Function of a film distribution company

Audience Research: Questionnaires

Most of the people survey in this questionnaire (55%) are single which does suggest they are more likely to go to the cinema with friends or family. The people surveyed are therefore more likely to go with their partner as well as friends and family.

As majority of the people surveyed were young enough to be in the key demographic of teenagers and young adults, almost 80% are in education whereas only a very small percentage are unemployed so they are more likely to be able to afford to go to cinema on a regularly.

When asked if they enjoyed horror films, 55% of those surveyed answered that they did although just under 20% answered that it depends on the film so it is likely that horror films would be successful with younger people.

Those surveyed preferred supernatural horror films with over 60% saying so while the thriller and comedy types of horror where also quite popular. Gore was the least favourite sub genre which works in our advantage as many gore films have an 18 certificate that could mean some of the target audience wouldn't be able to see it if we chose to do a gore type trailer.  

As over 80% of the respondents visit the cinema occasionally, it suggests they would need to be impressed by a films advertising and storyline before they went to see it. 

The people surveyed had a range of favourite elements that were found in a horror film. The two clear favourites at 55% were possession and ghosts/spirits which is good for the group idea of a possession trailer. The least favourite choice is zombies which could suggest they are bored of the genre as many zombie films are very similar.

Many of the people who answered the questionnaire prefer to go to the cinema with their friends however family was also a popular choice. As many young people go to the cinema with friends, this is easy to target a main audience more carefully. 

Out of the people surveyed, an equal amount of under 28% enjoyed both happy and mystery endings with a cliffhanger ending being the least favourite. This gives us an indication of how to end the plot of the story and what to hint at in our trailer.

Horror Trailer Key Conventions

Final Destination 3 

The non-diegetic sounds which created a tense feeling

Blank black slides with messages to hint what will happen, giving away little clues

Cliff hangers before the deaths

Showing the previous films, encouraging new audiences for people who have not seen the previous  films.

Voice over of female main character

Not a lot of gore, however you could tell it was a horror due to the predicted deaths and also showing the Todorov narrative theory, The equilibrium, the disequilibrium, but leaving the new equilibrium out to persuade people to go and see the film.

The Omen

The evil child

Losts of jump shots and fast pace

No music to begin with then progressively got louder and faster.

The music and screen shots worked together

The typical nuclear family

At the end the main theme of ‘666’ is shown.

Release date and production company

The Orphan

The pace was slow but still creepy and tence

Didn’t give anything away exept from the hint that ‘there’s something wrong with ester’.

Close ups of little features.

Ending of diegratic music of ester singing a typical nursery rhyme

Lots of crying and screaming.

The nuclear family

Release date and production company

Jump scare at the end.

Audiences and Institutions: The Woman in Black

• Who do you think the primary and secondary target audience is for The Woman in Black?

The primary target audience of the film is quite clear as it mainly appeals to the under 25 males and females profiles. As the age certificate is only 12 which is very low for a traditional horror film, this was able to attract a very big primary audience of young teenagers, older teenagers and young adults which is later reflected in the box office figures.

The secondary target audience is a much older audience of adults who may have read the book or seen the play. Being set in the Edwardian era, this appeals much more to an older audience as do some of the other, more established actors such as Ciaren Hinds or Roger Allam who have been in other blockbuster movies. Even though the films plays heavily on Daniel Radcliffe being the lead role, majority of the older audience would also know him through Harry Potter or Radcliffe's theatre performances.

• How was The Woman in Black marketed?

The Woman in Black had several marketing campaigns throughout the preview and release of the film to capture the attention of as many people as possible to increase the audience which would result in an increase the amount of money made at the box office. The teaser campaign was shown far in advance of the film’s release and including a poster, trailer, many Youtube videos and a competition to make the public aware of the future release and make them interested so they would be more likely to find out more about the film and see it when it was released. The teaser didn’t give away the story but still made the audience aware that it was a supernatural horror film with Daniel Radcliffe. Later on closer to the release date was when the main film campaign was unveiled which again featured posters  and trailers as well as press releases in newspapers and social media pages to attract a larger audience and to increase the potential box office revenue. The poster gives a more clear indication on what the film is about and some of the characters and locations in the film in addition to some of the people who worked on the film.

