180 Degree Rule

The 180 Degree Rule is an important aspect of the film grammar. Not following the 180 degree axis will be very confusing due to the fact that the characters will face each other from the opposite side. An simple example of this would be two different characters facing each other and communicating and then the camera angel changed to the other side making the viewer wonder if the characters had changed seat's.

if the filmers crosses the 180 degree axis, it is called crossing the line. And the new shot from the opposite angel is called reverse angle.

In a football match if the red team is attacking from left to right it makes perfect sense however if the camera cuts and starts filming from the opposite side it will look confusing since it would seem as the team is attacking from right to right.

Halloween

About Halloween

Halloween is a 1978 American independent slasher film set in the fictional suburban midwestern town of Haddonfield, Illinois, USA on Halloween. The original draft of the screenplay was titled The Babysitter Murders. John Carpenter directed the film, which stars Donald Pleasence as Dr. Sam Loomis, Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie Strode, and Nick Castle, Tony Moran and Tommy Lee Wallace sharing the role of Michael Myers (listed in the credits as "The Shape"). The central theme of the film is Myers' escape from a psychiatric hospital and his subsequent murder of a number of teenagers, whilst Dr. Loomis' attempts to track and stop him. Halloween is widely regarded as a classic among horror films, and as one of the most influential horror films of its era. In 2006 it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

(source www.wikipedia.co.uk)

In the opening credit all you see is a pumpkin on one side of the screen and the credits on the other, your eyes strangely focus on the writting but you keep looking back at the pumpkin wondering if you imagined it or whether it actually is getting closer to the screen because of how slow the camera zooms into the pumkin making you think that someone is approaching you very slowly.

The movie begins with a cold Halloween night in 1963 with Michael Myers, a six year old Haddonfield resident picks up a kitchen knife and starts walking up the stairs however the camera's view it changes to a humans eyes to make the audience see everything the killer sees, as he walk's up the stairs an uneasy sounds is played every step he takes the tone gets higher and stronger signalling that he is getting closer and closer. As he gets into his sisters room we see her naked infront of the mirror from a long shot, she thinks that his litle brother is joking but she realises that he is not when he gets closer to her and stabbs her continously. Coming home from a night out michaels parents find him outside the house with the same knife he killed his sister with from that point the camera starts to zoom out into a crane shot.

The opening sequence of 'Halloween' is very unique because it allows us to have a point of view shot of the young Michael Myers when we see him standing outside their home spying on his sister and his sisters boyfriend, before entering into the house and seeing her boyfriend leave and at that same point goes into the kitchen and picks up a knife and slowly makes his way to the stairs on his way upstairs he picks up an mask that had been left behind by his sisters boyfriend, he puts on the mask hiding his face with it before moving on through the house to stab his sister continously with the knife. I think that this scence has been worked to almost perfection because the sound effects really go with the film creating tension in the audience.

John Carpenter's 'Halloween' is one of everyone's favourite horror films of all time, and while there have been countless copies of the film since its 1978 release, in my opinion, 'Halloween' remains to be the best of them all. This film saw the emergence of the teen slasher genre, conventions of which would go on to be used in latter years and do in fact continue to be used right to this day.

Red Dragon

Hannibal Lecter's first outing (in literary terms) is based on the Thomas Harris book, written by Silence Of The Lambs' Ted Tally, directed by Brett Ratner and previously adapted by Michael Mann for the 1986 Manhunter.

Red Dragon starts with Hannibal Lecter having his musical evening ruined by one of his musician's in the orchestra, whilst Hannibal is watching the musician play to an non acceptable standard we know this when the musician makes a mistake the camera quickerly zoom's into Hannibals face with a frustrated expression suggesting he will be eaten for the mistake. The camera zooms out to a long shot towards the crowd however Hannibal is easily detected due to the fact that he stands out, as if the lights are on him.

The evening is carried on with the performers in Hannibals house. Hannibals seems to be an wealthy man becayse of his cloths and house as well as his behaviour as a rich man.

