1408 - Analysis of Title Sequence and Opening Scene

The opening sequence of the film 1408 is very restricted in that the viewer is shown very specific things as opposed to seeing the whole image, as such it uses many focus pulls to build anticipation in the audience. I would like to incorporate elements of the sequence into my own horror opening as I feel this would give me a solid foundation to build upon and enhance my overall sequence.

However, when producing my own sequence I would use much shorter shots in order to build tension much faster in my audience.

14 Seconds:  There is total darkness with a black screen at 14 seconds, it has simple white text overlayed, black is stereotypically associated with death while white is believed to represent purity, two key themes in horror films.  Non-diegetic sound in the background of rolling drums, these serve to build tension as the expectation is that as the intensity of the drum beat increases something will happen when they reach a crescendo.

28 Seconds:  The darkness fades to a shot with the rolling drums still playing in the background, gradually increasing.

30 Seconds:  There is an extreme long shot of a long dark road with a single pair of headlights in the distance, this introduces the mood of the film as the setting seems very bleak and unwelcoming at this point, isolated from any noteable civilisation and with a small amount of light amongst the darkness, this could be symbolic of the characters in the film with the majority being evil.
The road is surrounded by trees and bushes, this connotes that the road is situated near a woodland area, a cliche horror setting, strengthening the films ties to the genre. The weather itself is quite negative as well, with the rain pouring down and thunder crashing, further heightening tension.

33 Seconds:  The camera pans around to the other side of the road to reveal a car approaching the desolate area, this increases tension as the audience will want to shout at the driver to turn around as they have a feel for the nature of the location already.

40 Seconds:  The car is now in a close up shot, directly in front of the camera, the title of the film fades in over this shot with a ghostly effect, this suggests the film will revolve around or atleast be influenced by spirits/ghosts of the dead, though how this may be incorporated is not yet hinted at.

45 Seconds:  The car reverses back down the road , this shows that the driver may either be confused and lost, or harboring hesitancy towards his destination..  The shot is a high-angle aerial shot looking down on the car, this is used to show the total lack of control the driver has in his current situation and is a direct highlight of his vulnerability.

49 Seconds:  There is non-diegetic sound present from the radio which says "open the gates of hell".  This raises tension as there is instant foreshadowing of an iminent threat so terrible it is otherworldly.

56 Seconds:  A P.O.V shot is used to show the driver spotting a sign that says "You are leaving Fairfield county, Please come back", in an ordinary context this sign would seem harmless, however as part of a horror film this can be interpreted as a warning sign of danger up ahead, suggesting that not many people do come back.  The fact he reverses up to the sign shows that he is lost and vulnerable as he is forgetting where he is.

1.02 Minutes:  The driver looks at a map, this is important in establishing where the film is to be set and also adds to the suspicion that he is lost and isolated.

1.09 Minutes:  There is an extreme close up of the tyre. this focus pull suggests that the tyre will be affected shortly and as it is a horror it will more than likely be negatively affected.

1.15 Minutes: The car is pulling up to, what looks like a house. the lighting is very low key and so helps the shot to exude fear in the audience as their sense of sight becomes hindered. The house itself is surrounded by trees and hedges, this shows that it is isolated from the outside world and the rules that govern that area do not exist within this space.

1.25 Minutes:  There is a long shot of the man walking over a long dark bridge in the rain, this connotes that there is only one singular route out of wherever he is going, which when linked to the earlier sign suggests why no one has ever returned as they become trapped.

 1.30 Minutes:  There is a P.O.V shot taken from an as of yet unintroduced character, this helps to build fear and paranoia in the audience as they try to second guess the intentions of the observer. The house with which the man approaches stands juxtaposed to the weather and surrounding scenery, warm and inviting, with promises of security when compared to the cold and desolate surroundings.

1.38 Minutes:  The lighting now changes to high key lighting, this helps to ease the tension the audience feels at this point by allowing full use of the sense of sight, the inside of the house is very old fashioned and it appears as if there had not been any visitors for a long time, gradually building the tension back up as the man is in the strange building.

