Introduction: Going through certain famous and well known slasher movies and explain what separates them apart from others and how they differ.
Para 1: Talk about the changes in target audiences and audiences generic expectations in the different time periods of slasher films.
Para 2: Audience expectations would change throughout time so the genre would need to as well which it does in the 90s (more advanced, in 1980's aswell with nightmare on elm street)
Para 3: Compare the codes conventions and iconography of Halloween/ nightmare on elm street (70s/80s slasher ) to post modern scream and scary movie.
Para 4: Whether changes in the genre and films reflect the zeitgeist of the 80s and 90s especially in reference to it being to predictable i.e feminism bringing out more fighting qualities in the final girl
Para 5: discuss the differences between older slasher movies and current movies and decide whether or not the differences are enough to make movies now less predictable.
Conclusion: I think that for a while they were guilty of becoming dull and predictable especially for a period in the late 70s however, changed in the 80s because of other elements coming along like the supernatural and zombie elements coming into effect.
Monday 20 April 2009
'Genres must adapt in order to survive'. Discuss
Intro: introduce the slasher genre, and how it has to change to survive, eg
P1: audience generic expectations, what they generally expect from the movie or genre as a whole
P2: technology- the difference in the time period and the resources available to the production team
P3: changes in society – ideologies, values and representation/ eg, the era of the second wave of feminism changed everything. Eg ,from being subservient and controlled in Psycho to the protagonist role in Switchblade Romance. Phallic symbols are needed to ensure the woman has complete power.
P4: censorship on channels or different times when showing, censoring certain aspects of the movie.
P5: any other changes that have to occur to make the genre adapt
Conclusion: genres have to adapt because society and their expectations have change, therefore in order to make a profit, the institution has to appeal and try to attract an audience
P1: audience generic expectations, what they generally expect from the movie or genre as a whole
P2: technology- the difference in the time period and the resources available to the production team
P3: changes in society – ideologies, values and representation/ eg, the era of the second wave of feminism changed everything. Eg ,from being subservient and controlled in Psycho to the protagonist role in Switchblade Romance. Phallic symbols are needed to ensure the woman has complete power.
P4: censorship on channels or different times when showing, censoring certain aspects of the movie.
P5: any other changes that have to occur to make the genre adapt
Conclusion: genres have to adapt because society and their expectations have change, therefore in order to make a profit, the institution has to appeal and try to attract an audience
How do genres adapt to changing social, economical and political contexts?
Intro- Introducing the slasher genre, maybe a few general conventions of the slasher genre and talk a little bit about the current SHEP aspects affecting the media.
p1- Talk about the SHEP aspects in more depth and discuss what effect the social contexts would have on the genre, for example the women in society have been making an uprise for a number of years and it shows in slasher movies with 'the final girl'.
p2- Moving on to the economical contexts of todays world and discussing what the 'credit crunch' will do for the media (change the budgets and resources) for example, some current movies may use previous resources and technology because budgets are low.
p3- Moving onto how the political contexts would affect the genre of slasher movies, however it is more difficult to affect the genre with politics because of the genre doesn't target politicians.
p4- Perhaps talk about historical with previous slasher movies having an effect on current institutions.
Conclusion- The genre of the slasher movie has changed in relation to these contexts because of the economic effect (the money), the social because of audience generic expectations, so therefore the institution has to change their movies to adapt to current situations.
Thursday 2 April 2009
texas chainsaw massacre comparative essay
Texas chainsaw massacre (1974) was one of the first slasher movies that were made famous because of their explicit and visual scenes from killing the victims to cutting off various body parts. This movie brought about the infamous ‘leather face’ for his unusual face features and also brought about the fascination with the chainsaw and landmarked it as a symbol of the slasher genre. The 2003 version was responsible for starting a rebirth of the legend that was ‘Texas chainsaw massacre’ and revitalised the concept of the chainsaw and the character of ‘leather face’. The main difference between the two movies was the change in the technology and the more advance creativity that was used in making the movie. The newer movie was made to be more gruesome as it showed graphic images of the injuries and the killings taking place.
The lighting in both movies is mostly natural lighting because of the emphasis placed on the authenticity, particularly in the original version, whereas the newer version used more of a mix between natural lighting and low key lighting. The low key lighting used in the newer version is there to create the ‘scary’ and the intense atmosphere whereas, the natural lighting is there to create the authentic look for the audience. Some scenes in particular have used the different lighting to very good effect with the scenes at the beginning in the vans being drawn together by the natural lighting. The beginnings of both movies are exactly the same with a group of young people travelling in a van in the middle of nowhere, looking for somewhere to find shelter. This plot at the starting is there to raise the imagery of fun with friends being together and joking with each other however, the fact that they are travelling in the middle of nowhere raises the awareness of negativity and warns the audience that something is about to happen. The narrative in the original begins to change when we get the first glimpse of a maniac who is at the side of the road and enters the van, showing no awareness of surroundings. The scene when the maniac cuts his own hand is the first sighting of things going strange and it represents the first instant of good vs. evil.
Iconography in both movies is very significant with there being many things that make this movie in particular very famous and very noticeable such as the leather face mask, the chainsaw that is used as the main weapon and the house standing in the landscape by itself providing the atmosphere needed to bring the audience into action and create a more visceral affect. The more physical and visceral effect would be more affective amongst an audience that is new to slasher films rather than an audience who have already seen various slasher movies and have experienced this behaviour before. The chainsaw being included in the movie has been a revelation but has also proved to be unique as no other slasher movie has a weapon as loud or as large as this movie however, it has proved to be a big hit rather than being strange because of the adrenaline that comes along with the sound of the chainsaw.
