Final Poster

Final Magazine Cover

Ring Rosie Final Cut

World War Z Solo Trailer Review

Name Of Film: World War Z                   Year Released: 2013
Genre Of Trailer: ActioN Horror Sci Fi   My Mark: 9/10

What Happens in the trailer?
The trailer starts off in the midle of the city when there stuck in traffic then an epidemic kicks off and everyone panics and is running around and in amongst all of this you see the zombies running around aswell. They then escape to a big boat and the father is sent off to go and collect information to try and stop everything happening.

Which positive, clever or interesting aspects do you think you could include in your own trailer? What generic features are fulfilled well?
The first thing that really stood out to me was how intense the music was, it was insane and the best piece of music ive heard that goes with an action horror trailer. It also fits in very well with the trailer. We get a good feel of where abouts all this to begin with is taking place as there are a few establishing shots that give you a feel that because of how big the area is the worse the panic is going to be. Thats when it goes into collision cutting as they are trying to escape from the city. As the trialer progresses we see that there is an obvious male hero role going on which is the father of the family. he manages to protect his family and get them to safety then to be sent back out into the chaos to find a cure.The edditing between shots was very creative, the scene that i liked was when they were on the roof running to the helecopter there was a shot of a zombie running behing the main character and it was black flashes over the footage which seemed rather interesting and works well with horror. The expressionist angles that were used were very creative, one i liked in particular was when it was a low angle looking up to the helecopter with zombies hanging from it. You often see these types of angled shots when people are shooting aswell which we do see a lot of.

Which aspects of the trailer did you think were unsucessful and would put off its target audience? How is it disappointing?
The only thing that i found disappointing was that there wasnt enough body horror. I think if it had included that it wold have gotten a higher mark from me and also attracted a wider audience.

Why did I give it that score?
I gave it that score as I felt that it was a trialer that really made me want to go and watch the whole film.


















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Resident Evil Solo Trailer Review

Name Of Film: Resident Evil                 Year Of Release: 2002
Genre Of Trailer: Action Horror Sci Fi  My Mark: 8/10

What happend in the trialer?
In the trailer it starts of in an under ground laboratry and a virus gets out that could kill infect the whole world. A team of people go into this lab to try and get the antidote and stop the virus from escaping. They come across a lot of deadly creatures aswell as zombies.

What Positive, clever or interesting aspects do you think you could include in your own horror trailer? What generic features are fulfilled well?
I like that instead of inter titles there is narration which tells you what is happening I would say that it helps you to follow what is going on without giving to much away. In the beggining there isnt any music but there are very cleverly used sound effects. For example the elervator falling and the smashing of the glass virus, the smashing of windows etc. The jumo scares that they have in the middle are very effective like when the woman is floating in water and suddenly opens her eyes and makes the audience jump. Things like this gives the horror audience adrenaline so by showing this in the trialer makes them want to see even more of it in the film. The colllision cutting at the end of the trailer quickens the pace dramatically and thats when you start to get the action thrill to it however the action scenes are put together with fighting scenes and scenes of zombis trying to attack. With the character conventions we can see straight away the female here with short brown hair wearing a red dress. The colour of her dress connotes blood and danger and that maybe she is a force not to be reckoned with. We also see that throughout the trailer she gets pretty badass.

Which aspects of the trailer did you think were unsucessful and
would put off its target audience? How is it disappointing?
I would say that the only thing disappointing with the trailer was that the music that they used at the end was far too punk and seemed a bit tacky and made it hard to concentrate and there were loads of lyrics and lots going on in the scenes.

Why did you give it that score?
I gave it this score because it really made me want to watch the trialer and i think that it follows the conventions very well. For a Sci Fi the editing was done very well and it did look real.











