technology and innovation in films

If you look at modern day films, you can notice that small and large elements are shown that are previously shown in older films. The technology shown in almost every film today are either fact or fiction. T.V's shown are obviously fact, as they are real today, but then look at Godzilla or Mothra, man made creatures that have an impact on todays film culture. This post will help me open my mind more to what the possibilities that I can create.

Film today often is based off of current events. Film like war create different depictions like Star Wars or Dr. Strangeglove, which shows the dangers of war. "cinema's response to nuclear threat was appropriately enormous. As the cold war took hold, outrageous mutated beasts were spawned onto screens across the world" (Ross 160). Godzilla came out in 1954, under a decade after the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs shows the aftermath of nuclear war. The giant mutated lizard created from nuclear waste shows the pain that Japan had felt after the war. Godzilla shows as a warning against technological development and what kind of Pandora's Box could be opened. This helps me by showing that I can create something as terrifying as Godzilla, but important remembrance of where I gain inspiration from.

 The Jurassic Park films are a constant reminder of the dangers of playing god. this helps me by showing that there's more to the world than what we see in front of us.

question-What films do you think were inspired by world events?

Censorship in film

Censorship in film is a huge problem in the past and present history of horror films. Censorship happens when a film is so gory, so grotesque, that it causes an audience and critical uproar. My goal with my future films is to create something that will stick with the genre for years to come.

So many famous films that are widely known today were famously censored for many years. As I had mentioned in my previous blog post, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was banned in the United Kingdom for many decades, yet it is still seen as one of the greatest, and scariest horror film of all time. "despite the film's tongue-in-cheek, genre literate excesses, to juries 'the catalog of onscreen dismemberment which the movie offered was nothing more than unashamed sadism, designed to delight those who revel pain' " (Ross 147). This helps me by giving me an idea of what kind of horror this is, not slasher or supernatural, but in a way, Fantasy and Thriller. These two genres are shown by forcing the audience to see what they've never seen before. And that helps me by proving creative freedom can go a very long way in the film industry.

Leatherface was deemed too terrifying which is one of the reasons the film got banned. I can learn a lot from this for making a classic horror film that stands the test of time

question-is there more of a reason to why the films are banned? why?

body films and the reaction of the human mind

The body visuals in film are very important to the way to audience reacts to a film. What the audience sees, is most likely the way they feel while watching the film. The way the body shows off its insides and grossness can create an entire film. The most important part is the goriness of the human body that is shown off, primarily in horror films.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is a great example of gory emotion. Texas Chainsaw Massacre is labeled as "Splatter Cinema". Filmmakers of this genre are extremely delighted to show off the grotesque and the extreme for the audience and the cult labeling. Texas Chainsaw Massacre was actually banned from the United Kingdom as well as other countries for an extended period of time because of the imagery. "As knives tear through skin, Aliens burst from within and blood, guts and bile spill across the screen, the boundary between the self and the outside is fatally collapsed" (Ross 51). The boundaries which are described makes the audience wonder more of what is possible rather than impossible. The gore flashing the silver screen shows the audience what they've never seen before or had ever intended to see. This helps me by giving me a better idea of how the human body and the limitless boundaries show up in my future films.

As I am planning my own Friday The 13th film, I went to go scout for locations and I brought my Jason Voorhees figure to put to scale of what the shot would look like.

question- how effective is body horror on someones stomach?

isolation and mind bending atmosphere of films

the atmosphere of a film is purely based on the the director wants the audience to feel while watching the film. The Shining or Blair Witch Project will make you feel isolated and alone, which is what makes it so scary, by making us feel there's no one around to help you. no one to be there for you. In The Blair Witch Project the setting of the Black Hills Forest, the dense vegetation of brush and tree's whilst being unknowingly stalked by a paranormal entity that is thought to be a town myth, is purely terrifying to think about.

