Rom-Com Conventions

This is a minmap I created detailing many of the typical characters, plot devices and  basic structure of most romantic-comedy films.

Nightmare on Elm Street Analysis

 

A Nightmare on Elm Street is a 1984 American horror film that is part of the sub-genre of slasher films. The film follows a group of teenagers who are killed in their dreams by Freddie Krueger, a serial killer with self-made gloves made of knives that he uses to stab his victims. The opening scene begins with us being introduced to Freddie. The scenes background music introduces the dark tone with creepy off key piano music being played. Only parts of him are shown, such as a close-up of his boots and a close-up of his hands as he grabs things. He is shown creating his gloves, hammering and crafting the knives before putting them on the gloves. The use of multiple close-up shots makes it so the audience cannot see the full picture of whats going on, as well as not revealing what Freddie looks like. This builds anticipation. We can see from his hands that he is dirty which conforms to stereotypes of killers in horror movies, being loners who don't care about their appearance or what people think of them because they are psychologically unstable. After another close-up of Freddie wearing the glove and testing it out the titles appear, which are red and bloody. This is an outdated use of titles which you don't normally see in modern horrors, as the bloody titles are now seen as a bit cliche.

After the titles we see Freddie stabbing a thin sheet with the glove and slowly ripping downwards. This is accompanied with the non-digetic sound of someone screaming out in pain.The colour of the sheet is skin-like, which makes the audience visualise the obvious connotation of Freddie stabbing his victims. This also shows the threat that he imposes. We then have another close-up of a young girl, whose expression tells us she is clearly scared. This is a perspective change in the scene so Freddie is no longer the primary focus, instead this girl is. The use of a young girl appeals to the target audience of teenagers as most horror films seek to do, so the audience can imagine themselves being in the situation and are scared more as a result of this. A long shot of the girl running down a corridor towards camera makes her seem very small compared to the creepy corridor, which makes her look more vulnerable and less powerful in comparison to her surroundings. The audience are given many shots of the girl that have a long duration, which gives her prevalence in the scene and makes us sympathise with her. The length of the shots also slows the pace of the film down to a painful grind, building anticipation of Freddie's arrival. Non-digetic cackling is heard which informs us as to Freddie's presence, as well as shots of the girl that show him in the far background or just shows the audience his shadow. 

The location of this part of the opening scene works well to set the frightening tone the film is aiming for through the lighting and atmosphere the location presents. The lighting is always kept quite dark which is a typical convention of most horror films. The location itself seems to be some kind of factory, with metal everywhere representing a dangerous environment as well as drawing comparisons with the metal knives Freddie uses. After a close up of Freddie's knives scraping against a metal pipe, we see the same shot of him stabbing a thin skin-like sheet before starting to chase the girl. We have a lengthy point of view shot showing the girl running away from Freddie's perspective. Freddie seemingly corners the young girl so she has no way out, playing on audiences fears of being trapped. When she stops screaming and opens her eyes, Freddie is gone, before he pops up behind her (still in shadow) and goes to stab her. Just then we have a genre convention displayed in many films across multiple genres as the girl wakes up in bed, showing that it was all a dream. The increasing pace of the shots returns to a normal pace and the background music stops, which juxtaposes the tension of the dream sequence with the normality of real life. The opening scene is effective at introducing our antagonist without revealing him to build anticipation for his reveal later in the film, much like Jaws opening scene does.

Jaws Opening Scene Analysis

Jaws is a 1975 American horror film about a shark that attacks beach goers at a fictional beach side town, and follows the shark hunters and scientists that try to capture it. The film opens with a couple going skinny dipping in the sea early in the morning. Both characters are young people, appealing to the horror genres target audience of teenagers by helping them to relate to the events onscreen. The fact the scene is set so early in the morning when the sun has hardly risen suggests the characters have been out all night, which also appeals to the target audience as they like to imagine themselves taking part in a wild all night party that ends up with skinny dipping on a beach. The scene also opens with establishing shots of the beach and the sunrise, which also introduces the male character who is shown in the foreground. The audience can connote he is unintelligent but sociable, a typical 'jock' character which is a genre convention of a lot of teenage horror films. We see these characteristics displayed by the characters clumsiness, falling down a sandy bank as he runs after the girl but also his good humoured nature shown through his speech. He says "I can swim! I just can't walk, or dress myself," which refers to his falling over and struggle to get his clothes off.

