The Amityville Horror (2005)

Background Info

Synopsis:
In 1973 in a small community of Amityville on Long Island, New York, the entire DeFeo family was murdered in their beds, after they had only lived in the house for 28 days. The oldest son, Ronald DeFeo Jr. confesses to police that he heard voices from the house, and he was ordered to kill all 6 family members. A year later, the house is sold to George (Ryan Reynolds) and Kathy Lutz (Melissa George) for a cheap price. They ask why so cheap, and they were told that the DeFeo family was murdered in the house. George tells his wife that houses don't kill, people do. So they move in with their three children and start a new life. Unfortunately, their dream house becomes a nightmare. George begins to hear voices and the process starts all over again. The longer they are in the house, the worse it gets, and everything comes to a climax on the 28th day.

Box Office/Business:

Budget:
$19,000,000

Opening Weekend:
$23,507,007 (USA)
£1,339,417 (UK)

Gross:
$65,233,369

Studio: Platinum Dunes (Production Company which have produced Horror films such The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, The Unborn, Friday the 13th, Horsemen, and A Nightmare on Elm Street)

Distributed By: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Dimensions Films

The Horor Poster

1) Title: The Amityville Horror
Based on a true story

‘Amityville’ is a real location in America and ‘horror’ pretty much explains the type of plot and genre. The name suggests that a horrific event will take place in Amityville, although you would have to watch the whole film to find out what will take place.

2) Graphic combined with the title:  the ‘Y’ in the title is dripping downwards in a thin, red, long streak resembling a blood drip. This symbolizes that there would be bloodshed and death.

3) Tagline: Katch’ em and kill’ em

The tagline puts outside audiences view to the perspective of the villain in the film. As the villain has likely to be watching the victims in the house for a long period of time and then getting prepared to kill them

4) Images:
1.large old fashioned house in the background
2.Two possible walls (Possible Walls of the large old fashioned house)
3.And A Man wearing T-shirt and jeans holding a shotgun

The image conjure together could mirror important factors to the film. As the large old house could symbolize the main location of the film and where the sadistic events will take place.  The wall on the side of the house and image almost resembles black curtains which can symbolize that the killings will be closed of to those out side of the house which also makes it the perfect place to kill. The man in the picture could be the killer or a victim trying to survivor therefore creating attention to the audience who want to find out who he is and what his fate maybe.

5) At the very top of the poster it says “FROM MICHEAL BAY, THE PRODUCER OF TEXAS CHAN SAW MASSCARE” and under the title it also says “BASED ON A TRUE STORY”. The first thing you read on the poster is who it is produced by, therefore those who already like the Texas chainsaw massacre. Also saying that it is based on a true story would make more people egger to watch the film, even those who may not be fan of the genre.  This also builds a very unique selling

Colours:

·         Grey House

·         Black Walls (surrounding the house and character)

·         Character in front of the door has a florescent light shining around him.

·         Red title

The four main colours help connote and denote to the audience the nature of the film. The grey house with an olive finish evokes strong emotions. The colour grey is a cold colour which in nature is often seen in stormy clouds and metal, both cold objects and elements. The colour grey is also a colour of mourning; so on a whole the grey in this poster is used for symbolizing death with the cold feeling and mourning of life. The colour used for the black walls surrounds the poster in darkeness. Using black for the walls shows the mysterious blackness consuming the poster. Black is helps provide a darkness theme to the poster alongside the cold death feel to it. The main character has a light shinning around him; the source of the light could be from the main character or the house. The light around the character can help show he is the key character in the film, although if the light is from the house it could show that the light is welcoming the main character, away from the blackness around the house which is actually the houses walls , therefore it is actually a trap for the main character. The title is in red which is a very powerful colour that symbolizes many different things. In this poster the red symbolizes blood, due to it being a horror genre this convention is often used it shows that there may be blood spill in the film. The colour red also is associated with war, danger, strength and power and also passion, desire and love, it is a emotionally intense colour, therefore very wise and powerful to use on the poster.

