Audience Survey

To grasp a better understanding of our audience, we started by creating a digital survey on Google Forms. 

The overall aim of the survey was to analyse the attitude towards horror films, as well as see any correlations or patterns due to age and gender. 

The survey was anonymous. We had a total of 28 participants, where 1 was 15 and under, 24 were aged 16 to 25, and 3 were aged 36 to 55. This showed that most of the views resulting from our survey would be from a young age group, however, 15-24+ is the primary target audience for our slasher opening. 

An important factor of our survey was gender, the majority of the participants, being 17 out of 28, were females. This was followed with 10 of the participants being males, and 1 person choosing not to specify their gender. 

Below is our video summarising the survey findings using the green screen:

We started by gaining an understanding of the audience's viewing habits: 

An interesting finding was that the 2 participants who selected 1 (not at all) were female while the 2 responders who selected 10 (very much) were male.

Does this mean that horror is unappealable to women? 

It is also interesting to note that no contenders in the age group of 36 to 55 showed much interest in the genre, their answers being 1, 2 and 4.  

Using The Greenscreen

After spending around 10 minutes figuring out and assembling the green screen, we decided to add another onto the table so we could have more freedom when editing. 

As this was my first time editing a green screen, I watched the following YouTube videos for help: 

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zqng9xfM7Y

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4vPlm39irM 

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JYGhZE7piI  

Once I had understood the basics, I was able to easily edit the video together for our audience survey that we presented on this blogpost. 

Although we are not planning on shooting with a green screen for our opening, we could consider using it for the burial scene, due to the difficulties with the winter weather.  

Sample Scene 3

We planned our next shoot for December 8th, during the afternoon so we could aim to shoot before dark, while still having a few night scenes. We had originally planned to keep the material we had shot for our rough cut, after having reviewed the scenes and some possible issues, we may reshoot certain scenes. 

Our location was the forest near my house, we chose it since it was easy to access and has a lot of variety in the path and trees. It was also close to the street we were using to film the next scene, and was well lit in the dark. 

For costume, we wanted to use everything to include in our final cut. We wanted to reflect the character archetypes of slasher, and use signifiers, such as the letterman jacket and the short skirt to anchor these tropes. The full detail for costume is on the blogpost here .

The main issue we encountered was due to the cold temperatures and hail. Although we had brought jackets for the cast they were not warm enough while shooting, which caused a lot of delays. If reshooting, or for our burial scene, we would plan on wearing warmer layers.

To break up the scene, we created a call sheet with the shots we intended to use. This helped us get the shot variety we wanted as well as keeping track of where we were at, before adding other shots. 

The script we used and the evolution of it is on the blogpost here .

Here is me directing the cast and demonstrating how I wanted them to perform for the jump scare. 

This is the initial edit of the sample scene:

After showing our media class, we have received the following feedback:

Transcript: 

What are the first initial mistakes that you noticed?

- Sense of stalking wasn't created

- Phone pings timings don’t sync up

- Shots of ground is unnecessary, can cut scene shorter

- We can clearly see her shaking, mask the elements of coldness

Can you clearly denote the horror genre? If not, what can we do to make it clearer that it’s horror?

- The false scare

- Connotations of drinking, smoking, and sex as "sinful" 

Is there anything we can change visually?

- Zoom in on the phone to show the text better

- Bottle isn't seen well

- Unnecessary unscrewing shot, and re-screwing is too long

- Can see the cigarette is broken, cut to hide that

Continuity wise, are there any parts that don’t make sense?

- Zoom in or zoom out when jumping between shots to flow better

- Close up reaction to vodka can be taken out

- Remove camera shake during scare

Are there any changes we should make to the dialogue?

- Dialogue seems ingenuine ("slash my throat")

- Bad dialogue audio, rerecord

Overall the shoot was very successful. To avoid losing time in the future we would aim to rehearse and block the scenes with the cast multiple times, and also plan ahead due to weather conditions, making sure to dress warmly and maybe bring a warm drink or gloves for the cast. 

Costume

This post covers the process in creating the cost for my film. 

Initially, we wanted to stick to the early 2000s aesthetic since these were the films that inspired us. We want to signify a 'clique', to show the connection of the three girls. We would do this through the use of matching hoops. Each girl has her unique colour: white, pink and purple. Our main inspiration for the colour coded clique is from Heathers (1988), and Mandy's costume is inspired by Jennifer's Body (2009). 