The second establishing shot we get is a long shot of the beach leading on to the sea, with the sea in the background of the shot. The girl runs from the camera to the sea and dives in, then starts swimming away. The girl seems to be having fun, as we can tell through her body language (doing handstands in the water etc.). We have a close-up of the girl, although she is still not fully visible due to the dark lighting of the shot. The non-digetic sound of seagulls also lets the audience know this is a sunrise, rather than a sunset. We then have a shot of the girl swimming from under the water. We know this is from the sharks point of view and the scene is suddenly made tense. The background music that begins with this shot helps create this tension, as it features very slow ominous and deep tones. Another shot shows the camera creeping slowly towards the woman from under the water as she floats there kicking her legs. These shots are very long and drawn out to bring the film to a painful slow speed to increase the anticipation of the audience. The background music slowly changes into a variation of the sound motif of the shark that is now so famous in movie culture. The tense tones lead up to the sharks attack of the woman.

The pace of the shots quicken as soon as the woman is attacked to show the pace of the action and the threat and speed of the shark. The woman is dragged under the water and then thrashed around violently by the shark as she screams for help. Juxtaposed shots between the terrifying situation the girl is in to the calm relaxed situation of the boy lying drunk on the beach makes the girls shots seem more dramatic. After more close-ups of the girl screaming for help and mid-shots tracking her movements through the water, she is suddenly dragged underneath the surface. Her screams and the loud tension music cut off abruptly as soon as she is out of sight, and the shot ends with 3-4 seconds of silence just showing the slow movements of the waves. This shows how quickly things seem to return to normal again after the attack, and the fact the scene happened in the middle of the sea suggests no one will find out about what happened to the girl. This works to make the threat of the shark seem greater, as its victims vanish without any trace. The fact we never actually see the shark throughout this opening scene also makes it more frightening, as this plays on audiences fear of the unknown. This also builds anticipation for the reveal of the shark later on in the film.

Halloween Opening Scene Analysis

 

Halloween is a 2007 horror film directed by Rob Zombie. It is a remake of the original Halloween film, released in 1978. The mise-en-scene of the opening shot introduces the creepy aspect to the film immediately to the audience. A small boy wearing a frightening clown mask while playing with a rat is shown in a close-up shot. The evil child is a convention used in many classic horror films such as Orphan, The Omen and The Exorcist. Although now seen as a bit cliche, the use of children as the antagonist of a horror film plays on audience fears by taking a type of person normally so innocent and naive and turning them into a feared and knowing evil. The audience knows the boy in the first shot of this film is, at the very least, creepy as the lighting of the shot suggests it is daytime and he is inside wearing a evil-looking mask playing with an animal associated with dirt and disease. The background music is digetic, playing from a radio somewhere in the house. The rock and roll sounding music suggests a house that is chaotic and uncaring, as playing that kind of music so loudly suggests the characters do not care about each others peace and quiet.

The following shots introduce us to the mother and father of this house. The man seems unhygienic and suggests he doesn't care about his appearance, we see this through his long hair and unshaven beard. The dialogue exchanged also tells us he is unemployed and the audience get the image of him being a lazy character. We start to see the hateful dynamic of this family as these 2 characters seem to hate each other and using obscene language in front of their baby shows they are unloving. The shots are edited so the baby gets the prevalence of this scene, we as the audience are meant to sympathise with this crying baby and the amount of screen-time the baby gets supports this.

We are also introduced to the parents daughter, a teenage girl who conforms to most stereotypes. She shows her rudeness, uncaring attitude and laziness by throwing a fuss when asked to fetch her brother from upstairs, as well as demonstrating the "environmentally aware" phase teenage girls supposedly go through according to movies. She even makes a joke about her mum having an abortion and seems to genuinely dislike her. The fact jokes like these are being made around the breakfast table without any hint of this behavior being unnatural reinforces to the audience that this is not a normal family and they are all uniquely weird and crazy. The dad then makes another comment that shows his dark personality by suggesting he is attracted to his daughter. This brings in a theme represented in many other horror films, incest. Mainly used to show a weird community or cannibal films, this makes the viewer uncomfortable as well as showing why the evil child we were introduced to may have such a weird personality. The mother reacts to this comment by slapping the man, who then knocks all the objects on the table on the floor. This shows just how badly broken this home is, and demonstrates another theme of films, domestic abuse.

The scene then cuts to show the sister getting her brother, who is locked in the bathroom. We have a close-up of the boy trying to wash the blood off his hands and a small knife. We as an audience wonder why he has blood on him, but know it can't be a very good reason. After a few shots of the father calling the son a "freak" to the mother and saying he is "probably a queer" the boy enters the kitchen. The name-calling of his family and the mans homophobia assures the audience they are right for disliking this character. The boy tells his mother that "Elvis died, I had to flush him." The audience now knows that the blood came from the boy killing the rat he was playing with in the opening shot, proving what a sinister and evil child he is.

