A.M: Inspirational Shots and Frame Ideas

 This shot is from Amityville I think that the composition of the shot is done very well.  There is low key lighting and the girl is placed using the rule of thirds. She is placed in the corner of the room and she is curled up in a ball representing her vulnerability. A toy prop is used in the shot to convey her innocence.

This shot is also from Amityville. I liked this shot as I like how most of the shot is in darkness and then the protagonist is a silhouette. It makes him appear as an enigma and dark.

This shot is from Zombieland. I like the use of intergrated 3D titles.

 This shot is from Nightmare on Elm Street. It is a POV shot which uses burred edges to convey the fact it is a POV shot.

This shot is also from Nightmare On Elms Street. It is a pan shot showing all the hanging kitchen utensils around him. I like how the pan shot shows more information about the protagonists surroundings subtly.

my frame ideas :

My first frame (top left) is inspired by the Amityville silouhette shot. I have placed our supernatural protagonist behind the window and created her as a silhouette. While the antagonist is in the foreground being controlled by the protagonist. Also the shot would zoon out to reveal the supernatural silhouette.

 

My second from (top right) is inspired by the second Nightmare on elms street shot. I used a pan from right to left and made it a MS so that you can get more information around the surroundings.

 

My third shot was inspired by the NIghtmare on Elm streets shot. I have placed the supernatural being behind our antagonist and placed the camera at a low angle.

Group: Concept development

Group:Concept Development

In our last lesson we developed our opening sequence ideas:

D.B: Discuss the ways in which horror films are distributed and produced

There is extensive proof that the 6 major Hollywood studios have gained a hegemonic status in the film industry. Their dominance over the industry creates difficulties for independent films to become successful. In the past 10 years there have been major technological advances that have changed the way consumers receive and demand products produced by the film industry. Since the adaptation of web 2.0, sites allow users to interact and collaborate with the media content, for example, VoD sites such as Netflix and LoveFilm that are fighting for subscribers. The Internet democratises the film industry creating a ‘we media’ so that the audiences can participate in the pluralistic media landscape. Producers and distributors have come to the realisation that they should better reflect the evolution of audience expectations and revolutionise the audiovisual market. This is proven in the fact that digital video spend in the UK has grown from £0.1bn to £0.5bn over the period 2006 to 2012, mainly due to the introduction of the VoD services and other sites such as YouTube. The evolution of technology has created both positive and negative aspects of production and distribution for filmmakers. This can specifically be noticed in the film genre Horror

The evolution of digital technology has determined the movement of the expectations of the audience. Expectations that a film will provide a more spectacular viewing and portrayal of a story by using high quality effects are all prejudices made before a viewing of the film. Independent producers may find it difficult to find enough funding to meet these expectations meaning that the ultra-high budget tentpoles and mainstream films appear to be more appealing to consumers. However, the conventions of a horror film allow independent movie producers to create films that can be visually spectacular. For example, The Loved Ones (2009, Sean Byrne) had a small budget of $4 million. The budget enabled an original soundtrack to be composed including music from various Australian bands. The film is set in a normal town and does not feature any abstract locations. Horror is normally set in everyday locations to maintain a sense or normality in the otherwise twisted and unrealistic narratives, this is often a characteristic of an independent film. Independent films often favour style over genre and challenge conventional film techniques. The experimental nature can benefit producers because they can substitute expensive techniques with cheaper and often incredibly similar practices. The film was not successful which can be argued to be because of the distribution rather than production.

Industrial films can have high to ultra-high budgets enabling them to invest in more pre and pro filmic effects. Warner Brothers, part of the six major Hollywood studios, has had countless successes that enable them to gain access to a vast amount of funding to be used to create a continual flow of ultra-high budget tentpoles, such A Nightmare of Elms Street (2010, Samuel Bayer) that used CGI to create the excessive burns on the antagonist, Freddy. The film had a budget of $35 million enabling the producers to create seemingly ‘old and decaying’ sets that fit perfectly with the narrative. The film was able to cast 200 extras for various school scenes and the crew travelled to both Illinois and Indiana to make the desired shots. The soundtrack was completely original composed by the Hollywood Studio Symphony. The original soundtrack meant that music could be individually made to perfectly suit the atmosphere and storyline of the film, providing no limitations for the production team.

