Genre Research: Get Out

Hello in order to get a better understanding of our genre, my group and I watched and evaluated some horror films. One of the movies my group and I researched was the 2017 horror movie Get Out. Directed by Jordan Peele, Get Out is a Mystery/ Thriller that follows a young man who goes to meets his girlfriend’s family for the first time, but finds out that there something really wrong about her family. We chose this movie because it was one of the best selling movies in 2017. We noticed that there are some camera angles and shots, and movement throughout the film. For angles, there were eye level angles, high and low angles. This movie also used a variety of movement such as tracking shot, tilts, and pans. The shots throughout the movie were three shots, long shots, and medium shots. Throughout the the movie there were also closeup and some two-shots. There were also over the shoulder shots being used throughout the movie. 

The movie Get Out has a very unique mis en scene. The costumes in this movie were very casual clothing, the only unusual costumes were on the house keepers who wore what looked like old clothing for decades ago. The lighting in the movie started out light and towards the middle to end of the movie it started to turn darker. The acting was really good in the movie they really did a good job with acting. There was some really impactful moments in the movie that the actors portrayed. The makeup in the movie was pretty plain, the only time the makeup was over the top was when someone got hurt and they had to make a mark to show that someone got hurt. The injuries in this movie were very intense and gruesome. The overall makeup in the film was very good and the injuries looked so real it was amazing. There were many props in this movie but one of the main one was the house which everything went down. The settings were pretty basic, it took place at an old town and at a house. The settings were nothing crazy or out of the ordinary. The main sound in the movie was dialogue, but there were some other sounds too. A couple of non digestive sounds were in the movie too like clicking of the mouth which went on in the movie a lot. In some of the scenes there was occasionally no sound at all and that helped with the tension.  

This movie followed a lot of the common horror movie elements. The movie followed  the element which an evil force is in the family and they make it look like there normal but there not. The movie also had a lot of tension and violence throughout the movie. Get Out did an amazing job at making people feel fear and creating a unsettling tone. An element I really enjoyed was that the movie had a consistent tone throughout the movie. I also liked how scary and original this movie was. The elements that I didn’t really enjoy was the parts that had violence in it. There was a fair amount of violence in this movie but it’s ok because I closed my eyes. Overall this movie was really good and I would recommend this movie. 

Genre Research: A Quiet Place

My group and I have been watching recent horror films to better understand this particular genre. One of the films that we watched was the 2018 horror film A quiet place. Directed by John Krasinski, the quiet place follows a family that must live in silence to avoid the creatures that hunt by sound. We chose this movie for this project because this movie was one of the highest grossing horror films bring in $340.9 million in the box office. While watching this film we noticed a big variety of camera angles shots and movements. the camera angles that we caught was a lot of eye level angles, high angles, and low angles. This movie also has a lot of camera shots like medium shot, medium shot, close ups, aerial shots and over the shoulder shots. The movements that were used in the film were pan, flash pans, tracking shot, and zooms.  

A quiet place also had a very interesting mid en scene which can be shown through the abbreviation C.L.A.M.P.S. C for the costumes was fairly normal. Most of the characters were humans that wore the cloths related to the time period that they were in. The only out of the ordinary costumes were the ones the actors who were playing the monsters wore. L for lighting, the light in the movie was fairly dark even when it was supposed to be the day time which gave the movie an eerie feeling. A for actors, the acting in the movie was incredible. The role which they had to play was not easy. They didn’t have a lot of dialogue which meant that they had to act through their face, they had to really emphasize the emotions in their face to make up for not having any dialogue. M for makeup, the makeup was very light, normal looking makeup. Except for the makeup used to create the mysterious monsters. The makeup was a lot of effects makeup to create the terrifying monsters. P for props, this film had very little props but the props it did have included the red lights that were strung around the farm that the family lived at which flashed red when the mother of the family went into labor. Another important prop was the hearing aid that the daughter of the family had. This prop was very important because at the end of the movie the mother and daughter found out that the hearing aid created a frequency that killed the monsters. S for setting, the setting of the movie took place at a farm in the country side, a forest, and a store. The main sound used in this film was some Ambient sounds like the waterfall and leaves crunching. Also a little bit of dialogue between the characters. 

 The movie had a lot of common horror movie elements but also had a lot of original elements of its own. The movie was a horror film that was silent the whole run time but also provoked a sense of fear with the actions and facial expressions used by the actors. An element of the movie that I did enjoy was the plot of the movie and how well the actors played their roles without a lot of dialogue. The concept of the movie was such a new concept and the movie didn’t really rely on jump scares. The elements I didn’t like was how dark it was all the time. The darkness did give a eerie feeling to it but it can be overwhelming when you watch it for 2 to 3 hours. Overall, this movie was a great horror movie and it really showed us how to make a horror genre film. 

