Research for the Practical Productions...


About the text: - The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, 2003

· What is the text? When was it produced? Who produced/directed it?

Set in the modern day, 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' is about a group of youthful friends, who are on their way to Texas to watch a Lynard Skynard concert. On the way there they pass by a deserted road where they pick up a hitchiker. Little do they know that from that point on they will be chased and violently killed by a phsyco who's best friend is a chainsaw ~:~ 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' (a re-make of the 1974 version which was based on a true story) was directed by 'Marcus Nispel' and was produced by 'Michael Bay'.

· Who is the target audience? How do you know?

By viewing the trailer I would say that the movie's main target audience are people in their early twenties, from a middle class background and of both sexes as these are the type of characters presented in the trailer. As the hero of the film is actually a heroine this will appeal more to females as it portrays a woman in a more significant way although the violent images showed in the trailer could appeal more to males. The secondary audience of this film would be adults as horror movie fans may be attracted to the fact that it is a re-make of an older movie and also a true story.

· Where would you usually expect to see this text? What channel? Time?

At first this movie will be shown in cinema's such as 'The Vue', 'The Odeon' etc during evening times as the rating of this movie is 'R' in America and in the UK it is an 18. When it is released in TV it would be most likely to be shown on channels such as 'channel 4' or 'ITV' as these channels entertain more than they inform. The time of the airing would definately be after the watershed as this would be sutiable for the rating.

Different features it has:-

· What is distinctive about its camera work, editing, sound, mise-en-scene?

The trailer has alot of fast cuts as the their is hardly any sound as the use of dialouge is more significant. Dark colours and underlighting portrays more of a horror image and the montage sequences in between help to give a good and informative narrative to the audience.

· What typical conventions of its genre does it use?
Running away from something, screaming, shouting, blood, terrified faces and a villian hardly being shown.

· What elements could you appropriate (borrow) for your production?

-> Violent scenes
-> Blood images
-> A mysterious villian

~THE TRAILER~ The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, 2003






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..A Look Into... Jeepers Creepers, 2001...

Over the weekend I sat down and watched one of my favourite horror movies 'Jeepers Creepers', 2001. I looked into the way that 'mise-en-scene' was used in order to come up with ideas for our groups production. While watching the film I focused on this (although I do know the movie off by heart) because I felt that it would give me and my group useful methods of filming! And this is what I found...

...mise-en-scene...

For editing I found that the chase scene in the beginning of the movie between the three main characters, Darry (Justin Long) and his sister Jennifer (Gina Phillips) against the villain, the creeper (Johnathan Breck), used alot of diverse forms of editing, such as fast cuts to show the characters facial expressions as well as what is going on in this situation in order to create anxiety and fear. While Darry is shouting "Go around me!"at the 'driver' of the truck, the camera cuts between him and the truck fiercely as Darry at this point is confused and scared about what to do and this brings across the same feeling to the audience. At the beginning of the scene when digetic sound is used a medium shot is also being used so that while the audience is viewing a scene with just Darry and Jennifer they can also see the truck appearing at a fast pace behind them. This creates suspense as the audience is expecting something big to happen when both viechles collide. As the truck catches up to them we hear a loud sound (the 'driver' beeping at them) that alerts the audience and turns the whole scenario of the situation. Shouting begins while Jennifer tries to order her brother to let him go past them but the truck keeps driving from side to side, making it harder for them to get away. Point-of -view shots are used through Darry's eyes as the whole intention is to put the audience in Darry's place. Then a low angle shot is used towards the truck so the the audience can see get a clear picture of what this truck looks like as it is one of the main props throughout the movie and indicates that wherever it is, the creeper is. The low angle shot also is useful for the audience to see exactly how confusing Darry's situation is as the 'driver' won't let them go one way or the other. While all of this is happening a very usual movie convention is not being used. At a scene like this we would expect to hear background music to create more tension and fear, but cleverly just the sound of the truck beeping madly, Darry and Jennifer shouting and the car speeding is enough to keep the suspense of the scene building. By this point the creeper overtakes their car and medium shot is shown. This medium shot shows the license plate of the truck which is also vital for the indication of that exact same truck. The medium shot is held while the truck drives off into the distance and the volume of the truck becomes less clearer. This is when the scene goes back into just dialogue...The aftermath of the first meeting with the creeper...

...The chase scene...

Farah