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Dead Snow Solo Trailer Review

Name of Film: Dead Snow                Year Of Release: 2009
Genre of Trailer: Comedy Horror      My mark after viewing: 7/10

What happend in the Trailer?
In the trailer there are a group of friends who have gone out for an adventure out in the snow and they find some treasure that belonged to the nazi's and then they happen to awaken the nazi zombies then it is a fight for survival.

which positive, clever or interesting aspects do you think you could include in your own trailer? what generic features are fulfilled well?
To begin with there are very substantial establishing shots over the snow and all the mountains. The collision cutting at the beggining after the establishing shots shows all of the characters playing in the snow and doing adventurous things. the music fits with the pace as it changes speed all the way throughout. They have contrapuntal music near the end when the zombies chaarge towards the characters, this fits in well considering it is a  comedy horror and there was bound to be some contrapuntal music somewhere. The body horror was extremely good in this as they have the conventional neck bites and the severed heads and soo many blood splatters. The makeup effects are excellent as they are trying to make them look like they come from a long period of time ago and not just like they are people in the modern age that have just been bitten. With the characters you see that you have the blonde victims and male hero's with there phallic weapons such as hammers and chainsaws.

Which aspects of the trailer did you think were unsucessfull, and would put off its target audience? How is it disappointing?
I think the parts of the trailer that were unsucessfull was that there was a very fine line between it being a full horror and a comedy horror. I felt like there wasnt enough comedy horror for someone to be able to spot that it is definatly a comedy horror,  I also didnt find it funny at all. Another thing was that it all seemed a bot too secluded and there wasnt a wide enough range of setting. It was also far too bright for a horror film.

why did I give it this score?
I gave it 7 because it doesnt necessarily make me want to watch the whole film and they need to do a better job with promoting the genre but appart from that it was a decent horror trailer.

Cloverfield Class Trailer Review

Name of Film: Cloverfield          Year of Release: 2008
Genre of trailer: Action Horror    My mark after viewing: 8/10

What happened in the trailer?
In the trialer there are a group of people at a party then all of  a sudden an explosion happens. There is a lot of panic going on as people are running around a city trying to get away from something. There are a lots more explosions and buildings being torn up.

which positive, clever or interestingaspects do you think you could include in your own trailer? what generic features are fulfilled well?
The collision cutting was done very well how it went from a nice party to then jaggered shots of the explosion. Then it slows down slightly as you see the statue of liberty's head being thrown down the street. The narrative is pretty clear throughout the trialer that something is destroying the city and its a fight for survival and an escape. The trailer teases us as we dont have a clue what is causing all the demolision and disaster, its like its drawing us in to try and watch the trailer. A huge thing we get from the film though is that it is filmed by using a hand held camera. The audeience would probably be around the age of 18-25 years old.

which aspects of the trailer did you think were unsucessful, and would put off its target audience? how is it disappointing?
I would say that the statue of liberty head was out of proportion. The fact that it was one whole scene can either make or break a trailer people will either really like it or not like it so much. As a scene it was filmed really well however i didnt think it quite worked as a trailer. When they were running down the stairs the camera kept cutting out and it didnt really seem realistic.

What was the average score and why did it recieve this?
The average score it got was 8, despite the fact that it was a scene trailer it still stuck to the action thriller conventions.

stereotypical Fan

This is Layla she is a streotypical horror movie fan. She is 21 and works in a Blockbuster store in Great Yarmouth.
she likes playing music and listening to black veil brides and also has a passion for skteboarding and horror movies.
All of her friends also likes the same things as she does, she sort of labells herself as an individual who stands out and likes to be different to most people.

Class review trailer 2

Name of film: Dawn of the dead      Year released: 2004

Genre of trailer: Horror                      My mark: 6/10

What happened in the trailer?

It shows a few shots showing a family in their daily routine then we see the father get eaten by the daughter who had been turned into a zombie.It then introduces the rest of the characters and shows them at the mall and we then see loads more zombies. We then see them trying to escape the mall and get to a safe place but it leaves it as a cliff hanger to whether they actually succeed.

Which positive, Clever or interesting aspects do you think you could include in your own trailer? What Generic Features are fulfilled well? 

The quick montage at the end of the trailer was very creative and effective it gave it a bit of a fast pace action feel to the horror which was good because it fitted in nicely and still kept to being a horror. The characters are quickly introduced just as they should be and from that you can see that it goes along with the horror genre conventions. We see that there is a potential final girl even though she is blonde which isn't generally the norm as the blondes are normally victims.

Which aspects of the trailer did you think were unsuccessful, and would put off its target audience? How is it disappointing?
There is a bit too much plot and the fades were far too overused and seemed a  bit easy to use and can slow the pace down a bit. The inter title font was very boring and didn't look very interesting. There isn't any body horror in the trailer either considering that it's an 18 certificate film there isn't any bad language either. The music that they put to it was pretty poor and not intense enough it didn't strike out to the audience as major scary.