The Woman in Black main poster

By targeting different ages of their target audience differently, this enabled the film to reach as many people as possible through the media products and services they use. The younger demographic was advertised through TV channels such as E4 and magazines such as NME while the older audience was targeted through different types such as ITV, Heart radio and Dread Central. They also appealed to a very different audience that would normally be inclined to see a horror film - the mature middle classes. As the film is originally an adaptation from a book, the company was able to market the film and book together along with joining with the theatre production to market them together through competitions.

6 sheet advert on bus stop

By generating publicity outside the home, the film was able to reach an even bigger audience that may not have seen the adverts or the press releases through out of home advertising such as billboards. The 6 sheets advertisements used on bus shelters and other similar size surfaces were very popular, as were the bigger large format adverts on the sides of buildings and highway billboards. Using Daniel Radcliffe as a marketing tool for the film was well received by the public as he was able to explain the film and what it was like to work on. He participated in a number of publicity campaigns through interviews in magazines and on TV shows as well as online reviews and the world premier that generating a lot of media buzz and many journalists and reporters to get interviews with the actors.

The Woman in Black merchandise

After the film’s release, many related products and merchandise was released to maximise the films profits. By giving away the book in middle class papers such as The Daily Telegraph, they was again able to market to the more mature, middle class audience through more serious types of media like novels, which the cover was redesigned to fit with the film and competitions for theatre tickets. They also managed to appeal to a much young audience through school activities that would be suitable through the low age rating compared to many other horror films that are normally a 15 or 18. Other merchandise products were available to buy after the film was released such as t-shirts, cups and the soundtrack for the film to boost the overall profits of the title from the fans of the film. With the film being available for teenagers and young adults to watch, they are more likely to have extra money to spend on fan merch and more media-based items than an older audience.

• Do you think the marketing materials for the film were appropriate? Why?

Some of the many online articles and reviews of the film

As the film had so much marketing in different formats to reach all of the potential audience groups, it already gives the impression that the film is worth seeing as the company as spent so much money on it. The film had marketing on digital, print and video formats which are appropriate for both the younger and older target audiences as it could reach so many people at the same time ahead of the release to create the 'hype' for the film.

By using Daniel Radcliffe to heavily promote the film was a clear strategy from the distributors as he is such a famous actor due to his iconic role in the Harry Potter franchise. As well as interviews on television and in magazines, he also helped promote competitions through Youtube videos and did an interview on Twitter that was published in 'Cosmopolitan' magazine which has become increasingly popular as the popularity of the site increases. During the premiere, it became very apparent that not only did people attend to see the film, many Harry Potter fans came to see the actor which expanded to audience range for the film as many fans are now teenagers and young adults after growing up watching the Harry Potter films.

An article from The Guardian on the films success

• What kind of release did the film have?

The film had a very good release with both positive reviews and a high audience turn out at the box office. In the opening weekend, it made $20 million and was only behind the Chronicle that earned a million dollars more which is quite small in box office terms and was over the $11 to $16.5 million earnings that the film analysts predicted. Being the biggest grossing film British horror in 20 years, by June 2012 the title had made $127,730,736 worldwide.

• How much did The Woman in Black cost to make? AND what was the industry impact of The Woman in Black?

The Woman in Black had an estimated budget of $17 million

• Why do you think the film was so successful?

As the film had such a wide target audience compared to many films, especially films of the horror genre it was able to attract a large amount of people to see it, which was represented in the amount of advertising and marketing the film had on many different platforms of media. By using Daniel Radcliffe as the main advertising tool was another attribute that expanded the market for the film and attracted people who wouldn't normal watch horrors to the cinema. All of these tools attracted a large amount of people to see the film at the cinema which resulted in big profits which is the main agenda for the movie industry.

