Research Post 6 - Market Viability

Welcome back, everyone! I've come back! Now that we've got a basic plan and what we want to do, I want to look in to the Market Viability of the Horror genre. After all, we need to understand how to market or make the movie.

Now, looking into the projections, we can see that the Horror market has been growing in recent years, signaling a resurgence of Horror, especially with themes of Paranormal activity and other supernatural events. Additionally, market projections for the Horror genre, as seen in this graph, set the genre up for substantial growth in the following years. Additionally, the safety of the genre is assured. In 2025, many movie categories struggled at the box office in order to break even, while the Horror genre was more than capable of holding its own in a hard year at the box office.

Poised to become a billion-dollar baby for the industry, It'll be highly likely that studios will not only pick up a horror-related project in the future in the hopes of franchising it, but also that horror movies will succeed and perform well at the box office. The general audience of a horror film tends to be for younger people; as they can have provocative themes, actions and imagery, it's only natural that the genre favors the young. As such, the opening that my group seeks to crate should not contain exceptionally gory elements (especially also because it IS a school project..)

Now, the one issue with our genre could be that it's potentially oversaturated and risks going over-budget. According to data collected by the 2025 Market Research Report, approximately 30% of Horror movies, despite usually being high-grossing, never break even on their budget, and 25% struggle with market acceptance due to several factors. As such, to produce a movie such as the one that I will be making an opening for, Project efficiency is required. A clearer plan should be laid out for what we want to do to reduce the need for retakes that will cost precious money.

All in all, I think horror films in the current market, while definitely suffering their share of risks, do indeed have plenty of upsides as well, and have a proven track record when it comes to bringing in profit. And, with projections of the market for Horror movies set to make it a Billion-Dollar industry from just the domestic market alone, I believe that the film has true market viability. What do you think?

Sources:

Horror Film Market Forecast 2026–2035 | Growth Trends & CAGR Insights

2025 Horror Movies Box Office Trends: Record Growth & Top Films

Research Post 5 - Determining the Shape of the Film and Making an Outline

 Welcome Back! In my previous post, I did research on some of the highest-grossing Horror films, and now that we have our examples, I want to define what my goals should be for the upcoming film, and how I want to accomplish them. To help with this, I'll also be going over how some directors, namely M. Night Shyamalan, created their beloved works, and how they were inspired to do so.

First off, we do need a basic outline for a plot; Nothing too fleshed out, just something to go for in our opening. For that, I believe that a mixture of both the Supernatural and Science would be something interesting, and could bode some promising mysteries for the Audience, which is the backbone of the suspense that Thriller Horror needs to thrive. Additionally, these two elements were present in all three of these high-grossing movies, so I believe that they'll have a high retention rate and attract a good amount of people to watch.

Now that I have a basis to go on, we should look into the Cinematography of movies like the Sixth Sense and IT. Both of these movies had a heavy emphasis on lighting. Many horror movies do, in fact. Lighting is very important when discerning emotions of a character, but even more important than that is making the character being protrayed seem either human or inhuman. When a character's eyes are obscured, that Character becomes much harder to discern the emotion of, and also appears to be less human.

In the images provided, both women have a rather blank expression, and nothing about their facial features are particularly grotesque or wrong. Instead, you'll notice that the first images' lighting obscures the eyes and has much less color, therefore giving that "Inhuman" effect that we discussed. And, as I just noted, Color is also important to the cinematography of a movie. A prominent example of this can be found in one of the three movies we researched; 'The Sixth Sense' uses the color red to potray a relation to the Afterlife, ghosts, the supernatural or the grotesque. While color can be used to convey a message, it can also be removed from a shot to add suspense or improve the "dehumanizing" effect of lighting.

Now, since we're only doing an opening, our loose plot idea will do just fine. Instead, we should focus on how we want our shots. Conveying a character's emotion is vital to a horror film, but we also need to build the audience's tension, so our opening should employ the usage of the previously-discussed visual techniques, as well as a POV from the characters' vision, an absence of music in favor of ambient noise, and several shots from odd angles that will be taken, from the audiences' point of view, from the eyes of our "Aggressor." While I do want our antagonist to be threatening, the constraints that come with only being a student of film and not an actual director make me believe that, instead, our final shot should focus on the Character's visage, contorting in horror. A sudden scream will play to break up the noise after an uncomfortable resting period on the Character's face.

And, with that, we have an outline for what we want, and what we should do, for our opening! It's a little more than an outline, but any ideas are always welcome in the world of film! Maybe you can even use some of these ideas for yourself! Anyways, see you now!