What was the trailers average score in class? why did it receive that mark? 
The average score was 6.5. The reason for this is that it didn't deliver enough horror goodies as in body horror, bad language etc. It looked like a rather safe horror film to watch.

Ring Rosie (Rough Cut)

Focus Group Screening

1.       Score 6/10:

Good comments:

Intertitles were good and effective
Restricted narration at the end is perfect
Narrative was clear.

Improvement comments:

Repeated Rosie gets on a bit long
Make the scream play over shots
Some shots start with actors getting ready (cut).

2.       Score 6/10:

Good comments:

Tense
Music fits well
Nice camera angles
Good makeup
Location fits
Intertitles excellent

Improvement Comments:

Needs more added to it
Don’t get the staring into the camera
More sound effects
More close ups
Needs a jump scare

3.       Score 7/10:

Good comments:

Good use of jump scare at the end

Music is creepy
The intertitles work well

     Improvement Comments:

Maybe think of the outfit and clothing.

4.       Score  6/10:

      Good comments:

Sound
Quick Montage

      Improvement Comments:

Bite scene could be better
Zombies running better
Final shots need to be more explained.

5.       Score 6/10:

Good comments:

Music is creepy
Good intertitles
Body horror

Improvement comments:

Maybe only using one gunshot instead of two
Cut the gun shot short
Add jump scare

 6.       Score  4.5/10

      Good comments:

Music was good with matching intertitles
Shots were done well
Good narrative and gore.

Improvement comments:

Too short
Lack of shots
Continuity error

   
 7.       Score 5/10

Good comments:

Nice montage
Good intertitles

Improvement comments:

Very short
Outfit changed

8.       Score 6/10

       Good comments:
Like the music
Narrative was clear
Intertitles were good

Improvement comments:

Like some violence and more gore
Notepad production’s not horror
Shots linger to long

9.       Score 5/10

Good comments:

Music matches the name
Camera angles good
Lots of gore

Improvement comments:

Intertitles too quick


      10.   Score 5/10

Good comments:

Conventional characters
Music intertitles
Clear narrative

Improvement comments:

Biting in the neck- see body horror
Zombies not very zombie like
Needs a jump scare

11.   Score 6/10

Good comments:

Lighting was good

      Improvement comments:
Needs stronger ending

12.   Score 5/10

Good comments:

Liked the music fit with the intertitles
Clear narrative
Good use of gore

Improvement comments:

Long shots
Bigger variety of shots

13.   Score 5/10

      Good comments:
Good use of gore
Song matched intertitles

Improvement comments:

Narrative needs work
Variety of sots needed

14.   Score 6/10

      Good comment:
Great intertitles
Creepy music

Improvement comments:

Confusing concept
Needs a jump scare

15.   Score 4/10

Good comments:

Music and intertitles flows well
Good gore

Improvement comments:

Too many close ups
Not fluent

16.   Score 7/10

Good comments:

Sound effect is a sort of cliff hanger
 Music great

Improvement comments:

Only a bit of gore
Needs a stranger ending

17.   Sound 6/10:

Good comments:

Music is creepy
Good gore effects
Clear narrative
Conventional characters

Improvement comments:

Add more shots
Stronger ending

Mood Board

Class Poster Idea

6 Panel Practice storyboard

Class Research: Favourite Type of Horror

Class Trailer Review 1

Name of Film: Evil Dead                          Year Released: 2013
Genre of Trailer: Horror                        My Mark After Watching: 9/10

What happened in the trailer? 
Five friends go to a remote cabin in the woods and a book has been discovered and they think that an evil possessive demon has been released with it. A girl gets possessed and everyone is trying to save her and fight off the evil.  There is one final person left to fight off the evil.

Which Positive, clever or interesting aspects do you think you could include in your own trailer? What Generic Features are fulfilled well? 
The Collision cutting such as slow to quick throughout creates the atmosphere for the film as it connotes that it is going to be fast pace. The quick flashes of action are also a big give away that the film is going to be fast paced. The sound effects accompany the fast pace action scenes very well. It matched in pace and helps build tension. The body horror included makes the film seem very generally very scary as you see a scene where the possessed person slice her tongue in half with a Stanley knife. The music also fits in very well with the inter titles it was very dramatic and fitted in with telling the story.