The special affects in this movie have lifted this movie from what was a old movie with ordinary effects to a movie which has used special effects to a new height, especially in the areas like the leather face mask, the connotations of the weapon and the setting, paying particular attention to the night scene where the light is used to good affect to add more watch-ability to the scene. This movie’s killing scenes in particular are unusual of a slasher film, as a lot of noise is made right before the killings which is unusual as the killings are supposed by done quietly and very discretely, compared with other slasher movies where the killings are done with much less noise, as the killers are more undercover and the silence adds a more sinister side to the killings.
The roles played by the characters go along with the generic expectations that the audience members would have of the movie with there being the psycho killer who is out to kill innocent people and then you have the bad people who have sex, who end up getting killed and then you have the final girl who in the 2003 version is played by a now experienced actor, Jessica Beil. Having the killer and the final girl at the end of the movie creates and moves the narrative along with the movie as a whole and creates an opposition as well. The role of the final girl has been given more importance because of Carol Clover’s book, ‘Men, women and chainsaws’, which is a book which is specifically derived to cater to the needs of the slasher genre. The final girl has become such as big part in slasher movies because of the fact that it creates an opposition and also because it makes a change from the men being in control throughout the movies, it gives the women power over the villain who are males.
One of the major changes between the two sets of characters was the willingness not to give up on life and carry on fighting until they died. In the 1974 version it seemed that not one member of the group put up a decent fight to survive and all died in weak and feeble circumstances. In the old movie, the killer was killing everyone with ease as no one was trying to put a fight even the final girl was feeble and very weak towards the end and in contrast to the new one, the final girl puts up more of a fight to save her life and it shows through her behaviour being very anxious and very on edge to show that she has put a price on her life and is willing to do anything to save herself.
The lighting in both movies is mostly natural lighting because of the emphasis placed on the authenticity, particularly in the original version, whereas the newer version used more of a mix between natural lighting and low key lighting. The low key lighting used in the newer version is there to create the ‘scary’ and the intense atmosphere whereas, the natural lighting is there to create the authentic look for the audience. Some scenes in particular have used the different lighting to very good effect with the scenes at the beginning in the vans being drawn together by the natural lighting. The beginnings of both movies are exactly the same with a group of young people travelling in a van in the middle of nowhere, looking for somewhere to find shelter. This plot at the starting is there to raise the imagery of fun with friends being together and joking with each other however, the fact that they are travelling in the middle of nowhere raises the awareness of negativity and warns the audience that something is about to happen. The narrative in the original begins to change when we get the first glimpse of a maniac who is at the side of the road and enters the van, showing no awareness of surroundings. The scene when the maniac cuts his own hand is the first sighting of things going strange and it represents the first instant of good vs. evil.
Iconography in both movies is very significant with there being many things that make this movie in particular very famous and very noticeable such as the leather face mask, the chainsaw that is used as the main weapon and the house standing in the landscape by itself providing the atmosphere needed to bring the audience into action and create a more visceral affect. The more physical and visceral effect would be more affective amongst an audience that is new to slasher films rather than an audience who have already seen various slasher movies and have experienced this behaviour before. The chainsaw being included in the movie has been a revelation but has also proved to be unique as no other slasher movie has a weapon as loud or as large as this movie however, it has proved to be a big hit rather than being strange because of the adrenaline that comes along with the sound of the chainsaw.
The special affects in this movie have lifted this movie from what was a old movie with ordinary effects to a movie which has used special effects to a new height, especially in the areas like the leather face mask, the connotations of the weapon and the setting, paying particular attention to the night scene where the light is used to good affect to add more watch-ability to the scene. This movie’s killing scenes in particular are unusual of a slasher film, as a lot of noise is made right before the killings which is unusual as the killings are supposed by done quietly and very discretely, compared with other slasher movies where the killings are done with much less noise, as the killers are more undercover and the silence adds a more sinister side to the killings.
The roles played by the characters go along with the generic expectations that the audience members would have of the movie with there being the psycho killer who is out to kill innocent people and then you have the bad people who have sex, who end up getting killed and then you have the final girl who in the 2003 version is played by a now experienced actor, Jessica Beil. Having the killer and the final girl at the end of the movie creates and moves the narrative along with the movie as a whole and creates an opposition as well. The role of the final girl has been given more importance because of Carol Clover’s book, ‘Men, women and chainsaws’, which is a book which is specifically derived to cater to the needs of the slasher genre. The final girl has become such as big part in slasher movies because of the fact that it creates an opposition and also because it makes a change from the men being in control throughout the movies, it gives the women power over the villain who are males.
One of the major changes between the two sets of characters was the willingness not to give up on life and carry on fighting until they died. In the 1974 version it seemed that not one member of the group put up a decent fight to survive and all died in weak and feeble circumstances. In the old movie, the killer was killing everyone with ease as no one was trying to put a fight even the final girl was feeble and very weak towards the end and in contrast to the new one, the final girl puts up more of a fight to save her life and it shows through her behaviour being very anxious and very on edge to show that she has put a price on her life and is willing to do anything to save herself.
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