Deconstructing Psychological Horrors

Rosemary's Baby (1968)

To begin with, the opening song in Rosemary's Baby is a clear signifier for the 'horrory' genre you are about to view, the song is haunting and slightly creepy which fits in well http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQFwW8eAy4U. It is also similar to the lullaby in Pan's Labyrinth, which is in the same sort of genre.

 The film is set in a large apartment building, the building itself is very tall and overpowering, with castle like features. This shot shows the audience the main location, it has a creepy and haunted house-esque look to it.

A large majority of the film is set in different apartments within the building, it is a familiar location that would usually signify safety and comfort. The evil in the film infiltrates these safe surroundings. Through using a location which the audience can relate too, it brings them closer to the action making them feel ill at ease.

One of the mysteries in the film is why the door at the bottom of the hallway had been blocked, behind it all seems normal. This is until Rosemary discovers it's real purpose. This ominous doorway acts as another creepy factor in the apartment block, besides the history of witches devouring children. The addition of this adds suspense to the story, as to what the cupboards purpose is.

There is some surreal and ghostly imagery used such as in the scene where the devil rapes Rosemary. Psychological horrors often use shadows and darkness to disorientate the viewer and to add to its 'horrificness'. These weird images confused the viewer as they do not know if what is happening is real or not.

This is another surreal moment as the Devil is impregnating Rosemary, she seems to be consumed in some green fog, perhaps signifying the evil entering her. It again adds to the disorientation and dream-like aspect of the scene.

 There is also some disturbing and rather disgusting imagery used in the film, such as when Rosemary eats raw liver. It is quite uncomfortable to watch as it looks very unpleasant, and almost cannibalistic. This is a simple yet effective scene, the colour of the bloody red contrasts with Rosemary's innocent white face, dress and surroundings. It also begins to show that the darker force inside of her is making her do odd things.

Mental isolation is a common convention of psychological horror's, this is featured explicitly through the second half of the film. Rosemary's peers begin to drop around her, and she becomes trapped with her over friendly neighbors and increasingly suspicious behaving husband. No-one believes what she is going through, and so she becomes isolated from everyone around her.

Paranoia is also a keen convention of the genre, this adds to the isolation of the character. Rosemary becomes slightly obsessed with the idea that the neighbors are witches, and finds an anagram in a book named 'All of them witches'.

Often some kind of dark force, such as Satan or some evil is featured in horror films, the character becoming obsessed with or haunted by this. In Rosemary's case it is a group of witches who hope to bring the son of Satan into the world, through impregnating her.

 Some nightmarish scenes are featured such as this, it is reminiscent of Jacob's Ladder when he is subjected to a disturbing hospital visit. Here Rosemary is pinned down and drugged to be subdued, whilst going into labour. It seems that evil has finally won as she becomes powerless.

 There is again some devilish and disturbing images on the walls of the Castevet's household. This is similiar to the 2009 film Orphan. The use of artwork and paintings in films is used everywhere, this is shown in The Shining also. This sinister and dark imagery amplifies the horror part of the genre.

In the final scene Rosemary is faced with her half devil, half human child Adrian. Her choice is to be his mother or to leave. Often psychological horrors are left open ended for effect, you do not explicitly know which side Rosemary chose, but the way she rocked and stared at the child suggested she stayed with him. This is also shown in The Shining, when the photo of 'Jack' in 1921 is zoomed in on.


Many of the characters in psychological horrors are subjected to mental abuse rather than physical, most of the horror goes on primarily in the mind, although this is sometimes amplified through surreal or haunting imagery.

The Shining (1980)


The opening credits to The Shining, as with Rosemary's Baby establish the location in which the film is set, in this sequence we see a camera moving through desolate lakes and landscapes to an extremely isolated hotel. This allows the viewer to realise instantly that whatever happens there, there is no easy escape or help. This creates a feeling of uneasiness and anxiety. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgCejsyS0t8 (opening sequence).

