End of dissertation

In the end i went for  'A Study of the portrayal of violence in the work of Quentin Tarantino'   i have 2,000 words left ot write out of 10,000.. the end is near!!  I will be finsihing Uni in one month after my last two essays are handed in  (fingers crossed)

graduation day = 13th July

Idea.4

I was thinking about Auteur theory and some of my favourite directors , maybe i could pick two favourite directors of mine and compare them and whether or not they can be classed as Auteurs disscussing authorship and different traits both directors have and how you can recognise their films. I was thinking that Tarantino would be a good example because he has his own style, very unique but it could be argued that he isnt an Auteur as his ideas are taken from other resources, not entirely his own. I could focus on a wide variety of films of his and pick out all the reaccuring themes and traits that would put him into the Auteur category. There are problems with Authorship as you cannot just give the director all the credit as a lot of people are involved in the production side of things.
I could compare to David fincher or Sam mendes, or Tim burton, as these directors have a certain style as well.
Im not too sure about this and would need to talk to someone who knows about this aspect of film.

Idea.3

I have a new angle to go about this topic. I was looking at Nosferatu and other silent films along with German expressionism, and i could look at how German expressionist film focuses on horror and film noir and how it has influenced the horror genre, from the gothic literature genre of film to the torture porn genre. Directors such as Alfred Hitchcock and Tim burton use certain traits of German Expressionist style in their films. The angular buildings, dark shadows, quirky style of filming/cinematography.  Expressionist films often dealt with madness, betrayal and insanity, as do Tim Burton's films. 

-"This dark, moody school of film making was brought to America when the Nazis gained power and a number of German filmmakers emigrated to Hollywood. These German directors found American movie studios willing to embrace them, and several German directors and cameramen flourished there, producing a repertoire of Hollywood films that had a profound effect on film as a whole."-
I found this on wikipedia and thought that would give me a basis to start talking about hollywood and horror. Linking in with my first idea (1)

Order of importance would be, silent film/ german expressionism, then onto symbolism and mise en scene, then onto other films of that genre, leading to some background history and Nazi germany, straight onto some modern directors such as Tim Burton maybe, then i could lead straight into modern horror and hollywood, and the difference between the eras.

Im not sure if this is too wide as a topic but there are many things to talk about.

Idea.2

I really like this idea about horror but if i had to limit the content to just one idea then maybe i could focus on Vampire movies only, since the 1920's up until present day. Anything from films such as Nosferatu (1922) and the silent era when vampires were seen as scary beings, to Interview with the vampire (1994) and how these films have evolved into what we know as Underworld (2003) and Twilight (2009) etc where vampires are idolised and desired by most. The very origins of horror have been changed over time into something which isn’t as scary as it used to be, again linking in modern gory films such as hostel and saw etc and how the shock factor has been raised. The music in these films are all important which links the film to the time period. Interview with the vampire has classical music and Victorian style costumes, whereas Underworld has modern heavy music and leather/pvc costumes. I’m not certain yet but i could link in background history about Vlad the Impaler and Elizabeth Bathory, and real life ‘vampires’ in the 17/18^th century, along with common diseases and conditions at the time which inspired vampire movies, that aren’t entirely fictional. These were common diseases such as Catalepsy and Porpheria. The link below gives a description:

http://vampire.lunykimberlysworld.com/diseases.html

I have around 14-15 vampire movies to look at which i could limit to a few. I’m interested in the key concepts of vampire movies and the issues/folklore/history surrounding them. The figures we used to see as the ‘outsiders’ in society are now the heroes of modern vampire films.

http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/elizabeth-bathory.htm

I think Interview with the vampire was the first film to show life as a vampire from a vampires point of view making the audience feel sympathetic towards the 'monsters', along with Queen of the damned (2002) both very similar, of which are Anne Rice novels.

I am reading 'A Vampire handbook, BITE'  at the moment by Kevin Jackson which has some cool facts.

Idea. 1

Ok so it's my first time writing a blog. Here goes...
my first idea for the dissertation is related to film and the 'Horror genre'. I was thinking about classic horror movies from the 70's 80's and the 90's and how they are mainly focused on suspense, noises, shadows, and psychological trauma including films such as The Texas Chainsaw massacre (TCM), The Shining, Nightmare on Elm street etc, creating this emotion we all know as HORROR or FEAR.
As horror progressed so did the GORE factor which takes me to my next idea to link in with this essay, about how modern horrors are completely different to the classics and how some directors clearly want to keep topping the latest gorey films.
Films such as Hostel 1 and 2, Saw 1-7, all of the Michael Bay's productions (remakes) like TCM, TCM: The beginning, The Hitcher, Friday the 13th, Nightmare on elm street are loaded with graphic violence and suffering.  What i am interested in here is why platinum dunes (Michael Bay's production company) remake old horror movies, making them more Gorey and outrageous.


Is it to do with the audiences needs or because we are so desensitised to macabre/jumpy/eerie films. Why is there a massive demand in 'horror porn' or 'torture porn' as they are commonly refered to with scenes of graphic violence. The visual aspect in horror is very important to a modern day audience. i want to explore why.

I was also thinking about horror parodies, and how they have contributed to the desensitisation of the audience. the comedy helps to lighten the tone making horrors seem more comical these days, where as classic horror movies were the origins of this specific genre which hadnt been done before making it scarier.

I'm not entirely sure on where this is going yet, but this is the first idea i'm interested in.

Here is the Platinum Dunes site where you can view blogs, news, and film info :
http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/platinumdunes/about.php

I was also thinking i could include 3D cinema as it is relatively recent which enhances the cinematic experience. I recently went to see Saw 3D and again i could talk about desensitisation and how the 3D aspect of film these days helps to involve the audience on a bigger scale which makes Saw3D more sick and realistic to  the viewer.