The Horror Trailer

Using Black and white with a colour film gives the impression that there is history behind the plot and that it has been achieved

Quick edits are used with close ups of cut outs from newspaper articles help allow the audience to know that a lot has taken place and it was considerable wide spread news as the amount of headline cut outs are shown , also shows the victims pictures and a picture of the suspect and other factors from the news report that may be important to the story line such as a picture of a teddy bear

Vast about of information can be communicated to the audience via newspaper cut outs



Also the quick edits helps show that there is violence and death in the films with the quick black and white flashes from the news report of a shot gun and a body bag being wheeled out from the house. While the uses of edits combining the achieved black and white footage, “Based on a true story” and the date of “November 13, 1974, Long Island, New York, 412 Ocean Avenue” appears on the screen with a typewriter font and a black background with slow transactions to the next shot allowing the audience to be fully aware that the films is based on a true story which may of happened in November the 13^th 1974 in long island new York, 412 Ocean Avenue

The shots and mood moves on to a year later from what happened by showing “One Year Later, The Lutz Family move into 412 Ocean Avenue” with the same font as before as a typewriter font with a black background, which allows the audience to know that the new family may have the same destine fate as the family which lived and died there the year before. Just before this is shown there rather fast flashes of occult symbols and a reporter saying that the killer was told by voices to kill his family. Once the inter title establish that there’s a new family we are presented with a home video of the Lutz Family moving into their new home with a father with his son, and mother, in the background you can hear a child laughing and the sound of the role of reel spinning helps establish that it is a old recording but also the child laughing allows the audience to sympathizes with the innocence family as we know there is a bad history with this house and that s child was murder there and also the laughter sets an eerie tone.  With the home video shots there is a certain end shot which shows the top of the house then a quick flash turn the shot almost negative with a black and gray finish with lighting in the background and then moving onto a black background with the inter title of “They only lasted 28 days”. This is pretty much the last part of the trailer both non-diegetic sounds are used such as the violin stings in the background and the lighting and thunder that is establish with the shot of the home from the outside before moving into the inside, the bad weather helps set the mood of the story lines atmosphere, this is also the exact opposites of the weather in the home video. The use of alarming and frightening images help establish the disruption in the family due to the home such as extra pair of arms appearing out of the bath tub, pale blue/grey eyes and the face f a ghost/sprit. The trailer then ends with the silhouette shoot of the house with two window panes light with a reddish light resembling red eyes.

The Amityville horror trailer starts of at the begging with a blank screen with a diegetic gunshot sounds, therefore building a tense atmosphere for the audience as gunshot rarely symbolizes anything positive and only negative features, such as fear, carnage and death. Although this first part of the trailer is rather lifeless symbolizes that death is an important factor to the story line.  The trailer is brought to life by the sound of a old television switching on and the first visual of the film of a fast distortion of a black show on the screen.  This gives the impression that the scene is factual as it’s presented as a news broadcast with a police officer’s being asked a question by the on scene news reporter, and the Police officer replying “I’ve never seen anything like this” showing that something terrible, horrific  has taken place. The use of black and white colour helps establish the time period of when the news report took place.

Horror Films That have Devloped and/or Challenged Convetions and Theories

1920s

Frankenstein (1910)
The Misers Doom (1920)
The Phantom of the opera (1925)

1930s

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)
The Tell – Tale Heart (1934)

1940s

The Body Snatcher (1945)

1950s

Nights of the demon (Curse of the Demon) (1957)
The Man who could cheat death (1959)

1960s
13 ghosts (1960)
Psycho(1960)
The Birds (1963)
The Haunting (1963)

1970s

Tales from the Crypt (1972)
Carrie (1976)

1980s

Friday the 13^th (1980)
A Nightmare on Elm street (1984)
Childs Play (1988)

1990s

Candy man (1992)

2000s

Final destination (2000)
28 Days Later (2002)
The Grudge (2004)
Saw (2004)
Hostel (2005)
The Happening (2008)
Mirrors (2008)

2010s

A nightmare on elm street (2010)
The Last Exorcism (2010)
The Wolfman (2010)
Scream 4 (2011)
5Nal Destination (2011)

Horror Conventions

The horror genre strives forward in inducing fear and terror to those that watch the genre dominated by monsters, psycho killers and the supernatural in real life situations. The horror genre its self pushes and even goes against modern-day society values.  Horror genre plots often follow from paranormal/supernatural without any sense of reality to it to classic literature from writes such as Edger Allen Poe, T.M. Gray and H.P. Lovecraft.  Horror also often crosses over other genres such as Sciences Fiction, Fantasy, Black comedy and thriller. Through the ages to today’s modern day horrors the uses of graphic violence and bloody guts and gore has increased a great deal, which people believe desensitises the audience to violence.  The horror films began to change and differentiate over the years. The horror codes and conventions often are used for visual representation of symbolic connation.

