The HORROR - box office gold?

Wiki

Even the very biggest 'horror' hits (the term is used VERY broadly in tables by leading sites) are nowhere near challenging the very biggest all-time box office hits, BUT the genre offers some advantages ...

> budgets tend to be low due to ...
- lack of stars (usually); teen fodder getting killed!
- lack of costly IP/franchise (and yes, there are obvious exceptions: IT, Halloween, but they're typically originals)
- limited CGI costs
> the genre itself has a fanbase
> strong female roles (final girl) boost appeal

> offers a visceral cinema experience

 

CNN

It has been fairly common for Indies to strike distribution deals with the majors (the current big 5) too, though 'mini-major' Lionsgate showed it may be possible to challenge that club (and arguably Dimension Films, though Disney bought it in 1993 before selling it again in 2005 after its Scream/Scary Movie peak), but horrors offer a healthy budget to box office multiple - so the lower total figures still match up well.

LA Times

Starting with your own initial analysis of a sample of 10 horror films from this century, use the following links to create your own guide to the industry context of 'horror'. Include detail on...

> key production companies (being clear which are Indie/subsidiary)
> typical budget range
  - BUT note exceptions: low, micro-budget productions (including British examples) + the high end (put even these into context with 'tentpole' budgets)
> age ratings (focus on BBFC, MPAA) - include analysis of key themes, and compare to a typical top 10 to put into context
> box office and distribution: budget x3 is the likely break even point as marketing (distribution) spend typically equals the budget (though can be MUCH higher for found footage productions) and then the cinemas take their slice too. What kind of multiples (budget to box office) did you find? Does the Gant Rule seem to apply? What about China? Any distributor names stick out?

Make sure you incorporate some UK examples. Warp (Dead Man's Shoes) and Warp X (Donkey Punch, Kill List** etc) have produced many. Eden Lake is a good example. Here's my Ghost Stories analysis (Warp)  **Warp Australia subsidiary

My blog on Ghost Stories

...

SOME LINKS

I've posted frequently on this, eg: DISTRIBUTION getting micro-budget movies released.

ScreenRant: 2022 shows horror hitting box office gold

Similar analysis from LA Times; Entertainment Weekly; CNN... and here's a more UK-focused analysis from The Guardian (2019)

Collider: 10 highest-grossing horrors of past 10 years (from 2012)

Wiki: highest-grossing horror films ever

MovieWeb: highest-grossing horror franchises

Summer task and some media language resources

Your summer task is intended to get you thinking about what YOU might do for YOUR film opening. 

Thats the brief for the AS Media coursework - you create the opening 2 mins of a new feature film, including idents (see below) and titles. What the exam board will see, so what the marking is entirely based on, is a blog like this one, in which you can add video, PowerPoints, Word, pdf etc. You can see previous student blogs here.

As required for all A-Level choices, there is a task for you to complete over the summer. 

I don't expect a high level of technical language/terms to be used (yet!!), though you could access some of the resources below to learn some of these ahead of starting the course...

PAST STUDENT FILM OPENINGS

This playlist should help you with some of the tasks, especially thinking about company names (they're often a play on students' own names, but sometimes simply more abstract, something they had a clear visual concept for!).

HOW DO I PRESENT MY WORK?

You can present this task as either a PowerPoint or a blog post using blogger.com (this site!). If you're really keen you could also present your findings as a video, something you will learn to do early on in the course!

WHAT EXACTLY IS THE SUMMER BRIDGING TASK?! FIVE FILMIC FEATURES...

I'm glad you asked ...

Basically, you will find/select and view any 5 feature film openings and note 5 points about each before summing your very initial idea of what we expect to see in a film opening! Then start thinking about rough ideas for your own film opening!

The opening of a typical feature film sets the scene before starting/resuming a titles sequence or just clearly moving on in the plot. While your task is to create the opening 2 mins most openings go on longer than this.

You can add further detail if you wish - researching the media language of film openings is a fundamental part of your coursework; YOUR text will be judged on how realistic it is, how well it reflects the conventions of film and the genre/s you have chosen.

You should be able to share these film openings, either as digital files or (much easier) YouTube links (that you can later embed to be playable from your own blog).

FIVE STEPS... 

Find/select 5 film openings.

Note 5 things about each one: how they work, what they include. That can include music, titles, idents, editing and plot/narrative (do we meet the hero? is there some mystery at first?), shot types, genre signifiers (clues).

Summary part 1: List 5 things you expect to see in a typical film opening.

Summary part 2: No matter how rough or basic, give a brief outline of one or more ideas for your own film opening, including a working title. This certainly doesn't commit you to any idea: you will each work on and develop a detailed pitch after learning more about media language on the course!

Ident mini-task: you will use your own film company name for your blog address and will create an ident (eg the short video with the Disney logo at the start of their movies) for it. Your simple task: come up with your own film production company name! You can see above what past students came up with!!

NEED HELP WITH WHAT TO LOOK FOR/THINK ABOUT?

Remember, you're not (yet!) expected to be using technical language/terms. Even so, you may be unsure of what sort of things to make notes on, so try making use of this blog (there are multiple examples of film opening analysis) and student blogs!

This post should help: it breaks down film opening content and conventions into 8 big areas you'll eventually research and analyse, 3 more than you need for now!!

This is an old version of a lesson resource I use to teach the basic shot types and angles ...

Yr9 shot types compressed from DB3igs

This is a quick reference guide to some key terms you'll learn at the start of the course!!

FUNDAMENTAL SHOT TYPES chalkFONT.doc from DB3igs

...