My Influential Horror Figures

I have several influential figures that affect the ideas I put forward, due to my favouring of certain actors and directors. I will look to explore my most inspirational actor and director as of now, whilst analysing some of their work, and the reasons behind their success.

Andrew Lincoln

Andrew Lincoln is a world famous actor, starring in several popular films and TV shows over the years, including Love Actually and Teachers, as well as taking on the lead role of the worldwide phenomenon known as The Walking Dead. I first saw Andrew Lincoln on The Walking Dead, and his impressive acting performances really engaged me with the show, and from that I chose to watch more films and TV shows which are categorised in the horror genre. Because of the Walking Dead I am now a huge horror fan, and have developed a significant interest in Scream (a Netflix teen horror series inspired by the film 'Scream', directed by Wes Craven, as well as Dead Set (2008), Z-Nation, and Fear The Walking Dead, along with many others. It's fair to say that Andrew Lincoln, indirectly, has heavily influenced the TV shows I now enjoy watching. Lincoln has managed to win 5 awards as of June 2016. These include a satellite award for 'best cast' in 2012, a people's choice award for 'favourite TV anti-hero' in 2014, and a Saturn award in 2015 for 'best actor on television'. These achievements emphasise just how successful Andrew Lincoln's achievements are, and his outstanding performance as Rick Grimes on 'The Walking Dead' has helped to revolutionise horror on television, through his passionate acting, which is exceptionally believable.


George Romero

My second influential figure is the famous horror director, George Romero. He is known for creating the sub-genre in horror focusing on the undead. Romero directed Dawn of the Dead (1978). He also made a cameo appearance in Call of Duty Black Ops, as the creators of the game wanted him to represent the 'zombie' side-game. This would attract customers who admire his work, and the minigame turned out to be a huge success, drawing in millions of extra sales.

 

George Romero's most famous film he directed was Dawn of the Dead. A remastered version of this film was also released in 2004, sparking surprisingly high ratings from critics. The same year, a spin-off version was made named "Shaun of the Dead". This is one of my favourite films of all time, and without Romero, it wouldn't exist. I've always been a fan of the undead genre, therefore I have to look to Romero for inspiration. Many people couldn't imagine the horror genre without Romero's work, and several films, TV shows and games, are all directly inspired from his films.

History of the Horror Genre

Initial Ideas

Romance

Romance is one of our options due to the uniqueness of it, and we thoroughly believe that it could flourish with the right actors. Although this wouldn't help to gain marks, it could polish our product and provide a smooth finish to it. As a group, we want to try something new whilst remaining in our comfort zone. If we are to go down this route we realise that we would have to avoid making the trailer corny, which is possible if we worked hard on editing.
 

Action-Adventure  

We debated whether to produce an action-adventure film trailer or not, as it was our secondary option last year, which was overthrown only by horror. We feel that it would be easier to create an effective action-adventure film trailer, rather than a film opening, due to the increased amount of editing needed, for any genre, and the variety of settings we could use to our advantage. I proposed that we use a female lead for the action-adventure genre if we follow this route, as it subverts the stereotype that women are weak, therefore we feel that a female protagonist would be very effective. Another advantage of using a female protagonist here, is that we have a very talented and versatile actress who would be more than willing to help us out.

 

Horror 

Whilst narrowing down our options, we decided that re-visiting the horror genre could result in a very positive outcome for us. This is because we tackled this genre last year, and ended up producing what we thought was a solid production. We did however, make lots of mistakes, which we feel we could amend this time around, in order to replicate our performance last year, with added features that would hopefully bring our grade up. We went with the psychological sub-genre of horror last year, however this time around we're gearing towards a slasher.

Response to Brief

In response to the brief, we have decided to produce a promotion package for a new film, including a trailer, along with a film magazine and poster. We chose this as we felt that our strengths lie in camerawork, which is something we are familiar with, though it still is different from the 2 minute opening to a film we produced last year. We are aware that the film trailer will be significantly more difficult to the film intro, however it is a challenge we welcome with open arms, and the magazine and poster give us a chance to express our artistic and creative side, and are ancillaries that we can spend lots of time perfecting.

Me and Megan have decided to base our brief around the horror genre, due to our previous experience in developing the film intro in Year 12. We don't want to 'replicate' our previous production however, so we're instead aiming at a different horror sub-genre, such as the 'Slasher' or 'Psychological' kind. We are yet to decide on which of these we will take up, and we may make our final decision after analysing several different trailers, which will give us an insight into what we can do, and how we can do it with a low budget. We're also considering pairing the horror genre with that of thriller, as it will allow us to experiment with more action like scenes, rather than solely 'scary'/tension building ones.

In order to produce an effective horror trailer, we have to consider the conventions of horror, and decide whether to stick to them, or subvert them. As well as this, we need to find some sounds that can gradually build up tension throughout the trailer, before climaxing, which should be the most intense part of our trailer. We want to avoid horror cliches, such as overused jump-scares, or filming in the woods, and therefore will try to take a different approach.

Our target audience will range from 15 to 24. We feel like this is a realistic age range for a horror film, as young people tend to enjoy going to watch scary films with their friends. Lowering the target audience to any age below 15 wouldn't be beneficial, as the BBFC rating will have to be a minimum of 15. We've discussed the lead role for our film, and have decided to go with a female protagonist, as although in recent years the number of women who take on a lead role has on average risen, we believe we can portray our character in a unique way.