To anchor the clique, the girls all wear a "best friends forever necklace". 

The makeup was done by Sasha and her post is linked here . 

For the scream king we want to stick to a simplistic costume. We want to anchor him as a stereotypical 'Jock' slasher archetype, using a varsity jacket. We modelled his outfit after Steve in Scream (1996), as well as Curt Vaughan from The Cabin in the Woods (2011).

Here is the final costume on our actors: 

We encountered some issues with temperature, as it was very cold and the actors weren't well dressed. We managed to continue, but would plan to dress them with warmer layers if we were to reshoot. 

We kept Marion and Normans outfits the same as we had originally planned for. 

We received audience feedback saying that the clique was not well anchored so we changed the costumes for Laurie and Mandy. 

We gave Laurie the same skirt Marion wears, to denote them as Mandy's "minions", seen in Heathers (1988). We also gave Laurie Dr Marten boots and fishnets to denote her as a rebelling from the group, like Veronica in Heathers (1988), but a long, black, jumper to show her as studious and conservative, maintaining the final girl (Clover) archetype. 

Mandy wears a pink checkered skirt in a different pattern than the others, denoting her as the group's leader. She wears the same white large hoop earrings as Marion, dark makeup, and laced heels in order to appeal to the male gaze (Mulvey). 

Katz and Blumler: Uses and Gratifications Theory

Background and development: 

It develops from passive media theories such as the hypodermic needle model from the 1940s, which places the power in the media and removes agency from the consumer. Theorists Katz and Blumler developed a new idea basing their findings on Maslow's hierarchy of needs, making it an active audience theory, similarly to Hall's reception theory. 

What is the Uses and Gratifications Theory? 

Maslow's hierarchy of needs

The Uses and Gratifications theory is an active audience media consumption theory. The theory is based off of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, and explains how users consume media for their personal use and gratification. This explanation means that users can consume the same media product for different needs, for example; a group of children may watch a horror film to feel scared, and a group of adults may watch it for their enjoyment. 

The theory begins with the audience. If an individual has a certain need, they will search for a media product to fulfil it. If this product gratifies their need, they will continue consuming the product. However, if it doesn't, they will search for another product until their need is gratified. This is best seen in the example of a TV show; if the audience feels gratified the show will be renewed, but if they don't it will be cancelled. 

The 5 key elements: 

1. Media use is goal-directed. The audience knows what they need and where to find it. 

2. The responsibility lies in the audience. The individual needs to link the media product to their needs, rather than the product finding the audience. 

3. The media product is competing with other sources in order to satisfy the individual's needs, but there are multiple ways for them to be satisfied. 

4. Modern media and traditional media are in competition with one another. 

5. Audiences are self aware of their needs making them active users. 

What does the audience need?: 

There are 5 needs an individual seeks fulfilment for:

- Cognitive needs: attainment of knowledge (information)

- Effective needs: attainment of emotional fulfilment (emotions)

- Personal Integrative needs: attainment of self-identification and representation (personal identification)

- Social Integrative needs: attainment of socialisation with others (social interaction)

- Tension Free needs: attainment of release or distraction (escapism)

Possible influences for my film: 

Asking for audience feedback to see what needs are met for each individual. Applying the different needs for the audience into the opening to fulfil as many as possible and have a larger reach. 

source: 
https://thinkinsights.net/strategy/gratifications-theory/

Four Quadrant

What does Four Quadrant film mean? 

A four quadrant film refers to a film that appeals to all four major demographics or “quadrants”, these are; male, female, young (under 25), and old (over 25). 

Larger budget films often appeal to a four quadrant audience as they aim to be as commercially successful as possible. Working Title, the subsidiary of the vertically integrated conglomerate Universal uses this as they aim for commercial success. This is contrasted by the indie film company Warp, which has a niche target audience as they focus on representing minorities. 

Example of a four quadrant film: 

This Working Title film appeals to a four quadrant audience: 

The High Note (2020) 

The protagonist is played by Dakota Johnson, a young, conventionally attractive female. This appeals to a young female audience through the Uses and Gratifications theory of personal identification, appealing to younger and older women, as well as attracting a male audience through Mulvey’s male gaze theory. The other protagonist is played by Tracee Ellis Ross, an older female, which serves as personal identification for older women, and attracts a male secondary audience. Ice Cube plays in a supporting role allowing for personal identification with an older male audience. 