Which aspects of the trailer did you think  were unsuccessful, and would put off its target audience? How is it Disappointing? 
The class felt that there was too much plot that was given away and that it may have literally included all the action horror scenes and didn't leave anything to the imagination. The trailer was also very long and over the standard time for a trailer. Some of the Body horror effects were also far to unrealistic like the puke and for some reason this may put people off from watching as they may not be able to stomach this sort of stuff.

What was the trailers avg. score in class? Why did it receive that mark?
The average mark for this score was 9, I think it received that mark because there was a bit too much gore for peoples liking. However the good aspects would have been that the collision cutting was good the music fit perfectly and it was genuinely scary for the hard core horror fans. The inter titles also helped to explain the trailer very well.

Shooting Schedule Page 3

Shooting Schedule page 2

2nd Personal Film Review

Film Title: Tucker and Dale Vs Evil
Year of Production: 2010     Director: Eli Craig
Genre/Genres: Comedy Horror

Brief Plot Outline: 
A bunch of college students go away on vacation and run into  two hillbillies Called Tucker and Dale. The hillbillies saves one of the college students from drowning but the other students think that they are trying to kidnap and kill her. Because of this they go to save her and with big misunderstandings along the way they end up accidentally killing themselves also.

Which two scenes impressed you the most and why? 
The scene following the blowing up of the cabin. The special effects, body horror and make up was really creative on the bloke that got his face burned there was even a little bit of humor added.






The second scene where they are skinny dipping is very clever in the way that they angle the voyeuristic camera through the weeds. The use of low key lighting is very well done as everything is supposed to be lit up by the moonlight.It makes everything feel creepy how its used.

How has watching this film helped you understand this genre of filmmaking? Which features on the genre checklist did you spot in the film ?  when? How?
The feature that we see a lot of in this film is body horror that is a major part of this film as everyone dies apart from Tucker, Dale and Ali. An example of the body horror  was when a boy ran straight into a tree stump and it went straight through his chest.

There was a very good use of parallel music everytime someone was about to get killed the music got creepier and more intense. We also see some contrapuntal music when the students are running after Tucker in the woods.
For creepy and enclosed locations the cabin that they live in in the woods is very creepy as its old and in the middle of no where. Also there is an abandoned lumber mill in the middle of the forest and the thing that makes it creepy is the fact that Chad is keeping Ali hostage there.
For the use of characters there are a couple of female victims like the black girl who got her faced messed up then killed in the explosion and the other blonde girl who also dies in the explosion.

In terms of types of shots there are a fair amount of close ups for example Tuckers face when he got stung by loads of bees.
And for a theme i think it was clear to see that sex and the taboo was definitely in there as there were some scenes of nudity whilst they were skinny dipping and the fact that chad wanted to be Ali's boyfriend.

Which aspects of the film would you like to include in your own trailer? Why?
The Point of view shots i would like to include in my trailer like at the beginning when there were flashbacks when Chad was telling the story of the hillbilly killers. I would use this because its those little bits in the film that make you think as something totally different is going on.
The attention to detail that they used was very good as it really set the location which added to the creepy feel to the film. I think that if I included this in my trailer it would just ad the the theme of it being a horror film and make it very clear especially from just being able to watch the trailer.

Which aspects of the film would you like to avoid in your own trailer? Why? 
The Comedy side of things is something i would like to avoid whilst making my trailer. I feel like with watching the trailer to Tucker and Dale Vs Evil it gave away more or less all of the funny bits in the trailer so when it came to watching the film it wasn't as funny as you had already seen it before. I also think it would be hard to incorporate and actually get it right as comedy and horror is a hard thing to get right.
The body horror shots are something I wouldn't like to include too much of. I feel that restricted narration would be better as I wouldn't want it to look low budget and unprofessional.

What was the best aspect/ more enjoyable moment in the film? Why? Can you recreate this in your own film? How?
The best aspect was the fact that the film was funny but at the same time a horror with lots of body horror. I wouldn't want to recreate the comedy side of things as its hard to make people laugh. I would however like to recreate the body horror as it was realistic but as i said before not to much of it.

