Emily's A2 Media blog

Horror films are cheap and can make huge profit. This is proven by the fact that the found footage horror movie Paranormal Activity  only had a budget of $15,000, yet it generated $190 million at the global box office. Another prime example is The Blair Witch Project , with a budget of $35,000, it made a whopping $245 million at the global box office. This causes us to think: Why do people spend so much money on mainstream films when they can simply make a horror film? Pirates of the Caribbean: On  Stranger Tides officially holds the record for highest budget with a budget of $378.5 million. It is number 20 in the list of highest grossing films of all time and grossed $1,045,713,802. What's more - the film wasn't received very well critically. Rotten Tomatoes only gave it a 32% rating, which can be compared to Rotten Tomatoes' much more elevated ratings of 86% for The Blair Witch Project and 83% for Paranormal Activity. However,...

Dissociative Identity Disorder is a complex psychological condition that you probably recognise through its former name of Multiple Personality Disorder. It is caused by many factors, including severe trauma during early childhood (usually extreme, repetitive physical, sexual, or emotional abuse). It is in fact the same disorder that Norman Bates has in the Psycho franchise. Here are a few of Norman's key moments from Bates Motel that are symptomatic of DID: DID is a severe form of dissociation, a mental process which produces a lack of connection in a person's thoughts, memories, feelings, actions, or sense of identity. The dissociation aspect is thought to be a coping mechanism - the person literally dissociates himself from a situation or experience that's too violent, traumatic, or painful to assimilate with his conscious self. The condition is very controversial, and some people even question whether it is real or not. The diagnosis itself remains con...

Stuart Fischoff was a media psychologist who focused particularly upon genres. In fact, he was very much a pioneer in the world of psychology because of his following contributions: founded the first media psychology lab in the world at CSULA co-founded the first journal, the Journal of Media Psychology started the US' first Master's level graduate program in Media Psychology Fischoff conjured up a list talking about the factors that influence a person's appeal to horror as entertainment. I've picked some of the major ones: Gender factors and Gender Roles: Being in a movie theatre enhances the power of scary movies because they are usually better enjoyed in the company of others. That's why horror movies are great date movies for teens and young adults - your date can be there to reassure, protect, and defend you against the evil force in the film. Fischoff conducted an experiment in his media psychology lab to study how the sexes ...

Tzvetan Todorov was a Bulgarian-French literary critic and philosopher. Unfortunately, he died in early 2017. His most prominent theory is his narrative theory, in which it suggests that all narratives follow a structure where they begin with an equilibrium , where everything is balanced and happy. It will progress to the stage of disruption , which is caused by an event. Eventually, the narrative will reach the stage of resolution in which characters will realise what the problem is and all chaos will let loose. The next step is restored order which is when characters attempt to restore the problem. After this, equilibrium is resolved and normality for the characters can resume again.

Vladimir Propp was a Soviet folklorist and scholar who analysed the basic plot component of Russian folk tales to identify their simple narrative elements.   He founded the idea that a certain type of character must be used in every narrative structure. His theory has influenced many filmmakers to write and produce successful narratives.   He suggested that every narrative has eight different character types, these character types are:   The Villain - fights the Hero in some way. The Dispatcher - character who makes the Villain's evil known and sends the Hero off. The (magical) Helper - helps the Hero in their quest. The Princess or Prize - the Hero is deserving of the princess or prize throughout the narrative, but is unable to reach her because of the Villain. The Hero's journey often ends when he marries the princess, thereby beating the Villain and resulting in a 'happily ever after' moment. The Father of t...

In his The Philosophy of Horror , Noel Carroll developed the attraction/repulsion theory, which is when we are attracted by gore and transgression and repulsed to it. He said; "Horror genre gives every evidence of being pleasurable to its audience, but it does so through the means trafficking in the very sorts of things that cause disquiet, distress and displeasure." A prime example of the attraction/repulsion concept in horror would be when we fear vampires, yet we fancy them because of their sex appeal. Like Damon Salvatore, for example, in The Vampire Diaries .   Damon Salvatore     A problem with Carroll's theory is that he does not take into account the interplay between attraction and repulsion, and he also rejects psychoanalytic accounts: does not consider role between conscious and unconscious - he only considers the cognitive side to psychology in regards to schemas. In her essay titled "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinem...

Psychological horror is one of the many sub-genres of horror. It is believed to be scarier than other sub-genres, purely because it focuses on everyday life, meaning that there is a chance that those events can happen in reality, therefore making the audience more cautious. This would differentiate from other subgenres such as supernatural horror because those events are less likely to happen. ‘Based on true events’ is often used with psychological horror because it tends to be based on factual occurrences in real life. Film makers often use this as it creates the illusion that there is a possibility than the plot can happen to the audience, thus making them want to watch it. They rely on the audience’s mind to create the horror effect. Conventions: rely on character's beliefs, fears and other hidden truths about the character/what they have done expose the evil that hides behind normality paranormal elements. the antagonist will appear nor...