This is our HORROR GENRE RESEARCH page and below is a vast array of research done by each and every member of Spooky Entertainment to ensure our final products are of the highest quality. Along with our own existing knowledge, we was able as a group to research all different aspects of horror and have displayed them below in many different formats such as Slideshows, Videos, Presentations. Each section of the research comes with its own title and explanation and the rest will explain itself.
You've reached the Theories section of our research where you will find information on 3 theorists and 1 anthropologist. Vladimir Propp, Tzvetan Todorov, Claude Levi-Strauss and Roland Barthes all had theories on narrative structure and this is something that is of significant relevance, particularly to young film makers such as ourselves. Below you will find the research we have undertaken on all four men:
Vladimir Propp
- He was a Russian critic and literary theorist
- He analysed over 100 Russian fairy- tales in the 1920’s
- He says that it is likely to classify the characters and their actions into clearly defined roles and function
- He states that all fairy-tales have common narrative structures and character functions
Narrative Structure
PREPARATION
A community or family is in an ordered state of being
COMPLICATION
The villain harms a member of the hero’s family the hero plans action against the villain
TRANSFERENCE
The hero is given a magical gift the hero arrives at the place he can fulfil his quest
STRUGGLE
There is a struggle between the hero and the villain
RETURN
The hero escapes a task is set for the hero the hero accomplishes the task
RECOGNITION
The hero is rewarded
He proposed ways of grouping characters and their actions into eight broad character types or ‘spheres of action’ (One character may occupy more than one sphere of action).
A community or family is in an ordered state of being
COMPLICATION
The villain harms a member of the hero’s family the hero plans action against the villain
TRANSFERENCE
The hero is given a magical gift the hero arrives at the place he can fulfil his quest
STRUGGLE
There is a struggle between the hero and the villain
RETURN
The hero escapes a task is set for the hero the hero accomplishes the task
RECOGNITION
The hero is rewarded
He proposed ways of grouping characters and their actions into eight broad character types or ‘spheres of action’ (One character may occupy more than one sphere of action).
"Spheres of Action"
- The villain
- The hero, or character who seeks something, usually motivated by a lack of something (money, love, etc...)
- The donor, who provides an object with some magic property.
- The helper, who aids the hero.
- The princess, reward for the hero, and object of the villain’s schemes.
- Her father, who rewards the hero.
- The dispatcher, who sends the hero on his way
- The false hero, the character who also lays claim to the princess but is unsuitable and causes complications.
Tzvetan Todorov
- He was a French philosopher.
- He was a Bulgarian literary theorist.
- He came up with the idea of equilibrium.
- Claimed all stories had a basic structure based on equilibrium.
This narrative theory is not seen as linear, but as circular. The narrative is driven by the characters’ attempts to restore the equilibrium, although the end result is not quite the same as the beginning. This type of narrative structure is very familiar to us and can be applied to many mainstream film narratives.
Todorov's theory (" The Classic Hollywood Theory")
Claude Levi-Strauss
- He was a social Anthropologist.
- He studied myths of tribal cultures.
- Studied how stories automatically reflect the values, belief and myth of the culture.
- He states that in any narrative there is a constant creation of conflict/opposition that pushes the narrative forward.
Strauss saw that we make sense of the world, people and events by seeing and using binary opposition everywhere. He introduced the notion of binary oppositions as a useful way to consider the production of meaning within narratives. He observed that all narratives are organised around the conflict between these "binary oppositions".
Good vs Evil
Male vs Female
Humanity vs Technology
Nature vs Industrialism
East vs West
Dark vs Light
Dirt vs Cleanliness
Male vs Female
Humanity vs Technology
Nature vs Industrialism
East vs West
Dark vs Light
Dirt vs Cleanliness
Roland Barthes
- He was a French literary theorist, philosopher, linguist, critic, and semiotician.
- Barthes' ideas explored a diverse range of fields and he influenced the development of schools of theory.