How does the film reflect its institutional or historical context? Analyse two scenes/ events that reflect the time in which the film was made.
The film reflects how much more relaxed the Hayes code is. You can see this with censorship throughout the film.You see each and every one of the deaths in detail with blood and guts even though the film is a 15 certificate.
Also the language isn't censored. "Yeah well fucking dying isn't good for you either but that doesn't seem to be stopping anybody". This quote is from Tucker.
There used to be the hayes code in the 1930's to 1960's but has been rid of as people are more used to things like body horror, swearing and nudity.





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shooting schedule page 1

Favorite Image Analysis

In this picture it goes along with the horror genre conventions as its more common to have tough women as the main characters for example you get a tough woman in the horror film Scream. she survives five films and still doesn't get killed in the end which is very similar to Milla Jovovitch in resident evil.
The guns in the image represent phallic symbols which connote male power however she is a woman which represents her status as the final girl stereotype also considering the fact that she had brown short hair which is fairly common with final girls.
The colours that she is wearing goes along with the horror conventions as-well. The red straps would connote danger as they are the straps that hold the guns. The black clothing connotes how bad ass and how tough she is, although she is wearing black that can connote evil in modern movies black connotes a more tough aspect rather than evil for example the uniforms they wear in x men 3 are all black and they are the good guys.
The background is very dark and almost waste land like so it would suggest that the world is collapsing and falling apart throughout the movie.

Health and Safety

Shot list 2

Shot list 1

Choice of trailer and Synopsis

Our choice of trailer is going to be a highlight trailer. The reason for this is that with a highlight trailer we are able to create emotion and tension with the use of collision cutting, jump scares and montage. We feel a highlight trailer is more popular and powerful for a zombie style movie. In comparison to Dawn Of the Dead (2004) obviously our trailer won’t have as good special effects but we like the idea of the way that the characters are quickly introduced and the quick montage at the end.

Synopsis

The main theme of the film is zombies. It’s all about the zombie apocalypse, but told from more of a feminist point of view. All of our main heroes will be female, showing the power of both blonde and brunette female characters which challenges horror archetypes. The film starts in a coffee shop with two female characters chatting, then they suddenly realise that the coffee shop is completely empty. They walk outside to be surrounded by pandemonium, people running past chased by zombies. A zombie approaches one of the two heroes and stands in front of her and groans. She takes her coffee cup and crashes it over the zombie’s head, and a bit lodges in its forehead and it drops to the ground. However there is a twist as Rosie is somehow immune to the virus as it’s just what’s happened. So therefore she is the last one standing as she cannot be defeated.

1st Personal Film Review

Film Title: The Haunting in Connecticut- Ghosts of Atlanta
Year Of Production : 2013 Director: Tom Elkins
Genre: Horror/Thriller

Brief Plot Outline:
A young family moves into a historic home in Georgia only to find out that they arent the only people there. They find out a secret that is willing to bring down anyone that gets in its path.

Which two scenes impressed you the most? Why? 
I thought the end scene was very interesting when Lisa discovers the station master's hide out and she sees everything that has happened to the poor people who got caught and never released. The reason i liked this was the effects that were used really made you feel creeped out and as if you were there having the flash back.
The second scene i like is the Exorcism that is performed on Heidi by the priest. Joyce the auntie sees things and it is made to feel very eery with the use of collision cutting and the slow to fast montage.

How has watching this film helped you understand this genre of film making? which features on the genre checklist did you spot in the film? when? how?
The way in which it has helped me understand the genre is the way that it uses its angles to create tension and to give it a messed up feel. An example of where this is used in the scenes where  Heidi sees the ghosts all of the scenes the angles show very little and it keeps you wondering sometimes as the shots are often very quick aswell.
The features in the film were very well done. The low key lighting was very effective, obviously used more in the night scenes and an example would be when things were shown to be lit by the moonlight and the fact that some of it was set in an older time so was lit by fire and lanterns.
As mentioned previously the collision cutting was well used when Joyce was having flash backs.
Body horror helped me to understand the genre a lot better, a good example of this was when Joyce had needles and thread shooting out of her body as it was pretty horrific but in a very clever way.


