Megan Boyle

Horror films use established signs and codes in their conventions to signify deeper meaning. In my summer trailer symbolic codes such as mise-en-scene and location were used in order to portray the characters and set the tone. The characters clothing was just casual wear to show that they were average teenagers and the field denoted connotes a feeling of emptiness and no escape. However I feel as though we could have used many more symbolic codes in greater depth in order to convey meanings more. For example we didn’t use any makeup for effects and our location didn’t feature enough in order to set the tone as it wasn’t something we focused on. However these are key elements used that people become familiar with and therefore can identify a horror film with. For this reason, when creating our horror trailer I will ensure that aspects of mise-en-scene our considered deeply and connote meanings as well as ensuring that our film locations set a tone as it is important for viewers to be ab...

When looking at audience theories, there are two ways in which the media can be consumed. This is either passively where the audience simply watches the horror film or actively where there is a purpose to watch the horror film, the audience member gains something from it. Mary Cover Jones discusses the desensitisation theory. The belief that we have become less sensitive to what we see in horror films due to over exposure of violence. Therefore, the media tries to keep on top of this by making horror films even more violent and gory. However this can be a threat to society as it may make us less sensitive to real life situations. When analysing my groups trailer it does not feature extreme violence or gore. Therefore it can’t really be considered scary enough to be a horror because horrors nowadays are extremely horrific as a result of trying to find new ways to scare viewers. Therefore, in order to actually scare the audience I will ensure that my trailer consists of more terrifying a...

Representation within horror is essential whether it is through characters, props or themes and many theorists identify these representations and expand on their meaning and our understanding. A common representation which is discussed is gender. When it comes to the representation of genre in horror, Mulvey talks about the male gaze. This is the idea that women are displayed on screen as an object and male viewers become voyeurs. The camera tends to focus on the female characters body to pleasure the male audience. However, the male gaze is often associated with the slasher genre and so this particular representation does not apply to my trailer as we do not have a female character that creates this representation. Of course it would be a positive thing to represent the male gaze as it would attract a male audience and keep them interested in the film.  Clover talks about a different type of representation of women when discussing the final girl. This representation views...