1.52 Minutes:  The travelling man discovers an ageing couple at the front desk of what is now known to be a Bed and Breakfast.  As the camera pans we see yet more old fashioned furniture and rooms, hinting towards the age of the establishment.

2 Minutes:  The aged man says to the traveller "oh you probably want to hear all about our haunted history".  With that audience expectancy and tension reach a peak as they now know exactly what they are instore for.

Film questionaire

Film Questionnaire

Name: …………………………………………………………….

Age:  (Tick one)    10-15            16-21           22-30           31-44            45+

Sex:  (Tick one)     Male             Female  

What film genres are you most likely to watch?           ....................................................

What time are you generally inclined to watch a film? …………………………………………………..

What interests you more in a film? (Tick one) Plot         Action/Gore        Actors/ Actresses

How many days of the week do you watch a film? (Tick one) 0       1-3        4-5       6-7

What was the last film you saw at the cinema?             ………………………………………………………..

How often do you go to the cinema?                                …………………………………………………………

Who is your favourite Actor/Actress?                              …………………………………………………………

Who is your favourite Director?                                        …………………………………………………………

Where do you prefer to watch films? (Tick one)    Home       Cinema        Other (please specify below)

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………........

What is your favourite film?                                             ……………………………………………………….

To get a better understanding of popular films and what is the most important aspect of films to people, I undertook in producing this questionnaire, and through it I hope to receive information that will be informative and useful to my aims in the course. The questionnaire will be circulated among a random sample of 10 individuals so as to make my results unbiased and worthwhile.

Scream - A Focus On Horror Stereotypes

As a satirical horror film trying to rejuvenate a dying genre, Scream made use of every stereotype the genre had to offer, but made the audience aware of this through the character Randy, by doing this the film became a joke that was played on the Horror films of the late 80's and early 90's.




Masks

The villain of a horror film produced in the late  80's and early 90's almost always wore a mask or concealed there identity in some way. Producers believed that the masks would heighten the fear in the audience through their fear of the unknown, this was shown in many films such as "Halloween" and "Friday The 13th" that while initially successful, dwindled in popularity when the same conventions became used over and over again. The mask used by "Ghostface" in the film broke away from the stereotypical masks often used in films as it had abstract and distorted features. The mask for the film "Scream" was based on the painting of the same name by Edvard Munch. The painting represented insanity and the lack of control of oneself, characteristics that define the wearers of the mask in the film.

Knives

The knife is the stereotypical weapon used by the villain of a horror/slasher film. It has been immortalised in the genre through "Psycho" and "Halloween" and has since been the staple of a villains arsenal of death. The knife creates fear through the act of penetration and is symbolic of death through entry into the victim. It is for this reason that it is often seen to create more fear in the female species and as such they are often the ones targeted by the wielder of such weapons. Scream defies this by giving the woman in the film Sydney the knife in the closing stages, transferring the power to her and the women in general, symbolising the change in the times.

Sex

A long standing theme of the horror genre included the death of any who had or were presumed to have had sexual intercourse during the time line of the film. This concept had been exhausted in almost every horror film around the time of Scream's initial conception. The audience is made aware of the fact that the rule of sex in the films has been exhausted and that it will result in a characters death. Defying this idea the main character Sydney has sex with her boyfriend during the film but does not die by the time of it's conclusion. By doing this the film not only rejuvenated a dying idea but also thrilled audiences by doing the unexpected.

"I'll Be Back"

A running joke in the horror genre, this line would alert the audience to that characters death just moments later, a concept that Scream chose to keep but with a twist. Normally this line would come when the characters were already well aware of the killer being near them, however when the line is used in the film it is done when the characters are relaxed and unwary, shocking the audience as they did not expect it. Upon hearing the line Randy utters "Okay, I'll see you in the kitchen with a knife." pre-empting the death while also acknowledging the stereotypical weapon used in the knife.

Alcohol/Drugs

As a typical rule, alcohol and drug takers in horror films were usually killed as per the ones that had sex. Scream was different however in that it didn't reinforce or completely discredit this rule as a whole, instead
it neither supports nor opposes the rule as some individuals in the film that do drugs and/or drink survive the film while others are brutally murdered. This connotes unpredictability that makes the audience's sense of fear heightened as they never know what will happen.