Inspiration for my film: 

As we are indie producers making a slasher film, we are appealing to a niche audience. This means that the four quadrant approach is not as needed for our film, but if it was a full length feature we would have an older cast playing police officers, parents, or teachers in order to appeal to a secondary older demographic. 

Script (Process and Evolution)

To simplify our process, we decided to create a separate script for each scene we shot. 

Sample Scene 1:

Sample Scene 2:

Street Scene and Forest Scene: 

We created an initial script and further workshopped it together. 

We added character descriptions, specified props, extended the scene and changed the lines to sound more appropriate to what our characters would say. 

 

Here is our final full script: 

Final Full Script by Laura Fagan on Scribd

VODCAST: Slasher Genre Conventions

 

Transcript: 

In this vodcast I will analyse the following slasher conventions: the killer, the setting, character archetypes, character separation, signals, jump scares, illogical thinking, sounds, shots, and lighting. 

Box Office Analysis: Low Budget Horror

In order to estimate a budget for my film, as well as to pitch to potential distributors, I have complied an analysis of high grossing, low budget horrors, as well as analysed their franchises. 

Low Budget Horror Analysis by Laura Fagan on Scribd

SLASHER GENRE: Character Archetypes

In this post I will analyse the following slasher character archetypes; the killer, the jock, the fool, the nice guy, the scream queen and the final girl, as well as treatment of minorities and adults. 

I will be mainly referring to the films The Cabin In The Woods (2011) ,  The Final Girls (2015) and The Babysitter (2017) , as they are post-modern films satirising these archetypes. 

Box Office Analysis: 10 Horror Films

Media 10 Horror Films by Laura Fagan on Scribe

 

In conclusion: 

I found that films with lower age ratings or part of franchises performed better at the box office. The majority of the films had similar MPAA R or BBFC 18 ratings as they are violent. There was also a large difference in the age ratings between the US and the UK, with the US being more harsh. 

Hall: Reception Theory

Stuart Hall 

(b. 1932- d. 2014)

Stuart Hall was a British-Jamaican theorist, sociologist and political activist. 

What is Reception Theory? 

Reception theory is an active audience theory, meaning that meaning is found in the text and then interpreted by the audience, compared to passive audience theories such as the hypodermic needle, assuming meaning is conveyed directly from a media text. Hall developed this theory in his 1973 essay "Encoding and Decoding in the Television Discourse", where he explained the theory along with his concept of encoding (creating meaning) and decoding (understanding the meaning). 

There are three types of readings, or meanings created by the audience:

- preferred reading: the way in which the original author intended the text to be recieved based on the meaning they had created

- negotiated/contested reading: only certain aspects of the preferred reading are accepted and the rest are not recognised or rejected

- oppositional reading: the conscious or subconscious rejection of the authors preferred reading

 

For example; based on their political views, a person would interpret a political speech differently, agreeing completely, partly agreeing, or disagreeing completely. 

Possible influences for my film: 

When considering the primary and secondary target audiences for my opening, I would ask for audience feedback in order to have an idea of the possible readings that could be applied.

Barthes: Narrative Enigma

Roland Barthes 

(b. 1915- d. 1980)

Roland Barthes was a French theorist, philosopher and semiotician. 

What is Narrative Enigma? 

Narrative enigma is defined as the intentional withholding of exposition in order to create mystery and suspense. 

An example of narrative enigma being used in an opening is Pretty In Pink (1986), which shows shots of the bedroom and the protagonists body parts, building up to reveal her face. 

An example where narrative enigma is not upheld is the opening of Bridget Jones' Diary (2001), where the protagonist immediately reveals exposition through a voiceover. 

Possible influences for my film: 

In my opening, I would want to build up narrative enigma to create suspense and mystery, especially around the killer's identity. I would reveal exposition visually rather than through dialogue. 

Todorov: Narrative Structure

Tzvetan Todorov 

(b. 1939- d. 2017)

Tzvetan Todorov was a Bulgarian-French historian, philosopher and literary critic.

What is Narrative Structure? 

Todorov analysed properties of hundreds of different narratives, and found a general theory that fits them all. 

The 5 part structure consists of: 

Equilibrium- the stable situation or routine and opening of the narrative

Disruption- disturbance caused breaking the routine

Recognition- realisation of caused disturbance within the narrative

Attempt to resolve- fixing the disturbance in order to regain balance

New equilibrium- new balance and stability created after the occurrence of the disruptor

This structure is illustrated in the diagram below. 

