HAMMER FILM PRODUCTIONS (David Baverstock)

Hammer Film Productions is a film company that is based in the UK. It was founded in 1934 and they produced a series a 'Gothic' Hammer Horror Films which were made from the mid-1950's to the 1970's. Hammer tended to dominate the horror market and they enjoy worldwide distribution and having significant financial success. Hammer produced a variation of film genres such as Sci-Fi, Thrillers, Comedies, and Film Noirs, they also created television series.  They had more success after they partnered up with United States studios/distributors Warner Bros.
The Horror Thrillers that they created were The Curse of Frankenstein, Dracula and The Mummy. Hammer were producing these film when horror was groundbreaking.

Celador Film Company; The Decent 2006

Celador Film Company

http://www.celador.co.uk/

‘Global light entertainment company originally formed as an independent production company in 1983. It has produced a number of popular light entertainment shows and is probably best known for Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and co-producing the film Slumdog Millionaire which collected seven masks at the BAFTAS, four Golden Globes and eight Oscars including Best Director and Best Picture in 2009.’

One of Celadors greatest film productions was British Horror film; The Descent (2006) directed by Neil Marshall. The synopsis of the film follows six women who, having entered an unmapped cave system, become trapped through a series of unfortunate events, and are hunted by flesh-eating humanoids who seem to have been trapped inside for hundreds of years.

Neil Marshall realized that horror films almost never have an all-female cast, and with The Decent Marshall wanted to defy convention. Casting all women into the role, Marshall was aware he needed to avoid making them clichéd, so simply asked basic advice from his female friends and family. He explained that the main difference was, "the women discuss how they feel about the situation, and where as a group of men wouldn’t."

When it comes to producing and scripting our own film, I feel I should learn from The Decent when portraying the female character. As I’m aiming the film towards a female target audience I need to make the character relatable. 

Target market

Thanks to the questionnaire that I created on http://www.kwiksurveys.com I discovered that my target market is females. I am now needing to have a more exact knowledge on what appeals to this market.

What I know already?

Female

I’m aiming this film at Middle class and above, as theses classes would have a better disposable income and more likely able to afford the cinema.

With in the UK my mass target audience for woman would primarily be from a christian background.
Thriller Horrors proved to be most popular.

16-25 Skilled Women, will be my target age group, putting the certification of our film aimed around the 15-18 market.
 
Preferred release time is from October till December

The results showed that the female target audience still preferred to see a lead male in a horror film. I will instead use a female with in a supporting role.



These are the only different results when female stats are reviewed.

Magazine Layout

Questionnaire Results

1.       Are you Male or Female?

From the results gathered I seemed to have a larger percentage of females answering the questions. This shows that predominantly the answers I have gathered are largely from a female target audience.  60% Female to 40% Male.

2.       Age Group?

The age group indicated that I had a younger age group ranging from 11-20; however had I recreated the questionnaire I would have narrowed down the age group further into young teens, and young adults.

3.       How much do you like horror movies?

We found that the majority of the people asked either liked or loved horror movies!

4.       Ideal Horror cross genre?

Horror Thrillers proved to be most popular followed by Horror Comedy and Horror/Sci-Fi. This means that when it comes to creating our film trailer, we should aim it towards a Horror Thriller genre, and adhere to those codes and conventions.

5.       Characters and Themes?

Serial Killer based movies come out on top but only just with 22%, closely followed by Vampires 20%, Zombies 18%. When it comes to our theme we need to aim towards these top three answers if we want to appeal to the largest target audience. Serial Killer would suit our project as we have limited funds and special effects tools for Vampires or Zombies.

6.       Age Classification?

15-18 proved to be most popular with an over whelming 52% choosing an 18 certificate. With a higher age rating the audience prefer to have their horror films with more adult themes, and more scenes of violence and gore. This also means that we are less restricted in what we can show. 

7.       Release Dates?

The most popular release for our film indicated an October-December showing. With 68% of the people asked opting for this time frame. With the arrival of Halloween and longer nights, the atmosphere is a better setting for an audience to watch a new release of horror film. 

8.       Settings?

Horror films set with in an old dilapidated house environment seemed to be the most popular choice for a horror film setting, followed by a forest and residential estate. These could be due to the fact that the audience relate better to these environments allowing them to easily immerse themselves with in the story. If an audience can sympathise better with the characters, they find the traumatic situations and emotional trauma that much stronger. 

9.       Lead Role?

59% of the people asked indicated that they preferred a male lead role for a horror film. One participant quoted “I would prefer a male lead role, because had the roles been reversed with a woman, I think I would have possibly felt more guilty, and harder to watch.”



Horror Survey

To understand our target we drafted and designed a questionnaire to go online and get feedback about like likes and dislikes of veiwers. I found as people submitted their veiws that not everything was catered for mainly when, Jack Guest says : its a good survey but q4 q5 in my opinion would be better if you could click more than one. Also Ashley brought up the fact there was no option for people that don't like horrors. 