Genre Research: Hereditary

In order to get a better understanding of the genre that we chose, my group and I watched and evaluated a couple of horror films. One of movies that my group and I researched for our project was the 2018 horror movie Hereditary. Directed by Ari Aster, Hereditary follows a grieving family being haunted by tragic and disturbing occurrences. The reason we chose this movie was because Hereditary was one of the highest grossing horror movies of 2018 and was one of A24s most successful films. We noticed a variety of camera shots, angles, and movements throughout the film. For angles, there were eye-level angles, low and high angles, and oblique angles. The movie also used a variety of movements such as zooms, tracking shots, tilts and pans. The shots used in the movie were long shots, three shots and medium shots. Many times, throughout the film were close-ups and two shots used. Over the shoulder shots were used quite often during conversation scenes.  

Hereditary also had a very interesting mis en scene. The costumes were regular street clothes and didn’t really stand out too much. The lighting in the movie started out bright in the beginning of the movie because many of the scenes were shot in the daytime but by the final act, the lighting was very dark, and it was almost hard to see. The acting was great in the movie. There were some very great and impactful monologues and the actors and actresses did a very good job at showing their grief. The make-up in the film was pretty plain and didn’t make much of an impact unless an injury was shown. The injuries that were created in this film were very bloody and gruesome. The make-up was also very well done and the injuries that were displayed in the film looked very real. There were many props used throughout the movie, the most important props were the dollhouses that the main protagonist creates that help to tell part of the story and a journal that helped to establish a malevolent entity. The settings were pretty basic. The movie took place in a house, a high school, a treehouse, and a couple of other less relevant locations such as a craft store. The main sound used in the film was dialogue but there were also a couple of other sounds. The movie had an amazing original score which made for a more impactful ending. A couple of non-diegetic sounds played throughout the movie such as the quiet mouth clicking noise that would occasionally be played as well as the sound of injuries being created or messed with. There was incidental music and ambient music played and, in some scenes, there was no sound at all which helped to heighten tensions. 

The movie followed many of the common horror movie elements but also had a lot of original elements of its own. The movie followed the element of an evil force arriving to a family. The movie also had a fair amount of violence and tension throughout its run-time. Hereditary did an excellent job at provoking fear and creating an unsettling tone. An element of the movie that I did enjoy was the that the film kept a consistent tone throughout its runtime and I really liked that the movie didn’t and rely on jump-scares to create the feeling of fear and relied on the actual plot to create that feeling. The elements that I didn’t like in the movie was the violence. There was a lot of violence in the movie which is okay but a lot of it seemed unnecessary and prolonged. Overall, I think that this was a great horror movie and helped me to understand how to make a movie fall into the horror genre. 

Genre Research: IT

  Hello! The next step in my genre research is to watch and breakdown a film in our genre. Since my genre is horror I chose the movie IT which came out in 2017 and is by Stephen King. This film just like any other has it's own conventions, mis en scene, and elements. The elements for this film would include 8 main characters: Richie, It, Bill, Beverly, Eddie, Stanley, and Ben. The main element in this horror film is eliciting fear. The film incorporates suspense and mystery as well. Violence and pop outs as well is pretty common in this film. And at times a moment of silence to signify something is about to happen. I enjoy the pop outs and the mystery because I feel as though it draws me more into the movie. However, the violence is probably one of my least favorite elements of this movie, luckily there wasn't that much. 

Most of the fear provoking scenes were done through more creepy than violent visuals. Some common camera angles in this film are lots of eye levels, over the shoulder, low angle, and high angle. Some common editing in IT is flashbacks of Georgie, jump cuts from character to character, it has a high pace editing which creates a sense of urgency for the conflict of the killer clown to be resolved. Cut aways were also shown a  lot so that the viewer could see the characters reaction. For sound, the main of course was dialogue but the creators of this piece also put in background music in some parts to help build tension. Digetic sound was shown a lot such as from stepping in nature, rain water, or wind. But non-digetic was common too, particularly from the sounds made from the villain.  

IT's mis en scene can be organized through the abbreviation C.L.A.M.P.S. C for costumes. The wardrobe in this film is 80s inspired clothing for all of the characters. The clown , IT, costume was a huge white classic circus inspired costume with matching boots. The lightning in this film is overall low and gloomy which helps build the mood of eeriness. The actors are a group of teenagers who all live in the same town and a man who plays the part of the demon clown. Parents of the children are briefly shown as well. Makeup is only dramatic for IT seeing as though he is the monster clown so he needs that extra effect from makeup while the majority of the characters not really. A main prop used in this film and is known as a type of signature is a single red balloon. Finally, this horror is set in Derry, Maine and also takes place in the woods, sewer, and neighborhood houses.