Example:

This theory can be seen in the film Shrek (2001). The film opens showing Shrek's life living alone in his swamp, the equilibrium stage. The fairytale characters that are banished by Lord Farquaad then create disruption as they invade his swamp. After Shrek recognises this, he sets off to find Lord Farquaad and makes a deal with him, he will find Princess Fiona in exchange for him taking back all the fairytale characters. This is the attempt to repair the damage. However, Princess Fiona is an ogre and she ends up marrying Shrek and moving into his swamp, which is the new equilibrium. 

Male Gaze and Voyeurism

The Male Gaze: 

What is the Male Gaze?: 

The Oxford Dictionary defines the male gaze as: 

"the perspective of a notionally typical heterosexual man considered as embodied in the audience or intended audience for films and other visual media, characterised by a tendency to objectify or sexualise women." 

The male gaze is a feminist theory, coined by Laura Mulvey in her 1975 essay "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema".  It refers to the act of depicting women in film, from a heteronormative masculine perspective, objectifying women for their visual pleasure. Mulvey claims the male gaze to have three perspectives: 

- the man behind the camera

- the male character 

- the male spectator

In this post I will discuss; background, psychology of the theory, spectatorship/voyeurism, and rejection of the theory.

Background: 

The first documentation of "the gaze" or "le regard" was introduced by the French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre in 1943. He described it as "the act of gazing at another human creates a power difference, felt by the gazer viewing the gazed as an object rather than a human being." 

The first use in cinema was by John Berger in 1972's "Ways of Seeing", where his theory stated that "men act and women appear", with women being aware of their obligation of performance towards the male viewer.

It most notably appears in Laura Mulvey's 1975 essay "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema".  In this essay, she states, "In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active male and passive female." (808), relating the representations of women and men in cinema to the patriarchal structure of society. These representations deny the post-feminist theory of agency, or a woman's control over her actions and body, dehumanising her and being viewed as a body rather than a person. 

Psychology of the theory: 

Mulvey based her essay on several Freudian psychoanalytical concepts: 

Male Castration Anxiety: Upon viewing the woman, her lack of phallus poses the threat of castration to the male, and therefore displeasure. This unconscious anxiety of the male in turn leads to the over sexualisation and passive role of women onscreen, through voyeurism and fetishisation. 

Voyeurism: The behaviour of looking as a sexual pleasure . Mulvey states it is about "asserting control and subjecting the guilty person through punishment or forgiveness." By viewing and fragmenting the female body, the anxiety of castration is reduced. 

Scopophilia: The receiving of pleasure from looking, relating to the effects of the male gaze on both men and women. When the pleasure is derived from sexual attraction, it falls under the voyeuristic pleasure. However, when women view film from the male perspective, their pleasure is derived from self-identification and narcissism. 

Narcissism: Receiving pleasure from the contemplation of one's self, in this case women identifying with their onscreen objectification. 

Spectatorship: 

When viewing a film, the viewer assumes the role of the active male or the passive female. Mulvey states that the male gaze consists of "three different looks"; the camera, the audience, and the characters. They all share the perspective of the active male viewer, relating to the concept of scopophilia or pleasure from viewing. This is in turn separated into two categories; voyeurism, where the subject is viewed from a distance and the viewer projects onto them, or narcissism, where the subject is recognised within it's viewer.

Due to this system of viewing, Mulvey believed women must identify with male characters and their perspective in order to enjoy films. 

Onscreen, the male perspective is physically distinguishable in the camera's sight line and women are objectified to appeal to the male character, or male viewer. This is reinforced by the patriarchal hegemony (Gramsci), as well as other forms of media. 

Rejection of the gaze:

Camille Paglia, a feminist academic writer, rejected the theory of the male gaze, by prioritising the post-feminist theory of agency. She says "I've been very vocal about my opposition to the simplistic theory of the male gaze... (it is) the victim model of feminism applied to the works of culture."

The female gaze was idealised later, with the idea consisting of a female assuming the position of the dominant male, and viewing through this perspective, removing the objectification of women. 

Queering the gaze, consists of a same sex viewer and object, therefore queering the passive and active or male and female roles. However, this is also criticised by many feminist theorists, specifically regarding the lesbian gaze, referring to the fetishisation occurring from the heterosexual male. 

references:

- Male Gaze

- Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema

- Female Gaze 

- Three Perspectives