Age classification

British Board Of Classification

http://www.bbfc.co.uk/

The BBFC classifies the age viewership of films to be shown with in the uk...
These are the classification from the BBFC website:

U Suitable for all

'It is impossible to predict what might upset any particular child. But a ‘U’ film should be suitable for audiences aged four years and over. ‘U’ films should be set within a positive moral framework and should offer reassuring counterbalances to any violence, threat or horror.If a work is particularly suitable for a pre-school child to view alone, this will be indicated in the Consumer Advice.'

12 Suitable for 12 years and over

'Exactly the same criteria are used to classify works at ‘12A’ and ‘12’. These categories are awarded where the material is suitable, in general, only for those aged 12 and over. Works classified at these categories may upset children under 12 or contain material which many parents will find unsuitable for them.
The ‘12A’ category exists only for cinema films. No one younger than 12 may see a ‘12A’ film in a cinema unless accompanied by an adult, and films classified ‘12A’ are not recommended for a child below 12. An adult may take a younger child if, in their judgement, the film is suitable for that particular child. In such circumstances, responsibility for allowing a child under 12 to view lies with the accompanying adult. The ‘12’ category exists only for video works. No one younger than 12 may rent or buy a ‘12’ rated video work.'

15 Suitable only for 15 years or over 

'No-one younger than 15 may see a ‘15’ film in a cinema. No-one younger than 15 may rent or buy a ‘15’ rated video work.'

18 Suitable only for adults

No-one younger than 18 may see an ‘18’ film in a cinema. No-one younger than 18 may rent or buy an ‘18’ rated video work.
18R To be shown only in specially licensed cinemas, or supplied only in licensed sex shops, and to adults of not less than 18 years.

Horror films tend to be classified as 15 and above due to the intence and graphic nature of horror. We will be aiming to have our film classified in this bracket.

A History of Horror with Mark Gatiss

Actor and writer Mark Gatiss celebrates the greatest achievements of horror cinema.


This documentary helped us understand the processes of how a horror film is constructed. I found this helpful as it showed horror techniques used and why they were effective. 


Q&A with Mark Gattis on making the 3 part series:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00vcwm7




"Why did you stop in the late 70s?"
"We had to stop somewhere and the release of Halloween in 1978 seemed the perfect place. It's a superb film. Almost perfect in its power to shock and scare. But it ushered the age of the slasher movie, effectively killing off 'supernatural' horror for a generation. Of course, there were exceptions but Halloween seemed the natural place to end."
I think Mark makes a good point, that few new changes to horror have been made since the golden age of the 70s horror genre. There are some exceptions such as; Blairwitch with the handy cam style, or Saw introducing extreme scenes of gore, violence and torture. I think that directors are possibly becoming complacent in the genre rarely offering new twists on horror? Leaving audiences bored wanting something new?
  

Analysis of (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre)

This is the analysis of one of the horror trailers. I decided to analyse the film trailer for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. We will analyse the characters, the mise-en-scene, editing and the sound.

Setting
This film is set in the American South and the house is set in a classic American country style complete with porch and swing. In contrast to the outside, the inside is well covered with human, animal skins and bones.

Cast/Characters

The killer face mask is made from human skin and also wears a butcher’s apron. The style of the butcher's clothing makes the character relatable, however, the dirty style of the clothing shows vile and brutal things that he has done. This tells the audience that he is not afraid to deface his victims and has also done this in the past. The killer's choice of weapon consists of knives, chainsaws and hammers. The connotation of these weapons is death and mutilation. This is established with furniture made from human/animal bones, for example, chicken's feet on the table.
The male characters are shown to be wearing smart clothing such as shirts and black trousers. The female characters are dressed as if they were going for a night out. These characters are victims that are normal teenagers dressed in summer 70’s fashion. They are all represented as teenagers would react in those situations.


Editing
In the editing, we can only see the build up to the killing blow and then the cut to the effect. We never see the actual action of the knife or hammer going into the victim. The editing effect tricks our mind into thinking that we have seen something that we haven’t. This did affect the age rating of the film as the Board of Film Classification classified the film as 18 and they also made an unclassified version of the film. Lots of cut scenes within the house which consists of decomposing bodies and this increasing the tempo of the film. The effect of lights going out, emphasises that people have died in that house before.

Sound

The Diegetic sound of the teenage girl screaming is showed multiple times during the trailer, which gives a feeling of terror. Lots of crashing of furniture as the victims is rushing around the house gives a quick pace to the film.
The voiceover is one of the Non Diegetic elements of the trailer. This sets the scene and also allows the audience to understand the story. The voice is a deep, calm, male voice which guides the audience through the trailer. The chicken noises as the viewer focuses on the bones, this represents as if it was a slaughter house.
The music is the trailer is mostly atmospheric and it is a slow pace and a low horror inspired tone. There were no sounds on the cut scenes to the corpse, this puts emphasis on the visuals.
Analysis of a scene

This table scene is based on a family sitting around a table eating dinner. Except the family are killers. The dead father still at the head of the table who is dressed in a suit which is similar to the sons. The camera shot is from the point of view of the victim strapped to the chair. The family then taunt her, of her impending death. This is a situation that the viewers would be used to, eating together at the table. However, this scene is quite unsettling and creepy, the viewers would feel a sense of unease.

Source of historic and background info IMDB