Low Key Lighting

A staple of any horror film, darkness in general is used to insight fear and paranoia in the audience. This is done through the view of the audience being restricted as detail is limited and only form is prominent, making the shadows that follow us appear threatening. Night is used to create the unknown and therefore build tension as the audience has no idea what is around in the setting rendering the audience and characters helpless.

Young Characters

By using young teens they can exploit the vulnerability of the characters, who are naive and helpless to the machinations and sinister nature of the villain and other threats. The target audience for horror films is between 15-30, by casting characters of this age group the audience is able to relate themselves to the characters so the sense of fear and worry produced by the audience is heightened.

Prolonged Silences

The use of silences create an expectant reaction in the audience as we then foresee a sharp end to the delicate sensation, as the popular phrase 'calm before the storm' emphasises, and usually in horror a silence is a foreshadowing of immense terror and suffering to come shortly. The silence itself suggests that something is not quite right, therefore the action is more exhilarating when it takes place.

Screams 

As the title of the film suggests, screams play a pivotal role in creating horror, the bone chilling hight pitched sound is so unpleasant that it is instantly associated with fear and pain as it is the humans last desparate response to disjoint their attacker. While these may be exagerrated and highly overused in most films, the sparing and well timed use of an effective scream will still cause suspense and a sense of realism mixed with utter terror.

The Ring: A focus on Imagery to create atmosphere in films

As the 6th highest grossing  horror film in the US "The Ring" raked in $129,000,000 in the box office. It's success as a psychological horror film is contributed greatly to by it's fantastic use of imagery to set an atmosphere of terror in the audience.

While it may not possess copious amounts of gore as can be found in a slasher type of film (Psycho, Halloween etc.), or enormously ugly monsters of a sci-fi horror flick (Alien), "The Ring" is able to inspire ludicrous amounts of fear in it's target audience through it's iconic imagery amounting to moments of suspense before the next big scare.

Detailed underneath will be some of the most iconic images in "The Ring"



The Video

Turning a staple of modern culture (at the time of the original "Ringu" anyway) into an instrument of death, that is a very frightening thing indeed, by making the familiar object a symbol of death the terror it causes on the audience is fealt more keenly than if a less common item were to be used. By selecting the videotape, it allows it's audience to sub-consciously comtemplate the very real possibility of there own tape harbouring such a fate, thus hightening the fear of the viewers.
The tape can also be seen as the film challenging societies reliance on technology to get by, it does this by making what we depend on the cause of the on screen characters peril.

Child Saviour and Murderer

When his mother watches the tape that will kill her, only Aiden Keller can provide the cryptic clues  through his semi-psychic abilities that could save her from the evil girl lurking within. The image provided here of the child being both a saviour and killer, is a dramatisised representation of the new generation coming through in the early years of the new Millenium, who can either improve the world or destroy it.                                                   Aiden represents the innocence and hope children bring, and is an important plot device as he himself  provides his mother with hope of surviving the killer tape, this combined with his innocence allow his character to create rare moments of calm.

On the flipside of this is the spirit of the tape, Tamara, representative of an average little girl at first glance, she represents vengeance and wrath, seeking retribution through the tape for the way she was treated as a child. She is there to increase the tension at key points in a scene by utilizing her average appearance to create sheer and utter terror in the age demographic.

Stereotypical horror fans

Horror Film Target Audience Research



Males:

These two males are stereotypical of the horror franchises target audience, they are old enough to be able to view the films but young enough to be thrilled and entertained by the excessive amounts of gore and shocks present in this franchise. The average age for a horror films target audience is between 15 and 25, these two clearly represent this age demographic. A more sophisticated audience over this age range is unable to enjoy this type of film as much as they become aware of the overused cliches that the horror franchise thrives on: creepy chidren, mysterious phonecalls, running up a spiral stair case, hand on the car window etc.

They are both in full time education and if in posession of a part time job (usually in retail) would be expected to be earning around £100- £350 a month, this therefore allows them to view these horror films, as in relation to the money they make the movie fee is of little consequence.