The Loved Ones made only $34,880 worldwide which made an incredibly large loss. When it comes to distribution, it is difficult for independent films to gain prominence over the ever-present hegemonic status of the 6 major Hollywood studios. The film screened at several festivals, including Toronto International Film Festival, Dallas International Film Festival, SXSW Film Festival and San Francisco International Film Festival but only had limited theatrical release in the USA. The film was widely acclaimed, earning a rating of 98% on rottentomatoes.com and a spot on their top 100 movies. Despite the fantastic reception from critics the film did not manage to create enough publicity and popularity to gain notice from the mainstream audience. Independent films rely on the ‘water cooler’ culture and cinephiles but often find it difficult to budget enough to globally advertise their movies to the extent that the 6 major Hollywood studios do. However, with greater technological advances independent movie producers are able to buy better quality filming equipment at a lower cost. The lower percentage of budget that is spent on equipment enables producers to experiment and invest more into visual effects. They have more resources to reach out to audiences through the new web 2.0 and the expanding popularity of social media. Posts can be made on social media websites that lead to viral marketing and popularity of the film created by independent producers.
 

Large conglomerates, such as Warner Brothers, are often comprised of subsidiaries that allow synergistic promotional activity and symbiosis. The addition to the company creates fluidity between the different areas of expertise ensuring that production and distribution can exploit the various platforms to their advantage. The synergistic and symbiotic promotional activity creates a wider audience and greater recognition through multiple platforms of advertising. For example, A Nightmare on Elm Street was originally a franchise and NECA, a manufacturer of collectibles, released two new Freddy Krueger action figures and a replica clawed glove to provide for the original fanbase. At the same time as the release of the film, an online game was released to greater increase the interest of the audience. The film was released to over 3,000 theatres and approximately 4700 screens increasing the audience reach to an even greater extent. The expansive reach that the distributers where able to travel to, factored into the success of the movie. This was a factor that independent movies producers are not able to achieve.

In conclusion when it comes to production and marketing campaigns it is clear that the hegemonic status gained by the six major Hollywood studios and their industrial counterparts have an overall advantage over independent producers. Independent producers have much more limited funds and therefore find themselves having to restrict their creativity. Independent film producers often focus of particular genres so that the budget can commensurate with target audiences. With the evolution of genre, genres such as horror and dramas can have smaller budgets whilst still producing beautiful pieces of film. Their main problem is with marketing and reaching out to target audiences. Web 2.0 has helped a great deal and made exposure more possible than ever before; it's just hard for their films to be heard over the projecting voice of the industrial producers. Independent producers need to become more aware that the budget for marketing should  consist of 50% of the final production budget. the fact that industrial producers are often consistent of conglomerate that enable synergistic and symbiotic promotional activity adds to the limitations of independent producers. The ways in which horror films are produced and distributed differ whether they are produced by independent or industrial producers both containing limitations and evolutionary advances. The future for independent producers is extremely invigorating as possibilities widen alongside the further evolution of web 2.0 and viral marketing. Audiences can also be enthralled by the developing digital technology that play homage to loved genres and produce visually outstanding masterpieces. 

LP: Discuss the ways horror films are produced and distributed.

Film production is mostly made up of large companies, for example the 6 major Hollywood studios, which sell their film productions to British audiences. They take over the film industry, creating nearly all the films we see at the cinema. Every year Warner Brothers bring out high quality films for the audiences around the world to enjoy, including British audiences. This studio has a large availability of funding allowing it to create a range of films and if one doesn’t succeed they still have enough money to create more. These studios also have more revenue to invest in future films because the industrial films invest more in terms of budget and therefore attract a higher box office. This constant flow of cash allows them to put their money into other things, such as promotion, to create an even wider audience for films. This is done by symbiosis and synergistic partnerships, the studios will forge links between different aspects of the company to promote the films, for example sell the sound track or create games based on the film. Also different companies work together to promote a range of related products in a symbiotic partnership, for example John Lewis may partner with one of the studios and create bed linen decorated with characters from a certain film.

 Warner Brothers distributed the horror movie ‘A Nightmare on Elms Street’ in 2010, directed by Samuel Bayer, had a budget of $35 million and a box office of $117,729,621 so therefore it was very successful. It was released on April 30^th so therefore it is a mainstream movie. Mainstream movies are there to allow a reliable stream of product, as they are released outside of the holiday seasons to enable a regular cash flow.  They rely on word-of-mouth to promote their films. They used various sources when distributing their film, for example in March 2010, the National Entertainment Collectibles Association (NECA) released two new Freddy Krueger action figures; one original Freddy from the first movie, and one based on the new burn design from the Nightmare on Elm Street remake. In addition, NECA also released a replica of Freddy's clawed glove, which promoted the film and allowed people to use this character as someone to dress up as, at parties for example. An online game was also released, based on the movie; the user would have to keep a young girl awake by coffee, taking cold showers, etc. to keep her safe from the violence of Freddy. Steve Jablonsky composed the ‘A Nightmare on Elms street’ soundtrack, with a 60-piece string ensemble by the Hollywood Studio Symphony at the Sony Scoring Stage. On April 6^th, 2010, this soundtrack was released on CD; this is an example of synergistic promotional activity. It was released on DVD and Blu-ray on October 5^th 2010, and it’s only feature was a featurette “Freddy Kruger Reborn”. The Blu-ray’s special feature disk was the same as the DVDs but also contained one deleted scene, and alternative opening and ending allowing audiences to see other ways the director may have decided to make the film.

