PSYCH:OUT By georgia forde

Back ground material

• http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/world-war-z-2013 • Here is a review I read which told me

about what people wanted and didn’t want. People wanted more violence and less of in-between the violence. This tells me people like • By reading this, I got the idea people

wanted more violence in zombie films. This idea came to me someone quoted “would like to see some actual combat”. From this quote I will try to include as much horror as I can.

Published horror scripts I found helpful towards making my script and understanding the layouts/format.

http://www.booksie.com/horror/script/amelia_sterling/the-haunting-of-1313-raven-road

• http://m.livescience.com/7949-horror-movies-people-love.html• This link showed me why people loved horror films, the opinions helped me to

select certain techniques and styles. some of the bullet points/opinions were:• Desired effect • Just plain suspense• In your brain • Escaping reality • This helps me understand peoples needs and musts (I can include these in my script) I

especially find the escaping reality section important and will further look into that

• https://roobla.com/2013/03/30/top-10-horror-book-adaptations/• This link tells me about adaptations from books, like interview with a vampire. I didn’t find

this very useful but interesting as it is my favourite film.

Factual information

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zombie • This is a link to a wiki page about

zombies and where the legend originated from (hati). Now knowing how long ago they date back this can help me with my horror codes and conventions time line. I also thought this was generally interesting to know.

• http://www.ehow.com/facts_4880738_horror-movie-fun-facts.html • This link helped me understand

some of the horror history • Wasn’t to useful towards my

script but was relevant towards my horror timeline.

The zombie audience and survey findings. From my survey results I saw a lot of people did enjoy seeing a lot of gore, which tells

me to add it into my script as it will be more enjoyable to the people who do you like a lot of gore. I also asked “what makes a zombie scary for you”, Some results said “blood guts and scary sound effects“ so I will focus on making on making their sounds scary, as it is important to make your audience happy.

I also found out what people thought the target audience was and why which was useful as they told me why they though this, they thought adults would want something more relaxing than something exiting and jumpy. They might want to relax after a long hard day at work and watching a zombie film wont really relax them. So I found my target audience is generally for teens, in order to see there social position and gender id need to research this.

Audience demographics • I believe horrors were designed to excite,

stimulate and escape reality. I think this is why teens watch horrors as they are easy thrills, they help escape the reality of teen stress and mediocre lives. I don’t think the gender of the teen matters as I generally think all genders do watch horrors, I got this idea from who I asked to answer my script as both gender to part I got a lot of the same answers! I think teens watch horrors for social reasons to as there is a lot more to be said and felt about in a horror rather than any other film. Things like scenarios and other horror films can be talked about, teens almost boast about what horrors they have seen! From what I described I researched these.

This is just evidence from my survey that people do agree teens are more interested in horrors than adults were, in my script I will cater to their needs and interests for example gore and serialism.

proof

• From this screen shot I can show you that almost 70% of people I asked would like a lot of gore to be shown or described in zombie based media.

The fact people selected the “a lot” category shows me they do want a full on amount and not just “some, but not too much”

In order to understand what people want out of a zombie horror I had to research relevant questions to find answers that will help me improve my script and story.

• To start of my research I searched “top ten zombie films”, I thought this would help me narrow down the ten zombie films the audience liked the most and my idea could be clearer. From my research I found the most recent favourite zombie film was from 2004, this film was Shaun of the dead so I clicked on this film to see what it was about. As I know this film is a favourite of an horror audience I will know what things like to see in a zombie film.

Shaun of the dead After clicking on Shaun of the dead I found out he is an easy going ,dull middle aged man with no goals or excitement.

I could see from this that the audience would not be expecting anything from his life, this would give an anti climax until the zombies start to be seen which would almost shock people, I think this is a successful method and would like to base my horror script around a plot like this.

• Searching more into Shaun of the dead I found out he had a romance (girlfriend) which leads me to the t theory of there being a prize or romance, using a romance in the film will help create feelings in the audience as they can relate to the feeling of love and help them feel the same emotions they are going through.

• This helps make the characters likeable and when out in serious situations the audience will feel worried for them, this is what I want to try achieve in my script.

• After looking at its genre I found it was a parody, I don’t think I wan the comedy effect as I want mine to be taken seriously.

• Also after looking at survey results I will try to make my script detailed about how much gore I use.

Here I researched some of the Shaun of the dead ratings, from the stats we can see 8/10 people would watch it, which givesMe a positive start to making my script, as I now have rough idea of what people do like and why they like it.

