Friday, 3 May 2013
Wednesday, 17 April 2013
Saw 2 Horror Film Essay
Saw 2 is the second instalment of the Saw film sequel. It
continues the story of Jigsaw, a physically and seemingly mentally ill victim
of past horrors in his life. It is in this film that we learn more of his
background – by telling the audience that he has been suffering from cancer and
after a failed attempt at suicide from a car accident he has decided to spend
the rest of his life torturing others for his own amusement and entertainment.
This film was released in 2005 and is produced by Greg Hoffman, Mark Burg and
Oren Koules. Being distributed by Lionsgate, my immediate assumption of this
film (having not seen any others of the Saw franchise) was that it was going to
be relatively good as Lionsgate is a well-known production company for many
films.
If we compare this film to Todorov’s narrative structure
that every film has an equilibrium, event, recognition, attempt to fix ending
in a new equilibrium, it is clear that this film definitely challenges this
structure – specifically at the beginning and end. Examples
of this are at the beginning of the film, we see a man tied to a chair with a
spiked face mask on and ‘Jigsaw’ appearing on a television telling him if he
doesn’t retrieve the key to the mask from behind his eye with the scalpel
provided within 60 seconds, the face mask will close and he will die. This
shows us that the film will be cruel, include death and overall gruesome as the
man is unable to complete the task and he is shown dead before the title comes
up. This film is very different to other horrors as it does not start off with
everything okay, and it certainly doesn’t end that way too. It ends with the
main police character going to find his son but ends up dying also (by one of
the victims – which is a huge twist). One good thing about this film is that
there is no foreboding, we continue the journey of escape with the victims –
not knowing what comes next. I suppose the event would be the fact that they
are all trapped and have to figure out an escape route without dying. The
recognition would be that they all attempt to work together to exit the
building and the attempt to fix would be the police officer who interrogates
Jigsaw.
The audience expectations for this film I would imagine are
quite high, especially if they have seen the first film. From Saw, we expect to
see mind games, death, blood and gore which is different to most horrors as
this one includes a game – giving the victim a chance to escape for a change.
As I am not a massive horror fan myself, I didn’t know what to expect from this
film as I hadn’t previously seen Saw 1. I expected all the usual horror
conventions and wasn’t disappointed. As sequels can usually give the game away,
as it were, Saw 2 I believe is the most unique one as it reveals Amanda (one of
the victims and previous victim from the first film) as John (Jigsaw)’s protégé
which was highly unexpected.
The genre of Saw 2 is very much blood and gore – no creepy
stuff like ghosts or the paranormal. As this film is literally just classed as
a ‘horror’ – it doesn’t give much away about the film and what to expect, I
suppose as the creators assume you have already seen the previous instalment of
Saw. This film deals with blood and gore differently to the usual horror film,
as the victims have to take part in games in order for them to escape, for
example if they come to any harm, it is because of themselves and their incompetence
and stupidity for not following the rules. Some of the games created within Saw
2 are looking around in a pit of used needles looking for a key, tearing skin
from your own neck to see part of a code, retrieving a key from behind your
eye, putting your hands into a glass hovering box which then cuts into with
razor blades you leaving you to die and entering a furnace which then turns on
leaving you to burn alive.
There are only a few character types in this film and they
include the hero (Eric), the villain (John/Jigsaw), the victims (the people
trapped inside the house, and the final girl (Amanda). We see Eric as one of
the heroes as he is working with the police to try and track down the house and
interrogate John to help the victims, one of them being his son. However, as
much as we are rooting for Eric to find them, we are told throughout the film
that he himself has framed the current victims. It is just a matter of opinion
whether we see him as a good or bad guy in this film in comparison to the other
character types. The villain in Saw 2 is clearly John (Jigsaw) as he is the one
capturing these victims and testing them and their lives. However, even John isn’t
completely evil, it is revealed that he has cancer and once tried to kill
himself so the audience are possibly led to understand why he does what he
does. Tne victims are obviously the ones trapped inside the house with the
nerve gas, and although we feel sorry for them, we learn that each and every
one of them is a criminal so it is again up to the audience to decide whether
they deserve this fate or not. The final girl is also a strange one to talk
about in this film, as it is Amanda, who has not only now been a victim twice,
it ends with her revealing that she is John’s protégé and so who do we really
think she is? Good or bad?