They're like for sport, videogames, alcohol, the opposite sex, music, guns and pop culture reinforce the ideas that they would be interested in viewing horror films as horrors challenge the stereotypes of teenagers in particular for example: the jock type character will always die, at some point there will be a party full of alcohol half-naked girls and loud music, inevitably any character that has or is presumed to have had sex during the course of the film will usually meet an untimely demise. This use of familiar themes helps to create characters and situations the target audience can relate to therefore making the reality of the horror film and it's thrill factor more potent.

Satirical horror films (the scream franchise in particular) make their characters aware of real life events and these horror cliches. These characters are usually are depicted as the same age as those expected to watch the film. All these things that the teenager likes are placed in the film as to promote their interest in the gore-fest.

Producers use the young adults awareness of current trends to increase interest in the film, trailers for instance may utilize a popular track in the current charts or have characters clothed in the latest fashion or talk about popular shops e.g. HMV, Hollister, JJB etc.

The target audience's dislikes feature just as heavily in horror films as their interests do, however they are used in a different way, it can be generalised to the following statement:

Horror is about making the familiar scary, the comfortable frightening and in doing so reducing the negativity surrounding the audience's pet hates by making the on-screen characters safer in scenes with those negative elements assosciated with them. By doing this Horror opens up the appearance vs reality debate to it's viewers and allows them to take a wider look at the world (if they are able to see past the excessive gore and plethora of thrills that is). For the male part of the Horror world this involves things such as shopping, Soap opera's, ballet, theatre, classical music etc.

Females:

As the horror franchise has evolved so too has it's target audience, tradditionally a genre reserved for the male sex due to the heavy stereotyping and opressive nature towards women in the films. This was a result of most female characters in films having one of two roles, the damsel in distress incapable of saving herself and relying on the aid of the male characters to survive who is overly sexualised and punished for having sex in the space of the film by death. The tradditional second role of a woman in a horror film is that of the antagonist utilizing the target audience's (males) fear of the power women are able to have over them. Either way the genre utilizes the use of females in an extremely exploitive manner with films like "Dracula" and "Halloween" typifying this viewpoint.

More recently this opression has seen a decline in the franchise with films such as "A Nightmare On Elm Street", "Scream" and "The Shining" with the woman moving from weakness to strength and promiscuity to intelligence, ultimately ending with them defeating a stereotypical male villain.

Like their male counterparts, these teenage girls will be in possession of roughly £100-£350 a month, they will also have a good idea of what is popular and fashionable; clothing, activities, celebrities etc. Clever movie makers will use this to their advantage by enlisting these elements in their production, perhaps most important of all would be enlisting one of the currently popular male actors to attract the female interest.

Even though horror has evolved to cater to the female audience some films still follow the traditional formula in regards to womens roles in the feature. This is done as Directors recognise the current culture within women's society to harbour jealousy and ill will towards one another, this craving to see their fellow women get what they deserve is fulfilled by the classic horror mould and so it continues to be a staple in modern cinema.

Overview:

Society's judgement on what a horror fan should look and act like has been fine tuned over the years and can now be categorized by the following twelve things:

(taken from http://boardreader.com/thread/Stereotypical_horror_fan_c65fX30mxwd.html)

1. Wears A LOT of black clothes

2. Listens to hardcore heavy metal and screamo and grunge

3. Tons of horror movie and rock band posters

4. Wears eye make-up for some mysterious reason

5. Secretly likes torture p0rn

6. Knows how to play guitar (acoustic and electric)

7. Is atheist

8. Hairy

9. Deep voice

10. Hates sport and excercise

11. Hates disney

12. Loves thinking about death and destruction

While some of these may be an extreme they are all accurate of the way society thinks a harcore horror fan should be like. It is presumably views like this that influence the content producers and directors insert into their Horror movies, and as the stereotype changes the content changes so as to keep itself relevant to the target audience.

Representation of teen life - Short film

This was the second experience I had using a video camera and other filming equipment such as the tripod.  We did this to work on the core skills we had gained from the preliminary task and developed basic script writing skills. The focus was to centre the piece on the stereotypical issues surrounding teen life, e.g. knife crime, bullying, theft etc.