Theory’s used in conjunction to codes and conventions

Many directors and writers who work in the horror genre use theories to help set targets and establish aims they look to complete or use to help make their product successful. Common theories are used in horror such as Desensitisation, Cultivation Theory, Uses and Gratifications,  and Narrative theories such as Strauss Theory, Vladimir Propp, Hollywood Narrative,  and also Psychoanalytical theories such as Post Modernism which increasingly growing popular in many other genres besides horror.

I believe every horror film uses the theory of Desensitisation which is where the use of over excessive violence and sexuality is used to the point the point that the audience is less sensitive in the real world where violence and sexual behaviours may be seen, such as on the news, at work and even on the streets. Cultivation theory where the higher the consummation of media the more we adapt to particular views about reality that may not exactly be true. Uses and Gratifications theory which is where the audience use the media for entertainment, social interaction, personal identity and also information.                                                                                                                                                                     Narrative theories are very important to the story as its the effective way to communicate to the wide audience efficiently through organizes steps with the theorists plan.  Strauss theory uses to binary opposites/characters which conflict with each other from one step to another who have to resolve a problem/situation, the uses of the clash of elements is what builds the narrative. Vladimir Propps theory comes from him breaking down old Russian folk tales and finding that there was up to 31 functions used in the various fairy tales and he is also resolved that there’s up to 8 broad types of characters in the 100 stories he analyzed. The 8 types of characters are Hero, Villain, Donor, Dispatcher, Father (Authority), False Hero, Helper/Assistant and Princess/Prize. Hollywood Narrative is a theory which states that it follows three certain sets of conventions. Convention 1 of Hollywood Narrative; Equilibrium –Disruption to the Equilibrium – Equilibrium, Convention 2 of Hollywood Narrative; Love Interest (Mainly Heterosexual), Convention 3 of Hollywood Narrative; a very popular actor is the main focus for the whole entire film. This theory is often used on big budget films that use a basic formula.                                                                                                                                                                   Psychoanalytical such as post modernism help push the boundaries of media products. Post modernism a raised when the collapse of grand ideas through cultural, religious and political ideologies such as Marxism (view of capitalist society, which aimed to maintain capitalist state in power). Post Modernisms “A Hip Hop record may sample a piece by Mozart. There is playfulness and knowingness about the way influences are used leading many people to refer to post modern texts as ironic.”  

Factors with in the plot/storyline:

·         Introduction into the life of the victim and possibly the suspect

·         Bizarre murders/deaths – by the villain/killer/supernatural

·         Main characters are fully introduced – Often playful and youthful

·         Teens vulnerable and often home alone

·         Teens in a relationship (football jock and blond bimbo

·         Possibly mysterious phone calls and signs of the villain (Characters silhouettes)

·         Family breaks apart

·         Failed attempts of heroism

·         Villain don’t die – sequels

Location

·         Churches

·         Schools

·         Graveyards

·         Forests

·         Home and building cellars and attics

·         Haunted houses

Sound and music

·         The sound sets the mood and tone of each scene (important that the trailer has a powerful and strong sense of eeriness at the end but calm and composed at the beginning, which allures the audience like a predator.

·         Screams (high pitch which could symbolize the characters in weak, or even femine showing that they may of needed protection in result the audience will feel sympathetic to the character.

·         Music: strings

·         Animal’s noises

·         Echo’s

·         Lighting and thunder

·         Natural ambient sounds such as the wind.

·         Music: Rock and metal (including there sub genres such as nu-metal)

Other factors which make up some of the conventions are colour, religion and animals such as birds of prey, snakes and canines.

The Genre of Horror

Horror is an exciting, high interest genre that raise heart beat of fans and audiences around the world. ‘Horror’ is an ancient art form. The human race have tried to petrify one and another with dark tales that trigger the less logical sections of our imaginations for as long as tales have been told. Ancient world ballads to the modern day myths, many listens and viewers will willingly offer them selves to be scared witless by sadistic storytellers and atrocious stories, and the audience would be more then happy to pay for the thrill.  The horror genre on a whole flourish potential theories as to why its such a thriving genre for example ‘Do we derive basic thrills from triggering the rush of adrenalin which the fear factor brings?’ or do the horror stories serve a rather large moral purpose for example ‘Reinforcing the rules and taboos of our society and show the ghastly and ghoulish fate of those who transgress to disobey ?’

