Representation of women in horror films

Representation Of Women In Horror Films 

Paris Hilton, a classic example of a promiscuous
female who is killed in a horror film, House Of Wax  

Stereotypically, female characters are seen as the weaker sex in horror films, playing the role as the damsel in distress, usually being rescued by a more masculine  dominant male character or they are killed off during the film. Females in horror films are often very attractive and between the ages of 18-30. Also, those who are killed are often females who enjoy partying and live a fun loving lifestyle, females however who are more reserved and intelligent tend to survive, and become "The final girl" in the film. There is a feeling that the girls who are killed in horror films are being punished for the lifestyle they have chosen and their hypersexual tendencies are frowned upon by the killers in the films. This was suggested by the theorist Laura Mulvey. The ideology of female horror characters has changed greatly as the horror genre has progressed, from the view that females were greatly sexually objectified in order to increase the male audience, playing no meaningful part in the film being essentially powerless. To the ideology of today when females are seen as equal characters in horror films and often take on male roles. 

An example of a promiscuous female character being killed in a horror film would be Sarah Geller in Scream 2, when she is thrown off a balcony. As she is a very attractive female, this particular example follows Laura Mulvey's theory of the sexual female being killed off in horror films due to their sexual lifestyle. Here is a link to the part of Scream 2 when Sarah Geller is killed, the footage shows how she is very naive and quite isolated, this is a typical technique horror producers use when building suspense before a character is killed in a horror film.  http://youtu.be/3uFjIAIkrqQ

Laura Mulvey also developed the Male Gaze theory, which is based around the ideology that the entire story throughout the film is being viewed through the eyes of a hetrosexual male. You will notice that in many horror films, mainly those made from 1970-1990, that females are very much used to promote a film and to increase  male viewings. The way the females are shown, for example with long shots, flattering the females and making them look attractive would make males want to watch the films, essentially making the horror producers more money.

On the other hand however, there is also the "Final girl theory", this was developed by the theorist Carol Clover in 1996, which suggested the opposite of the Male Gaze theory where a female figure was actually quite masculine and took on the stereotypical male role in films. An example of this would be Amanda Young (Mandy) from Saw 2, where she appears to be another victim in the film, however towards the end it is revealed that she is actually very powerful and is working for Jigsaw. She survives in the film and influences the story line hugely. She has great intelligence and helps the young man to survive the trap which the Jigsaw has set up for the characters in the film As you can see, this is a complete opposite of the Male Gaze theory where the attractive female is killed early in the film. 

The Final Girl theory is very important as it is linked with many other female characters in horror films, such as Sally Hardesty in the film Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Where a similar situation arises and the attractive female character survives and actually escapes the antagonist in the film, by jumping out of windows, hitching lifts and running for her life, showing she is a very strong female character, complying with the typical Final Girl theory. 

The Final Girl theory supports the ideology that females should be very conservative, white, middle-class, not indulging in the likes of drink and drugs and generally the perfect female character. It says that if you are all of those things, you will not be punished as you have not sinned, therefore you will survive in the film, becoming the Final Girl. The final girl is an empowered character in the horror films. In comparison to female characters who featured in horror films before the 80's, where they were literally powerless and objects to draw in a male audience, only to be killed later in the film, this was the ideology of female characters in horror films during this time period..

Interestingly, the Final Girl theory is important as it links with the development women's rights where before, women were seen as a very unimportant in society and they we're seen as submissive characters, who we're to stay at home. However after the women's rights acts which were introduced in 1976 were introduced, they were seen as very equal members of society. This reflects the Final Girl theory where women are seen as equal, if not more powerful than  men. Carol Clover developed her theory in 1996, when it was becoming clear that the female characters in horror films were actually were becoming more influential in films, in comparison to those made when Laura Mulvey devised her Male Gaze theory. This shows the development of the female character in horror films and the way they are now much more important have have more influence over other characters and the final story line.  The development of the Final Girl theory is a direct reflection of the increase of women's rights which is very important when studying females in horror films. 

