes through. These stages are: primitive, classic, revisionist, and parody. Each stage that the genre goes through brings something different to that genre’s meaning and what the audience expects. I believe that looking at the horror genre will be the most beneficial since it has clearly gone through each stage.
Different forms of literature work apply different styles to communicate its message to the intended people. In most cases, novels and films pass their messages to their audience through expressing particular themes. For a theme to be created, specific techniques are applied by the author of a book or director of a given film. To be precise, this essay discusses the themes displayed by three movies, The birds, Persepolis and Nosferatu. Each film will be considered separately and the comparisons made will be analyzed. Application of different techniques in a movie affects how best the films communicate its theme to the audience. However, not all methods are applicable in bringing out the idea a video director wishes to address.
“A Cultural Approach to Television Genre Theory” argues that the application of film and literary genre theory do not fully translate when analyzing television, because of “the specific industry and audience practices unique to television, or for the mixture of fictional and nonfictional programming that constitutes the lineup on nearly every TV channel. 2” The goal of media genre studies, Mittell asserts, is to understand how media is arranged within the contexts of production and reception, and how media work to create our vision of the world.
The Wild Bunch is Western genre film that showcases phenomenal directing, editing techniques, revolutionary cinematography and action like no other Western film produced to date. In this film critique, the author will analyze The Wild Bunch through the lens of the genre theory. Genre theory is the application of studying films in order to allow viewers to categorize the films into different groups before they even watch the film. Genre is a type or category of film that allows viewers to have certain expectations about what the movie will be like before actually watching it. For example, the Western genre is set in the American frontier often centering on the life of a cowboy armed with a rifle who rides a horse and fights a gunslinger or
The films we chose to compare and contrast in our analysis are Rear Window and Disturbia. The movie Rear Window was released in 1954 whereas Disturbia was released in 2007 53 years apart. Rear Window is an Alfred Hitchcock movie while D.J. Caruso directed Disturbia. We chose these movies to compare because both the films have similar story lines and it is generally known that Rear Window influenced D. J. Caruso in the creation of Disturbia. Our comparison concludes that while Both the movies might look similar on the surface, they are two distinct films created to cater to a different set of audience. In our analysis we will compare the elements of genre, plot, male gaze, semiotics (class & technical), mise-en-scene, voyeuristic scopophilia, among the other aspects of the movie.
The film’s story does not simply shines forth, but is also the foundation of the plot. The film’s plot makes the traditional guidelines applicable...
“Entertainment has to come hand in hand with a little bit of medicine, some people go to the movies to be reminded that everything’s okay. I don’t make those kinds of movies. That, to me, is a lie. Everything’s not okay.” - David Fincher. David Fincher is the director that I am choosing to homage for a number of reasons. I personally find his movies to be some of the deepest, most well made, and beautiful films in recent memory. However it is Fincher’s take on story telling and filmmaking in general that causes me to admire his films so much. This quote exemplifies that, and is something that I whole-heartedly agree with. I am and have always been extremely opinionated and open about my views on the world and I believe that artists have a responsibility to do what they can with their art to help improve the culture that they are helping to create. In this paper I will try to outline exactly how Fincher creates the masterpieces that he does and what I can take from that and apply to my films.