From the beging of the very first horror film to the latest films of 2011 they have served both purpose, to deliver thrills and ecstasy, as well as narrating stores of the forbidden dark side of life and even death. Horror films also impart a revealing image of apprehensions and unease of its time. For example both poplar vampire films Nosferatu (1922) and Blade (1998) reflect on the making and release f there time periods. Nosferatu is not a basic tale about vampires, but actually shows distressing and tragic images of a European town faced with constant deaths which were random and premature, which echoes does of the Great War in 1918 and the Great Flu Epidemic. On the other hand Blade (1998) is not just a basic tale of vampires around the America but reflects on the fear of power yet irresponsible elements in society, which echoes on the impunities behaviour of those on the very top end of society and politics.

Different generations tend to differ in the horror genre, therefore through the decades the monster which presents the threat tends to change and mature. In the early 1940s a time where Hitler was seen as half man and half beast as he destroyed those that would go against him. Therefore the horror genre films reflected on monsters that where based on monsters that resembled man or part beast part man animals. In 1990s the beast like monsters begin to diminish and more killers appeared for example Jonathan Doe (Se7en 1994) and Hannibal Lector (Man hunter 1986, Silence of the lambs 1991, Hannibal 2001) were 100% human and performed natural although sadistic killings.  Now in the twenty first century, the zombie and ghost characters are repapering back in the western and eastern superstitions converge and again we are egger to be told stories that are induced by evil way past evil beyond human belief.

Hard Candy Analysis (Part 2)

Trailer
Hard Candy Video Trailer

Brief Analysis

The beginning of the hard candy trailer starts off with non diegetic sound of keyboard clicking with the constant tap and press of buttons and also the sounds of pc when a now alert is apparent. Which then after the institution commissioning the film, an extreme close up of flirtatious online chat is taking place between two individuals, which shows that sexuality maybe a key component to the story line of the film. This can help identify the age period of the film as online chat is a modern turn of the century function that is used in many people’s lives today. Therefore the film may include the advantages and problems which may come with this new age service/technology which people will likely be aware of.                                                                                                                                                                 The next shot is a medium close up of a man with glasses which is Jeff Kohlver. Allowing us to his physical appearance which plays a part to story to let us know that he is a fully frown adult. Who is then seen meeting with a younger female who is actually a teenager who is Hayley Stark. They both meet up in a cafe.  In the cafe they speak about a number of subjects close to each individual for example one subject of conversation is that Jeff Kohlver is a professional photographer therefore connoting that he is a full grown adult who is independent as he works to provide for himself. On the other hand Hayley Stark is in 8^th grade as she talks about some of the books that she studies, this makes her 14 years old and not so independent as there is a good chance she still lives at home with her parents.                                                                                                                                                                 Jeff kolhver does two important things that i think stands out in the scene of the cafe, the first one is that Hayley Stark has a bit of chocolate on her lips from eating a slice of cake, Jeff uses his thumb to wipe it off and then licks his thumb and says “Umm”. This is rather forward sexually and the “Umm” connotes the satisfying taste of the chocolate but also the attraction from Jeff to Hayley. The other point is that he says “You look older then you are, you certainly act older then you are”, therefore showing that he knows that she is a minor but he wants to convince her that he thinks at heart she is a mature adult.

The mood of the trailers begins  to change after Jeff and Hayley walk to the cars and drive back to Jeff’s home, although while they are walking and travailing the edit pace is in slow motion symbolizing the distance is far therefore the speed is represented as pace in time. Inter titles appear just after Hayley is seen slow peering behind a wall. Inter titles  Sundance film festival: Official selection 2005. Best Motion Picture Audience award: Sitges Film Festival 2005 appear, helps with the transition of the edit of mood. After the inter titles a wall is shown with a line up of black and white photos taken by Jeff, i believe this photos play part of the plot as the time spent on the wall with photos with none of the charters is rather long, although there is speech in the background coming from Jeff. Jeff then takes her to his studio, same studio where the black and white photos where shot. ‘Another inter title appears saying “WILL PROVOKE AUDIENCES INTO A DEBATE THAT WILL SET WORD-OF-MOUTH ON FIRE” by mike goodridge .screen international’.  This inter title fully completes the mood transition from a light to dark feel.  Hayley is seen taking some photos out of a safe with a distinctive serious look on her face, which then moves back to Jeff saying “things you do wrong they haunt you”, as Hayley looks at the picture recognize that the young female in the picture looks familiar.  After the edits speed up with sound, mise en scene and camera shots playing a role in strengthen the feel of the story. The fast paced edits slow down to show the last inter title quotes which is  “ ABSOLUTELY,  TERRIFYING ! ONCE IT LANDS ITS HOOKS IN YOU, THERES NO TEARING AWAY” Eric Campos.Film Treat”. Edits begin to flash, and increase highly in speed. Fro example the Jeff trying to get out of the chair he is tied to, while Hayley looks around the house. Close up camera shoots are also used with the fast edit transitions for example the close up of the disgust in Hayley’s face, or the medium close up of Hayley seen getting pushed to the wall possibly showing that Jeff got free. Hayley is heard also aggressively saying “It’s just so easy to blame a kid” showing that he has been connected to young females before. While the last set of shoot sequence which are in a extremely fast pace three main quotes are said first hearing Hayley say “Play time is over” and then Jeff Kohlver saying “Who are you” showing that he is completely unaware of Hayley as she seem not to be the same girl before And the Hayley saying “now it’s time to wake up” showing that Hayley believes he was leaving a dream life and now he may have to pay the penalty. during this set of sequence shoots you can that the director wants you to see that there is a struggle from Jeff but he then fights back to Hayley as it seems. And then the last shot is both of them in Jeff’s studio.