There was a clear use of creepy enclosed locations for example when Heidi finds herself in a cabin under the ground with no way of getting out also when they break through to the area where the taxi demist stuffs his hosts. It is clearly tight and set underground.
In terms of the characters there was in fact a male hero and that was the father Andy. He was the hero a few times towards the end when Heidi got taken and he went after her and had to climb down into the hole to get her.
With a theme there was  a clear theme of loneliness being isolated and trapped. Heidi the little girl was very lonely as she had no one else around and they were very isolated as they had moved to a house in the middle of no where.With the theme of being trapped it was all of the ghosts in the film that were trapped in limbo and Heidi was the only connection or chance to get out and find peace.
All of this helped me to understand the horror genre because they are things that i can easily spot in near enough every horror films.

Which aspects of the film would you like to include in your own trailer? why?
I would consider using the canted angles that they used in the film. They used them when the ghosts appeared to Heidi in like a flash back moment but she was there as well. I feel that they are used to create emotion and its all about trying to scare the audience which is something I really need to make sure I do in my horror trailer. These techniques work by creating these creepy effects so that the audience feel uncomfortable and its not the norm.
Another thing I would use is the way that they used the lighting effects on the flash backs. They had played around with the contrast and brightness and other effects to make the scenes look dated and kind of like a very old movie. The shakes they used on the images were very effective as well and it made it look a little bit distorted.

Which aspects of the film would you like to avoid in your own trailer? why?
I feel that they overdid the cross cutting slightly and instead of making me feel tense i felt a bit ill. Some of the shots were a tad bit confusing as well maybe a tiny bit of creepy narration would have helped.

What was the best aspect  / more enjoyable moment in the film? Why? Can you recreate this in your own film? How?
I would say that the more enjoyable bits were the fast pace moments when it flashed back even though it made me think a bit more.

A scene that does this is at the end when Heidi and her mother come face to face with the station master and they had to get our before they burned alive.I don't think I would be able to create this as I don't think i will have flash backs in my horror trailer but I would recreate the fast pace moments that put you on the edge of your seat. I would do that by using the collision cutting but trying not to over do it.



This clip shows the flash backs and the effects.

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Monica gets chainsawed imagae analysis DOTD 2004

In this image we see a blonde woman who is a horror archetype and the fact that she is being cut into keeps to the horror convention as she dies. The fact that she has sex before (with Steve) and that she is the female victim also sticks with the horror convention. Another film in which we see the blonde female victim get killed is in the film Scream (1994) where Drew Barrymore gets killed in the first scene. In Scream, the murder is intentional with Ghostface using a phallic knife. The weapon that is used to kill Monica in this scene is a also phallic symbol which is used by a male (Glen). However, while it shows he has power, he didn’t mean to kill her. Glen is also gay and a transvestite which again shows the modern day context has changed from older horror films. Horror often portrays sub cultural social groups and is therefore considered to be “forward thinking”.

Anna against stephen imagae analysis DOTD 2004

The shot here is an over the shoulder shot. It focusses on how the zombie has no power as right in front of him is a weapon. This weapon is classed as a phallic symbol; the fact that Anna the woman is carrying it is saying she has got the power and is brave and better than someone who is without one. The fact that Anna is blonde and is one of the final characters breaks the codes and conventions for a brunette being a final girl as the blondes normally get killed in horror films. After this shot she risks her life to go back and get the boat keys showing that she’s smart. Another film that has a strong female final girl/female survivor is Resident evil who starts a girl named Alice who is a complete badass and is the final girl in all 6 resident evil films.

Outside the mall image analysis DOTD 2004

This is a low angle looking up at the characters and the shopping mall. This shows hope for them that they have finally found a place to get them away from the harsh reality they are facing. However, this is also a long shot establishing how large the place is compared to the characters and it symbolises consumerism's power over us all. It's showing how important it is still in everyday life as all the zombies are drawn to one place and they still have that connection in their brain. We also see all the characters in this scene and there are a wide variety of races, from Kenneth (Black) to Ana (White, Blonde) to Luda (Eastern European). This is showing how modern society has moved on and become far more diverse as racism isn’t an issue anymore.