In The Shining, the setting of the Overlook Hotel deep into the Colorado Rockies gives a strong sense of isolation. In the opening shot of The Shining, we get an overhead look of Jack Torrance driving on a mountain road, to show us to distance the hotel is from civilization. In the book Filmish it says..."the hotel is a maze to get lost in, both physically and psychologically. as Jack spirals towards a murderous, axe-wielding frenzy, each characters ability to navigate this deceptive and illogical space dictates whether they live or die" (Ross 68). This helps me realize that location and sets of a film are extremely important to the audience and how it effects the characters ability to survive. The carpet in The Shining plays an EXTREMELY important role in the audiences mind bending and claustrophobia. (the carpet is also my phone case)

The way the carpet is designed is disorienting on its own, but it helps the audience feel lost. "This vast labyrinth of winding corridors, mysterious open doors and disorienting design, plays havoc with the audiences orientation, instilling an uncanny feeling that something is not right about the building" (Ross 68). The way the hexagonal shapes are lined up like that, the lines up and down up and down and with each hexagon facing opposite directions, shows the insanity that Jack is being hurled into the oblivion. the way it shows turning disorientingly back and forth. It also plays with the audiences emotions and bending their minds to hell. This helps me think about my future films and how i could determine the perfect location for exactly what i want to do with the audience.

using the idea of isolation, I made a short, unfinished part of my own rendition of a Friday The 13th film. i chose the woods as a setting for isolation and the feeling of being alone.

The set of The Conjuring 2 is also a great example of horror sets that instill fear into the audience. The Green Street house in Enfield, England has a very unique run down look with creaky floorboards and a very antique-y looking chair. The set pieces can have an important role in these films as well, especially The Conjuring 2 with old Bill Wilkins and his beat up chair gives the audience a memory and attachment to the piece.

question-why do you think the set's and location are important for films?

making horror: learning the basic concepts of horror and slasher films

if you ask anybody, and i mean any one of my friends what my favorite movie is, they'll all say the same exact thing. Jurassic Park. Jurassic park is wonderful because of the beauty and the effect behind it that make the dinosaurs on the screen so realistic and beautiful, creating the childhoods of many children. you, who's reading this, probably has a favorite movie, but have you ever wondered what makes that movie so wonderful? what makes those characters the way they are? why those shots were chosen? well, even if you aren't a film buff like me, it can be a simple understanding of what the elements of filmmaking are and how the simplest of things can make you're favorite movie.

not everyone can watch horror films, but if you know me , you know that i know just about everything about any horror film you can come up with. the horror genre is one of the most complicated type of film to make. the director has to choose very carefully of the shots they put in the movie and very carefully of the lighting and the setting, which sets the mood very quickly and easily. one of my favorite sub-genre's of horror is slasher. slasher films have a very specific and natural way of playing out on screen. in slasher films, there are almost all the time the same set of 6 similar characters:

1) the jock
2) the flirty girl
3) the stoner
4) the scholar (nerdy type)
5) the adult
6) the virgin (aka: the final girl)

a big thing movies do is something called the "male gaze". according to Edward Ross, "in this situation, female characters become an indispensable element of spectacle, onscreen less as active agents and more as objects to be gazed upon or claimed as a prize" (Ross 20). slasher films like the laugh at this in the face. slasher films take this technique and use it against the killer. every slasher film has an ending where there's one person alive, and that person is always the virgin. deemed, the Final Girl. the final girl goes against the killer face to face. And instead of running, instead of being eye candy to be gazed upon, she is metaphorically attacking the "male gaze" and turning the tables. "a neat reversal of the male gaze, this move returns the narrative power to look, to the female hero, requiring audiences to adopt a point of female identification" (Ross 25). Learning more about this can help me develop my characters and to create a stronger atmosphere of the film when i start making slasher films and other films in the horror genre. I now can use this to know the basics of making horror films and will help me with my future career in filmmaking.

i made a film earlier this year using basic knowledge of characters and filmmaking, but with this new knowledge i can now make better films using better concepts and views of character from behind the camera. (by the way, i know the film isn't good).

what do you think the reason is to why slasher films like to go against the "male gaze"? and why is it always the virgin that's the final girl?
do you think horror films in general have to have a message behind them to make them scary?