Hard Candy Analysis (Part 1)

Writer: Brian Nelson

Director: David Slade

Main Cast:

Patrick Wilson – Jeff Kohlver

Ellen Page - Hayley Stark

Tagline: “Strangers shouldn’t talk to little girls”

Storyline

After three weeks of chatting with the thirty-two year old photographer Jeff Kohlver over the Internet, fourteen year old Hayley Stark meets him in the Nighthawks coffee shop. Hayley flirts with him in spite of the age difference and proposes to go to his house. Once there, she prepares a screwdriver for them and Jeff passes out. When he awakes, he is tied up to a chair, and Hayley accuses him of paedophilia. Jeff denies the accusation, and Hayley begins to torture him in a cat and mouse game.

The Poster

·         Main Character: Back turned away to the camera, which suggest that this female character maybe be mysterious and has more to her then shes letting on. Also the hooded jumper helps strengthen this point.

·         Large scale bear trap with main character with in it can be perceived as a visual metaphor that the main character is heavily involved with trapping someone, also with a combination of a title hard candy can also show that she will be the bait as candy is often known to be sweet.

·         Colour: Red - which is mainly used for the character the colour used for the characters almost resembles a new age little red riding hood. The secondary colours are very bleak and bland, almost lifeless with different mixes of greys. (little red riding hood)

·         Camera shot: Long shot helps in showing that there is a distance between the characters therefore allowing the potential audience to see the whole character.

Film Posters – Conventions by Genres (Part 2)

Sahara



·         Main Characters (Protagonist and “sidekicks”)

·         Glowing crescent which forms an “S”

·         Many People in the background (possibly enemies and villains)

·         Tagline: “ADVENTURE HAS A NEW DESTINATION”

·         Colours: Different shades of brown and gold

·         Title: Sahara 

This Sahara poster shows conventions of an action genre.  The poster shows a full shot other three people. The shot has a male standing firm and proudly with a male and a female behind him showing that he is the team leader out of the group. The shots connotes that the film is action based as the main character is standing firmly while if you closely there are many many people behind him in still motion. This shows that they are possibly after something he has of value which shows that it is possible an action adventure film.  In part of the background you can see a crescent eclipse which forms and “S” glowing towards the ground. This is gives some indication that the solar system may play an important role to the film. The tagline “ADVENTURE HAS A NEW DESTINATION” implies that the film is clearly an adventure film, and that it is not going to be in it’s traditionally location such as films being shot in the city with big buildings and busy traffic but rather more unconventional. Different shades of brown and gold gives and impression of earth, nature and masculinity, and also evokes high feelings of prestige, wisdom and wealth.

American Beauty



·         Close up of a females stomach – intimate

·         Rose

·         “....look closer”

·         Colour: Natural Caucasian skin with a red flower

·         Title: American beauty

The American beauty poster places a rather intimate visual display, due to the raw conventions used.  The poster shows that the film is likely to be a romance film. The poster uses an extreme close up which is initialled used to show the emotion and general reaction to a shot. Within the close up shot there are two main components that clearly stand out which are the close up of a Caucasian young women with a blossoming rose lightly held down with her fingers.  The female’s skin is covering the whole of the poster as a background dominating the poster; therefore this same female will dominate the storyline of the film.  The red rose is to symbolise love and passion in the film, therefore indicating to those who will see the poster that the film is likely to be a romance film.  As she is holding the rose it is like to mean that she is heavily involved in the love story line.  “.....look closer” tagline implies that there may be something more to the story that is not advertised, therefore urging people to find out more about the film and take an interest in it.