This scene is accompanied with some eery classical music, it has a foreboding tone to allow the viewer to make assumptions as to what evil may follow..
The pitch of the music gradually gets higher as the car ascends to the hotel surrounded in mountain and snow. This type of music is recurrent in the film, it is often high pitched classical horror type music that is featured.

This nightmareish imagery is shown to Danny when speaking to his 'imaginary friend' Tony. It gives a foreboding outlook of what will happen at the hotel, and gives the viewer an insight into the kind of themes that are about to occur. The use of colour is good here, through using red against white it creates a bold contrast which makes the bloody pool appear more horrific.

Creepy looking children are often used in horror films, this is definitely shown in snippets of The Shining. The images of the girls that appear after seeing the blood gives them a ghostly and haunting look. Both have shadowed eyes and appear symmetrical, giving them a surreal dream like appearance. The character of Danny also conforms to this frightening child imagery, he appears possessed/demonic in some scenes, such as the 'REDRUM' scene.

Foreshadowing conversations is a common signifier of what is about to come in a film. In this scene the family discuss the Donner party whilst travelling to an isolated location. The details of this story relate in some way to what is going to happen to the family. The isolation of the Donner party and the Torrence's both end up in similar circumstances, but without the cannibalism. This is another warning to the viewers.

I love the tension that is built up whenever Danny is wheeling around the hotel, each time he turns a corner you dread what you might see. This sense of not knowing is really effective in a psychological horror, the viewer is constantly on edge as to whether something will appear or not.

As with the mysterious cupboard in Rosemary's Baby, suspense is built here as to what hides inside room 237. A conversation before this scene warns about the room, and as Danny passes it tension is built, will he enter the room? This again gives an ominous feeling, the viewer does and doesn't want to know what is behind the door.

Claustrophobia is a major factor which adds to the horror of this film, the isolation and entrapment in the hotel means that the family have no exit, and no hope if something goes seriously wrong.
It seems that the hotel prepares itself and cages its victims. This is a convention of a psychological horror, being trapped or confined in small spaces, also a space which the viewer can relate to.

This sense of isolation grows larger as Wendy discovers the telephone lines are down, the only way of communication being through a radio line.
This heightens the feeling of panic, should something go wrong.

The character of Jack gradually has some sort of mental breakdown, this puts the viewer at unease due to the isolation and evil in the hotel. This scene again foreshadows what could happen, - "but i didn't just kill you, i cut you up into little pieces". It also hints that Jack is seeing what the former winter keeper O'grady did to his wife and children. Or that he is turning into him. All of these factors ultimately show that something very bad is going to occur..

It is ultimately writing/a book (rosemary's baby) that uncovers the truth in the film. It shows the viewer that the character of Jack has turned psychotic. The pages of text are unnerving as there are so many of them, it shows that his madness has been building up over the course of time they have spent in the hotel. This is reminiscent of the previous murder, which suggests the same cabin fever has got to Jack also.

 The game of hide and seek that begins after Jack starts his rampage is a great source of tension as the viewer waits for Danny to be found.

More nightmarish images unfold as the Hotel becomes more animated, this image in particular shows how the memories and people are trapped inside the hotel, the shadowed prison-esque bars confining them.

This is another open ended psychological horror, the film is left with an image of Jack dated in 1921, which would be impossible as it appears he has not ages since then. This may symbolize his evil spirit forever being trapped in the hotel, or maybe the hotel absorbing Jack. Either way it is left to the viewers interpretation, the mysterious image heightens the psychological factor.


Through noting the conventions found in these psychological horror's I can see what traits I could include in my trailer to allow it to conform to the genre.