We tried to use a variety of shots and camera movements in the piece, with long shots, mid shots and close ups, we also used zooms and pans. In order to emphasise the issue in our short film, we chose to use a match on action with a close up shot to exaggerate certain aspects of the shot and make it feel more threatening.

What Lies Beneath: A focus on Gothic Conventions in Horror Films

As the highest grossing Horror/Thriller title in the US, I thought it would be beneficial to research the film 'What Lies Beneath', namely to find out what conventions and themes made it so popular and sucessful.

The Gothic: Gothic novels provide the conventions necessary to invoke bone shuddering horror and terror. With the well known features being noticeable in the film the audience is shocked and scared at every new discovery (or false discovery).

The film is literally littered with Gothic features; blood, concealment (The affair), corruption, death (villains human form's suicide),  documents (the newspaper article), flickering candles, mist, mirrors, monsters, mutilations,revenge, sex, villains, the young vulnerable woman, the young seductress and corrupter all this and more appear in the film, helping to create the sense of unease and terror in the audience.

The gothic concepts that are utilized in the film include but are not limited to:

Horror     

Horror is the fear generated by a physical shock actually seen or experienced e.g. blood, death etc.

There are plenty of examples of the horrific in the film, the decaying corpse of Madison grabbing Norman in the lake, Norman covered in blood after slipping in the bathroom. The horrific image of Madison's corpse creates the extreme fear in the audience as it is not something so foreign from us as to be unrecognisable and the fact that we will all take on a similar appearance one day is what confounds that fear.

Terror

Terror is a fear generated through the uncertain or obscure, something that is hinted as being sinister or perceived as insubstantial but still there, preying on the imagination of the audience.

'What Lies Beneath' utilizes the power of terror to great effect throughout. Mist creates that sense of the unknown, shrouding everything inside of it and leaving the audience to their imaginations of what is portrayed through it. The spirit Claire come's into contact with generates terror as the actions are ambigious and never explained clearly, leaving them open to interpretation and each member of the audience building their own individual fears of what the purpose could be.

 The simple phrase "You Know" seemingly breaks the fourth wall of cinema as if it is a direct message to the audience, whilst also being discrete as to not give away much, giving the feeling that no one watching is truly safe from the spirit and creating a sense of mystery and intrigue.

The Sublime

The sublime lends itself to marry aspects of terror in order to truly submerge itself in the minds of the audience, it is the sense of astonishment, awe, being overwhelmed by someone or something that we ourselves can not fully comprehend, whether it be a monstrous entity, landscape, vast power or simply an emotion. As the spirit begins to cause Havoc in Claire's Home she is overcome by the sublimity of her fear and so dabbles in the unknown arts of conducting a seance, a practice not commonly employed in society therefore attracting the character and audience to it's powers creating awe by all who bear witness to it.                       (pictured above: Claire engaging her fear through a seance)

Oppositions, Otherness and The Doppelganger

( Pictured left: Norman, seemingly sane but full of   madness, a key opposition in the film)

Oppositions play a key role in the genre as they are challenged and often shown to collapse, displaying the audiences pre-determined views of them being totally indifferent from one another as a falsity. Popular oppositions explored in the film include male/female, sanity/madness, past/present and living/dead. 

Otherness is anything which is different from ourselves and yet also has an air of familiarity to it making it appear threatening to us, the fear originates from the fact despite it's differences whether these be physical or mental we can see ourselves in this "other", and the resolve to not become what we are presented with is born through this fear.

(Pictured above: Claire and Madison, an example of how scary an other or doppelganger can be.)

The Doppelganger is a double that takes on the appearance of the mirror image or alter ego of a character, revealing the negative energy, desires or traits of the individual in a magnified way. It is common belief that seeing ones own doppelganger is an omen of death, this concept is flipped on it's head in the film however as Norman see's his wifes doppelganger and not his own yet he is the one that ends up dead and not her.

The Revenant

Typical folklore suggests the revenant to be a visible ghost or resurrected corpse brought back to the realm of the living through a strong emotion or action (revenge, justice, etc.) however the gothic describes it to be anything that keeps coming back from the past, this can include evil deeds, fears or individuals. What Lies Beneath combines the revenantal apsect of Norman's affair and murder with the form of Madison as both return to ruin his life. This is the prominent theme of the film as the underlying message is that whatever you do, you will not escape the past.