Another example of a horror film which shows complete female dominance is Alien (1979). Sigourney Weaver plays a female character Ellen Ripley. After receiving a warning message from the ships computer, the crew land on an unknown planet, and discover a new species. The Aliens, and the crew do not know the danger they have got themselves into. As voted as one of the most heroic female characters in horror films of all time, Ellen Ripley is a classic example of an opposing stereotypical gender role in film, becoming an icon for female characters. After every other member of the ships crew is killed by the alien on board, Ripley is the only surviving character, the final girl. After trying to kill the Alien by blowing up the ship after it had already killed every other member of the crew, she survives and discovers the alien on the shuttle. She later expels the Alien into space before setting the co-ordinates for the return to earth.  Clearly, by the way Ripley takes control of the situation, disposes of the antagonist in the film she is a very strong female character, taking on a definite male gender role, complying entirely with Carol Clover's Final Girl theory. 

Overall, the way in which the way women are represented in horror films has changed rapidly and massively since women were shown as helpless and very submissive. Although there are still films made in which females are the less influential characters, its is now far more common that they are actually quite powerful and have a larger part to play than just to attract a male audience by the way they are attractive and seductive. Female roles in horror films have parallelled the development of women's roles in society, and it now seems as though film producers are being much more respectful of women in films. Normally there will always be one female character who has a large impact on the story line of the, which is a complete opposite of films made when females were entirely submissive. Although females will naturally be used to draw in a male audience, raising viewing figures and therefore revenue, they do now play a role in the film too. Which I personally think is an improvement in the attitudes of film producers. 


Kieran Browne   

Evaluation Question 3

What have you learned from your audience feedback?

After the production process of the film trailer came to an end, and we thought we had a finished product we presented the final trailer to our class. They gave us feedback, positive and negative, and what they thought we should have done differently. Therefore, if we were to make the trailer again, we would take these into consideration.

 Here is a list of the positive points of the horror trailer;

-Good setting x3 (Abandoned graveyard)

-Good shot with mask x2

-Good head shake x4

-Effective shot when the enemy was lurking in the trees

-Good sound, the intensity draws the audience in x6

-Flows well

-Clear horror feeling to the trailer, creepy x2

-Good night shots

-Good final shot x4

-Nice use of shadows and lighting

-Good voiceover

Here is a screenshot from the headshake technique we used.
This looks very disturbing while watching the trailer
as we sped up the clip greatly and as it is only
a very short shot, the audience would be very confused
and concerned.

We were very pleased with the positive comments from the class, as the individual elements which we tried to include in the trailer were all noticed by the audience. For example, the use of shadows and lighting, the head shaking to show Louis Caseley's building insanity and to confuse the audience. This was important as we wanted to show the delusional and frightened state which the character was in, this was not easy to do however after much research we decided the best way to show his insanity would be though violent head shaking and as four of the class picked up on this suggests the shots were effective which is very pleasing for the group. 

This is an image taken from the horror trailer of the
final shot, the antagonist appears from no-where behind the
antagonists shoulders, and at this point the sound
climaxes perfectly, adding to the impact of the shot.

 The final shot which would scare the audience for a final time and in particular the use of sound. While studying other trailers, we noticed that they were much scarier when they were accompanied by sound, however if you turned the sound off, they had very little impact.  The sound draws the audience in, builds an atmosphere and creates suspense in the trailer, this would instantly suggest the film is of the horror genre from the beginning. Therefore we wanted to use a soundtrack which would really build the atmosphere, intensity and fear in the trailer, and from the feedback it would appear we have achieved this, which is very pleasing for the group. 

Another key point of the trailer which we focused on was the actual location of the filming. We wanted to make sure the horror trailer was in a location where the possibility of extremely scary and frightening things could happen, therefore we chose to film the trailer in an abandoned graveyard. This was naturally very scary and instantly suggested the film was of the horror genre, thankfully the audience picked up on this and three people commented on the effectiveness of the location. We are overall, very pleased with the positive comments received from our peers as they show that when we planned all the individual parts of the trailer, we successfully influenced the audience.