Film Classifications

The classification for my film will be a 15 certificate, this is due to the theme and horror content that would entail in the whole film if it were fully created. I looked over the classifications on the BBFC website ( http://www.bbfc.co.uk/) and this seemed like an appropriate age category. My main audience is males ages 18-29 and so starting at a 15 certificate will give room for younger ages to access the film also. Many of the psychological horror films that I have looked at are primarily around the 15 certificate, the more recent horrors have become lower then perhaps the earlier made films. Rosemary's Baby and Jacob's Ladder are both 18's, yet I believe if these were to be reviewed in present day the certificate may not be as extreme as the content is far less shocking than it was at the time they were made. As explicit gore/violence is not necessary in a psychological horror the certificate does not have to be heightened to be appropriate for the intended age group. Strong threat and menace are permitted unless sadistic or sexualised, this means that the film can contain strong levels of frightening horror, but without the stated above. As I would like my film to be haunting and 'horrific' this classification is appropriate.

My trailer would primarly feature in picturehouse cinema's, the trailer itself could be classified as a 12 as it will not feature any of the explicit horror featured in the whole film. I believe this trailer would be shown before other films within the thriller/horror/drama genre, as it would not be a shock to see a horror featured here. This is compared to waiting to watch a comedy and being suddenly confronted with a slasher trailer. The two would not mix, they would need to be in the same or similar genre. I have reviewed the scenes/images that will be shown in my trailer and I believe it would mainly be suitable to be shown in films with a 15 or above certificate. Unless films beneath this rating still contained mature or psychological themes.

Exhibition

When initially thinking about where my product would be shown, I thought an Arthouse cinema would be an effective and suitable place. After again visiting our local arthouse cinema, Cinema City, I can deduce that this would definitely be a good place for exhibition. I went to see Trier's latest drama/psychological/thriller film, Melancholia. When watching the film I couldn't help noticing how much more effective the sound was in a small cinema screen, it really filled the room and felt quite overpowering. In my trailer I want to use some really strong classical music, and so I think it would work really well in the smaller screens featured in arthouse cinema's. The description and genre of my film is probably less mainstream than blockbusters shown in multiplex cinema's, and so would appeal to a smaller audience. This would make it suitable for exhibition in a more niche surrounding. 

Poster Research

As the film Antichrist and the general work of Lars Von Trier has been a great inspiration to me, I thought I would look at two of the film posters for his movies.
The setting for my image will be in a forest as in this poster, although it will be much simpler than this surreal work.
This film is classed as a horror/thriller, although I believe it has factors of a psychological horror due to its story, themes, and sequences in the movie. The setting for this is very dark which suggests the movie will be of the horror genre, and the hands climbing out from the tree roots gives it a horrific effect. The text here is very simple and stands out from the dark surrounding image. The images portrayed are pieces from the film itself, in my own poster I will fabricate an image that is to do with my film, but not a direct scene from it. This poster is effective in showing off the gloomy horror and surrealism that is involved with the film, I will need to think about what images will best portray my film.

This poster is from Trier's latest work, Melancholia. This poster features much more text around it, focusing on the reviews and awards of the film to attract attention. Through the addition of this text interest is built for the movie, as the audience can see it has glowing reviews and has been awarded, which will generate curiosity to watch it.
This image is again quite surreal, it shows a direct image from the film. Through using a well known actress as the focal point of the image it also allows an audience to set it a certain standard, that it must be worth watching if it has such well known people in it.

I really like this poster for The Blair Witch Project, being a psychological horror it is an interesting poster to look at. It at first appears to be a sign for missing people, although when looking closer you discover it is an advertisement for a film. This is quite different to many film posters that I have seen which just feature the films images, this intrigues the viewer through its odd format.
I like the idea of having some kind of missing sign, as the main character's family in my trailer have disappeared, this kind of design may be something worth considering.
The text under the photos relates to the story of the film, the way it is written disorientates the viewer as it is written as if factual. That the people have really gone missing. This mysterious factor may intrigue audiences driving them to see the film. The fact that the film is shot like a documentary is more frightening to me, as it tries to make itself real.
The title of the film is quite small and overshadowed by the image and text, although stands out from the black background through the use of colour. I think this small title also adds more mystery, as it is understated.

