Making Paranormal Production Logo

The 'Paranormal' text had an annoying white outline which I decided to edit again and make it look much more neater. I also faded the text as our theme is based on paranormal type of activities and this gives it a ghost-like feel. 

This is an image of the paramount pictures production which we were inspired by. We wanted to make our logo recognisable and by using 'Paramount Pictures' as an inspiration I was able to produce this. The text that I found on dafont.com is also very similar to the 'Paramount Pictures' text. We have chosen the word 'Paranormal' as it plays on from 'Paramount'. It is almost like a horror version of Paramount Pictures.

This is our final production picture for 'Paranormal Pictures'.

Prop List

Final Girl

Carol J. Clover - Her body, Himself

This article expresses how woman are portayed on TV and how it keeps changing over time. Before, women were seen as sexual objects and victims of murders. Now they are becoming the 'Final Girl' in films like Halloween and Scream. Women on TV are usually being looked at constantly by men. The article suggested that men would rather see a pretty woman on TV being murdered than an ugly woman being murdered. Women are being portrayed as 'sex objects' but recently there has been the 'alpha female' which is a female that takes on a more masculine role.

The final girl theory is a convention in thriller and horror films. It refers to the last woman alive to confront the killer and be able to tell the story. According to Clover the final girl in many typical horror fillm plots share a common characteristic, she is typically sexually unavailable or virginal and they sometimes have a unisex name, such as, Teddy, Billie, Georgie, Sidney.

The term was coined by Carol J. Clover in her 1992 book Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film

EXAMPLES OF FINAL GIRLS

Research

Whilst scrolling through the Daily Mail, I found an article which talks about how trailers are becoming too revealing. This article adds to my research as it is clear that many people don't like when a trailer gives away too much. I will be using this when making our final trailer and consider trying to make the trailer less storytelling.

Todorov's Narrative Theory

Todorov in 1969 produced a theory which he believed to be able to be applied to any film. He believed that all films followed the same narrative pattern. They all went through stages called the equilibrium, disequilibrium, acknowledgement, solving and again equilibrium.

There are five stages the narrative can progress through:

1. A state of equilibrium (All is as it should be.)

2. A disruption of that order by an event.

3. A recognition that the disorder has occurred.

4. An attempt to repair the damage of the disruption.

5. A return or restoration of a NEW equilibrium.

Narrative

Narrative for False awakening

  - Young girl (Casey Jane also know as CJ) lives with her boyfriend
  - She begins having dreams (e.g. being chased or stabbed vigorously by a mysterious figure).     However,  she starts to feel as if it is happening
  - She addresses her boyfriend, who thinks she is being silly/ pranking him

  - She sees spirits around the house but takes her boyfriends word that she’s probably just gone     crazy

  - She visits her parents who warn her about her boyfriend  
  - She proceeds to attend church for prayer but her boyfriend refuses to attend

  - She has another dream – more vivid (being stabbed) wakes up with blood but no wounds

  - She now fears her boyfriend could be the cause of her injuries (backs away from boyfriend       when  he tries to touch her)

  - In the bathroom, looking in the mirror blood appears on her neck whilst being strangled there is no reflection of a figure in the mirror. Although her boyfriend is in the room too, we soon learn he is not the killer but there is an unknown entity. The entity also kills the boyfriend. 

Casey stands for - brave, whilst Jane stands for - gift from God. In the trailer we will portray the fact that the 'gift' Casey has received, is more of a curse and not a blessing. Casey Jane (also known as Cj) is a young, bubbly girl who moved in with her boyfriend after high school. She is 22 and her decision to move away from her parents wasn't because of rebellion, it was because she wanted to prove to her parents she could be independent and could care for herself.  

She is very adventurous and loves to discover new things about the world and her surroundings; for example, the new house she moved into. The house wasn't the normal Morden day, suburban house, with a white picket fence; it was big and gloomy and quite too old for someone as young as Casey.   

The thing about big, old, gloomy houses is that they tend to come with secrets, some that could change Casey's life forever. Not knowing the house was full of spirits which were long ago trapped leaves a big impact on Casey's life.  

We decided to use a girl because we could portray different aspects of media, for example, voyeurism and the male gaze. In the modern world she is fond of alcohol and is sexually active with her boyfriend. She is the main protagonist so we will be able to see her character drastically change.  

In the horror genre girls who are not innocent and pure usually end up getting killed.  Casey is being portrayed as the final girl but we have decided to conform to the usual conventions of horror and kill her off. 

Propps Character Theory

Propp's character theory involves 8 characters which are conventionally used in films. However, I believe that this theory doesn't always apply to all genres. Most of the characters that Propp's theory talks about is included in all films but not all of them. This theory best suits fairy tale films which include all types of characters in his theory.

The typical characters that he found were:

The Hero - a character that seeks something/tries to save something or someone.
The Villain - who opposes or actively blocks the hero's quest.
The Donor - who provides an object with magical properties.
The Dispatcher - who sends the hero on his/her quest via a message.
The False Hero - who disrupts the hero's success by making false claims.
The Helper - who helps/aids the hero.
The Princess - acts as the reward for the hero and the object of the villain's plots.
Her Father - who acts to reward the hero for his effort.

With regards to horror films, I think that the most common characters we are likely to see are the hero, the villain, the false hero and the helper.

Conventions of Horror

Audience Theories

Hypodermic Needle Theory

The theory suggests that the mass media could influence a very large group of people directly and uniformly by ‘shooting’ or ‘injecting’ them with appropriate messages designed to trigger a desired response.

Copycat/Modelling Theory




This theory suggests that audiences will copy what they see in the media. However, this is not so much of a theory as opposed to an assumption that has been blown out of contrast by the press. The most notable example as discussed earlier is the Bulger murder case as they appeared to be imitating actions from the movie 'Child's Play 3'.


Cultivation Theory




Cultivation theory is a social theory which examines the long-term effects of television. "The primary proposition of cultivation theory states that the more time people spend 'living' in the television world, the more likely they are to believe social reality portrayed on television." Cultivation leaves people with a misperception of what is true in our world.

Uses/Gratification Theory





It is an approach to understanding why and how people actively seek out specific media.


Desensitisation Theory



This theory states that the longer we are exposed to violence, horror or any other shocking material, we eventually become less sensitive to it and any real life equivalents.

Reception Theory



Reception theory is a version of reader response literary theory that emphasizes the reader's reception of a literary text. It is more generally called audience reception in the analysis of communications models. 

My Horror Survey