A Nightmare On Elm Street

The film franchise I'm researching is the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise. The franchise consists of nine slasher films, a television show, novels, and Comic books. These nine consist of:

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)  Budget: 1.8 Million, Box Office: 26.3 Million, Director: Wes Craven, IMDB Rating: 7.4, Trailer.

A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge (1985) Budget: 3 Million, Box Office 30 Million, Director: Jack Sholder, IMDB Rating: 4.9

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987) Budget: 4.5 Million, Box Office 44.7 Million, Director: Chuck Russel, IMDB Rating: 6.3

A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master (1988) Budget 13 Million, Box Office 49 Million, Director: Renny Harlin, IMDB Rating: 5.3

A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child (1989) Budget 8 Million, Box Office 22 Million, Director: Stephen Hopkins, IMDB Rating: 4.7

Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare (1991) Budget 11 Million, Box Office 34.8 Million, Director: Rachel Talalay, IMDB Rating: 4.6

Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994) Budget 8 Million, Box Office 18 Million, Director: Wes Craven, IMDB Rating: 6.3

Freddy vs. Jason (2003) Budget 30 Million, Box Office 115 Million, Director: Ronny Yu, IMDB Rating: 5.7

A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010) 35 Million, Box Office 115.6 Million: Samuel Bayer, IMDB Rating: 5.1, Trailer.

Reviews:

Variety: A highly imaginative horror film that provides the requisite shocks to keep fans of the genre happy.

Empire: What makes Freddy truly terrifying, and an inspired invention on Craven's part, is that he exists not in the real world but in the shadowy realm of dreams.

Film4: It succeeds by preying on archetypal fears and imagery - the myth of the bogeyman, the power of the unconscious conjuring up the worst horrors imaginable.

Horror.com: Seeing the movie again, I was reminded that while the Krueger character did have some taunting, humorous dialogue, it was more eerie than funny. Krueger was truly a menacing, terrifying boogeyman in the beginning.

Cinema Crazed: An imaginative, menacing, and scary film with top notch performances, an original premise, and horrifying villain.

Budget/Box Office Analysis:

Over all the films before the Remake and Freddy vs Jason the budget has been relativly low and all the films appear to have made substantial profits which would indicate why they countinued the franchise to nine films. There was a substantial gap in between the first seven films and the last two films which are the spin-off and the remake. The Remake however got quite negative reviews to do with acting and the fact that it seemed like a schedualed corperate rerun and that it had all been seen before. Where as the origional has been generally very well recieved and has remained a classic in may peoples eyes. This goes to show that a big budget dosent nessacerilly make a better film.

Comparison of the origional and remake:

■Freddy Krueger was not a child murderer but a convicted child molester with sexual attractions to the Nancy and her friends of the remake


■There is two more elm street children then originally now being Dean Russell and Marcus Yeon

■The film features a blogging nightmare capturing computer technology

■Nancy's mother's demise was not the fiery suffocation of the original nor the jump sequence pull in through the 1428 house front door but rather a complete eye socket stab with the glove and pull back into mirror behind her

■Kris Fowles the character equivalent of Tina Grey dreams not of a long armed Freddy pursuing her from her house street and pulling her back into the trash cans which becomes the under of the bed she is sleeping in sheets, but rather Freddy having killed her pet dog Rufus and and then she supposedly awakes thinking the nightmare is over only upon getting back to bed to find Freddy lying beside her

■The bathtub sequence having Nancy pulled through a water hole into a deep water ins excluded in exchange of the glover just appearing and leaving upon Nancy's mother's voice

■The group were former victims of Freddy of molestation and all attended the same pre school

■Tina Grey owned no pets

■Rod Lane was missing the knife used to taunt Glen

■The Rod lane equivalent Jesse Braun is friends with Glen equivalent Quentin

■Nancy has an employement

■Theres a Springwood diner introduced

■Theres a dream flashback sequence showing the burning of Freddy which originally was never shown until the sixth instalment

So overall it appears that the sexual content has been upped form the origional as Freedy is now a child molester not a child murderer. I havent seen the films in full but i would presume the gore and violence is increased due to more advanced special effects.