Many of the posters for psychological horror films feature a lot of dark colouring and perhaps dystopian or dark surroundings. This is true of this image for Rosemary's Baby also. The image is almost divided into two halves, the first showing the character of Rosemary, the second what we assume is her baby in a pushchair. This divide could represent Rosemary's feelings about the child, as in the film she is torn between feeling the love of a mother to a child, yet the fear of having born a demonic creature. The darkness in the lower half of the image also represents the evil that the pushchair holds, it is a very bold image in terms of colour, it stands out to the eye. The position of Rosemary is also important, as she seems to be laying down, which represents her submission in the film, as she could not help or stop what was happening to her. The image very much overpowers the text at the bottom, you almost miss it. This may be because the actress was very well known and her presence is an attraction to the film, or that it was trying to create mystery and suspense as to the films story.

This is a more recent example of a psychological horror poster, it definitely conforms to the conventions of the genre in that it is both creepy and haunting without actually showing any monstrous imagery, gore or violence. I think it is a very effective advertisement, fans of the game will recognise the eerie, misty surroundings and silent hill sign, which draws in that audience but also the stillness and creeping fog draws mystery and suspense as to what lays in the town of Silent Hill...
The black horror type text of the title contrasts from the white surroundings, although I don't know whether it was necessary to have two signs saying the same thing for one poster, it may have been more effective without the bottom black text. This again shows the similiar dystopian surrounding, something which I would like to incorporate in my own image.

Through studying some of the imagery used for this genre of film for advertisements, I can deduce that the use of dark, creepy imagery is often used, alongside dystopian surroundings and often shadowed faces or gloomy scenery. When brainstorming ideas for my own poster I originally thought of setting my image in a dark wooded area, which as it seems will conform to the genre well. I wanted to have the ghostly images of the character's family in the background of the image, out of focus/distorted so it is unclear who or what they are. I believe this imagery will work effectively with the genre and audience of my film, although I still need to think about what kind of text I want to use on the image. The text used on the Silent Hill poster seems to work well, it definitely adds to the horror of the image. I will do some research on fonts and film titles so I can start to fit my poster together.

Understanding Filmmaking

This website has been very useful in showing what factors I need to consider when creating my film piece. It takes you through the original idea concept all the way to exhibition and ancillary products.

Through looking at each step it is clear what I need to work on and what needs to be done to progress further, this as well as the checklists we have received in class should be a good source to keeping on track with the project.

Audience Research

IMDB has been a very useful site in terms of collecting data for audience research, for each film a percentage of viewers is given, it is divided into sex etc. I have looked at a number of psychological horrors on the website and can conclude that the primary sex for this genre is male. This data may not represent all people that watch these films, it depends on how many people use the site and are active with it. The figures and conclusions I can draw will give me a a round about idea of who the audience will be, this is because of the trend in the data collected.

Rosemary's Baby (1968) Males	43,389	8.1
Females	10,426	8.0

Males Aged 18-29	21,522	8.2
Females Aged 18-29	5,541	8.0

The early psychological horror films such as Rosemary's baby were traditionally aimed at male orientated audiences, this information surprised me as I thought this film in particular would be aimed at a female audience due to the theme of the story.

The Shining (1980)   Males	160,488	8.5
Females	27,840	8.4

Males Aged 18-29	93,992	8.6
Females Aged 18-29	17,417	8.5

Here it is shown that the main audience for The Shining is males aged between 18-29. This data seems to trend through out the genre.

Jacob's Ladder (1990) Males	24,125	7.6
Females	2,901	7.4

                

Males Aged 18-29	11,781	7.7
Females Aged 18-29	1,378	7.7

These results are again similiar for a film made 10 years later..