The Representation of Women in Horror in Relation to The Cabin in the Woods'

The Cabin in the Woods from Alison_Hoar

Narrative Theories in relation to Halloween and The Crazies

Todorov's theory 

Tzvetan Todorov is a Bulgarian cultural philosopher who published his extremely influential work on narrative theory and structure from the 1960’s. This narrative theory explained how a ‘typical’ story had 3 stages which relied on the classic structure/Hollywood structure of a beginning, middle and end which many films in the industry rely on to fit the normal structure so the audience can easily relate to it. The equilibrium at the start of the film fits in with normality to ease the audience into the action while a chain of events, referred to as the ‘disequilibrium’ cause disruption in the story which normal leads to the resolution that is referred to as the new equilibrium. Although the new equilibrium may not be what the audience expected or what they would have wanted, there is some closure within the plot to tie up the story. This theory relates to Halloween as unlike many films, it doesn't really fit the structure completely as it doesn't have a new equilibrium and is left open-ended to lead the way for the sequel. At the start of the film, Michael Myers is seen killing his sister and getting caught by his parents which also doesn't fit the typical initial equilibrium although the disequilibrium is clearly shown through the escape of Michael Myers as he stalks Laurie Strode.

Myers stalks Laurie at the beginning of the film.

Dr Loomis fits the role as the
 aider in Propp's theory.

Vladimir Propp had another theory relating to the characters rather than the actual narrative of the story. Propp was a Russian critic who studied hundreds of fold tales to compare structures and character types to which he came up with 8 main roles and 31 narrative functions. These 8 character roles are; the villain, the hero, the donor, the helper, the princess, the princess’s father, the dispatcher and the false hero to which can be compared to all kinds of different narratives. In Halloween, the main character Laurie would be the hero and Myers would be the villain. Dr Samuel Loomis is the aider as he helps Laurie fight off Myers at the end of the film although the other characters such as Annie and Lynda in the film are quite unclear as they don’t fit into one of the eight categories although the policeman could fit the false hero character loosely and the children could be seen as the princess role in some ways. The overall film doesn't tend to fit with the normal theories that would be used in classic Hollywood films as it doesn't have a start or ending that the audience would expect such as the villain escaping into the darkness at the end of the film.

The binary opposition theory by Claude Levi-Strauss refers to the sets of opposites in a narrative structure. One of the most well-known and used binary oppositions is good and evil as they are opposite values on the scale and is used in all horror films. Halloween fits with this theory as it is clearly demonstrated that Laurie and Dr Loomis is the good and Myers is the evil as well as Laurie fitting with the present, known and normal oppositions where Myers fitting the opposites of past, unknown and strange.

Laurie is portrayed as the good character
whereas Michael is seen as the evil side in relation
to Levi-Strauss' theory.

Bordwell and Thompson have a very clear and precise definition of narrative of it being “a chain of events in a cause-effect relationship, occurring in time and space”. This is quite similar to Todorov’s narrative theory by having one situation to which a series of events will occur and the pattern of cause and effect will finally create a new situation and the end. By using the phrase “time and space” means to not only demonstrate or at least suggest to the audience the time and location but also how quickly the events take place which can manipulated through flashbacks, replays, slow motion and jump cuts. In relation to Halloween, the film does fit the theory in some aspects by the use of manipulation of time and the chain of cause and effects through the deaths of the friends does lead to a new situation but on that the audience didn't anticipate. 

Michael Myers after he had killed his sister when he was a child

At the start of the film, there is a flashback to 1963 where Michael Myers killed his sister and then flashes forward 15 years on where he has later escaped from the metal institution as it gives the audience a more clear indication to what actually happened while keeping it interesting as they obviously couldn't use real time to portray the story. The whole story from Michael's escape only happens through Halloween night but it does feel a lot longer when watching the film as so much happens in the film and the progression from a longer period of time is given a jump cut to keep the main action in the film and leave out the things that don’t have reference to story or would bore the audience. For example, you don’t see the whole night of Laurie babysitting as it would bore the audience and isn't as relevant to the story as the death of one of the friends in the car so it cuts from one house with the friend to the other house with Laurie babysitting to keep the audience interested and tense as Laurie becomes more uncomfortable and uneasy.

·         Does The Crazies follow the ‘Classic Hollywood Narrative’?