A Nightmare On Elm Streets Effect On The Slasher Genre:

A Nightmare on Elm streets main effect on the slasher genre is the use of a supernatural killer and increasingly graphic and realistic special effects and certain comedic elements. Another film that includes these elements is the Childs Play franchise. The slasher genre reached its peak around the time when the first Nightmare on Elm street came out.

Killer And Weapons:

The main antagonist in a nightmare on elm street is the fictional character Freddy Krueger. He often recognizable for his burnt face, claw like hand and striped jumper. Wes Brown when creating the character stated that he wanted to make the villain memorable as every memorable villain as some sort of outstanding feature. He got the idea of the claw like hand from his cat scratching his sofa. Wes Craven says his inspiration for the basis of Krueger's power stemmed from several stories in the Los Angeles Times about a series of mysterious deaths: All the victims had reported recurring nightmares beforehand about a man named Mr. K., thus the name Fred Krueger, and died in their sleep.

Scream Queen/Final Girl:

The scream queen in this film is Tina Gray and after having sex with her boyfriend is brutally murderd in here sleep which is a common thing to happen to the scream queen as having sex is portrayed as bieng immoral and she is therefore punished for it along with her boyfriend who is sent to jail. Overall there are four victims in the film and one final girl Nancy who succeeds in defeating Freddy Krueger for now that is. As is typical with this sort of film the screem queen is blonde and the final girl is a brunette.

not quite finished

Rear Window Opening Analysis - Ak

Rear Window begins with Universal and Paramount Pictures idents. This overlaps into the opening credits. The text is in capitals in a yellow/brown to white gradiented, serif font. The text is quite large and takes up most of the screen. Behind the text there are three windows with blinds down. The blinds then slowly raise up one at a time as the credits play. Through the windows you can see a neighbourhood. The fire escapes on the sides of the building signify that it is set in America. Non-diagetic orchestral music plays through the credits and first few takes of the film. All three blinds finish going up, the credits end and the camera zooms in closer to the window.

It then cuts to a high angle extreme long shot of a cat walking up some outdoor stone stairs. The camera pans across and tilts up and down to follow the cat and show more of the neighborhood. There are people standing on a balcony, people in the apartments and people walking through the neighbourhood. The camera eventually comes back into the window to show a close up of a middle aged mans face sweating. The man is sitting down and looks relaxed.

It then cuts to an extreme close up of a thermometer which is at just over 90°F which shows how hot it is. The camera tracks across to show a man in another window shaving. And a radio from inside his house starts playing.

Then it cuts to an extreme long shot of a man and woman waking up on a baclony and again the camera moves, this time showing another woman in her house, someone putting washing out of their window and again the camera comes back in through the window to show the man sitting down. This time the camera keeps moving past his face and shows him in a wheelchair with a cast on his leg. On it is written 'Here lie the broken bones og L.B. Jefferies'. The camera then moves around the room to show photographs of a car crash, then it shows a camera, then it shows a photo of a woman and then some Paris Fashions booklets with the same woman on the cover. All of this provides a bit of exposition. The camera probably belongs to the man and the Paris Fashions booklets would suggest that he might be a fashion photographer, however there is still some narrative enigma with the photographs of the car crash. The mise-en-scene also signifies that it is set in the 50s. The shot fades to black.

There are only four takes in the opening so each one is quite long. I think that as this is an old film it would of worked well when it was released, but I find it too slow and a bit repetitive and I would have prefered more takes and faster editing.

The opening is 3 minutes 52 seconds.

