1st Personal Film Review

Film Title: The Shinning

Year of production: 1980

Director: Stanley Kubrick 

A family heads into an isolated hotel for winter where an evil/spiritual presence influences the father into violence towards his family.

One of the scenes that impressed me the most was the tracking shot of the young boy on the tricycle. I liked this scene because of the sound from wheels added a natural fear to the scene (from loud to quite). The content change from the wheels being on carpet then wooden floor added suspense to the scene due to the change of volume and tempo. 

The second scene that impressed me was towards the ned of the film of Johnny trying to break down the door. I liked this scene due to the collision cutting, editing of the montage, phallic weapon (axe)all made the conventional scene scary and brought fear to the audience. Also the length of the close up shot of the mother hiding made you feel fear for her and sympathy for the character. A;so the use dialogue represented clearly his insanity ‘here’s Johnny’!

By using the genre checklist made me understand the conventions by how commonly they are used. A few of the conventions i sae in the film where: creepy isolated location (hotel) this also links with the theme of loneliness. Conventional cinematography used in the shinning where close ups ‘here’s Johnny’ scene. The characters in film are conventional physique killer and final girl. However the final girl isn't completely conventional, i make this point due to how scared she was in last scene. A conventional ideology i saw in the film was sadism, sadism is represented by the pyscho killer trying to inflict pain/kill his family. Their is a lot of low key lighting in the film for example when he is driving at the bar, this could could be a representation and symbolise his slow descent to insanity and how his mind set is changing to a darker place, mentally. 

Aspects that i feel are strong and would consider placing in my own trailer would be creepy location. Even though i found the film slow and rather arty i feel that the use of expressionist can be a good to tall to represent the characters and the adds an exiting edge. The use of contrapuntal music music throughout almost the whole film.  Aspects that i would avoid in my trailer is the final girl, in modern days horrors the final girl needs to be much tougher. When Shelly Puvall is some what annoying and doesn't portray the typical final girl you would see in a more recent horror. So if i was going to use a final girl in my trailer i would avoid a weak final girl, would make her a lot tougher. Aspects that made the horror film enjoyable was the body horror and final fight scene. I could recreate a fight scene my trailer by using camera angle that will hide the impact points making look as though the punch does make connection. I can also recreate the body horror by using fake blood, latex in my trailer.

Scream Magazine

Scream magazine is a Norwegian magazine established in 1990.

The title scream connotes horror being used a lot in horror films and hopefully making the audience scream. The font of the title is very conventional to its genre, using the effect of running blood the audience can instantly tell the genre of the magazine and what it is trying to connote. Also the colour red symbolises blood, fear and horror. I feel that the target audience is both for fans of physiological horror and gore horrors. I think this because of their title ‘scream’ connoting more to jump scares conventional mo0re to the physiological genre within horror. However due to the body horror and makeup effects of the images on the front cover I also think this magazine reaches a wider audience of gory horror fans as well. The dark tones behind the character in the image are there to add atmosphere of suspense. The young female on the front cover is a conventional character to the genre, final girl. Her appearance of short dark hair is very conventional to the final girl. Also her pose in the image also shows this as she isn’t there to be looked at (male gaze theory, Laura Mulvey) there is a feel of feminist enpowerment

Dawn Of The Dead (1979)

In this wide shot of the mall you can see the zombies walking around. This is a representation of the historical context. When this film was released the rise of the malls in America was starting to open in the 1970s. So the zombies are meant to be the consumers (us). As quoted by Peter: ‘It's memory, instinct’ meaning that all they know now is coming to the malls.  This sequence symbolises the fact that people are sucked in by the malls and advertisement and are controlled like zombies. Also the music playing is conventional music for a mall, however the contrapuntal music for a horror film and this scene. The music makes the zombies seem somewhat silly, which could be an ironic representation of real-life people that are in the ‘trap’ of consumerism.  This film is links with the context making it appeal to the audience (Janet Staiger, says how the best way to analyse a film is through the context)

Dawn Of The Dead (1979)

In this scene from Dawn of the Dead (1979) again you can see the director’s auteur influence with two unconventional characters not conforming to the stereotypes( Andrew Sarris auteur theory, saying how the film reflects the directors personality, reflecting on racism, something Romero has personally experienced throughout his life) .  Peter being a survivor was out and a modern context for the time of the film being released as a black survivor was unseen outside of Romero films.  Also Peter making the plans and is the most likeable male hero in many ways was very unconventional. Throughout the film Peter is a likable character as he is determined to save his brother and Andy in the gun shop.  Following the conventions of standard horror films, Fran should have died as she is blonde and has sex with Stephen in the mall, however she also survives. Also a blonde female with a gun and being able to use it well is unconventional. Finally them both surviving and fly away together hints that they have an interracial relationship which at the time of the film was a big taboo.  The narrative in the film is an open ending, as u don’t know how it finishes you only see them fly away in the helicopter. The cinematography of a medium shot showing both of the characters emotions make you feel for the characters .

Dawn Of The Dead (1979)

This scene breaks the stereotypes for generic conventions of characters in horror films. Stereotypically Stephen would be the male hero, he is tall and manly, and is also dating the seemingly stereotypical blonde female victim. Stephen should be good with a phallic symbol (the gun). However this scene consists of a montage of Stephen missing his shots at a zombie and then Roger doing it for him. He is also unconventional has he isn’t a survivor and later dies in the film. However roger is more of the hero due to that fact of him being brave and saving people throughout the film. However he isn’t the typical hero in a horror film due to his looks and body shape, he also dies which is unconventional for the hero.  This happens multiple times throughout the film. Also Steven having to be saved throughout the film also is unconventional for the stereotypical character that he should be. This is part of George A.  Romero auteur influence in his films, of changing stereotypes and them not conforming the conventions of that genre. George A. Romero also does this in his other films such as a disabled hero in Land Of The Dead.