Dawn of the Dead 2004 Image 3

The third image is from the end of the film when Ana says goodbye to Michael and sails away. On the right hand side of the image you can see the American flag which supports the context of America versus the world with the zombies representing terrorists. The flag also connotes freedom both for the boat and America in general. The American flag is used in quite a lot of horror films including The Hills Have Eyes (2006) when the hero kills a mutant by stabbing him in the head with the American flag.

The characters who survive to the boat are the ‘underdogs’ of the film: the young girl (Nicole), the dog, the final girl (Ana), the black guy (Kenneth) and the male victim (Terry) which is unexpected by the audience and shows the forward-thinking nature of horror films. This close up of Ana is used to make the scene sadder as Michael has sacrificed himself for Ana. However, due to their escape the ending can be deemed open until extra clips during the end credits give the audience the real ending.

Dawn of the Dead 2004 Image 2

This image is from the van scene in the film and takes part in the quick montage that is used due to its action horror genre. This scene also uses a handheld camera to create the sense of panic.

Due to the action sub-genre of the film the zombies are a lot quicker than those in the original. The zombies speed makes them a bigger threat and as a result they are scarier and we, unlike the original, do not feel any sympathy for them. Because this film had a bigger budget there was more money spent on zombie extras which also makes the film more daunting. This is shown in the image where we can see 20 zombie extras.

In this shot we can see Michael protecting the mall. Michael is based on Stephen from the original Dawn of the Dead (1979) and fits the “male hero” stereotype. Unlike Stephen, Michael is more likeable due to being an ordinary guy (he works at “Best Buy”) and he is very honest – he admits he was a bad husband but a good dad.

Dawn of the Dead 2004 Image 1

I picked this image as it shows the historical context more than others. This image (along with the opening credits) suggests that the origin of the zombie virus is the Middle East and feeds off of the fear of terrorism at the time of the film’s release due to the 9/11 Twin Towers terrorist attack in 2001.Whilst this image is shown the song “The Man Comes Around” by Johnny Cash is played which is about biblical Armageddon. This helps set the tone for the film from the beginning.  

The shot has been edited to use a filter so that it looks aged which immerses the audience into the film because it feels like it’s already happened. The high, expressionist angle is also important as it ‘looks down’ on the Muslims like they are powerless and are of lesser worth than the rest of the world that is suffering. This links back to the historical context once again and relates to the patriotism that is a theme of the film.

Audience Research 1: Practise Poster

Horror Sub-Genre Pie Chart

Feedback

After we created our own version of the "Don't Be Afraid Of The Dark" trailer we showed it to the focus group to gain feedback on how we would improve it overall. Many gave the same response that they didn't like the font that we used for the writing as it "looked too much like bubble writing" and some argued that the music didn't fit completely. To correct this I would change the font and research more music ideas next time.

It was also agreed that the jump scare at the end of the trailer was very effective and that the setting where we had filmed was very good and fitted the horror film mise en scene.

Horror Film Research: Analysing My Favourite Type Of Horror

What is my favourite horror and who is its target audience?
I've picked the trailer of Insidious (2011) as my favourite horror film because it uses all the techniques that create suspense for the viewer and relies on the editing process which results in a perfect and successful example of the psychological horror genre.
   Psychological horrors are usually rated a 15 as the genre is more aimed at young adults consisting demographically of mainstreamers and outsiders. Psychological horrors are targeted at both genders with roughly 55% female and 45% male ratio. More examples of successful psychological horrors are the well known film Psycho (1960) and The Blair Witch Project (1999)

Analysing my scene:
This trailer uses many of the typical horror conventions especially those more commonly used for its genre such as using a canted angle as well as using a handheld camera to make the footage more jerky creating a sense of panic, this combined with the pace of editing increasing makes the trailer more alarming. The trailer also uses collision cutting to alternate between loud and quiet which unsettles the viewer and creates a tense atmosphere. It also has "jump scares" to make the audience scared and, as the name suggests, jump.