Propp theory characters

I've been researching character conventions for horror films and I think Propp's theory could help me.

Rough plot ideas

I have thought a lot about the plot of my film and have made this mind map about it. I am struggling to think of an end of the film though.

What type of horror film is my trailer going to be?

As there are lots of different types of horror film I need to decide which type to make mine.

I like to watch psychological horror films ie. Ghosts and possession. So I think I'm going to do a psychological horror film trailer with a ghost/haunted house.

This will be fun to create but I think it could be difficult to create a ghost type creature as you can't actually see it so it will be hard for me to make the audience imagine that something is there. In big budget/ block-buster horror films special effects and high-tech editing are used to create scenes where you see the victims being dragged down the stairs or things being moved by something you can't see, but I don't have this technology, because of this I have chosen to base my plot on a victim who has been possessed by a ghost so that a physical person is doing the evil.

Trailer vs. Film Classification

The trailer can be a different rating to the film because in  the trailer you only see some of the content.

Trailers are expected to be rated more harshly than films because trailers are short so material is less likely to be justified by context and more likely to cause offence.

Strong language is not permitted in U, PG or 12/A trailers.

What is the Target Audience For Horror Films?

Target Audience: '18' Guidelines

The BBFC don't have specific guidelines for 18 certificate films and so instead I just looked into more case studies and why they're rated an 18.

SCREAM:

There are frequent scenes of strong bloody violence in which people are killed after being terrorised, stalked and chased by a masked figure wielding a large knife. Most of the killings involve characters getting stabbed, shot or having their throat slashed with strong bloody detail. There is a scene in which a character attempts to crawl through a cat flap and has her head decapitated by a garage door.

After doing research I found that generally films which are rated at an 18 contain strong bloody violence, extreme violence, extreme gore, sexual violence...

This research rules out the certificate 18 for my own horror film because I don't want it to include anything too disturbing and I think a lot of horror films tend to be rated 15.

Target Audience: '15' Guidelines (BBFC)

I've found the BBFC guidelines for horror (threat and violence) for the 15 classification to give me more of an insight into what classification my trailer would be once I have come up with a plot.

CASE STUDY: PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 1 

Why it was given a '15' rating:

'The film contains around 40 uses of strong language. This exceeds the '12A'/'12' Guidelines where 'The use of strong language must be infrequent' but is permissible at '15' where 'There may be frequent use of strong language'.

As for horror, the film's content exceeds the '12' Guideline test which states that 'Moderate physical and psychological threat may be permitted, provided disturbing sequences are not frequent or sustained'. This film features frequent strong threat and menace from the opening minutes until the final scene as the couple's camera records offscreen sounds and manifestations that graduate in frequency and intensity to the point where the threat becomes tangible and physical. The film's hand-held camerawork lends the horror and intensity a greater sense of realism and immediacy. The film's power is not reliant on gore or special effects but instead credibly depicts an unknown force with growing power overwhelming the lives of a young couple in a realistic domestic setting. The lack of sadistic or sexualised elements meant that the film was permissible at '15' but the strength, frequency and sustained nature of the threat and terrorisation meant that it was not allowable at '12A/12'.

Paranormal Activity also contains an oblique moderate sex reference to unseen sexual activity, additional mild sex references and mild language.'

Target Audience: '12/A' Guidelines (BBFC)

I was going to look into the guidelines for horror from the BBFC and MPAA as I wanted to research both British and American guidelines because they do differ, sometimes enough to give a film different classification in both countries, however I the guidelines for the MPAA classification are not available online so I will just use a consistent cerftificate.

                                                           
(The BBFC guidelines don't feature a specific 'horror' category so I'm looking at 'Threat' and 'Violence')

CASE STUDY: THE HOLE

Why it was given a '12' rating:

'There are frequent scenes of moderate threat, including a creepy puppet terrorising one of the children and attempting to drown him in a pool. A female character is haunted by two people she saw die, including a brief gory image in which we see the back of a man's skull is missing with very brief sight of his exposed brain.