Rabid Intro Analysis - Ak

Rabid (1977) Director: David Cronenburg

Rabid begins with a New World Pictures ident. The ident fades out and it cuts to an extreme long shot looking behind a brown haired woman wearing leather biking clothes, standing by a motorbike. There is a road running across the screen in front of the woman, an old barn on the opposite side of the road and a country scene in the background. There are no leaves on the trees, the sun isnt out and there might be a bit of snow on the ground in the background which signifies that it is autumn/winter. The main colour in the shot is brown which adds to the feeling that although it is daytime in the countryside, its not a very picturesque shot. The camera begins to move around the woman with use of a steadicam as credits begin to play. The credits are in a yellow, sans-serif font with a shadow and they come on in different positions in the shot which fits in with the camera movement and makes the viewer see more in the shot. It is quite a long, slow take and ends with showing a man walk out of a small building behind her.

The music which starts from the first shot is quite slow and uses long, high-pitched notes which isnt what you’d usually associate with a slasher film. This might however be used through the film to make the audience think that everything is fine before a scare or a killing.

It then cuts to a medium close up of the man walking out the building. He has black, 70s style hair and is also wearing biking leathers which signifies that hes probably with the woman. The building is mainly dull brown in colour. This all connotes that the film is set in the 70s.

The man looks up and it cuts back to the extreme long shot of the woman from behind, which makes it similar to a point of view shot.

It then cuts to a close up of the woman from the front who is rubbing her hands together to warm them up. This also signifies that it is cold and probably autumn/winter. I quite like the composition of this shot and I think that it fits in well with the music and overall feel of the opening to this point, but I dont think that it would work very well in our opening as so far it doesnt feel like a slasher film.

It then cuts back to a close up of the man who is still looking at the woman in an admiring way. This signifies that they have quite a close relationship.

The music fades down and it cuts to an extreme long shot of the two people on the motorbike driving down the road. There is just the diagetic sound of the motorbike and then music similar to before begins playing. The camera is in front of the bike and moving at roughly the same speed as it, so the bike stays pretty much in the same place in the shot throughout the take. The title Rabid comes on in capitals in a distressed, yellow font with a black shadow and a thick line above and below the text (also in yellow with a black shadow) at the bottom, centre of the screen. The title goes off and the take continues, showing some more credits. It is a long take and I quite like how it cuts from the very slow, peaceful start to the fast paced take of the bike.

It then cuts to a close up of one of the bikers brown leather boots and the wheel as well as some of the road as they are driving. This is also quite a long take. It cuts back to the extreme long shot from before which is also quite a long take. Next it cuts to an extreme long shot from beside the road. The bike drives past the camera and it pans across to follow the bike, ending with the bike riding off into the distance.

The credits play through all of this which I think could run for a bit less time as it is quite slow, but the quick motorbike does add a bit of pace to the credits.

The music fades out and it cuts to a long shot of a sign that says Keloid Clinic Inc. In the background there is the outside of a building with a grassy area and a path which leads to two men wearing white standing and talking. This all helps to connote the setting. The noise of the motorbike fades in as the camera pans, tilts and zooms to show some windows next to each other on the building. A voice of a man begins to play which creates an audio bridge to the next take.

It cuts to a medium close up shot of a middle aged man sitting in a chair, smoking a cigar and talking. I think it works well how the previous shot shows you that the man is in the building by zooming into a window and using an audio bridge. The camera zooms out as the man provides exposition by talking about plastic surgery.

Then it cuts to a medium long shot of another man sitting behind a desk. He is also middle aged and appears to work at the clinic by what he says and the mise-en-scene with the desk and his shirt, tie and waistcoat.

It then cuts to a long two shot of the man smoking and a brown haired woman sitting in a long white dress and high heels on another chair. On the wall there are diagrams of the human body and there are big books on a shelf.

It then cuts between a medium close up of the smoking man, a medium close up of the woman and a medium long shot of the other man depending on whos speaking at the time. They talk about experimental plastic surgery.

It then cuts to an extreme long shot of a road and the same music begins playing again. The bike rides down the road past the camera. It cuts to a close up of the two peoples feet as they drive along. Next it cuts to a point of view over the shoulder shot from the passengers viewpoint which might make the audience feel like they are there on the bike. I then cuts to another extreme long shot from off the road and pans across as the bike goes past. All of these are long takes and very similar to the first driving scene which I think works quite well.

