What makes horror movies good and bad (Choices and Effects) 10/31/2018

Jack Lenosky

Mr.Rivers

Film as Literature

10/31/2018

What makes horror movies good and bad (Choices and Effects)

Today in class Mr.Rivers had a stellar Bob Ross costume. We began by copying down our daily objectives which were as follows:

• IWBAT evaluate how a director’s choices develop genre and style.
• IWBAT synthesize the stylistic choices of multiple directors.

Following the daily objectives we asked thought about what makes a GOOD horror movie and what makes a BAD one. On top of analyzing these two topics as a whole, we also asked ourselves: “what CHOICES evoke the mood of horror?” We applied this question in class by making a chart split into two sections consisting of a Good section and a bad section. As a class we were able to come up with this chart:

Good	Bad
Atmosphere -soundtrack builds suspense	Predictability
Different from other horror movies	Difference based on hot topic
Deliberate jump scares	Overuse of jump scares → Too much: detracting from plot
Interesting storyline	Characters make bad decisions (stupid character); breaks the idea of realism → Laziness
Lack of sound: Choke

After discussing the good and bad aspects of horror films, we viewed clips of two different films: Jurassic Park by Steven Spielberg and Get Out by Jordan Peele. We made another T-chart with a section called “choices” (made by the director) and then a section called “effects” (what these choices affect). Before watching the movie clips, Mr. Rivers mentioned that, “Choices = Style: Different tactics”.

First, we watched a Jurassic Park clip and discussed the choices and effects. We put these into a t-chart which looked like this:

Jurassic Park

Choices	Effects
Jurassic Park: Growling and squealing looking out at the men	This makes the viewer wonder what is in the container that is making these terrifying sounds
Man gets pulled into the container (thrown around) → quick cuts of PANIC → sound: shrieking and yelling	-Very frantic and fast paced ; builds panic
Soundtrack consists of nice music (fanfare) which builds up then becomes quick high pitched notes	-Adrenaline rush -SHIFT in tone
Very dark lighting and little visibility (Low-Key lighting)	Makes audience wonder

After discussing the choice and effects of Jurassic Park, we watched the opening scene of Get Out. We then made another t-chart as a class which looked like this:

Get Out

Choice	Effects
Only person with a face	We only know what the man knows
The subsidiary features are blurry
Dark, suburban street, self-aware	→ DREAD → Allusion
Music is cheery	Fear and Sadistic

We ran out of time in class today, so our discussion was cut short. Nonetheless, we were still able to obtain a sufficient amount of information on the choices and effects of the two films. For Friday, Mr. Rivers wanted to dig deeper into how camera angles affect the scene as well. After learning about how directors can make certain choices to develop the genre and style, we can now apply it to our lives. This is applicable to real life in the sense that you can determine the genre and style of other works, whether it’s another film or something else like a book or article for either personal enjoyment or for work. A couple of occupations that could utilize choices and effects could be a journalist or a haunted house designer. For a journalist, this is really important because it can help with determining the overall message that the author/director is trying to portray. By knowing what the author is trying to say, you can deeper analyze the text and pick out more precise evidence to use in writings. As for how choices and effects can be used by a haunted house designer, the same choices made by directors in horror films can be used in their haunted houses. By making the right choices, you can create the perfect haunted house to scare people and keep them coming back for more!

Horror, Genre, and Choices (10/31/18)

Today's class began with the introduction of the daily 'I Will Be Able To's which covered the ideas of how certain cinematic choices impact the genre and tone of a movie. The 'I Will Be Able To's for today were: evaluate how a director’s choices develop genre and style & synthesize the stylistic choices of multiple directors. We then transitioned into the lesson and Mr. Rivers then split us up into our groups to talk among ourselves about what makes a good or bad horror movie. After about four minutes, Rivers called our attention back to the front of the classroom and had each group share what they had come up with for what makes a good or bad horror movie. The list that the class came up with was:

Good:	Bad:
Lack of Sound	Predictability
Atmosphere
Soundtrack	Subject based on hot topic
Builds suspense	Stupid characters (Laziness)
Deliberate Jump scares	Over use of jump scares (if used it too much, you detract from the plot)
Interesting story line

After this, Rivers pulled up the opening "Shoot Her!" scene from Jurassic Park (1993) in which a park worker is pulled into an enclosure by a velociraptor after an accident occurs. Mr. Rivers then had the class watch the scene, write down what choices in the movie create suspense, and then had us share our answers with the class. The list of choices and effects that was produced was:

• Pulled into the cage → Builds panic (Quick cuts of panic due to shots)
• Sound (shrieking, yelling, screams, slow fast paced music) → Adrenaline rush & Huge tone shift
• Dark! Low visibility (LOW KEY LIGHTING) → Makes audience wonder

Next, we moved on to the opening of the thriller/horror movie "Get Out" (2018) and we were tasked with writing down the same choices and effects that we did for Jurassic Park. The choices and effects that were found were:

• Run Rabbit Run music while a murder is going on transitions to fast and sharp violin music afterwards → Sadistic
• Subsidiary features kept blurry → We can’t see behind or around him
• Dark, suburban street, self-aware → DREAD ; also an allusion to other horror movies where characters are stupid