In contrast to these major studios, is the idea that we live in a pluralistic media landscape. In other words implying that there is no dominance in the industry, and the Internet has helped enable this. The Internet allows people to stream films, and even download them illegally causing less people to go to the cinemas. The Internet has also enabled more prolific distribution of films in other territories, and promotes art house films and cult films. Art house films attract a niche audience in the UK especially through the use of style, as they can take risks that industrial films do not tend to take. People who make art house films tend to market their productions at film festivals or reviews are written about it in newspapers such as the Guardian, this means they can take risks because they have such a small audience. Independent films can be produced more cheaply using the Internet and distributed and exhibited via the Internet. Nevertheless, the hegemonic status of the US major Hollywood studios means that US production dominates cinema listings, For example at the beginning of September ’13 the Odeon Tunbridge Wells has 8 out of 11 Hollywood productions showing. There were also no foreign films showing, this is because the English see it as effort to read subtitles, as they have supposedly gone to the cinema to relax and so subtitles are seen negatively.

The Lords of Salem, released on September 10^th 2012 is an example of an independent horror film, it was directed by Rob Zombie and distributed by Anchor Bay Films, who also distributed the TV series ‘The Walking Dead’. Its budget was $1.5 million and it’s box office was $1,165,882. After Zombie made two remakes of the film ‘Halloween’ and wasn’t successful, he re-tried and created the film ‘The Lords of Salem’ which reaffirmed his ability to create a horror movie with strong abilities to scare people, this may have been due to the help of the ‘Paranormal Activity’ producers Oren Peli and Jason Blum. In October 2012 Zombie stated that he had hired guitarist John 5 to create the movie's soundtrack. John 5 stated he wanted it to be "material that wouldn't distract audiences but also wouldn't be easily forgotten" Zombie later released the soundtrack's main song, "All Tomorrow's Parties" by The Velvet Underground, commenting that "Every RZ movie has at least one song that gets stuck in your head and changes the way you will forever hear the song". The Lords of Salem's soundtrack was released by UMe on April 16, 2013. Independent films have a greater chance of success since the making of the Internet, according to BSAC 2012 independent UK film garnered a 9% market share in 2012, the second highest in the last decade, and this is mainly because of the internet. Websites and Magazines reviewed the film and allowed their followers to read positive reports on it, for example Twitch Film expressed enthusiasm for the film and recommended it as a good film to watch if you are a horror fan. Fangoria and The Playlist gave it a positive review at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival and Nick Schager from Slant Magazine wrote: "Rob Zombie understands horror as an aural-visual experience that should gnaw at the nerves, seep into the subconscious, and beget unshakeable nightmares." More websites are being set up allowing us to watch films online and causing less people to go to the cinema, 16 new original YouTube channels in Europe have been set up providing another avenue for content producers to find an audience.

To conclude, although the Internet is the one barrier allowing the British public to create a pluralistic landscape, the global institutions still dominate the media production industry. They are large companies, with huge amounts of funding operating them and allowing them to take control of British audiences. The hegemonic status of us studios means that British audiences are more likely to consume American content. However, what is noticed when looking at the types of horror films the institutions and independent film makers create is that the institutions tend to stick with the idea of re-making, but the independent film companies take more risks and create their own story lines. This is because the institutions don't want to take the risk of now getting back the profit they think they deserve, so they instead re-make older successful horror movies to allow a large box office. For example, the original Friday the 13th was made in 1980, with a budget of $550,000 and a box office of $59,754,601 million, allowing it to be a very successful horror movie. It was then re-made in 2009, and distributed by Paramount Pictures with a budget of $19 million and an extremely successful box office of $91,379,05These art house films are popular because they can take risks that industrial films wouldn’t ever take. Industrial films won’t take these risks and instead turn to best-selling books or franchises so that they are certain to get a successful box office. As Roy Stafford said in ‘Agenda Setting’ “producers will often be happier spending a great deal of money on a production that could be made for less, simply because they feel more comfortable with big budgets” this refers to industrial films and the amount of money the six major Hollywood studios are comfortable with spending.