The opening is 2 minutes 59 seconds.

Harry Brown Film Analysis

At the start of the film there is a reel of film companys and producers in a white sans seriff text on a black backround. This signifies vunrebility as the text is very small and blackness takes up most of the screen which links in with the intro. Then it cuts to some found footage style camera of some youths smoking in the subway. This connotes violence and signifies who the main protagonists are going to be in the film. Also in this scene one of the youths pulls out a gun and shows it around this signifies danger and foreshadows whats to come in the film. Then it cuts to a scene with a pov camera angle in which the youths are riding a bike and a woman is shot. This supplies anchorage to our intial thoughts on the gang bieng violent and unlawful. The next scene is of an old man moving slowly. From this you get the impression that he is weak and vunreble which is actually a contrast to how he turns out

Trick Or Treat Opening Analysis - Ak

Trick or Treat (1986) Director: Charles Martin Smith
Trick or Treat begins with a DEG ident. A male voice over begins reading lines from Doctor Faustus as the title and credits play. The title Trick or Treat is on a black background and is in a font similar in style to fonts used by quite a few 1980s rock and heavy metal bands logos. This signifies that hard rock/heavy metal music might have in important role in the film. There are then credits in an off-white, capitals serif font on a black background which play until 48 seconds into the film. The last two names to be credited are Gene Simmons and Ozzy Osbourne which provides further anchorage that hard rock/heavy metal music will be influential to the film.

The credits quickly fade out to black and it cuts to an image of a metal musician against a black background. A hard rock song begins to play and the camera zooms out to show the image to be a poster in a bedroom wall. The camera then moves through the room to show books on rock, a calender with a band as the picture, a black leather belt with studs, a skull etc. Everthing signifies that the person whos room it is is really into that kind of genre of music and likes to try and dress like his idols.

The shot then overlaps into a similar type of shot showing more posters of bands such as Anthrax and Ozzy Osbourne which signifies the time period to be in the mid to late 80s. The camera then continues to move around the room showing more memorabilia and overlapping into another shot which does the same. The camera eventually reaches a long shot of a boy, with long black hair and dark clothing, lying on his bed writing a letter. The music gets quieter and a voice over comes on. He is saying what he is writing. He begins by saying 'its me again, Ragman' which signifies that he writes to this person quite often and it also tells the audience what the character calls himself. He then goes on to say 'its them against us. I cant believe the cancelled your halloween concert' which signifies that he sees the person that he is writing to as similar to himself, and that the person hes writing to is likely to be a fairly successful performer. It then cuts to a long shot of the poster which was shown at the start, the focus then changes to be on the boy. This signifies that the person he is writing to is the man on the poster and someone that the boy idolises.

The voice over and music continue playing and there is an audio bridge as the scene overlaps to a medium long shot of teenagers walking up some stairs indoors carrying some books. This signifies that it is in a school setting. The camera then pans across to show the boy sitting under the stair with his arms crossed.

Next it cuts to a medium close up of the boy stood reading a magazine, with a picture of Motley Crue on the back, in a corridor. This is the first time you get to properly see the boy in a good light. He is wearing headphones around his neck and is wearing a denim jacket with a skull pin and guitar pin on it. This provides more anchorage of the boys personality and style.

It then cuts to a long shot of a girl walking down the corridor who he likes, she waves, it cuts back to the medium close up of the boy who waves back thinking that she's waving at him, and it then cuts back to a medium shot of the girl and the camera pans as it follows her walking past the boy to her friend. It ends on an over the shoulder medium close up of the boy, showing the girl and her friend starting talking and the boy looking awkward. The voice over then stops for a short while. It then cuts to a two shot of him eating his lunch with a geek who is represented in this way by wearing large glasses, a shirt and his hair. The main character then drinks his milk but it goes over him as someone has put a hole in the carton. It cuts to show the people who did it laughing at him. All of this signifies that he isn't liked and people bully him.

