Audience essay

Audiences that are fans of horror films, and have a preference towards this genre want to receive a negative reaction by being scared by the film. There are two ways that the media is consumed by the audience, these are actively and passively. An active audience is involved in using the media to satisfy their own needs. If an audience passively watches a horror film they are simply watching it and becoming effected by it. 

The Catharsis theory shows that the audience do not mirror the actions they see in the horror films and show violence towards people as they do in horror films. This emphasizes the fact that the audience is ridding themselves of negative feelings by 'purging' or 'cleansing' while watching horror films. There is no violence shown in my trailer therefore, viewers would not be purging any bad emotions by watching it. To allow people to do this I can add violence to the trailer. The trailer successfully scared people through using sound, especially at the beginning when there was a very loud, piercing scream accompanied by the camera dropping to the floor and looking up towards the trees. This is effective as the scene is unexpected therefore it makes the audience jump, our expected idea is to make the viewers hearts race throughout the trailer at sudden moments. I feel as though the trailer is good at being a horror film just not a slasher horror film because, it does not have violent gore in it that would make the audience feel as though they are stripping themselves of their deep, 'disturbing' feelings. If we wanted to include more violence in the trailer then we could add it into the montage, having quick scenes showing a weapon such as a bloody knife or the antagonist dragging a dead, blood covered body at a low angle. We would not want to add too much violence in the trailer to the extent where the audience do not actually need to watch the film to purge their emotions as they have received that from the trailer, just enough to explicitly show the audience that it is a slasher film.  

 As well as this, there is a Copycat Theory that is the opposite to the Catharsis Theory. This says that if certain people for example, children or mentally ill people watch horror films or play violent video games they may reflect the actions they view in horror films as they see this as reality. The Copycat Theory cannot be applied to my trailer as there is nothing shown worth reenacting such as, violence.

Furthermore, the desensitisation theory by Mary Cover explains how we as an audience have become less sensitive to what we see within horror films, this is because audiences have become over exposed to violence and gore in films such as, Saw or The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. To keep people interested in watching these films, the media attempts to develop and make horror films even more gorey than they already are. Our trailer does not show any over the top gore or violence, however there is a certain amount of blood pictured on the characters body. To ensure the trailer is scary, we will add more gore and violence to keep the audience interested. The audience may be able to escape from reality by watching the trailer as they are transporting to another type of fantasy in the form of a supernatural film. However, to a new age of desensitised modernity there is a possibility of the audience becoming bored as there is no overly terrifying aspects of the trailer for example, slamming doors, the sound of a creaking door or a levitating, 'possessed' person. We could have made an actor hover in the air by using special effects or editing means however we only had access to our phones and laptops with basic apps to create this trailer.  

The cultivation theory by George Gerbner, studies the effects of TV exposure on audiences. Over time the TV adapts viewers attitudes rather than behaviour and change their perceptions of reality. Relating this to horror, one viewing of a horror film could blur the audiences sense of reality very quickly. This may not relate to my trailer as much because it is not as reality blurring, there are not many extremely disturbing factors in it that would adapt a persons attitude from one viewing for example, there is no one murdering someone else in a brutal, violent way. I do not believe that if someone watched our trailer, it would allow them to assume that this was a true depiction of the world and its reality. There is not enough violence for people to think that it is a normal, acceptable way of life (eg to commit violent crimes like rape or murder). However, an example from my trailer that would effect the audiences fears could be when there was a person who appeared to be dead in a graveyard. This could tap into an audiences ideas of fear, some people may be scared of cemeteries because of the centre focus on the dead therefore, a dead person laying next to a grave would emphasise the fact that cemeteries are not joyful places and can induce terror into some people. They would have this idea of cemeteries because of the way that horror films portray them, even though nothing bad would happen in one, people have been persuaded by the fact that maybe the dead would come back to life or you can become possessed. Films that would depict graveyards like this are, Night Of The Living Dead or Poltergeist. 


Comments

  1. "An active audience is when they do not only receive information but are actually involved in the film by making sense of what knowledge is given to them. If an audience passively watches a horror film they are simply watching it."
    not quite - an active audience is involved in USING the media to satisfy needs
    Passive audience are effected by the media

    "There is no violence shown in my trailer therefore, viewers would not be purging any bad emotions by watching it. To allow people to do this I can add violence to the trailer."
    HOW effective is the trailer in satisfying expectations and needs of the audience watching a 15 or 18 horror film?
    IS yours any good at being a Horror then?
    WHAT would this look on screen where could you add more violence?

    "Our trailer does not show any over the top gore or violence, however there is a certain amount of blood pictured on the characters body. To ensure the trailer is scary, we will add more gore and violence to keep the audience interested."
    HOW effective is the trailer in satisfying expectations and needs of the audience watching a 15 or 18 horror film?
    Would it give escapism or the thrills required for a modern desensitised audience or would it bore them?

    "The cultivation theory by George Gerbner, studies the effects of TV exposure on audiences. Over time the TV adapts viewers attitudes rather than behavior and change their perceptions of reality. Relating this to horror, one viewing of a horror film could blur the audiences sense of reality very quickly."
    HOW does this apply to your trailer?
    WHAT example on screen would effect your audience's social fears?

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