The false 'happy ending' for David and Judy

Although ‘The Crazies’ doesn't conventionally fit the narrative type, it can be argued that the film does fit Todorvo’s theory of equilibriums.  At the start of the film, everything seems quite normal which is the clear equilibrium until the events at the baseball game where it starts to become a lot more dysfunctional. When the infection starts to come into full effect, this is the disequilibrium and at the end when David and Judy escape the truck and walk through the fields on the way to Cedar Rapids can be seen as the new equilibrium. During the credits however shows a news report of Ogden Marsh as well as a government radar preparing to unleash the infection on Cedar Rapids, creating a false happy ending.

·         How many of Propp’s character types are evident in the film?

In The Crazies there are 7 character types that are portrayed by the characters, the only one left out is the princesses father as all the characters are adults although it could be said that Davis loosely fits this type as he is protecting his unborn baby as well as Judy. Many of the other character types are a lot more obvious such as;

David and Judy

•    The Villain – The Crazies and the government who invented the virus.
•      The Hero – David and Judy (Also Becca when her and Judy are contained)
•   The Donor – Russell
•  The Helper – Judy
•     The Princess – Judy
•    The False Hero – Russell
•    The Dispatcher - Russell

 

Russell who fits the false hero, donor and dispatcher character types

       

List 5 examples of binary oppositions in The Crazies.

Here are many binary oppositions seen within the film, the most obvious being Infected vs. Healthy as well as Good vs. Evil through the good civilians and evil crazies as well as the evil government who plotted the infection. The Normal vs. Strange, Humans vs. Aliens and Known vs. Unknown are also apparent as David and Judy fit into normal, known humans whereas the crazies have transformed into strange, unknown aliens although it is unclear where the government would fit into the binary oppositions. Although they are villains, they are also human, known and normal just like the heroes except they’re on the side of the Crazies by turning normal people into them but also shooting them so they could be considered as a different category of evil.

·         Identify the three durations and give an idea of how long they are.

The first 10 to 15 minutes of the film are quite normal and you get to see the characters in their typical, suburban life although there are some strange occurrences that start to happen such as the shooting at the baseball game and the man setting his house on fire with his family still in. Although around 80 minutes of the film were devoted to the Crazies and the spread of the infection while the characters try to survive, this was about 2 days in real time which was the clear period of the infection. The last 2 minutes where David and Judy were safe after the explosion of Ogden Marsh did not have a indicated time although with the government planning to repeat the same process in the neighbouring town – the time when they were safe was probably around a few days.

·         Give two examples of events that cause events later in the film but which occur before the film starts.

The invention of the infection and the decision of the government to infect Odgen Marsh is not explained at any point of the film as it occurred before the start of the film which only shows the start of the infection spreading during the beginning. Another aspect of the film that was kept vague was the plane crash that happened before the film.  Although David and Russell go to investigate the plane which is underneath the lake, not much more is said after which suggests that this had something to do with the infection.

·         List two events from the 92 minute film that happened in another time or space from the ones we see.

The goverment SUV scene wheer Russell spikes the tyres

Russell’s actions are often indicated but never properly explained throughout the film as he makes several escape attempts that aren't seen on-screen. The first attempt is when the military have separated David, Judy and Russell. While Judy is sedated and taken to the infected area and David is evacuated but later escapes back to his office at Ogden Marsh, Russell manages to escape back to meet David at the office. He explains to David that some of the people “made a run for it” which he only would have known about if he was one who managed to escape at that time. The second attempt is revealed later on in the film where David, Russell and Judy are walking to Cedar Rapids and find Russell’s old car. While a government SUV is driving past, Russell (who at this point is becoming increasing angry and showing signs of being infected) throws a spike strip so they can use the vehicle to which he says “A funny thing happened on the way to Cedar Rapids. Bastards spiked my tires” that suggests he previously tried to escape but got caught by the government. 

The History of Horror

The genre of horror has an extensive history of over 100 years and continues to be very popular to this day. From its roots in literature to the modern gore and video nasties, the genre has managed to reinvent itself multiple times to keep up to date with the evolution of technology and the almost limitless boundaries of its audience to which it has become one of the most classic and well favoured genres of all time.