It then cuts to a medium close up of him walking down the coridor, it cuts to a point of view shot and the same people who put a hole in his milk mess up his hair. This allows you to see the people better and they are represented as jocks by them wearing jeans and a varsity jacket or a jacket with its collar up and trainers. It then cuts back to the medium close up of the main character with his messed up hair and him looking annoyed.

Next it cuts to show shower tiles and the camera tilts down to show the boy in the shower (at school). It cuts to show him walking through the changing rooms with just a towel round his waist and when he gets to his locker the jocks are looking at his stuff and taunting him with it. He then gets pushed through a door as another jock takes his towel off him. It cuts to an extreme long shot of some girls playing volleyball in a sports hall and they turn around to look at him. So hes naked in a sports hall with loads of girls looking at him and he tries to get back through the door but it has been locked/held shut by the jocks.

It cuts to a medium close up of one of the girls and she looks like she has an idea. She runs to get a camera and as the other girls laugh at him, she takes pictures. He looks gutted and then it cuts to a medium long shot of one of the girls and as the camera zooms in on her she goes from laughing to looking sorry for him. The voice over begins again as he drops against the door.

There is then an overlap to a shot of his room again, with the poster of his idol in the center of the screen. This adds importance to the man in the poster. The camera tilts down to show the boy still writing his letter. This allows the audience to realise that what they had seen was a flashback of what the boy was writing about. It then cuts to another shot of the poster and the camera zooms in as the voice over says 'the one things that holds me together is you'. This anchors that the boy is writing to him. He then says 'you did it man. You went to this fucking school and you rose above it. Now youre on top, and you can just look down at the anthill and smile'. This provides the audience with exposition of why the main character idolises him, because he can relate to him. The boy finishes off his letter and tears of the page.

It cuts to a close up of the boys hands holding an envolope addressed to Sammi Curr. This is the first time that the audience actually finds out the idols name. I think that they manage to do this well as the audience already knows who the letter is to with use of mise-en-scene and shot variation, and by telling the characters name through it saying it on a letter is quite subtle and it just adds a name to a face for the audience instead of the film just providing obvious exposition about the character which wouldn't of been as effective.

The music fades out and the opening ends.

National Film Festival Trip

This is a short blog about the trip to the national film festival in Bradford. The first thing we did was go around the experience TV exibit and played around with the blue screen and news reader which was fun however we didnt go to the actual workshop that was going on. After instead we went to the question and answer show with the actors who play the Weasley brothers in Harry Potter. This was good and gave a nice insight into the lives of the brothers and how they approach everyday life after being in a blockbuster film and thier aspirations in the future.

The main event of the film festival was probably the screenings and i went to screening one which involved 4 of Ilkley's video's. 3 from AS and 1 From A2. All the films where enjoyable however some where better than others. All of the videos gave a good idea of ideas for our own coursework productions and overall the films where enjoyable. I hope to enter my own film into the festival next year. Overall it was a good trip and there where lots of great workshops so it was a great experiance.

Film opening analysis

The film i analysed was Kidulthood.


Overall the opening to this film was a 5 minute scene in a school playground. The first part of the opening was the idents for the film companies, which in this opening there where quite alot of. Revolver, Hanway films, Stealth films and Cipher films all featured. There are alot of characters introduced in this opening sequence. Some of who are obviously antagonists and some who are victims. However you don't get an idea of the main protagonist in this scene. The setting of the scene is first set by football being kicked around which gives the idea that it is in a school. Another thing is most of the characters are in uniform which is an obvious indication of where they are. Also in the opening there the camera switches between the school yard and a boy using a drill. This builds tension and indicates that the boy is doing something suspect. Another aspect that build tension is the soundtrack which is tense and helps build the atmosphere. The obvious target audience is probably around 15-18 as that is around the age of the actors involved which also make the film relatable. To conclude this analysis the opening scene gives a good idea of the roles alot of the characters play in the film and helps build an uneasy atmosphere to make you want to watch more.