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Research: Teen Horror

Research is vital to this unit as you need to understand the forms and conventionsof teen horror BEFORE you can plan your own production.

Definition of Teen Horror:horror can deal with the mundane or the supernatural, withthe fantastic or the normal. It doesn't have to be full of ghosts,ghouls, and things to go bump in the night. Its only truerequirement is that it elicits an emotional reaction thatincludes some aspect of fear or dread.

Conventions of Teen Horror:

The final girl

A villain

A deed or wrong-doing which starts the chain of events

A cautionary tale

Fear

Suspense

Atmospheric music and sound effects

Your blog must contain two research tasks as a bare minimumand these are outlined on the next two pages.

Can you name theseteen horrors?

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Research: Task 1 - Aspects of Teen Horror

Independently research 5 teen horror texts.

You are required to have aminimum of 5 independently researchedteen horror texts which you analyse for research purposes (seesuggested reading list for help). These must be posted to your blogwith additional graphics and video/audio where appropriate.

In class we will analyse Scream. It is fine for this to count as one ofyour 5 texts as you will write an analytical essay on this as anintroduction to the unit.

Within this research you must include the following for every text youanalyse:

Institutional information: title, director, year, ProductionCompany, company where made, box office return/ success(this can be gathered from IMDB).

Explain how the analysis will inform the planning of your ownproduction.

Brief notes on the intended target audience (dont just write teens!)with information on audience reception (how successful was it with theirtarget audience again this is available on IMDB).

Identify the codes and conventions used, to demonstrate yourunderstanding of the genre.

It is advisable that you concentrate on one particularelement of mise-en-scene within your analysis:

Camera movementCamera anglesLighting

You could also choose to look specifically at narrative or the use of sound.

An analysis does not have to be of the entire text, as youre making theopening sequence to a teen horror, some research into effective openingswill be a good starting point.

As your research progresses you may wish to look at texts in their entiretyso you can learn how to engage your audience and make them want towatch beyond the opening sequence.

EditingCostumeProps

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Avoid regurgitating the plot. Using too much description ofwhat happens is a big no-no. Concentrate on the use oftechniques for higher marks.