Final Girl Theory

My group and I decided to use Carol Clover's final girl theory in our horror trailer as we felt that it related to the name of our trailer the most. As our trailer is called 'The Voyeurist' we felt that women are the most targeted when stalking. As a group, we decided on the name for our main character in our upcoming horror trailer. We chose the name 'Riley' as we wanted to include the final girl theory (Carol J Clover). 'Riley' is a unisex name and she follows the final girls theory's convention as she abstains from sex and does not drink alcohol. Also having a unisex name, Riley has some masculine aspects about her which further highlights her bravery and admiration as an 'alpha female'. Riley faces close to death experiences in our trailer, but will always come out surviving. As she is being stalked/watched this will highlight her bravery as she will know that someone is watching her, however will go into dark settings to face the villain. This will be the beginning of an enigma code.

Test Shots

Here are some test shots from our previous narrative.

List Of Shots Used For Our Trailer

Shots we intend to use for our trailer

• Close ups
• Low/ High angles
• Wide shots

Close Up 

The close up will be used to show the final girl. As the final girl is brave and almost innocent, the close ups will convey this aspect. There will also be close ups of the villain although their face will never be shown. This will give off a suspicious sense as audiences will want to find out more about the villains past and why they are chasing the final girl (Riley). 

Low Angle

Low angles will be used to show the final girls dominance and authority as she is brave. Most of the low angle shots will be of the final girl glaring at the villain. It will also show a binary opposition as most of the time, the final girl will be shot in the light and the villain in the dark. This enhances light versus dark. Another binary opposition which will be made apparent throughout will be good vs evil. The good character will be shot from a low angle to show their bravery, although sometimes shot from a high angle to show that they are weak. The villain will be similar, however most of the time shot from a low angle to show their power. 

Wide Shot

A wide shot will convey a running or an escape scene. It will enhance Barthes' enigma code, which will highlight the aspect of 'who done it? A scene that will be symbolic in our trailer will be the running scene of the hero/final girl running away from the villain. This is a typical aspect from a horror trailer which moves the narrative. It also makes the audience feel on edge as the villain is never really shown. We only see the final girl running away and looking scared. We intend for the scene to be sped up so that it gives more of an eerie sense. 

Cast List

Riley - Sharna Hylton

Lilith Woods (Villain) - Dawn Gallant

Classmate - Lois Douglas

A Clip That Has Influenced Our Production

As you can see from above, here is a clip from 1996 horror movie Scream. The final girl, Sidney is being chased by the villain in the clip. I feel that this scene is iconic as it has influenced my group and my choice for the chase scene in our production. As there is a typical chase scene in most horror films, I believe that creating a scene similar to this one will have a huge affect on the audience as we intend to make them feel on edge watching this scene. We also want to create a sense of suspense as the villain will be masked just like in Scream. This will also enhance Barthe's enigma code as it will give a sense of 'who done it' due to the final girl running to escape the villain.

Diagram Of Our Narrative

Here is a diagram of the activities which will occur in our trailer.

Location Settings

Here are a few locations Dawn and I filmed at whilst we were in the process of making our horror trailer. As we wanted to get a sense of stalking, we went to Norbury train station as our first location to shoot as we felt that it looked quite eerie as it was  quiet at the time. The camera was on a tripod and I filmed from outside of the window so that we was able to achieve the voyeuristic sense. The camera was focusing on Dawn in the first scene when she got a call from an unknown number. This highlights a stalking element as if someone that has phoned her is following her. We also went to Streatham Common by the swings. As we watched a horror trailer with a swing which was iconic, we decided to film the final girl on a swing, shooting the shot from an over the shoulder shot. We intend to use one of the settings as an iconic symbol in our trailer as we want to achieve this idea of someone being stalked. Afterwards, we took some pictures of the locations just in case we wanted to have a still image in our trailer which could also look very effective.