Silent Hill (2006) Males	58,532	6.5
Females	10,713	6.5

Males Aged 18-29	38,514	6.7
Females Aged 18-29	7,667	6.6

Looking at the results on my facebook poll the collective genre that most participants preferred was horror, which is a good results as it is the genre I have selected, it was primarily males that selected this result. This suggests to me that I need to probe more into what factors of the genre attracts males, this can be completed through creating a focus group of my target audience. Von Trier was voted as one of the favourite film directors, this is where my inspiration has originated. This question was not compulsory and so the collective answers may not represent all the participants, yet it gives me an idea of the type of styles and filmmaking that people prefer. The primary magazine purchased was film magazines (mainly empire), which allows me to see that the design and content of the magazine is popular, something I should consider when creating my own. This is something else I can enquire about with my target audience, what exactly is it that attracts them to the magazine and what else would they like to see on it. Most participants viewed films either on TV or Cinema, which is a good collective result as if I were to really create my film it would first be shown on arthouse cinema's then perhaps move to film channels on TV over a period of time, it would probably fit in well on film4 or the horror channel.
Even at present day and over the past 50 years my conclusive result is that males are the primary audience for this genre (psychological horror), males aged 18-29 will be my target audience. This age group has been configured from the data I found on IMDB and from the age groups of the people taking my poll.
It is shown from my data that it perhaps does not matter what sex the primary character of the film is, as between these popular films studied the main characters are of both sexes. As the main character for my production is a young female I believed my audience might have been primarily female, although when looking at statistics this is not proven true. The main characters in Rosemary's Baby and Silent Hill are both young females, and mainly attract a male audience, showing that it may not be the sex of the characters that determines the audience. When looking at the individual films I will try to deduct what exactly attracts an audience to this genre, be it characters, music, scenery or shots.

Magazine Research

As I will be creating the front cover to a magazine featuring my film, I thought I could do some research into different film magazines and how they present their main features. I will need to consider typewrite, imagery and what other stories will feature on the cover. For some ideas I have collected some images of the popular film magazine Empire.

This cover features the kind of background image I would feature in my own piece, as I have decided to take the image on a field, the sky will take up a lot of the cover as on this. I can see that it would work photographically and catches the viewers attention through the vivid colour.
The articles to the side of the image often display films which are related in some way to the audience or genre of the feature film, this is something I will have to consider when choosing what text to have around the image, if I decide to have any at all.

Each cover has a different typewrite depending on the film and theme, as you can see on this, the title of the film's font appears damaged or beaten, which relates to the gritty nature of the film. It also has a very graffitiesque feel , which fits in with the rebellious look of the female character on the cover.
The Empire logo continues to stay in the same position on the magazine with the same font through out the issues giving it a consistency which is not shown with the rest of the text. It makes it obvious that that part is the main title although it is obscured by the main image in many cases.

This image for Empire is very shadowed and horroresque, it relates to the very dark nature of the film and of the actor and character featured, who of course was the center of media attention in the film due to his tragic and mysterious death.
The writing is in a yet again vandalised style, which relates to the other online and offline artifacts related with the film, often showing the Joker defacing and editing things in his own style.
As you can see the Empire logo is often partially blocked out or obscured by the image on the cover, although it is so well known that it almost doesn't need to be shown as the font and placement is automatically recognizable.

This image differs greatly from the usually fairly cluttered front page of Empire. This issue's main feature is a dedication to the Godfather, and so all attention is focused on the iconic image of Marlon Brando as the infamous Godfather. It is extremely eye catching although it is painfully simple. When you have an image as iconic as this it speaks for itself, not needing to be emphasised by bright colours and clutter.
This very simple layout is also something to consider, as I want my image to stand out to a passerby's eye, to really jump out.





Empire's versatile covers are a good source of inspiration for my own magazine, I need to think about my layout and how I want the features/titles to be presented with colour etc. Getting the image will be the first step, then I can fit the rest around it. I will also look at some other film orientated magazines to get a wide range of ideas.