Whilst hannibal is tidying up, police officer(Edward Norton), he is investigating a killer. He has come to Hannibals home to get his views on the murderer however when hannibal walks out of the room the officer has a glance at a book of Hannibals and realises that the killer is Hannibal, at the same time Hannibal strikes him with a knife with a close up on Hannibals face saying " just relax it wont hurt" however the officer strikes back and shoots the hannibal.
The opening credits starts with close ups and fast shots of Hannibal and the officer surviving.

Abour Red Dragon:

Red Dragon is a 2002 thriller film, based on the novel of the same name written by Thomas Harris and featuring psychiatrist and serial killer Dr. Hannibal Lecter. The film was directed by Brett Ratner and written by Ted Tally, who also wrote the screenplay for The Silence of the Lambs; it stars Edward Norton as FBI agent Will Graham and Anthony Hopkins as Lecter a role he had, by then, played twice before in The Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal.

(source www.wikipedia.co.uk)

Seven

When we started to Analyse the opening sequence of Seven I noticed extreme close up being used on a mysterious black book which had nothing written on it at all it was just blank which was strange. I also noticed a shadow over the book as well as two broken hands on a paper which made it clear that who ever owns this book must be a murderer.

As the opening scence went on we saw someone peeling finger nails off this to me suggestes that who ever this man is he tried to remove his finger prints covering all his criminal convictions, this suggest to the audeince that this person is the killer, he is getting rid of his finger prints so that he can not be found if he commits another crime. It looks as if he is making a note or a book or maybe a threatening letter. The killer is seen to cross out certain words from a dictionary, pieces of paper or the Bible. The music behind the opening scene makes you feel scared as if someone is watching every step of yours.

As the movie plays on diegetic sound of theme music is played with a high pitch as well as low and the frequency changes this creates tension to the audience, Disturbing music starts which creates fear.

A range of extreme close up is used within the opening sequence to certain characters, static shots sudenly appear of scrap books which suggestes he is obssesed with writting this leaves the audience wondering what it is that he tries so hard to perfect.

Fast and quick shots are used with beats of music this tells us that this persons mind is irregular and he dosnt think about anything twice he just dose things as he likes. Whilst the character is writting images are superimposed this may convay passage of time and space.

Facts about Se7en:

Seven (stylized as Se7en) is a 1995 American crime film directed by David Fincher and written by Andrew Kevin Walker. The story follows a retiring detective (Morgan Freeman) and his replacement (Brad Pitt), jointly investigating a series of ritualistic murders inspired by the seven deadly sins.

Christian Metz Made Of Genre Development

We will be identifying films of Christian Metz in the Horror genre and use his development to recognise the horror genres existence and development

Did you know Universal studios have created early horror classics?

Horror Films:

• Frankenstine ( 1931 )


• Scary Movie ( 1999 )


• Scream ( 1996 )


• Nosperata ( 1922 )


• Blair With Project ( 1998 )


• The Sixth Sense ( 1999 )


• Dracula ( 1931 )


• The Cabinent of Dr Caliguri ( 1919 )


• Seven ( 1995 )


• carry On Screaming ( 1969 )

Christian Metz in his book language and cinema ( 1974 ) explored the development of genre films and suggested that genres pass through four phases of existence.

Did you know Christian Metz was a French film theorist, best known for pioneering the application of Ferdinand de Saussure's theories of semiology to film. During the 1970s, his work had a major impact on film theory in France, Britain, Latin America and the United States.

The four Phases are :

• The Experimental - Films such as Dr Caliguri and Nosferata


• The Classic - Films such as Dracula and Frankenstein


• The Parody - Movies such as Scary Movie, Carry On Screaming as well as Abbotand Costello Meet Frankenstein


• The Deconstruction - Films such as Seven and Sixth Sens
  

Explanation of these four phases.

1. Experimental - The phase of early films which explored and experimented with horror themes in it's narratives such as Nosferata.


2. Classic - We mean the phase of films which established the narravtive conventions of the horror genre in it's most successful and defining period such as Dracula.


3. Parody - by this we mean films that have mimicked the horror genre in some comical way just as Scvary movie have done.


4. Deconstruction - We mean which have taken the genetic elements of the horror genre and amalgamted them into varying sub genres.