Shooting Schedule And Organisation Of Actors

Symbolism Of The Candles As A Prop

We looked at different ideas of horror movies that inspired us so that we could meet the horror genre. We looked at 1976 horror movie 'Carrie'. The candles are extremely significant in the movie as they represent religion and are a sinister element which conveys horror. We decided that we wanted to use this aspect as it looked quite menacing. Also as we are using the theme of religion in our trailer, we want to keep this element so that it can look effective. The candles can also represent Levi Strauss' binary opposition as light versus dark or life and death. The characters should represent this feature as there is a villain who's motives are evil and a victim who is pure and competent. We intend to use candles in a significant way which will entail fast pace music over it as it should link to the horror genre a lot as this sense of suspicion and guilt. The main character performs an exorcism on the necklace as it is a bad object, resulting in an unknown figure coming to haunt the final girl. Candles will be highlight in those scenes.

Prop/Location List

Storyboard

Storyboard from loisdouglas01

Character's Personality

Riley Allard ('Allard' meaning brave)

The character Riley is the final girl and the movie's protagonist. As she abstains from sex, drugs and alcohol, she has the aspects of the final girl theory (Carol J Clover). She is not very popular and only attends the party to 'please' her friends. Although she does not drink alcohol at the party and follow the conventions of a teen stereotype, she becomes a victim towards two lovers that begin to stalk her. Riley lives with her mother and father in an isolated area in South London . She is very educated and intelligent. She currently attends college, although she is looking at universities in order to study maths next year, pursuing her ideal career as an accountant. Riley is quite resourceful, but slowly becomes stronger over the course of the movie. She overcomes threats and deaths surrounding her. Riley is seventeen years old and is described by her friends as a ‘kind-hearted’ girl. She is not influenced by her friend’s personalities. In the movie, Riley has many links to other final girls in horror movies, such as Sidney from Scream. As Sidney is under constant pressure to have sex with her boyfriend, Riley also is under pressure with her long term partner. However, unlike Sidney, Riley does not give in and remains a virgin. 

Narrative

1.  Riley’s (Dawn) on her bed at home, looking at herself in the mirror
2.  Riley talks to Phoenix (Sharna) about feeling watched
3.  Phoenix persuades Riley to attend the party
4.  Riley argues, she doesn’t want to attend the party - typical aspects of the final girl theory.
5.  She’s finally persuaded by Phoenix, and attends the party
6.  Loki attempts to touch Riley in a sexual manner, this is seen by a bystander
7.  The bystander tells Phoenix and, Phoenix then believes Riley’s out to ruin her relationship with Loki.
8.  Riley and Phoenix go home, and while Phoenix is busy in the bathroom – Riley notices a shrine to herself under the bed (in Loki and Phoenix’ house)
9. Riley thinks Loki is to blame and the owner of the shrine
10. Riley runs out of the house, she manages to drop her key = and Phoenix realises she’s  found the shrine
11. New day
12. Riley “you need to look under the bed! I think Loki’s obsessed with me”
13. Phoenix “what are you going on about?!”
14. Riley “what are you going on about?!”
15. Phoenix turns to look at Loki who is lying down in the bed with her, and the audience feels as though Loki is the guilty one because of her menacing stare
16. Flashback? – past interaction
17. Riley and Loki were together earlier on in the year.
18. Phoenix manages to distract Loki from her and that is how they begin their relationship.

Phoenix’ paranoia sets in, because of this event and therefore she is always wary of Riley – this is why they become best friends, so that Riley has no reason to go after Loki

Final Girl/Protagonist - Riley

Levi Strauss Work

Audience Reaction To Halloween (1978)

Narrative Theories

Narratives are driven by conflict - Claude Levi-Strauss: Binary opposition, created by the two opposite.













Aristole - at the heart of tragedy is conflict and this is a representation of action.

The Conjuring (2013)

In the first clip we watched, there was the use of Levi-Strauss' Binary opposition of light and dark. There was also good verses evil. In the second clip, old and young, there was also human verses alien. The third clip consisted of light and dark, young and old.

Levi-Strauss considered the conflict created would drive the narrative forward until finally some sort of balance between them or resolution is achieved.

Here are some examples of Binary opposition:

• Light and Dark
• Right and Wrong
• Good and Evil
• Strength and Weakness
• Noise and Silence
• Inside and Outside
• Youth and Age
• Poverty and Wealth
• Makes and Female
• Honest and Deceitful
• Human and Alien
• Sanity and Insanity 

Tzvetan Todorov

Tzvetan Todorov was born in 1939, on the 1st of March. He was born in Sofia, Bulgaria. He is a Franco-Bulgarian historian, philosopher, literary critic, sociologist and essayist. Todorov is the author of many books and essays, which has a significant influence in anthropology, sociology, semiotics, literary theory, thought history and culture theory.