There is infrequent use of mild bad language.

Target Audience: 'U' and 'PG' Guidelines

My film would not be able to be a U or PG classification because it's a horror film and the guidelines for both of those classifications are...

U

PG

Target Audience: Classification

Film classifications are something that I'm going to have to take into consideration for my horror trailer as horror films cannot be viewed by a universal audience. I'm going to do some research into the British Board of Film Classification's (BBFC) and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) guidelines for horror so that I can get an idea of what to not/ include in my trailer to suit my target audience.

Conventions of Horror Trailers

Types of Horror Film

There are lots of different 'sub-genres' of the horror genre most of which are very different, I would have to pick one of these for my trailer if I were to do a horror. Here are a few types of horror and examples of that particular type...

Decided Genre

I've decided to do a horror film trailer because this is my favourite genre of film and so I feel like I know the conventions well and it will be fun to make.

Horror Film Examples

Horror Genre Definition

'Horror Films are unsettling films designed to frighten and panic, cause dread and alarm, and to invoke our hidden worst fears, often in a terrifying, shocking finale, while captivating and entertaining us at the same time in a cathartic experience.'

I made a word cloud from the description of horror films on Wikipedia. The biggest words are the most commonly used, so: horror, supernatural and evil are ideas/themes I can include if I choose to make a horror trailer. 

Examples of Romantic Comedy Films

Romantic Comedy Characteristics

Here are some characteristics of romantic comedy storylines for films:

Generally romantic comedy films have a basic storyline that goes something like this...

EXAMPLE- 27 DRESSES

1. Man and woman meet:

2. They start to fall for each other:

3. They part due to an obstacle ie. job, argument, misunderstanding:

4. While they're separated, they realise that they are in fact, perfect for each other or in love with each other: 

5. Grand gesture:

6. Ultimately reunite:

Romantic Comedy definition

• 'Romantic comedy films are films with light-hearted, humorous plotlines, centered on romantic ideals such as that true love is able to surmount most obstacles.'          

• 'A funny movie, play, or television program about a love story that ends happily'

I made a word cloud from the description of romantic comedy films on Wikipedia. The biggest words are the most commonly used, so: love, two characters, together and romantic are some of the most common used words. 

This gives me an idea of what to include if I were to do a romantic comedy film trailer. 

Two Genres I'm Going to Explore in More Detail

I've decided to look at my two favourite genres of films in more detail as I will later chose one of them for my trailer.

I'm going to research Romantic Comedies and Horrors

Colours of Genre

I've started thinking about my film poster and the conventions with particular genres that I would apply to it.

I think that genres tend to be associated with particular colours- they help the audience who are looking at the poster know what type of film it is. For example if you saw a poster primarily coloured with blacks and greys and red you would guess it's a horror and not a comedy. On the contrary, pink and reds are associated with romantic comedy films or 'chick- flicks'.

I found more examples of this by grouping my DVD's into genres and you can clearly see the colour patterns within the specific genres. This is going to help me when I make my poster because I'll have more of an understanding of what colours and fonts to use depending on the genre I pick.

 Kids films

• Kids films tend to be bright and fun to appeal to the young target audience. 
• There is lots of blue and fun, swirly fonts.

 Horror films

• These are all black/ dark which is expected from horror films. 
• There's also red which can symbolise danger
• The fonts are similar and quite gothic

 Romance films

• The fonts for the romance films tend to be quite basic
• There's a lot of white and blue - purity and tranquillity

 Romantic Comedy

• All of these feature red or pink which symbolise love
• The fonts are quite bold 

Sci-Fi Poster Analysis

Horror Poster Analysis

Comedy Poster Analysis

Posters

One of my ancillary products is going to be a film poster.

I've found some film posters from different genres of films so that I can see the trends in colours and fonts etc. and I analysed them.

Genres of Films

I'm going to do some detailed research into lots of different genres of films and find examples of each so that I can compare what I'd like my film to be like, to them.

Film Poster Conventions

I made this mind map of conventions for film posters to help me when I make my poster.