To conclude it is safe to theorise that these gothic elements while not singularly responsible for the success of "What Lies Beneath" do have a positive correlation to the acclaim and value the film gained from the consumer fan base. The elements used managed to accentuate certain plot points in the production and produced the eeriness so often associated with good horror films. Because of this the film manages to distance itself from the banality present in so many horror films of the 90's by successfully using and bending the core laws of all horror, the Gothic.

Well Known Production Company Logo Analysis

20th Century Fox 

Is a Big budget studio that is also one of the 6 biggest in America. The studio develops a wide range of film styles and has been responsible for the creation of works such as:  "Avatar", "Star Wars", "Die Hard" and "Home Alone" among other franchises.  The logo of the studio stands out from it's surroundings, being substantially taller than everything around it connoting the studio should be recognised for it's work in the film industry as well as being a literal showing of the companies deserved self belief that it is indeed the largest and most recognisable studio in existence. The fact the name of the studio is written in gold shows that the company views itself as the best at what it does relating to the popular phrase "gold standard" which is used as a measure that everything else in the same industry is striving to achieve. The companies self belief in it's own prowess is reinforced further with the addition of the sky lights surrounding the logo, this is done to gain association with the term "having your name up in lights" which refers to the individual or collective attaining great fame through their work.

Film4 Productions

The logo has a very simplistic style to it with the basic font and single tone, unblended background which relates to the nature of the studio. They are low budget and as such do not have access to the effects and actors of larger budget studios. The contrast between the red background and the bold, white, all capital text place emphasis on the fact that the studio in fact specialises in producing films. This strengthens the idea that they are low budget as they are unable to spread there resources to other productions such as Documentaries or T.V Drama Series.  Their list of films includes: "How to Lose Friends & Alienate People", "Trainspotting", "Shaun of the Dead", "The Eagle" and "The Inbetweeners Movie". As a trait of the company the actors they cast (at the time of filming) are not quite the A-List celebrities other studios are able to acquire, however many of these young (usually British) actors make a name for themselves using Film4 as a springboard for their careers. Such actors and actresses include: Ewan Mcgregor, Simon Pegg and Samantha Morton. It should be noted that in more recent productions their rising stock has attracted such talent as Daniel Craig to their studios. As Film4 is a sister company to Channel4 and E4 the studio is able to utilise these channels for free advertising space, making use of the substantial audience these two channels create combined.

DreamWorks Animations

DreamWorks is considered to be the largest of all the studios that specialise in animated movies. Due to their specialisation in the area they are able to employ more time and resources to their productions allowing for a more polished finish to their pieces. To date the company has put together 23 feature length films including the most successful animated film franchise in "Shrek" with which the 2nd instalment is the third-highest grossing movie of all time, a testament to the studios production values and script writing. The aforementioned franchise has also spawned a spin off movie detailing the adventures of one of it's characters, "Puss In Boots" further extending the influence of the studio. The logo of the company shows a man sat atop a crescent moon, specifically the waxing moon, which signifies birth and change, which in this case relates to the vision of the company that wanted to breathe life into the film industry and create a time of prominence for animated movies. The man sits alone above the clouds, this is a reference to the companies ambition and unquestionable standing as the leaders in the animated world, reaching a higher peak than anyone has or will in the foreseeable future. The idea of the fishing rod creates the surreal impression that the company can literally reach into our heads and create the films we all dream about. Due to their standing in the film world the company are able to cast the big name stars to voice their animated characters with contributors including: Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Robert De Niro and Renee Zellweger. While our film will not be animated like the features produced by Dreamworks, we can still incorporate the core values of film making they exhibit to such a high standard into our film as best we can with our lack of budget.