Todorov felt that all stories start in a state of equilibrium, which is then disrupted.

Equilibrium - balance

Equilibrium

State of well being and normality between the protagonists.

Disequilibrium 

Well being is disrupted.

'For tragedy is a representation, not of men, but of action and life, of happiness and unhappiness - and happiness and unhappiness are bound up with action.

- Needs the two opposites in any shape or form if you cannot differentiate the meaning.

Barthe's Enigma Code

Barthe's Enigma Code

1. Proariretic code (the voice of empirirics): The code of actions. Any action initiated must be completed. The cumulative actions constitute the plot events of the text.
2. Hermeneutic code (the voice of truth): The code of enigmas or puzzles.
3. Connotative (or Semic) code (the voice of the person): The accumulation of connotations. Semes, sequential thoughts, traits and actions constitute character. 'The proper noun surrounded by connotations'. 
4. Cultural or referential code (the voice of science (or knowledge): Though all codes are cultural we reserve this designation for the storehouse of knowledge we use in interpreting everyday experience.
5. Symbolic code (voice of the symbol): Binary oppositions or themes. The inscription into the text of the antithesis central to the organization of the cultural code. 

Carol J. Clover - Her body, Himself

The article of 'her body, himself' (extract) expresses how women are portrayed on TV and how it has changed over time. Women have gone from being the 'pretty' images on TV in which they are victims of murders, being killed off to becoming 'The Final Girl'/ Films such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) and Halloween (1978) explore the aspect of the final girl. In the 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre'. Sally becomes the final girl, escaping from 'Leatherface' and in 'Halloween' Laurie, being the last one of her friends still standing, but Michael Myers still not defeated. I personally believe that women have come a long way on TV and in film and have definitely had a role reversal over time. The article explores in depth women on TV and how they are usually implicated by men. One suggestion from the article was that a man would rather see a pretty women on TV being murdered than an ugly women or a man. This could indicate that women are still being presented as 'sex symbols' on TV even though they are taking on a more masculine role, becoming the 'alpha female'. Some men would rather sexualise the heroine than see an ugly woman take on that role which I believe is unfair, women should be rewarded for their acting, not looks.

I still believe that it happens today as 'final girl' roles are usually depicted by good looking women. Films such as Psycho (1960) explore women being portrayed as inferior to men and men have authority and dominate women on TV.

Why do 'men act and women appear'?

Laura Mulvey wrote a very influential essay, 'visual pleasure and narrative cinema' (1975) suggests that the way women are viewed in cinema is 'unequal'. The camera necessarily presents women as 'sexualised', for the pleasure of men.

The Male Gaze

1. The look of the camera as it records the filmic event.
2. The look of the audience as it watches the final film product.
3. The look of the characters at each other in the visual images of screen illusion.

Voyeurism - Stemmed from Sigmund Freud. The compulsion to seek gratification by secretively looking at sexual objects or acts; the actions of a Peeping Tom. For example, in the opening of Psycho (1960), the camera pans into Marion Cranes bedroom which gives a sense of an audience watching something they're not suppose to be seeing as it is private.  

Audience Theories

Hypodermic Model



It has immediate and powerful effect on its audiences. An intended message is directly received.

Copycat/Modelling Theory

                                                                                                                                                                         









It is modelled or inspired by an act which has been publicized in the media.    

Cultivation Theory                                        

Leaves people with a mis-perception of what is true in the world.

Uses/Gratifications Theory


Is an approach to understanding why and how people actively seek out specific media.

Desensitisation Theory


When media audiences' reaction grow weaker due to the exposure to violence and death etc.

Reception Theory



It emphasizes the readers reception of a text that can be read.

Paul Wells

In class, we looked at theorist, Paul Wells and reviewed his research. As you can see from below, I made some notes on his research in which he conducted.

41-55 years (1945-1974)

• Conducted a small focus group study. (12 people)
• Interest in horror whilst younger, rather than enduring with age.
• Night and dark - reminded them of walking home in the dark as youths. 
• Real horror of World War 2 meant they didn't like imaginary horror. 
• Contemporary films showed good SFX.