- Theories including structuralism, semiotics, social theory, anthropology and post-structuralism.
In terms of narrative he suggested five codes:
The hermeneutic code (The Enigma)
This code refers to mystery within a film. Clues are dropped, but no clear answers are given. Enigmas within the narrative make the audience want to know more. Unanswered enigmas tend to frustrate the audience.
The proairetic code (The Action)
This code contains sequential elements, adding suspense.
Semantic code
This code refers to parts within the text that suggests or refers to additional meanings.
Symbolic code
This code is about symbolism within the text. It creates greater meaning and contrast, tension, drama and character development.
Referential code
This code refers to anything in the text which refers to an external body of knowledge such as scientific, historical and cultural knowledge.
The hermeneutic code (The Enigma)
This code refers to mystery within a film. Clues are dropped, but no clear answers are given. Enigmas within the narrative make the audience want to know more. Unanswered enigmas tend to frustrate the audience.
The proairetic code (The Action)
This code contains sequential elements, adding suspense.
Semantic code
This code refers to parts within the text that suggests or refers to additional meanings.
Symbolic code
This code is about symbolism within the text. It creates greater meaning and contrast, tension, drama and character development.
Referential code
This code refers to anything in the text which refers to an external body of knowledge such as scientific, historical and cultural knowledge.
You've reached the Original Treatments section of our research where you will find the 3 original treatments done by each member of Spooky Entertainment resulting in 12 different treatments. Before we came as a group to produce our final treatment, we first individually created and developed 3 concepts into treatments. These treatments were presented internally within the group before we then narrowed it down to 3 concepts which were then presented to our class. Below you will find all 12 treatments:
You've reached the general Research section of this page. As a group we have done lots of work on the horror genre and have found many different formats to display them on. From Slideshows to YouTube videos you will find below all that was done courtesy of Spooky Entertainment:
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Shannon's trip to Universal Studios Hollywood
During the summer I went to California, I thought it would really be good for me to go to Universal studios as the institution plays a big role in the coming up of horror.
As I entered through the darkness and into the first area of the House Of Horrors I noticed that it wasn't like anything i had seen before...Out of nowhere I came face to face with a female ghost. The room also held an ancient looking rusty metal archway with a lot of red eyes blinking at you.
Then I came to a room set up like small child's playroom. there were 2 giant Chucky dolls hiding in a jack in the box, the giant Chucky dolls came to life, it was a great and unexpected scare!
There were quite a few staircases giving the effect that you were inside of a big, haunted castle. I walked over a bridge high in the air overlooking a Frankenstein set which looked very impressive.
Towards the ending I saw a mad man with a mask running around frantically (in the setting of a hospital) It was very frightening because it put me in the position of a person who's in a film facing all the scary occurrences.
For the most part of the House Of Horrors I closed my eyes, It was indeed frightening and it felt very real. I saw things like skulls, walking through curtains of dead bodies, bats, coffins, and crazy people (the actors).
While on the tour in universal studios, we were shown the set of jaws. The whole set looks very surreal and awe-inspiring. They also showed us bates motel from the horror movie psycho 1987. during the tour, They made sure we had the full experience, there were stunts e.g. the faux shark coming close to the tour bus and there being a fire. I took pictures below to show my experience.
As I entered through the darkness and into the first area of the House Of Horrors I noticed that it wasn't like anything i had seen before...Out of nowhere I came face to face with a female ghost. The room also held an ancient looking rusty metal archway with a lot of red eyes blinking at you.
Then I came to a room set up like small child's playroom. there were 2 giant Chucky dolls hiding in a jack in the box, the giant Chucky dolls came to life, it was a great and unexpected scare!
There were quite a few staircases giving the effect that you were inside of a big, haunted castle. I walked over a bridge high in the air overlooking a Frankenstein set which looked very impressive.
Towards the ending I saw a mad man with a mask running around frantically (in the setting of a hospital) It was very frightening because it put me in the position of a person who's in a film facing all the scary occurrences.