On the other hand, there were some criticisms raised by the class...

List of negative points of the horror trailer

-Could be longer x3

-Text too hard to read x5-"Wobbling too much"  

-Needs more scary scenes x2

-Camera work out of focus x2

- No storyline x4

-More locations x2

-No final shot x5

-Little pace at ending

Here is a screenshot form the horror trailer which
features the wobbly writing which 5 people criticised.
The writitng is quite difficult to read and we would
change this if we had the chance to edit the trialer.

Although we are pleased with the positive comments we received about the horror trailer, we accepted the fact that there would be elements of it that were not as popular as others. The comments made by the class were completely understood and the group payed close attention to them in order to improve our performance if we were do produce anything similar in the future. The two main criticisms of the trailer, mentioned by five members of the class, was that the text in the trailer was too hard to read and that there was no final shot. In an attempt to add to the horror atmosphere of the trailer, our group added some short title shots to describe the film. These featured red writing which was wobbling to show the horror effect, however there was a feeling amongst the class that the wobbling of the text was too intense, so therefore if we were to make the trailer again we would alter the small title sequences so the writing they involved was more visible. Secondly, five students also said that there was no final shot in the film trailer, this is an important criticism as the final shot is the last thing which the audience would remember after watching the trailer. The group intended to finish the trailer with a very impactful shot of the enemy over the protagonist's, Kieran Browne's shoulder, however this was not quite achieved  So if we had the chance to edit the trailer again, we would definitely sharpen up the ending in order to make it more impactful and scary. This links with the other constructive criticism that there was little pace at the end of the trailer, this is also disappointing as the pace of the trailer is something we tried to focus on in order to build the atmosphere and tension.

Next, four members of the class criticised the way that there was no real story line in the trailer, however this was intentional in order to confuse the audience and to show the delusional state which Louis Caseley endures throughout the trailer. The lack of continuity in the trailer would confuse the audience and would therefore make the trailer more scary and disturbing. However, the criticism has been taken into consideration and my group understand that the idea we were trying to convey may have been difficult to understand. 

The comments from the group which stated that there needed to be more scary scenes were understandable however when working out what type of horror film to produce, we decided that the trailer would not be based around gore and blood, and that it would be more based around psychology and that it would play on the audiences mind. But if we were to re-edit the trailer we would try to include some more hard-hitting, disturbing shots. 

This screenshot of the trailer shows the issue of the blur while
filming, this was not helped by the darkness of the
location and time of day which we filmed at the
graveyard, however it would be improved if we had the
chance again.

Finally two people mentioned the fact that the camera work was un-focused and blurry, however as majority of the film was filmed kinetically, this was very difficult to avoid. If we were to film the blurry shots again we would use a tripod to ensure the trailer would be clearly visible to the audience and that what was happening could be followed.  

Overall, my group have taken into consideration the constructive criticism from our classmates and have concluded that we would alter the  editing of the trailer and we would particularly make the final few shots more impactful and frightening. However we are pleased that the class noticed some of the elements which we were focusing on while planning the trailer, such as the location, use of light and darkness and particularly the sound used in the trailer to build atmosphere. We appreciate the criticism as it has allowed us to see how we can improve future work.

Kieran Browne

Evaluation Question 2

How effective is the combination of your main product and ancillary texts?

Along with producing the main product during the project, which was the film trailer, my group also created several ancillary texts, which are essentially accompanying texts used by film producers to advertise their product when it is released. For example, I created a film poster and a magazine cover based around our horror film trailer; Subliminal. The ancillary products often contain images with characters which may appear in the full film, this is to draw the audience into the story and intrigue them so they watch the final film. The three products all tie in well with each other because they all contain the essential elements of the horror trailer and I think they promote the film well. 