26-40 years (1960-1974)

• Slow disengagement with the genre, disliked silly predictability of films in 1980s that relied on certain conventions.

16-25 years (1975-1984)

• Enjoyed the spectacle - blood-letting and gore. Engaged with extra-textual world of horror e.g. websites. 
• Horror watched socially.
• The relationship to being frightened changes with age,
• Audience between 1970s and 1990s are more anaesthetised to explicit special effects.
• Young audiences are aware of artificiality and are becoming harder to shock. 

Research Into Horror Trailers

Prelim Task - Prom Night Remake Trailer (2008)

After a couple of days filming, here is my final preliminary production. My group and I took it in turns to edit and film the work that we did. We didn't use any soundtracks, but used some digetic sounds such as the scream over the 'mom's' scream. We wanted the production to be menacing. I think that we were quite successful at doing so, but we could have done a lot more work to gain that success. Unfortunately, we didn't have a spare battery so our camera died on us and we couldn't proceed further. We had to use the footage we had to finish the story line with a cliffhanger. I personally would have filmed in different lighting or changed the contrast of the movie on iMovie. I also would have filmed a lot more if our camera didn't die on us. I think that the scene we remade could have been different, but we had so little time, so we had to be very prompt when making a decision of what scene/trailer we wanted to remake. Overall, I think that all of my group members worked well and I think that I worked well too. I think that this is a good starting point and we'll learn a lot from this. We will be able to look back at this task and see our infinite improvement.

Prom Night Opening

Prom night is a 2008 American slasher film. It is a remake of a 1980 Canadian slasher film. This is the scene my group and I are planning to remake as we felt that this scene of the movie was the most thrilling. The location we are planning to film in, is at Shari's (a group member) house. We decided to change a couple of aspects from the scene such as the characters, in which meaning excluding the dad and the brother in the scene. We plan to focus on the main character, Donna Keppel (named Courtney in our production), her mother and the villain. We personally believe that the remake will look quite successful, but being on a low budget, it will obviously not look as good as the original. Due to our low budget, we have to remove the blood and gore which will not make it look as effective. We plan to work very hard on this production, but are aware that this does not have to be such a high standard production as we will compare our future trailer to this prelim task and learn from what we've done to gain success.

Genre Conventions Of Horror

As you can see, I created a diagram which shows the genre conventions of horror. I selected the fundamental aspects of horror, such as iconography. Iconography includes props and costumes. Props are normally notably with the villain in the movie. The iconography in this case is a weapon which can involve a knife or chainsaw. For example, in Psycho (1960) Norman Bates uses a knife to kill all his victims with and in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), Leatherface uses a Chainsaw to butcher all of his victims with. I also spoke about the lighting and the villains characteristics. I personally believe that themes are a genre convention of horror as they explore different themes such as death, religion, good vs evil, depression, revenge, supernatural, insanity and the corruption of science. I believe that these are all significant aspects of the horror genre as a horror will not look as effective without them. Camera work and isolated settings are also genre conventions of horrors as they need to look effective so that the audience will feel engaged. Stereotypically, a horror film will be set in an isolated area, a haunted house, in the woods, dark streets or ghost town. These are all cliché, but this is what audience members get the thrill out of watching.

The Blair Witch Project (1999)

The Blair Witch Project is a 1999 American found footage horror film written, directed and edited by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez. The film relates the story of three student filmmakers, Heather Donahue, Michael C. Williams and Joshua Leonard who disappeared while hiking in the Black Hills near Burkittsville, Maryland in 1994 to film a documentary about a local legend the 'Blair Witch'. The viewers are told three were never seen or heard from again, however their video and sound equipment was discovered a year later and that this 'recovered footage' is the film the viewer is watching. I found The Blair Witch Project very interesting as it wasn't a horror genre stereotype. In fact, many conventions they use in horror were not used in The Blair Witch Project which I found that this is what made it successful. The fact that the movie was shot like a documentary made it even more interesting. It was very realistic like the posters and the acting made the film seem real. The idea of the 'other' was made clear as it was a supernatural species the audience were never in contact with. The unknown was a prominent theme in the movie. 