The class today obviously has many different and clear connections to the outside world as we reviewed and analyzed two of the most famous and well-known thriller/adventure/suspense movies of modern cinema. However, while in class today we already drew some clear connections between the subject material that we are learning and the outside world, another prime example of how certain choices create suspense and other effects is The Hunt for Red October (1990). Unlike in Get Out or Jurassic Park, in The Hunt for Red October, most of the characters in the film are constantly trying to figure out what Captain Ramius's intentions are while the audience is fully aware of what his plan is but are also unaware of what is going to happen in the end. This technique creates a different form of suspense where the audience is constantly hanging on the edges of their seats as the situation revolving around the nuclear submarine and its fate is and can drastically change at any given second based upon the uninformed actions of the other characters in the movie.

10/31/2018 (Halloween Blog)

In the spirit of Halloween, today in class we discussed how a director's choices creates horror. We were given some times to ourselves to answer a "do now" question of "what makes a good horror film? What makes a bad one?" We were to do this individually and write down our answer in or notes. After 5 minutes Mr. Rivers brought the class together and we discussed our answers.

This is what the chart looks like

What makes it good?	What makes it bad?
Jump Scares	Predictability (for example the “everybody gets shanked in the shower)
Good acting	Stupid Characters/Annoying characters
Building suspense	Abandoning the plot

After discussing the elements that go into making a good horror scene/movie, we watched an opening scene from the original Jurassic Park movie. (If interested in watching this scene go to you tube and type in "Jurassic Park, Shoot Her Scene") After the viewing , we described what choices the director, Steven Spielberg, used and what was the effect of it, we described this first in our groups than as a class. 

An example of the answers the class came up with is 

Choices	Effects
The low lighting and the use of heavy fog	Creates a sense of suspense and uneasiness
The background music and certain diegetic audio such as people screaming and the dinosaur roaring.	The music gives an ominous tone while the non diegetic noises creates a tone of horror
The futuristic weapons	Gives the audience a better understanding of how dangerous the dinosaur is

Right after discussing the choices and the effects we watched the opening scene from the movie Get out, directed by Jordan Peele, from comedy central Keele & Peele. The scene can be viewed via You tube. We did the same thing for this scene as we did for the Jurassic Park scene. 

An example of the choices and effects chart for Get out. 

Choices	Effects
The low lighting	Creates uneasiness
The cheery background music, played when the main character is being abducted.	Creates a small sense of comedy, which reminds of the director, but mainly a tone of creepiness. The music actually talks about “if you don’t get out your gonna die.” The explains what's going on perfectly.

As we finished the objective we discussed how the end scene reminds us of the end scene for No Country for Old Men. We also discussed how the decisions of the director contrast each other. For example, Spielberg uses the classic horror style music while Jordan uses a cheery music which is not very common in horror movies.  The setting of the scene is also different because when we see Keele's choice for the setting there is no futuristic weapons or heavy fog surrounding the characters, its just a plain suburb neighborhood at night. 

But our analysis for the scene from Get out doesn't end their. After comparing and contrasting the scenes we further break down the Keele's scene and discuss how the scene relates to the real world. A young African American adult male walking at night, in a suburban neighborhood gets attacked reminds of the countless cop shootings of an unarmed African American. The movie was released around the same time the "Black Lives Matter movement" was prevalent. 

What we did in class; doing all the objectives related to horror, relates to the real world, specifically today, because its Halloween. "Spooky Spooky"  

Evaluating How a Director's Choices Develop Genre and Style/Synthesizing the Stylistic Choices of Multiple Directors

Evaluating How a Director's Choices Develop Genre and Style and Synthesizing the Stylistic Choices of Multiple Directors

     The class was asked the following question: What makes a good horror movie? A bad one? Collectively, the class made this table:

Good	Bad
Jump scare (it works)	Predictability
World building	Overuse of jump scares
Good actors	Annoying characters
Building suspense	Abandoning the story (killing with no plot)

     Next, the class was asked: What choices evoke the mood of horror? Two scenes were observed: the "shoot her" scene from Jurassic Park and the opening scene to Get Out. The table below is an analysis of the scene from Jurassic Park.

Cause	Effect
Low lighting/fog	Suspense/uneasiness
Workers’ faces are scared	Fearful mood
Monster’s point of view	Intimidation
Man is lifted by monster	Foreshadowing of power
High notes in the music	Chills
Ominous music	Ominous

     The second scene, the opening from Get Out is analyzed in the table below.

Cause	Effect
Music during the strangling: Juxtaposition	Creepy/out of place
The character is lost	Scarier/connects with the audience
The quote, “Not me today.”	Foreshadowing
Camera hides and reveals information	The chosen angles create suspense
The whole scene is one shot	Reality

     From these tables we can see what cinematic choices do to the tone of the piece. This is obviously very applicable in the field of film making. Film makers need to know what they are conveying when they make cinematic choices.

