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!