Horror Target Audience

Horror films tend to be targeted at around 15-25 year old people. Anyone younger than 15 could only see a horror film that had a certificate of 12, which would be hard to make scary without the blood and gore that 15 and 18 rated films are allowed. Anyone over the age of 25 is generally too mature to be scared by horror films and tend to dislike them. This could also be because the majority of horror films reuse the same old cliches and stereotypes over and over again and most lack originality, meaning by a certain age you're likely to get bored of them as you know exactly what to expect. The way this age group is targeted is by making it as easy as possible for them to relate to the characters onscreen. Almost every horror film ever made features teenagers as the main characters (or victims) so teenagers and young adults will be the age group that can best imagine and put themselves in the situation the film presents. This makes the film more enjoyable to the viewer if they can put themselves in the action as everything that happens in the film feels more real and evokes more genuine emotion out of the audience.

Within this age group, horror films are usually more male-focused. The violence and terror that comes with a horror film is meant to appeal to men, who enjoy proving their masculinity by refusing to be scared by it all. Women are stereo typically more frightened by horror films but still enjoy them and the rush that comes with them. Horror films also target the date scene, with couples often persuaded to see a horror film. This is because the man enjoys "protecting" the women during the films more frightening moments.

Horror films work to play on the audiences interests in order to scare them. For example, a reoccurring theme in the genre is to have lengthy scenes in almost total darkness, or having the villain always in shadow rather than being fully shown (Halloween being a good example). This plays on the audiences fear of the unknown, and interest in what lays in the darkness. If a dark room is being navigated by one of the main characters, the audience is immediately more frightened by this than if they were exploring a room in full light. This is due to the mixture of confusion at the surroundings they have been presented and the knowing that the threat could be as little as a second away, just not in view. Another theme that comes up in most horror films is sex. This again plays with the audiences interests (particular with the age group being targeted) and is almost always interrupted or immediately followed by the arrival of the serial killer/lunatic/ghost. Instead of using the audiences interests to discomfort them like the darkness example, this time the audiences interests are used to make them more comfortable as the situation is familiar and less threatening. This makes the sudden shift in tone more shocking to the audience when the antagonist shows up, and therefore more frightening.

Horror Conventions

Here is a mindmap I created which details all the conventions and typical plot features of your average horror film.

Film Brief

We settled on a action genre for our 2 minute opening scene. The beginning of the scene will introduce our unnamed protagonist and feature him getting off of a train. He'll be wearing a suit, tie and smart shoes so the audience knows he is a professional character. He'll be holding a briefcase that has quite a few close-up shots so the audience knows it is important in the scene. The protagonist will walk through the barriers of the train station which is when we have the first front-on shot of the character.

We'll then have a few establishing shots of a forest or wooded area and track the characters movements through the location. The character will be on the phone talking about "delivering the package soon," so the audience know he is comitting underhand activities or a crime. A mysterious figure will be shown watching the character through the trees, shown in soft focus at first so the audience cannot make out what he looks like, increasing tension. A close-up of the character will be shown as he hears the sound of a twig snapping behind him and turns to see what caused it. An extreme close-up of the man tightening his grip on the briefcase will be shown to reinforce to the audience that this briefcase is important.

After a few seconds of silence, the focus pull of the shot will switch from the background (where the character is) to the foreground to show a crossbow bolt fired into a nearby tree. The focus pull will revert back to the background and show the characters fearful expression before he begins to run away. As he runs, several shots of the mans attacker will be shown, but never in full focus to always obscured by trees to increase the idea of the attacker operating in the shadows, not wanting to be seen. An over the shoulder shot will show the attacker aiming and firing at the man and will quickly cut to a mid-shot of the man falling as he runs with an arrow sticking out of his leg.

The man will shout out in pain and will lie against a tree trunk. A point of view shot from the mans perspective will show the attacker approaching him and stealing the briefcase. Shots will interchange between the attacker forcing the briefcase open and the man looking at his leg with the arrow through it whilst it bleeds. When the attacker cannot open the briefcase, he points the crossbow at point blank range to the mans head and asks him what the code is. The man initially refuses and the attacker twists the arrow deeper into the mans wound as he screams he pain. When the attacker asks again, the man tells him the code, then we have an extreme close-up of the trigger being pulled and hear the sound of the man slumping to the floor. The attacker opens the briefcase and looks inside, a close-up of the man smiling at the briefcases contents is shown. The attacker steals the mans phone and redials the previous number. He says "the package has been delivered." As he walks away from the camera, the titles are shown.