Paramount

More important than anything else; supreme, that is the essence of being paramount, a ruling entity that stands above all others, and in choosing this word to define their brand the studio is declaring a clear statement of intent to it's competitors and viewers alike. The iconic image of the company name sitting above the mountain is akin the phrase "being at the top of the mountain" which represents the highest level of success one can possibly achieve.The hoop of stars surrounding the mountains peak and the studio name is a physical manifestation of two things, the stars they can recruit to act and direct there films and the high star ratings there movies receive from critics around the world. The sun rising in the background signifies that the films the company produces create enjoyment from there viewers, this view comes from the symbol of the sun itself which is a conception of happiness, while when something rises we accustom it to being created e.g. a phoenix rising from the ashes being created anew. This self belief is not misdirected however as the studio will be in the Midst of celebrating it's 100th year of business in 2012 and consistently manages to be one of the top grossing box office companies. Some of the films it has been responsible for distributing to the mass market but not own the rights to currently include the original "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory", "A Doll's House" and the critically acclaimed "Psycho". It's more recent ventures have seen the company produce film franchises such as "Paranormal Activity" and "Friday the 13th", as well as "Transformers" and "Indiana Jones" on behalf of Hasbro and Lucasfilm respectively.

MGM

The iconic logo of the studio incorporates many elements that serve to embellish the companies values and ideology. The Lion in the centre of the logo is symbolic of the company's status as being one of the best at what it does, this comes from the belief that the Lion is the "king of the jungle", this is further emphasised by the placement of the Lion it is in a central position, an homage to the idea of "taking centre stage", that it is so important all attention should be directed it's way. The golden film surrounding the Lion shows that the productions the company makes are of such high quality that they gain high value and esteem among the industry. The classical drama mask present underneath the Lion is a manifestation of the studio's core values, they embody high quality acting and traditional productions, as opposed to high amounts of post production editing. The circle that encompasses the Lion is a representation of the company's ambition, a circle is never ending, and as it encompasses the Lion, the symbol of being on top, they plan to stay on top of the Film industry forever. The studio has a high budget and long history, creating such icons as "Tom & Jerry" and "Snoopy" as well as being the first studio to produce films in Technicolour and creating classics such as "An American in Paris" and "West Side Story". They have also traditionally been the main competitor of Warner Bros.


Universal

Universal Studios is the oldest American movie studio in continuous production, along with Paramount it is celebrating it's 100th birthday in 2012. As the logo is the earth, it is made clear that the company intends to be a competitor in filmaking worldwide, it achieves this by having four separate movie studios in Orlando, Hollywood, Singapore and Japan, enabling them to stretch their reach across the globe. The Font is large and eye catching, eclipsing the earth in the background, by doing this the suggestion of Universal's global appeal is emphasised. The word Universal itself lends itself to the studio's goal as something that is Universal is adaptable to be used by anyone, in this sense Universal is shown to produce films that appeal to everyone regardless of ethnicity or background. Among the Studio's successful film franchises are "Jaws", "American Pie" and "Child's Play" helping establish the Studio as a multi-genre film producer, tieing in with it's image of being appealing to all as it chooses not to limit it's target market to a niche group.

Horror/Thriller Film research

The top ten Grossing Horror/Thriller Movies of all time (US)
source: http://www.imdb.com/search/title?genres=horror&sort=boxoffice_gross_us,desc

1. What Lies Beneath          $155,000,000

2. Gremlins                          $148,000,000
3. The Blair Witch Project   $141,000,000
4. A Christmas Carol          $138,000,000
5. Godzilla                          $136,000,000
6. The Ring                        $129,000,000
7. The Grudge                    $110,000,000
8. Paranormal Activity       $108,000,000
9. Scream                           $103,000,000
10.Scream 2                       $101,000,000

Since it's inception, horror has continually evolved to assosciate itself with the most influential group of a culture. In recent decades this evolution has seen the genre create a strong attachment to teenagers and young adults.
A variety of sub-genres fill the horror genre including but not limited to; slasher, thriller, paranormal, and torture. As a general rule they will undoubtedly include many elements of gore, darkness, liberal use of profanities and generally disturbing ideas. It is for these reasons that they are generally certificated at a 15 or 18 by the BBFC.

I will be further researching the following films for different purposes:
What Lies Beneath -  Gothic Elements
The Ring - Imagery and atmosphere
Scream - Horror Cliches