Throughout Saw 2, the binary opposition is blatantly clear –
the typical ‘good vs. evil’. Although, on the other hand, referring back to the
archetypal characters, who really is good or evil? Are they all both? It is
only through watching and analysing the film closely that we come to a
conclusion about it as a whole, and about what we think about the characters
within.
In conclusion, having not seen any others of the Saw
franchise, Saw 2 is worthy of all it’s nominations and wins for certain
attributes and medals. Overall, having never really been a fan of horrors, this
delivered a new type of horror which I had never seen before which I found myself
relatively enjoying at some parts because of the clever plotline and how it was
set up. As a horror film, I believe it succeeded in its aims to scare the audience,
as well as entertain them.
Monday, 15 April 2013
Planning and Notes
Full Film Idea;
Our original film idea was very difficult to create in our
heads as we started off unsure on how to form the idea we had into a trailer.
Our full film idea focuses on one central character, who typically has a normal
everyday life. She is in her teens and one afternoon invites her friends over.
During this afternoon, they venture into the loft as her parents are out, and
whilst searching the loft, they hear a strange noise from underneath them. They
lift up part of the loft floor which then reveals a Ouija board. The friends,
although reluctant at first, decide to do the Ouija board with just the three
of them, in the dark, in the loft, with a shot glass and candles. During this
experience, nothing ‘out of the ordinary’ happens except a few moves of the
shot glass, which they all blame each other for – mainly because they refuse to
accept the fact they have unknowingly invited another presence into their
lives. Sam, the main protagonist is left alone that same evening, left thinking
something bad will happen to her. She is unable to contact her friends and has
a lack of sleep. However, the next morning arrives with everything seeming
okay. She travels to her bathroom to discover odd marks on her face. She is
unable to rid her face of these marks and over the next few days – a dark
figure appears near her, but she never sees him. Sam starts to become
possessed, killing her friends and joining the dark figure. Throughout the
film, we are constantly flashed back to the night Sam supposedly spent alone
and discover she was meeting with the dark figure in the woods, she just didn’t
know it yet. The film continues on with this structure and ends with a new
group of friends years later, creating tension for the audience as they know
their inevitable fate.
Recce Report;
Locations include – Sam’s house, street, woods and an attic.
We decided to go with the normal horror conventions as we didn’t want to
challenge them in anyway and so to create an uncomfortable, horror atmosphere
for our audience. Family homes are good for horror films/trailers as they
connote safety and a sense of protection, but these are then conflicted when
evil things begin to take over. Attic and woods in the darkness also portray
and connote evil things, death and an uneasy environment – which is great for
spooking the horror film fans out there.
Props and Costume
Lists;
Car, Ouija board, candles, make-up, face paint, cooking
equipment and a knife
Normal everyday costumes for Sam and her friends at the
beginning, dark clothing for Sam when she becomes possessed, and a dark black
jacket for the ‘dark figure’
Filming Schedule;
We decided to film in college time in our lessons and our frees as well as taking a whole two/three days in our Christmas holiday to film our shots for our trailer. Also, when we discovered we needed better or more shots, I then took time outside of college to complete this myself.
Friday, 12 April 2013
Friday, 22 February 2013
Role of the production company
Production companies are the heart and soul of all media –
film and TV. Without them, no media types in these forms would ever be made.
They hold a lot of responsibility and need to have a huge talent to succeed in
the ever changing media community.
The role of the production company is to handle everything from marketing, distribution, scripting, the production and a whole lot more. Usually production companies work hand in hand with big media conglomerates which is all part of something named the ‘studio system’. There are only two types of production companies – mainstream independent or independent.
All in all, I would say that the main role of the production
companies would be to produce the media and therefore advertise it. For
instance, they can do this by using other media sources such as adverts on TV,
film, radio, magazines etc…
However, not all production companies can be as successful
as their other competitors. The bigger the company – the more scope they have to
advertise, make more films and increase their reputation. The difference in
company size is possibly the most important feature of being a successful
producer of media. As already mentioned, the bigger the company, the better
they are. For example, even simply promoting a new film is all through the
production company – but the smaller ones just cannot do this, they first have
to work their way up the media ladder.
A small company may have enough scope to make adverts on TV,
but is this less exposure than they actually need? Will TV alone get them
noticed? Possibly not. The difference between a larger and smaller production
company lies within the creation of their products, its and theirs talent,
along with a big reputation to attract a larger audience.
Thursday, 14 February 2013
Film Audiences
Horror;
The typical horror audience has changed again and again
since it first came about in the early 1900’s. However, currently it stands at
males between the ages of 18-26. There are a number of reasons why this could
be true, from the topic concerning women’s representation in horror films, to
the male gaze theory first put in place by Laura Mulvey.