For the most part of the House Of Horrors I closed my eyes, It was indeed frightening and it felt very real. I saw things like skulls, walking through curtains of dead bodies, bats, coffins, and crazy people (the actors).
While on the tour in universal studios, we were shown the set of jaws. The whole set looks very surreal and awe-inspiring. They also showed us bates motel from the horror movie psycho 1987. during the tour, They made sure we had the full experience, there were stunts e.g. the faux shark coming close to the tour bus and there being a fire. I took pictures below to show my experience.
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Horror Sub Genres
Splatter
These often focus on graphic use of gore and violence. Using special effects and excessive blood and guts, they tend to show an over-the-top interest in the vulnerability of the human body and its mutilation. Not all of them are slasher films and they are not all horrors. Examples include Hostel,Saw and Cannibal Holocaust. George A. Romero coined the term “splatter cinema” to describe his film Dawn of the Dead, henceforth Splatter Film was created.James Wan, who returned to the third instalment as a writer, first directed the Saw franchise.
Slasher
Slashers often revolve around a psychopathic killer who kills a sequence of victims in a graphic/violent manner, often with a cutting tool such as a knife and/or an axe. They often overlap with crime, mystery and thriller.Examples are Halloween, Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street.Halloween was re-released by Rob Zombie, a musician who is influenced by horror films
Zombie
Zombies: This sub-genre usually portrays creatures who are either are animated corpses and/or mindless human beings. This sub-genre has also influenced sub-genres such as zombie comedy and the zombie apocalypse.Examples include Day of the Dead, Night of the Living Dead and I Am Legend. The most influential zombie film director is possibly seen as “The Godfather of Zombies”, George A. Romero.
Monster
Sci-Fi Horror/ Monster, This is sub-genre of Horror that centres on a struggle betweenhuman beings and an un-human creature. Often, themonster/Alien in the film has been created in an experimentgone wrong. The Alien/monster usually serves as a villain, andthe film portrays a hero or heroine that ultimately saves theworld from the monster. Although these movies commonly fallinto the Horror genre, Monster films have a long tradition withinScience-Fiction and Fantasy film as well.Examples: Aliens, Alien v predictor, resident evil
Supernatural
Supernatural-Horror is a sub-genre that includes ghosts, demons, or otherdepictions of supernatural occurrences. Often, Supernatural-Horror filmscombine elements of religion into the plot. Common themes in Supernatural-Horror films include the afterlife, the devil, and demonic possession. UnlikeReligious Thrillers, Supernatural-Horror films are not limited to specific religiouselements and can contain more vivid and gruesome violence.Examples: The Exorcist, The Ring, The Omen.
Psychological
This sub-genre relies on the characters’ fears, guilt andbeliefs. It also relies on eerie sound effects, relevant music, emotionalinstability and sometimes the supernatural to build tension and to allow theplot to go further. Examples include Sinister, The Exorcist and Silent Hill. The Exorcist was a highly controversial film released in 1973 based on the book ofthe same name, and was directed by William Friedkin.Science-fiction Horror: The science-fiction sub-genre often includes killeraliens, mad scientists and/or an experiment gone wrong. Examples includeAlien, Apollo 18 and Doom. The director of Alien was released in 1979 andreleased by Ridley Scott
ICONIC SCENES
Psycho (1960) - Shower SceneScream - Opening Scene (w/ Drew Barrymore)Alien - Chest burster SceneEvil Dead (1981) - Tree Rape Scene |
The Exorcist - Spider Walk SceneThe Shining - Baseball Bat SceneThe Blair Witch Project - Heather's ApologyCarrie (1976) - Prom Scene |
You've reached the Film Crits section of our research page where you will find 3 different film reviews from each member of Spooky Entertainment resulting in 12 all together. The 3 films that were screened include; REC, The Strangers and The Cabin in the Woods. Although we are a group that boast high levels of teamwork, all the opinions in the 'Film Review' section are our own. Below you'll find all the crits from all 3 film screenings: