Research into Genre

Horror

Horror movies were reborn in the 1930s. This saw the advent of sound, as well as changing nature of cinema forever sound had a huge impact on the horror genre. In the 1920s horror films were all about the visual representation of ghostly creatures and from then on sound joined it. Sound adds extra terror to the movies and also the addition of music to build suspense and signal that something terrifying is going to happen.

The horror films of the 1930s are fairy tales set in different lands with the characters in period costumes speaking in strange accents. People were more enthusiastic about the horror genre in the 30’s and went to the cinema to be frightened of hideous monsters. 80 million people attended the cinema on a weekly basis in the 1930s. 

Dracula (1931)

Frankenstein (1931)

Freaks (1932)

1940's

The 1940's saw the Americans making wartime horror movies whereas back in Britain they were banned and the industry were focusing more on animals and humans linked together creating weird characters to frighten the growing horror audience.

The Wolf Man (1941) 

Cat People (1942)

1950's

The 1950's saw a shift in audiences and teenagers were now the target with them flocking to drive ins to see the latest horror movie. The aim of horror films in the 50's was to provide thrills and to please the audience with monsters that may not be that terrifying but they never failed to entertain them. Science and technological advances seemed to be the main aspect of horror movies in the 1950's.

The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms (1953)

It Came From Beneath The Sea (1955)

1960's

The 1960's saw movie makers challenge taboo subjects including; sex, violence and nudity. Everyone was looking for more realistic, believable characters along with more sophisticated story lines dealing with some of the issues they were being face with. The monsters and aliens of the previous years looked silly now and instead the films were focusing on social stereotypes and traditions.

Physcho (1960)

Carnival of Souls (1962)

1970's

The 1970's sees the rise in budget for horror movies, with big budgets they have a lot of money to make the films brilliant. A lot of the films focused on genuine psychological fears and social issues. Children become what is feared the most in the 70's. 

Carrie (1976)

The Exorcist (1973)

The exorcist was banned because of how scary and terrifying it is. Still it is known to be one of the scariest films ever made. This links to the 'hypodermic needle' this is the theory that came in to play in the 70's. The idea was the audience that were watching the film/television programme would be passive and were being influenced by it without knowing and they are being immediately effected by the 
themes of the film. 
People were so scared at the time that this was going to happen to them that it was eventually banned because people genuinely believed it. The film being for adults anyway with an 18 certificate it should not be shown to younger audience which would be more likely to believe that this would happen, however because of all of the coverage on this new theory everyone at the time was thinking the same.

1980's

There were no main topics of 80's horror films, each one was different. There was however a big change in the advances in costume and effects they could apply to the films making each one bigger and better than the last.

The Shining (1980)

Evil Dead (1981)

1990's

The 1990's saw serial killer and lots of blood and gore. Disturbing thrillers became very popular and without original ideas remaking the old ones was becoming a regular thing.

Silence of the Lambs (1991)

Se7en (1995) 

Theory

Not many people go with the hypodermic needle theory because they realised it is not realistic that everyone that watches the films will then be effected by the themes of the film and therefore their behaviour will then be effected also. However because of the constant exposure to violence in the media it no longer effects us as much, even young audiences are no longer bothered about what they see on the TV. When people see people being murdered in films and then see the same situation in real life it may not bother them because they are desensitised.
Buckingham and Bragg theory 'children  are capable of being critical viewers and consider moral questions'




Fantasy 

After researching in to the genre of horror, it was then decided that we would change to fantasy as it interests us a lot more.


Fantasy is a genre that usually uses magic or something similar, they are set in an imaginary world with make believe misters/creatures and some form of supernatural events.
Fantasy films are associated with escapism as it gives the audience a way of escaping the real world, along with fantasy films provide the audience with unexpected events.

Fantasy films were almost unheard of until the 1980's where the technology became available and they were able to be made. Audience became a lot more interested in the genre of fantasy with it being based a lot around myths and legends.

The first official fantasy film was made in 1982;


Conan the Barbarian

A lot of fantasy films have very large budgets and therefore have the money and technology to make them look amazing. For example Lord of the Rings would not have been as successful if the technology was not available.