I researched why teens like horror and found:

• I didn’t get straight to the point of why teens liked horror but why people generally liked horror, it was like a little drive for people, seeing another being decapitated, something about seeing that satisfies people, it’s a glorious snap and fix for people as all the things they're watching is illegal. Of course watching horror is fun and interesting !

Bullet pointed history (codes and conventions) • Gothic horror appeared in the 1700s when

writers like Mary Shelley, Bram stoker and Edgar Allen poe started to write about them. Gothic horror was very basic and had many codes and convections like • Spooky old castle at night • Bats• Full moons • Gloomy forest and dungeons. • Gothic horror always had the same basic

storyline which was souley relied on peoples speculations and fear of the unknown.

• It was from the first gothic literature that the first horror film found its inspiration: George melies made what was said to be the first horror film ever made! It was called the manor of the devil, he contributed to the traditional horror accessory by using bats, trolls and ghosts and a demon played by himself. The use of all the creatures scared people as they where either unknown or had something to do with a scary tale, like bats to vampires

Silent era and after the war (Germans loosing)• After people started exploring the idea

of the unknown and making films still following the gothic theme we then come to the first Frankenstein! Which was conducted in the Thomas Edison hands in 1910, which used creepy skeletons and gools.

• In 1911 Dante’s inferno was made which showed people removing there own heads ! As a lot of people where religious in these times this would have been disgusting to them as it was ungodly and not in there beliefs that’s why a lot of people found these things scary as they didn’t know about it and it was new to them!

• German expressionism: this was a way for the depressed people to escape the real world and its harsh realities. The work soon become popular over Europe and made a little culture bubble.

• In 1919 the cabinet of dr. caligari was made by dr. Robert weine. This was about a little creepy man and a “beautiful” young woman, she was gong to be murdered. Vulnerability was also a big code in the horror world as women where considered as the weaker species, people would be able to feel scared for her as she was all alone and “weak”, the female audience could put themselves in her shoes and feel scared for her as women were brainwashed into thinking they were also weak.

More horror and the invention of sound !

• Nosferato 1922 • Followed the same vulnerable

code involving a creepy little man praying on a “innocent woman” • Sound effected horror as the

music and sound effects can contribute to the feeling of being scare, tension and atmosphere.

• Universal pictures and their horrors used sound and also a sweet twist that these women where friends of the beasts

• Phantom of the opera

• Hunch back of natrradamn (adapted by Disney)

• Dracula 1931

• A ungodly man with the ability to kill with one bite, he had a shady figure.

• Also in 1931/1936 was shot another version of Frankenstein, the mummy and the invisible man, the where wolf of London and Draculas daughter which used a female as the villain which was unusual.

Gothic losing its steam

• The gothic theme started to get boring and dull, the quality of its work started to change as it started bring it sequels that know on really seemed to enjoy (the invisible man 2)

• The cat people (around 1950)• This was a cyclonical horror that used

mood and shadow to scare people and these films where generally cheaper! We then started to see ne codes and convections like shadow and things you cant actually see. It was your mind that did the thinking.

• Teens and there thrills ( the nuclear boogie man)

• The fear of an invasion by something not human !

• The thing from another world, the day the earth stood still and the body snatchers (1951/56. The code was there was something out there stronger than us! And we would have no control.

• A famous invasion film you will know is Godzilla (1954), this has been adapted many times as it is such a classic story.

1960+ (sexy and gore)

• This genre really got you where it hurts. Sysco was based on a woman showering and getting stabbed by an unknown man, it brought horror the comfort of your own home ! Horror was brought to your reality

• There where 7 Frankenstein, 6 Draculas and 9 vampire movies between 1957 and 74 and a lot of them where in colour so the detailed and colour of blood could be seen, then creating a new code and convention of gore. • All this films where flirty and rude

so a lot of adults did like them as they were “racy”. These type of films where giving people a sense of free dom after the restrictive censorship was banned in 1964.

Roger corman

• Little shop of horrors 1960 ! Used a lot of gore and comedy, roger knew where people wanted. A escape from reality and something serial to stimulate peoples minds. • Another film by roger corman

was called buckets of blood.

• The occult cycle • Used un holy themes about hell

and all hells creatures. • Rosemary's baby 1968• Then came what is considered

the best of its kind in that time was the exorcist, which shown everyday people being taken over by evil spirits. Being possessed has its symptoms so I guess you could say those were the codes of that film genre.

What I found useful from the horror codes and convections

• The most useful thing I found from the horror history was the fear of being invaded as it links to my idea of zombies, this theme really gets people thinking and creates conversation between people about what they’d do if the earth was invaded. • From seeing the horror timeline I can see gore has always been an

important factor to the horror audience and I believe it will always be popular.

The end !!!!