Genre Research Activity- Horror

 The genre I chose to research was horror. The target audience for this specific genre is 15-25 year old's who tend to enjoy thrillers. Most movies that fall under the horror genre have a main character that is being terrorized by something, and often times, they have to figure out how to stop it. Some genre conventions that take place throughout most horror movies is a dark setting, a threatening entity, sting sounds, and lighting(low-key & back light). The institutional marketing usually consists of suspenseful trailers, and events to build up hype for the movie.

  -Example 1: Smile.

 This film is a twist on the modern smile. It consists of a woman being cursed by this "smile," and she investigates further. As seen in the trailer, this film has a main character being terrorized by an entity, low-key lighting, and multiple stings. 'Smile' embodies the horror genre completely as it deals with a supernatural entity, an underlying theme, and the immaculate cinematography. The movie's play on a smile represents a deception. When anyone thinks of a smile, they instantly think of a happy one. This film shows the smile as being a curse. A classic twist on societal norms is constantly seen throughout this move, and it embodies the new horror norm completely. Therefore, this film personifies horror.

  -Example 2- It.

 This film plays on the classic fear of clowns, with a dark twist. The main villain, Pennywise, is an otherworldly creature in the form of a clown. In the trailer, it showcases the classic score for pennywise, numerous counts of dark lighting, a supernatural creature, and a psychological thrills. This movie plays on the idea of innocent children. The 'Losers Club' consists of middle schoolers dealing with a literal monster. Like Smile, there is an underlying meaning of a loss of innocence and shared trauma. Adding on, although this may be a horror movie, it is ultimately about the deep rooted connection between friends. As the kids in this movie rely heavily on the bonds between them, their friendship eventually overpowers this evil. This film is shocking, frightening, and grotesque as some killing scenes pull the strings of what is socially acceptable. The idea of children being tortured and killed is not a popular idea because it is a sensitive topic. Also, showcasing trauma within young teens is not usually publicly displayed as many viewers may find it utterly disturbing. This is a remake, however this adaptation pushed the 'norms' for usual movies in this genre which ultimately makes this movie embody the horror title.

Other examples: 

Blog Posting- Representation

  In season 1 of You, Joe Goldberg is introduced as a young man who happens to meet the "love of his life" at his bookstore. He instantly lays eyes on Beck and decides that she is the one. The constant representation pattern in this season is shown through his toxic masculinity and psychopathic behaviors. The Narrating "I" is persistently used throughout the season to put the audience in Joe's mind. This use of sound through the show dives deeper to provide context and reasoning as to why Joe makes the decisions he does.

 

Throughout this first season, Joe constantly "protects" Beck, in a manner of killing possible threats to their relationship. The representation patters throughout this first season revolve around the gender stereotype of a man stopping at nothing to protect the one he loves. In this series, the audience views Joe's inner thoughts using the Narrating "I". This use of sound demonstrates his thoughts of the woman, Beck, being defenseless, and in need of his help getting rid of the toxicity in her life.

  Another representation pattern in this season of You is mental health. Joe's obsessive behavior and violent tendencies comes from deep rooted mental anguish from being abandoned as a child. His constant need to control Beck is displayed as he stalks her. He fantasizes about her and looks up to her as an amazing woman. Joe, in this clip, focuses on Beck's flaws and interests and deeply hyper-fixates on her life. The Cutaway shot is used to show that Joe is outside of Beck's home. The timing of her posting on twitter bounces back to Joe getting the tweet that she posted, and that he is actively watching her every move, both digitally and physically. His inability of properly processing his emotions paves the way for him to associate himself with Beck, and he makes up an excuse to promote his value to her. He disassociates from his life just to obsess over Beck. Joe's interest in her only comes from an addiction of wanting to be accepted and loved as a result of his deep seeded need to not be left again.

  

Overall, this season has two constant representation patterns that reflect Joe Goldberg's personality. The trauma from his past plays a crucial role in his version of masculinity and mental state. The videos show accurate examples of him displaying these parts of his questionable personality towards Beck. He perfectly represents a major problem in today's society. The need of controlling women is an unhealthy, poisonous obsession. Often times, these fascinations can wind up being fatal to the people involved. Furthermore, the representation of problems occurring throughout the series are related to real world issues. 

  

 

Sound Project

   I never realized how detrimental sounds were in films, and how much I actually hear everyday. Whether it's walking to school, or just grocery shopping. The lesson given on this topic was very shocking as I had no idea that the only thing that is ever really recorded, other than visually, is the dialogue. The producers of projects will send their pieces to people to make such things as Foley Sounds. Foley Sounds are sounds that are artificially made. For example, footsteps in almost all movies are not real. It is often made by someone else clinking and clattering two or more objects together to produce a more heard sound for the footsteps. 

  For my project, my partner and I were instructed to make a film with only sounds. No visuals were allowed to be shown. We had to tell a story with only background noises. It wouldn't have been hard to demonstrate this story line if dialogue was allowed, but we were only allowed a maximum of seven words, so we were very limited. My partner and I, at first, had a very basic idea of just a story of a girl walking to school and going to class. However, that changed quickly as I remembered that being basic is boring. Along with my teacher telling us to "make it more dramatic". So, we did just that. 

  Our outline was changed numerous times as we were never quite satisfied with the end result. Trying to decide what sounds we needed and what seven words of dialogue were really going to carry the story required a lot of work. In the end, making these outlines really gave us a clear visual of what our end product was going to look like. Making outlines always keeps me focused on doing one thing at a time and it allows me to get everything desired on the project. 

  Once again, I utilized Adobe Premiere. I actually have grown fond of this program, but only when it works with me. This editing program makes it very easy to combine many imports and sounds. It was especially easy to edit each individual insert. Overall, Adobe Premiere, as of now, is my go to.

  I am very proud of my project and I believe it came out well and that the story is very well represented. But, I wish I could've had less pauses to make the story flow smoother, but it is a minor problem. All in all, I think this is a great attempt.

Link:

https://photos.onedrive.com/share/D0613E10F36FE2DB!s6172b030a4604ff9bebefbd0d163fb7d?cid=D0613E10F36FE2DB&resId=D0613E10F36FE2DB!s6172b030a4604ff9bebefbd0d163fb7d&ithint=video&e=o6pygn&migratedtospo=true&redeem=aHR0cHM6Ly8xZHJ2Lm1zL3YvYy9kMDYxM2UxMGYzNmZlMmRiL0VUQ3djbUZncFBsUHZyNzcwTkZqLTMwQmx1VkdOT192bWRWYm5QRk1OV3MzdHc_ZT1vNnB5Z24