The starting point of the horror genre was horror literature and the 3 main 19th century classic tales of ‘Frankenstein’, ‘Dracula’ and ‘Jekyll and Hyde’. Although these three are the most popular of the gothic movement, the first gothic novel was 'The Castle of Otranto' by Horace Walpole which was written in 1764. Towards the end of the 18th century, codes and conventions started to form for the horror genre as more writers started to form their stories in a similar fashion which reflected in the early 19th century as strong emotions were reflected in them. During this early time of the genre, horror was marketed a predominantly female audience and reflected this by using female protagonists although these often expressed masculine traits with also seen in the modern horror films. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, who was married to Percy Shelley, an early romantic poet published the story anonymously in London in 1818. 5 years later, Shelley released the second edition of the story in France where she was credited after the success of the stage play by Richard Brinsley Peake and was adapted into a film in 1910.

Due to creation of artificial life by Dr Frankenstein, the tale raised controversy within the Religion vs.  Science argument as it was seen by many as Dr Frankenstein ‘playing God’, especially in many Christian dominated countries. One of the scenes in the film adaption caused outrage with parents as Frankenstein’s monster throws a girl in the lake while playing to which she drowned. This scene was particularly controversial and some states in the US censored it from the film. Dracula was written by Bram Stoker in 1897 and has since been adapted into many film adaptations such as ‘The Wife of Dracula’ and ‘Son of Dracula’. The novel is told through letters and diary entries by the protagonist and tells the story of a solicitor travelling to Transylvania to provide legal support for Dracula and soon realises he has become a prisoner in the castle by Count Dracula. This story scared its audience as the vampires were used to distance the audience from reality however, as they could transform into bats made it more realistic and relatable for the viewers. The last of the three iconic stories, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was written by Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson and was published in 1886 and is often referred to the shorter name ‘Jekyll and Hyde’. The story told is of Gabriel John Utterson, a London lawyer who investigates his old friend, Dr Henry Jekyll and the strange occurrences with the evil Edward Hyde. With the case of Dr Jekyyl, he has a good and an evil personality which has influenced the phrase of 'Jekyyl and Hyde’ which means someone who has two vastly different personalities from one situation to the next.

An iconic still from Nosferatu

This later developed into the Silent Era and German Expressionism in the 1910's and 1920's which explored both action and comedy although the film makers also explored darker themes with the supernatural and psychology while experimenting with the new technology and photographic trickery. The audience at the time was extremely interested in ghosts and magic lantern shows which could be shown through the development on cameras and various filming equipment to tell interesting and bizarre tales which would thrill their audience that had never been done before. One of the first silent horrors was 'Le Manoir du Diable' in 1896 by Georges Méliès, who was to become one of the leading filmmakers of his generation and combining the use of magic and illusion into his work. This supernatural clip saw the introduction of the horror iconography by including bats, caldrons, ghosts and trolls. German expressionism was an arts movement of film, painting and architecture during the 1920’s which later expanding to Europe and one of its most famous films from this movement was ‘The Cabinet of Dr Caligari’ by Robert Wiene.

After a two decades of silent movies, sound started to become very popular in the horror genre and had a huge impact on the genre and how it uses sound to suit the mood of the film. As this was a new concept to the film makers at the time, many of them struggled to adapt to the new technology to add sound which could build up the tension or magnify a certain sound for the audience. During this period, the films had developed into fairy tales and had very dreamlike effects to add another dimension to the literary classics that they was basing them on, however this had a significant impact as horror films became more popular and mainstream to the wider public which reflected in the figures. To escape the reality of a fore coming war and the Depression, 80 million people visited the cinema on a weekly basis that lead to an increase in the amount of horror films being made at the time. Films such as James Whale’s ‘Frankenstein’ and Tod Browning’s ‘Dracula’ were extremely popular as they combined serious elements along with excitement to thrill the audience as well as some films combining horror with the sci-fi genre such as ‘The Invisible Man’.