Alien (1979)

Alien is a 1979 science-fiction horror film directed by Ridley Scott. The film's title refers to a highly aggressive extraterrestrial (object or being beyond the planet Earth) creature that stalks and kills the crew of a spaceship. I personally believe that Alien was an interesting movie. It had very little horror conventions, but the iconography was similar to the horror genre. Firstly, the isolated setting was prominent throughout the film. The fact that the people were on a spaceship connoted that they were in the middle of nowhere, possibly not aware of their surroundings. They obviously did not know the area well, which foreshadowed later events in the movie, in which being death or meeting the 'other'. The aliens in this case were the 'other' and the villains as the attempted to kill everyone on the spaceship. Fortunately for Ripley, she managed to survive the alien attack and be the final girl. This is a subversion as females are usually the victims, being the first ones to be killed off.

Scream Review (1996)

Scream (1996)

More PowerPoint presentations from Lois

As you can see from above, I created a presentation on Author Stream to write a review on the 1996 slasher film, Scream. I believe that it was one of the best horror movies that I have watched so far as it had the best opening scene and the storyline was really intriguing. The action started as soon as the film began and the action and tension just continued to build up. I liked the fact that there was a plot twist at the end of the movie which no one expected. The use of ominous music kept the audience on edge and this added the effect to the movie being a horror. The film was set in an eerie, isolated setting which is a stereotypical convention of a horror. When introducing the opening title, the title had red flashes behind it, which can connote blood and gore. I noticed that there were many references to other horror movies such as, Psycho (1960), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), Halloween (1978), Friday the 13th (1980), Prom Night (1980) and A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984).

Audience Reaction To Halloween (1978)

Here is an audience reaction to the American independent slasher horror film Halloween (1978). I found filming this audience reaction useful as I was able to notify who does and doesn't like horror. As you can see from all of the three girls reactions (Amber, Camilla and Holly), they were all scared from the clip that I showed them. This is convenient for me as I will therefore use all three of them for my horror focus group. Some feedback I got from the girls was that the masked villain is what made them jump and the ominous music. I will therefore use this iconography in my horror trailer because I know that particular aspect made people scared. This also will make my horror trailer quite successful because I'm looking for an audience reaction and I've already been given some I can use further. The girls also said that they were scared of the suburban setting on screen, as it wasn't in the middle of nowhere, but somewhere that seemed so residential and ordinary. This is another handy source of information I can use for my horror trailer. In this video, the girls are watching the scene in the movie where Laurie is hiding from Michael Myers in the closet. The link is below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IN5ue_1vTXI

Horror Survey (Analysis)

Here, I created a survey to gather information for my focus group, in which I am currently in the process of making. I created a survey via 'Survey Monkey' and asked various questions such as 'What is your greatest fear? And 'What is your preferred theme within a horror movie? I believe that this survey will be useful as I will be able to find out who will be in my focus group a lot quicker, rather than just asking random people. I have created some questions based on how many horrors a person watches and whether they even like horror. This will give me a clear indication of who I want as my target audience as well, as I am trying to focus on people aged between 16-18 years old. I have currently got some people to take my survey based on the ages they range from. Once I have collected that vital information, I will then feel ready to begin my focus group and then possibly be in the process of creating my storyboard for my horror trailer.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/HP7TKC7

Horror Survey

1. Are you male or female?

Are you male or female?  Male Female

2. How old are you?

How old are you?

3. Is horror the best genre ever?

Is horror the best genre ever?  Agree Disagree Somewhat agree Somewhat disagree Not sure

4. How much horror do you watch?

How much horror do you watch?  A lot A fair amount None Other

If Other (please specify)

5. What horror movie would you consider the best?

What horror movie would you consider the best?  A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984) The Conjuring (2013) Scream (1996) Paranormal Activity (2007) All of the above None Other

If Other (please specify)

6. What is your preferred theme within a horror?

What is your preferred theme within a horror?  Supernatural Slasher Thriller None Other

If Other (please specify)

7. How much money would you spend on a cinema ticket to see a horror movie?

How much money would you spend on a cinema ticket to see a horror movie?  £0-5 £5.50-8 £8.50-13 Other

If Other (please specify)

8. What is your greatest fear?

What is your greatest fear?  The Dark Masks Blood Nothing scares me Other

If Other (please specify)

9. How do you feel whilst watching a horror movie?

How do you feel whilst watching a horror movie?  Scared Excited Sick Depressed Other

If Other (specify)