Masters of Horror

In the article “Aesthetic of Astonishment: Early Film and the (In)Credulous Spectator”, Tom Gunning argues that the first people who watched Lumiere’s Arrival of a Train at the Station were not in shock because they believed that the train was real, they were astonished by the illusion they witnessed before them on the screen. In contrary to the myth that people feared that they were going to be killed by a train, Gunning stresses that the Audiences’ astonishment was derived “from a magical…

“One person’s craziness is another person’s reality.” - Tim Burton. This quote is unquestionably shown in Tim Burton’s twenty seven movies in addition to various short films and TV shows. Tim Burton uses a mix of cinematic techniques corresponding in his films to replicate outcasts living in a so called normal world. This is exemplified in both “Mrs. Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children” and “Edward Scissorhands”. Tim Burton uses similar techniques in lighting, sound, and camera shots to…

Comparative Gothic Essay Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell Tale Heart”, Paul Berry’s “The Sandman”and Neil Gaiman’s “Don’t Ask Jack” are examples of the gothic genre. Gothic fiction is created to evoke fear and a mysterious suspenseful atmosphere. In “The Tell Tale Heart” the narrator kills the old man because the old man has a big eye that he doesn’t like and which scares him. The sinister mood is created with words ‘the eye of the vulture’. In “The Sandman” there is a boy in his bed trying to…

Pan’s Labyrinth, directed by Guillermo Del Toro, is a visually striking, dark fantasy film compiled of a range of gruesome and intriguing scenes that address themes of choice, gender and coming of age. In the ‘Final Task’ scene, the camera techniques, colour scheme, lighting, and sounds are the primary techniques used to express the ideas of good vs. evil, reality vs. fantasy, the effect of war on children and resistance. The scene begins with a high angle over the shoulder shot of Captain…

Kingsman: The Secret Service and The Man from U.N.C.L.E: Comparison and Contrast Movies about secret agents and diabolical “super-villains” are numerous in the film industry. Most films which were released specifically focuses on the deterrence of malicious notions, by the protagonist, from the evil clutches of villains, which are the antagonist. In the recent years, the implementation of mixing genres together has been normalized. From the production of Hollywood, Kingsman and U.N.C.L.E…

human action, emotion and meaning,” (Woodward, 4). The truth of the American horror film. To better understand western culture and the connection between the object and the human. This connection is linked between western ideologies. These films draw on western cultures deepest fears and vulnerabilities. This is cleverly done over a period of time. Using advancing technologies and the audiences’ desires of the time frame. Horror films broadcast humans own western experiences and values.…

Honest Criticism The movies reviewed in the videos include Halloween, 300 and Frozen. They all contain different types of Criticism. The movie Halloween has two different types of criticism, feminist criticism and reader-response criticism. Secondly, in the movie 300 the type of criticism used is reader-response criticism. Finally, from the movie Frozen the type of criticism used is psychoanalytic criticism. I will provide examples of why I feel these types of criticism are used in each of…

Jake Risavi Dr. Jadwin English 9/24/17 The Truth of the White’s Tragedy In the movie Apartment 143, a ghost is haunting the main family and they hire a paranormal investigative team to stay there and help them rid the apartment of the demon. In the beginning of the movie we see the head investigator, Dr. Helzer, interview the father of the family, Alan White. Alan claims he believes the ghost is most likely is deceased wife, Cynthia. Alan tells us the story about how his wife died in the…

To manipulate one’s audience, one must “give them pleasure. The same pleasure they have when they wake up from a nightmare.” Award-winning director, Christopher Nolan clearly portrays this in his films through his trademark directorial style of editing with specific use of non-linear narrative and mise en scene to create tension for his audience Through closely analysing the open scenes of Nolan’s Memento (2000) and Inception (2010), the audience can understand Nolan’s directorial style and the…

In an interview with Chris Dickens (Editor of Shaun Of The Dead) Dickens states that when an editor is choosing shots they are choosing the shots they like. It is a matter of taste, but what creates that taste is the understanding of the meaning and purpose of that film in such detail that your choices are made with purpose that aids the film effectively (HDFilmtools, 2009). Dickens statement summarizes the importance of the knowledge behind filmmaking and how the editor needs to do research on…