Women’s representation in horror films is stereotypically
considered weak and vulnerable, so this may put off females from watching
horror films as they do not want to be seen as part of this view believed by
many cinema fans today. There is also the point of what genre the horror film
is – if it is more blood and gore then we can assume that males are more likely
wanting to go see it as they are portrayed as strong and fearless – whereas
women are seen to be emotional and not enjoy bloody murders on their screens.
The male gaze theory also has a valid point to this topic –
if males are known to enjoy the fact that women are vulnerable and always get
killed then obviously they will be the ones who are first in line to see the
new horror blockbuster. Alongside this point, why would women want to see their
gender being portrayed badly and always feeling smaller than men? They wouldn’t.
However, I’m not saying all females hate horror, I’m
completely certain there are some out there who find it fascinating and
thrilling to watch – I’m just stating the facts – more men enjoy horror.
General;
It is likely that a lot of factors have an impact on how
many people and between what age range go to the cinema each year. Some of
these factors include where you live (urban or rural – more people living in
towns and cities are more likely to visit the cinema more often than those who
live in the country), your age and interests and social group.
Famous Horror Character Research
Freddy Krueger
Freddy is also known to have
certain powers – he can jump into any of the teenagers dreams and control them
how he wishes, most of the time with him killing them. Also, with each soul he
possesses, their face appears on his chest, granting him the ability to each of
their attributes. Another major aspect of Freddy is that he can cause harm from
the dream world to the real world, making it easy to commit several murders in
one night.
Freddy Krueger is probably
one of the most famous horror characters ever known. He is shown as a
disfigured serial killer who has burns on his face and kills his victims in
their dreams, causing their death in real life too. His famous costume of red
and dark green striped jumper, the brown fedora and metal clawed glove is how
he is mostly recognised in the horror franchise. The glove is how he murders
his victims. Freddy’s character was introduced and created by Wes Craven,
saying his inspiration for this horrific character was from his childhood,
including a disfigured man, a specific song and a bully from his youth. As the
Nightmare on Elm Street
Thursday, 31 January 2013
Questionnaire Results Analysis
As part of my research methods to help progress our group into making a successful horror trailer, I conducted a questionnaire with the other members of my group asking 12 questions along the lines of horror, relating to themselves and their interests when it comes to the cinematic experience. Out of the 50 people we asked to fill it in, 38% of them were male, leaving the other 62% female. Out of these, a massive 80% were in the age range of 17-20, which is brilliant, as that is just the age range we are looking at for our horror trailer. When asked “How often do you go to the cinema?” 30% said once a month, and a huge 62% said once every few months. This wasn’t the response we were going for, as we would’ve liked them to visit the cinema more frequently, which would in turn then give us more of a chance to produce something they would like to go and see. Thankfully, when asked “What attracts you to go see a film?” the majority of the fifty people said the trailer – this is helpful as we now know to make ours the best we can to our ability so we can interest viewers in going and seeing the film. However, at the same time, this also puts a lot of pressure on us to create something brilliant as the trailer is the thing our audience relies on. 54% of people asked told us they rarely watch horror films, and 28% watch them often. This could create some problems for us, because if most of them are not fans of the horror genre, are they going to want to watch ours? When asked “What type of horror do you prefer to watch?” the majority of people asked (41%) answered psychological, which helped us a lot, proving to us that we need to create something which would get in their minds and scare them from within. It appeared to us that our target audience are most frightened by jumpy scenes – this then told us to include a few of these in our horror trailer to give them a taste of the film and to pre-scare them if you will. When asked how much gore they enjoy in horror films, the results were pretty similar, averaging out about half way. To us this wasn’t a major worry as we believe added gore in our horror trailer would be difficult and stray away from our initial idea. Remarkably, when asked “Do you believe in ghosts?” 4% said ‘maybe’, with the rest being split equally at ‘yes’ and ‘no’ with 48% each. The next question we asked them was probably the most important one – “Would you be interested in seeing a psychological horror film about Ouija board?” 70% of them said yes – which is a brilliant result. As we are including the villain/evil type character in our own horror trailer, we thought it would be a good idea to ask our target audience “Does it spoil the film is you know who the villain is in the trailer?” the majority just edged over to saying ‘no’ which was a slight relief. Overall, I believe this questionnaire was very helpful in showing us the way forward to creating a successful horror trailer.
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