Zombies in Mall image analysis DOTD 1979

The first thing we first notice about this shot is the angle, which is a high. This connotes how little power the zombies have considering how slow and gormless they are. The clock tower represents how time has stood still and everything looks so calm but at the same time the clock is red which connotes fear and danger. There is contrapuntal music playing at this moment in time. The reason there is contrapuntal music is to unsettle us. You can also see that George Romero is mocking consumerism and making it out to be rubbish as people are just wondering around aimlessly in the mall. Romero likes to mock the content in his films, so with Day of the Dead (1985) he mocked the fact  that he considered there to be a government that was far too obsessed with spending money on weaponry and the military. In Day of the Dead all of the army members were very untrustworthy and nasty. 

Enjoying the mall imagae analysis DOTD 1979

There is a huge contrast between what the picture is saying to what is actually going on. They are smiling whilst everyone around them are dying and turning into zombies. This is a high angle shot which shows that even though they are holding money which would normally represent power, they have no power at that point in the film. The fact that a white man is shaking a black man’s hand is uncommon in films as there was still a bit of racism around but not as much as there used to be. Another contrast here is the colour of Peter's top. Its bright yellow which is a happy colour but are they really happy considering what is going on. This shot reflects Romero as an auteur because he often had black heroes in his films. This is very similar to the black hero in night of the living dead.  Romero also liked to flip around character archetypes. We would normally think that Stephen should be the male hero because he is white. When actually he’s very greedy and cannot use his phallic gun. So Romero then has people we wouldn’t expect to be the hero for example “BUB” in Day of the Dead. He does this to surprise us.

Fly Boy Attacked image analysis DOTD 1979

In this shot we see Flyboy being attacked. The thing that stands out the most for me is the low key lighting there are a lot of shadows which makes the scene a lot scarier as what’s going on isn’t entirely clear. This makes the audience wonder what is hiding in the shadows. In the build up to this scene there is collision cutting with the zombie trying to find Flyboy. We go from slow point of view shots to help us feel part of the action to quick close ups that create panic and fear. We can just see that he is carrying a gun which he is really bad at using it’s a phallic symbol but doesn’t really represent him as all he does is keeps shooting blanks and at this shot he drops his bullets whilst filling up the gun barrel. He gets lucky in the end when he had managed to get one bullet in the barrel and it clicks round just in time. Again, though, we see that Stephen is not a typical hero of horror films because he has lots of weak aspects to his personality.

Bates Motel image analysis Psycho 1960

In this scene from Psycho is the first time we see the Bates Motel. The whole set up gives it a really creepy look with it being in the dark and having light peering through the windows of the house on the hill.  The low angle looking up to the house connotes the power it has over Marion. In this scene the rain is falling down heavily which connotes misery through pathetic fallacy. The fact that it is nigh time as well connotes misery and death, they do this by using low key lighting. It helps to build up the tension and make you think that something Is going to happen. We can also see a figure in the window (supposed to be “Mother”) which gives us clues about the future narrative of the film.

Arbogasts attack image analysis Psycho 1960

This scene is the murder of the detective Arbogast, The first thing we get from this shot is that it’s a bird’s eye view; this is cleverly shot to hide the identity of Norman’s mother. The second thing we notice is that there are a lot of shadows in the shot due to the low key lighting. This is adding to the fact that the scene is trying to be creepy. The shadow from Norman pretending to be his mother looms over Arbogast which connotes him being swallowed in by the evil that is about to take place. We then see after this Arbogast get slashed in the face, for a 1960 thriller that is quite a bit of gore however it is still sticking to the Hays Code. The main shock of the scene is created through collision cutting, by going from a slow and quiet scene of Arbogast climbing up the stairs to the sudden loud music and quick violence when “Mother” attacks him. 

Shower scene image analysis Psycho 1960

This scene from Psycho is the shower scene where Marion gets killed. This image is a backlit silhouette. The blackness of the silhouette is representing the evil of Norman’s mother. The weapon he is carrying is a knife which is a phallic symbol that connotes the power Norman has over women considering the fact that he is sexually frustrated over women. In the foreground of this image there is the water from the shower which symbolises misery through the use of pathetic fallacy. This leads onto a fast montage of around 57 shots from at least 8 different angles. The idea of the montage is to create fear and panic as Marion gets attacked. At the end of the scene there is the shot of Marion with a tear in her eye which carries on with the connotation of misery as she is now dead. This shows the impact of Hitchcock as the “auteur of the film. Hitchcock was also very famous for his clever use of montage editing which helped him to create suspense and then a shock. 

Paracinema Magazine Analysis

Empire Magazine Analysis