We focused on three aspects of promotion while creating our three media texts, the first of which; Audience, secondly, Advertising, and finally Publicity. The audience was very important to think about while creating the products because in order to properly target our audience and interest them, we needed to tailor our products to specifically attract that demographic (16-30). Therefore, the products we created were modern looking, and attractive to the younger age range. The trailer story line was based around three young people, who were living very normal lives. This was a deliberate and intentional because it was a crucial way to attract our target audience. Next, the magazine cover was important because it allowed us to advertise the film in another way. The magazine cover contained the picture of the mask which features in the trailer, and is associated with the antagonist, this is important as it fortifies the horror genre and would interest the magazine reader. The image below shows that the magazine cover looks professional and is very similar to other magazines of the film genre, particularly Total Film. While creating the cover on Adobe Photoshop, I had a background of a Total Film magazine cover and built mine around it, making it look as professional as possible, as the image below shows. The mask features heavily in the magazine cover, as it does will all 3 media texts we created, building links between the three and this would hopefully interest people, building momentum, with the intention of a big film launch. This is a common technique used by many film production companies. It was particularly important to use a well known magazine company as the base of the magazine company as it suggests that the film is of the professional nature, and as the film is affiliated with a popular magazine brand, its fan base would assume the film would be worth watching. When professional film producers release new films, they try to join up with these kinds of magazines in order to gain publicity which allows their target audience to read reviews and teasers of the film, which in turn, would make them want to go and see the movie, therefore, making the producers more money. 

Another way our audience was targeted was the poster I created. As you can see from the image below, the poster looks very modern and has the conventions of a professional poster, compared to the Let The Right One In poster, a modern horror film aimed at the same demographic as ours, the two are very similar. Posters are a commonly used when a new film comes out because they build links between other advertisement texts and they also give a quick snapshot of the film, giving the audience an idea of what the film may be about, without telling them the entire story line. This is important as the audience then automatically wants to know more about the film, so would then pay attention to other texts such as trailers and billboards. Another good thing about film posters is that they are very cheap to produce and can be put almost anywhere to promote a film. They can be printed off in thousands for very little money so are therefore an effective way of advertising. If my group were to actually make the whole Subliminal film, poster advertising would most definitely be used due to our low budget. Posters are very effective because they can be viewed by countless amounts of people in many different formats, for example, they can be stuck up around the area, in magazines and in shops, in comparison to trailers, which can only be viewed online and on television, limiting the opportunity of audiences to see the text. Also magazines covers will only be viewed by people who buy film magazines and therefore have an avid interest in films. But in actual fact, you dont have to be a huge fan of films to be able to go and watch them at the cinema. So by using posters as well as magazine covers and trailers, we make sure the target audience is aware of the film as the poster would be very accessible and it would simply tell them that there was a new horror film coming out, they could then research it further if the audience was interested by the poster.  

Usually film producers have the luxury of using many different forms of promotion when they bring out a new product, for example; billboards, synergies, trailers, combining with other companies and there are many more methods available in order to advertise their product. However our group were only able to use the three, trailer, poster and the magazine cover.  However one thing which is noticeable from studying promotional packages made by professional film producers is that all the different texts they create in order to promote the film, all include the protagonist or antagonist. Therefore we decided it was crucial that we did this when trying to promote our film. As you can see from the images of the film poster and the magazine cover, the mask is very central in both images. The mask being the antagonist in the trailer. Although it doesn't feature too heavily in the actual trailer, there is definitely still a sense of its importance in the way that the pace and mood of the trailer instantly changes as soon as the antagonist features. This creates an atmosphere around the antagonist and gives the audience a feeling of fear. This would make them want to see the actual film. This is a commonly used technique by film producers in order to excite and entice the target audience. 

Overall, I believe my group have all produced professional looking ancillary texts for our Subliminal horror trailer. With our low budget and few skills with the technology used, we have succeeded in making three texts suitable for the professional film market. I am pleased with the way all the ancillary texts link with one another and I believe we have produced them at the best of our abilities. We all understood the importance of the three ancillary texts and I believe if we were to actually release the film, Subliminal, it would have a successful launch, due to the impact of the supporting texts, as well as the horror film trailer itself. They are very effective and support the trailer very well in my opinion. 

Kieran Browne