2. Genre in generalEach genre has a set of rules that make
itdifferent from the others e.g. horror is differentfrom comedy
contains lots of dark colours and isdesigned to scare people where
as comedy isbrightly lit and makes people laugh.Each genre has
different: Themes/narratives Iconography Characters/stylistic
elementsTamara Cleeton 3. HorrorThe main codes and conventions of a
horror filmare: To frighten/panic To causes dread/alarm To invoke
our hidden, worst fears Have a terrifying/shocking finale Are
captivating/entertainingTamara Cleeton 4. HorrorFilms of the horror
genre centre on the dark sideof life, forbidden, strange and
alarming events.They play on our primal nature and fears of:
Nightmares Feeling vulnerable and alienated The unknown Death and
dismemberment Loss of identity Tamara Cleeton 5. HorrorHorror films
contain dark colours and lighting,normally set at night, and some
sort of gore orshock. Lots of horror films use death of familyand
friend members of the main character toterrify them.The main
character is normally someone who isseen to be weak like a girl
home alone. Tamara Cleeton 6. HorrorHorror films are often combined
with:Science fiction: A monster corruption of technology Earth
threatened by aliensThriller: Focus on revolting/horrible
actsTamara Cleeton 7. Application of theoryIn the Edwardian era, in
a small British town, three little girls are playing tea party.
Suddenly they look up and see something (off-screen),then get up
and walk in a trance-like state to the window and jump out to their
deaths. In London Arthur Kipps (Daniel Radcliffe), a
pennilesslawyer and the widowed father of four-year-old Joseph, is
charged by his office to obtain the paperwork with which to sell a
large manor the bleak, isolated and desolate Eel Marsh House.
Though he is hesitant to leave his son alone with a nanny, Arthurs
boss warns him that ifhe fails to complete his duty he will lose
his job.Straight away this synopsis tells us that it is a
horrorfrom the fact that it set in a small town, which areusually
used as they are isolated. The way that theysee something that the
audience can not see willbuild tension in them and is an enigma
code makingthe audience wonder what they are seeing. The girlsjump
to their deaths while obviously possessedsomething that is common
in horror films. The maincharacter is then introduced and sent from
a maincity to this isolated town, clearly showing that he isin
danger of whatever happen to the little girls.Tamara Cleeton 8.
Arthur is treated coldly upon his arrival and is barely able to get
a room for the night, but he meets a kind local man named Samuel
Daily (CiarnHinds) and his wife Elisabeth (Janet McTeer) who allow
him to stay at their home. Arthur visits his legal contact, Mr
Jerome, who hurries him offwith a stack of papers, telling him to
return to London. Instead, Arthur pays the coachman to take him to
Eel Marsh House, where he feels he willbe able to more thoroughly
complete his work. While there he is distracted by odd noises,
footsteps and finally a brief appearance by a womandressed in
black. Arthur then hears a commotion in Eel Marsh, and runs out
only to find his coachman waiting for him. As Arthur reports
theincident to the police, three children come into the station;
two boys carrying their very pale little sister who had just drank
lye. Shesubsequently collapses in Arthurs arms and dies. That
night, Sam reveals that he and his wife lost their son in a
drowning accident, and Elisabeth who has lost her mind with grief
carves a figure into the table of someone being hanged before she
is sedated by Sam and their butler.Being treated coldly make the
main characterisolated. Staying in the town when told that he
shouldgo lets the audience know that he is in danger beingthere.
Odd noises are a code in horror films to let theaudience of the
danger coming. Someone harmingthemself and someone else dying also
heightens thefor the main character. The gruesomeness of a
pictureof someone hanging is also a code for horror films asit is
graphic and hits on our fear of death. Tamara Cleeton 9. The next
day Arthur decides to stay the night at Eel Marsh House to finish
his work, and discovers letters from Alice Drablow, the homes
recentlydeceased owner, and her mentally disturbed sister Jennet
Humfrye (Liz White). Jennet claims Alice stole her son Nathaniel
away from her anddemands to let her see him. In subsequent letters
it is revealed the boy drowned in the marsh and that Jennet blamed
Alice before committingsuicide. Toys begin making noise upstairs in
Nathaniels room, where Arthur witnesses the spirit of the Woman in
Black. The next day, Arthurlearns that the deaths are the work of
Jennet, who is the Woman in Black, and cursed the town after her
child was taken from her. Elisabeth thenindicates that Joseph, who
is being brought to the town by his nanny the next day, is a target
for the Woman in Black. In an attempt to lift thecurse, Arthur
decides to reunite Nathaniel and Jennet by finding the boys body in
the marsh with Sams help. They place his corpse in the EelMarsh
House, where Jennet finds him lying in his planned nursery bed and
it appears to Arthur that she is satisfied. However, she is unable
tohold him, presumably because he doesnt feel the same connection.
Arthur and Sam then place Jennets son in the grave with her
beforecovering it back up.Staying the night in the house instantly
alerts theaudience that something is going to happen to themain
character. The letters, and stories within themgive the audience a
clue as to who is behind thehauntings and why. The characters bring
the film towhat the audience think is the resolution. Tamara
Cleeton 10. The next night, Joseph and Arthur are reunited and
intend on immediately returning to London, but Joseph slips away
while Arthur and Sam arebusy talking. Arthur soon notices the Woman
in Black on the other side of the station, and Joseph walking along
the train tracks under hercommand, and it becomes apparent that the
curse will never be lifted. Arthur leaps onto the tracks in an
attempt to save Joseph from anoncoming train. As Sam looks on, he
glimpses in the windows of the train the faces of all the children
the Woman in Black has taken. In horror,he gasps and looks away.
Once the train passes, Arthur calls out to Sam, but he and the
nanny are gone and everything around them is dark.Joseph asks,
"Whos that lady?" Arthur looks and sees a glowing blonde woman in a
white dress standing on the tracks, and smiles beforeresponding,
"Thats your Mummy." Stella Kipps takes the hand of her husband and
the family disappears into the fog and darkness as Jennet,silently
sobbing, looks at them with envy. Just as the film ends, her face
slowly pivots towards the audience as the screen turns to black.It
is then shown that the resolution has not been metand that more
horror are to come making the senseof relief the audience felt go.
The final resolution isbrought in a horrific way of the main
character beingkilled which is another code for horror films, but
atthe same time being reunited with his wife and beingwith his son
makes it abnormal as it makes it sweet.Tamara Cleeton