Positive and Negative tones within an allusion

We began class by continuing our discussion about allusions from yesterday. We discussed about how an allusions can determine an audience or reward and audience. An audience can be determined by an allusion by showing who should ¨get¨ the allusion and be able to understand it. An audience can be rewarded by an allusion because they can understand an allusion and find humor in it. A new topic we discussed was how allusions can reinforce themes. The allusion between HAL 9000 and Auto was shown again and the topics about that example are-

Control, villains, advancement of technology, robots, artificial intelligence, and rebellion.

We then posted our themes as groups on the classroom page that we got from the topics we took out of the allusion and discussed whether each theme had a positive, negative, or neutral tone. Each tone was negative in the HAL 9000 vs Auto allusion. We also discussed the reinforcement of theme when positive. The song Hello Dolly was shown on the board and in groups, we figured out the topics of the song and the tone and themes of it. The topics we came up within the song Hello Dolly were Love, reminiscing, companionship, and time. In our groups we determined whether the theme is positive or negative and we came to conclude that this theme is positive.  

At the end of class Mr. Rivers assigned us to find an allusion from Ready Player One. Within this allusion, we had to figure out if it was a positive or negative and who the intended audience is supposed to be. The audience can be figured out by looking into the allusion and seeing which kind of people would understand the allusion. Then in 1-2 sentences, we were to write down who the audience is, how it rewards the audience and how it reinforces the theme. I hope this helps anyone who was absent and needed to add anything to their notes.

Allusion and Reinforcing Positive and Negative Theme

We started did a quick refresher on Allusion today. In case you forgot or don't have it in your notes, an allusion is a reference from outside text whether being historical, religious, or other text. 

Allusions help to:
1. Determine the audience
          Outside Example: In Ready Player One, Cline creates an allusion from Family Ties. This allusion determines that his intended audience is anyone who was around to experience Family Ties in the 1980s.

2. Reward the audience
          Outside Example Continued: When the audience relates to having knowledge of Family Ties, it further engages them. Knowing the material rewards them and then furthermore keeps their interest.

3. Reinforce themes

4. Establish Credibility
           

Then we revisited our compare and contrast of Auto from Wall-E (2008) and HAL 9000 from A Space Odyssey (2001). We used them to reinforce the theme represented in both films. First, we broke them down into topics seen in both films and more specifically Auto and HAL 9000. Here is what came to mind:

Topics
- Control
-Mutiny
-Artificial Intelligence
- Villians
-Safety
-Feelings
-Advancement of Technology
-Robots
-Rebellion

Next, we took these topics and developed them into what we thought were the intended themes for the audience. They are posted in the classroom. Then we took each theme and broke it down on what elements of the theme and whether it came across as a positive, neutral, or negative theme. We worked in our usual groups.

Reinforce Theme: Negative and 1 Neutral

In the theme posted by Amanda the phrase where she says "...more powerful than humans.", (Masucci) is what creates the negative tone.

In the theme posted by Zach, he at first gives a positive connotation about technology advancement. However he says "...technology can overcome humanity if we are not careful about development.", (Van Es). Then we transition into a negative theme against technology advancements.

In the theme posted by Will, he gives off a negative connotation against technology advances with word choice such as "too smart" and "able to overtake humans", (Cisko).

In the theme posted by Jhordin, he gives off another negative connotation against technology advances because it "...ends up with humanity hurting itself.", (Griffin).

And last but not least, Jack reinforces a neutral theme. He says that advances lead to them developing their own behavior. However, there is no claim or argument that is for or against the advancement of technology.

Reinforce Theme: Positive

We reinforced themes in our groups again but this time we used a song lyric from Hello Dolly called It Only Takes A Moment.  The lyric is posted below:

"And that is all that love’s about

And we’ll recall when time runs out

That it only took a moment

To be loved a whole life long"

We then (like before) broke it down into topics that the song gave off:

Topics
- Companionship
-Reminiscing
-Love
-Time
-Cherishing Life

Next, we took these topics listed above and developed them into themes that you will also find posted in Google Classroom.

In Andre's theme, we can determine that it gives off a positive theme. "Falling in love", (Lavagnino) gives off a positive theme. The word "change" at first gives off a neutral tone but then gives a positive tone when he says it "...changes your life forever", (Lavagnino).

In Zach's theme, it is broken down into two parts that reinforce a positive theme. The first part is "Spending time with those you love makes every moment of your life wonderful...", (Van Es). The second part is it "... ensures that you live life to the fullest.", (Van Es).

Last but not least, Will's theme. It creates a positive tone because he expresses how "time, love, and companionship...", (Cisko) will positively ensure that life is cherished.


And finally, we ended class by splitting off into groups of 2-3 people. In these groups, we each got a note card. On this notecard we had to write:

1. A quote from Ready Player One that is an allusion

2.   What tone is given off, starting with it being either negative, positive, or neutral and branching off words from our tone list.

3. Writing in 1-2 sentences how it either
         1. Determines the audience
         2. Rewards the audience
         3. Reinforces themes

If finished by the bell, they were handed in. If not finished, they were due by the start of class on Halloween Day. On that final note, I hope this was helpful to anyone out or reviewing notes. I hope everyone has a good Mischief Night and everyone has a very Happy Halloween tomorrow. Good night!