Through the 1940’s, Britain along with many other countries were feeling the effects of World War 2 which was effectively used within the film industry with animals such as wolves and cats. Hitler and his ideologies were portrayed through wolves as Adolf Hitler was a translation of ‘noble wolf’ is Old German and many of the Nazi Party HQ’s were named after several wolves. ‘The Wolf Man’ was a very popular film at the time as not only did it include wolves to signify the Nazi’s, the screenwriters own issues were reflected in the film through the characters fleeing America. Later on, cats representing frustrated women who had lost their jobs to the men who and returned from the war became dominate which an example of this is ‘Cat People’ released in 1942.

During the 1950’s sci-fi films had become a popular trend which included monsters, aliens and mutant creatures. As there had been another development in technology by blue screens, this made it easier for film makers to create mutant creatures that would scare and shock the audience which is also when blockbusters had started to appear in the film industry. The monsters were a clear evil side to the human good side and the films often shown destruction and chaos caused by the monsters in films such as ‘The Invasion of the Bodysnatchers’ and ‘The Blob’ which both had a reference to communism as it was seen as an evil force which would take other the world.

Christopher Lee as Dracula

Another genre that was popular in the 1950’s which also expanding into the next decade is Hammer horror which were low budget films that used brightly lit, garish colours and suggested sexuality and violence as a shock technique which would surprise the audience as up until then, horrors had been very dark and dull to scare the audiences. One of the most popular and well known films of the genre is the ‘Horror of Dracula’ starring Christopher Lee released in 1958 and led to him becoming one of the most iconic Draculas which he later starred in another 6 Dracula films in this genre. Although they had small budgets, these films were very successful in the cinemas and made a large profit as the movement went worldwide however this soon stopped as the production stopped during the 1980’s.

Throughout the 60’s and 70’s; ghosts, zombies, Satanism and families became a hit as these films dealt with contemporary society issues and psychological fears such as children and childbirth through big budget movies. One of the most popular films of all time, ‘The Exorcist’ featured both children and Satanism as the movement wanted to suggested that the enemy is a lot closer to home than what was portrayed in the past as well as the existence of the Devil. Ghost stories had also become quite popular as it leads the main character through the unclear line of sanity and insanity with the paranormal.

A still of the killer from Halloween

With the advancement of special effects, the 80’s had become the home for Slasher movies and the extremities of body horror. In contrast to past horror movements, these films were mainly about the visual aspects and how far you could push the audience through extreme close ups of the distorted human body and realistic special effects such as liquid and foam latex. As most of the attention was brought to gory side, the films storylines were influenced and in some cases copied films that had been released decades before them. The creatures used often had a supernatural connection or unknown origins but some did incorporate creatures that and generated through human form like vampires and zombies, which were especially popular due to films like ‘Dawn of the Dead’ and ‘Evil Dead II’. Slasher and splatter films are often linked together but the two genres have very different components – splatter films tend to feature a large amount of blood and flesh alongside violent scene whereas slasher films have a more clear and unique set of conventions which are followed such as psychotic killers in films like ‘Halloween’. These often had many remakes as they were very popular with audiences at the time.

With the popularity of VHS tapes, videos nasties became popular in the 1980’s as they could be released straight to tape instead of being shown in the cinemas due to the low budget of these types of films.  It could be said they caused controversy as they didn’t have any regulations on them and could be watched by anyone in the home and often did not have a age certificate set by BBFC that lead to panic in the media of what children and teenagers were watching. A total of 39 films were banned in the UK and were named ‘Video nasties’ as in 1984, the government passed the Videos Recording Act that meant they had to regulate the films released and sold but this soon directed to a more underground film industry. These controversial films such as ‘Child’s Play 3’ have often been connected with real life cases, such as the murder of James Bulger.

Within recent decades, horror has transformed with its audience to show more gore and more action as people have become more attracted to the extreme, horrifying films which have seen the rise in ‘gore-nography’ or torture porn in the 2000’s. These films such as Hostel and Saw primarily focus on the actions and visual reaction which is why they have been given the nickname linking to pornography as it works on the same principles. As very little is left to the imagination of the audience, the effects used are very realistic and tend to happen like they could in real life. These types of films have seen to take an unpopular turn over recent years as you can tell by recent film schedules that feature a lot of supernatural elements rather than torture and gore.