Research Post 4 - Researching Examples

Welcome back, everyone! Today, I thought we would research some of the highest-grossing horror films out there, now that we've determined what Genre we want to go for! Hopefully, these films offer some sort of idea on what I should do for my film - and maybe they'll inspire you, too!

The Sixth Sense

The Sixth Sense, released in 1999 by M. Night Shyamalan, is the second-highest grossing Horror film to date, and it isn't hard to see why. The plot revolves around Malcom, a Child psychologist, who works with a boy named Cole, as he helps him with his strange condition of being able to see Ghosts. The major twist, however, comes when it's revealed that Malcom himself is a ghost - Earlier, he had been shot by a former patient, Vincent Grey, who had accused him of 'failing him,' which had in actuality caused his death. This excellent twist, once revealed, is then also evident in the cinematography as well. The movie uses the color red conservatively, only being shown when it has to do with the 'Afterlife' or 'ghosts.' Even specific choices, like what Malcom wears, hint at this twist and further the movies' story.

I Am Legend

'I Am Legend' is an interesting case from the other two movies. Set in 2012 after a post-apocalyptic event, Dr. Neville, portrayed by Will Smith, works to find a cure, alone and barricaded in his house. While the creatures hound him outside, however, his isolation is what truly gets to him. According to reviews, the Cinematography isn't anything to write home about; Additionally, the plot, while good, does have its weak points, especially in the third act, which is where most criticisms arise. The lure of 'I Am Legend' is instead found in the acting. Will Smith's performance in the movie captivates the audience, and even without any other characters for the majority of the movie, he still overcame the challenge to make Dr. Neville believable and enjoyable.

IT

IT is the highest grossing Horror movie currently. Released in 2017, IT is about a group of kids as they combat a supernatural entity they know as "Pennywise the Dancing Clown," who takes the form of their worst fears in order to scare them and then kill them. IT has been praised for it's pacing and Cinematography, both of which took considerable time and effort to produce. The movie's Cinematography focuses on character reactions, so that the audience can truly connect with them and their fear.

Research Post 3 - Determining a Genre and Genre Conventions

 Hey All! Welcome back to my Media Studies Blog! In the previous blog, you'll remember that I studied a few Sub-Genres, and how those Sub-Genres are often structured. Well, today, I've finally made a decision on the Sub-Genre I wanted to use for my Final project - Thriller Horror. Thriller Horrors try to keep the Audience engaged with often shocking and disturbing imagery or plotlines, as well as keeping the audience glued to their seats with engaging mysteries and villains. But that's not all that goes into making a film. Lets dive into the other aspects of Thriller Horror, and really see how to make a good Horror Movie!

Thriller Horror is renowned for it's cinematography - and rightly so. As the name suggests, it needs to build up "tension", and it does so by using several techniques. Most commonly, Camera angles will feature Extreme close-ups that capture small visual details, changes in expression that signal how the character feels. They help us connect to a character emotionally as well, and make us fear that they may die, or care when they are in danger.

-An example of an Extreme Close-up shot

Another staple of Horror's cinematography is sluggish camera movement, in addition to shooting from the character's point of view. They make us anticipate that something may come to attack, and naturally make us scared and feel anxious and wanting to escape. When done right, these movements add dramatic amounts of tension to a scene, and they make the Audience scared, even before the actual scare happens.

-An example of a limited Point-Of-View Shot

In addition to the many camera-angles that they implement, Thrillers also tend to make use music to heighten tension. Long, drawling tracks, those that instill a sense of fear or suspense, or even the absence of music in favor of ambience, can help greatly enhance a scene to help build an audience's tension.

Thriller Horror revolves around themes of morality, moral ambiguity, and mystery - Antagonists are usually either human or otherworldly, and both of these forces are utterly inexplicable in their power. Or, if they are a comprehendible threat, they are utterly terrifying in what they have done and what they can do. 

An example of a comprehendible threat is the 'Grabber', from the Black Phone. The Grabber is a kidnapper who takes children hostage, and does unspeakable acts to them, exactly what being unknown. The grabber, while very much a human threat, is still utterly terrifying thanks to his well built form and presence, as while perhaps not as imposing of a threat as someone like Pennywise, the Grabber is still very much a good example of a human antagonist.

An example of an inexplicable antagonist would be from something like 'The Exorcist,' where the antagonist is a demon who has taken over a child, and therefore must be, as the name implied, exorcised. The antagonist isn't something that abides by human law, nor is it something that can be easily comprehended with how we view society and our world - rather, the Inexplicable antagonist acts as both a mystery and a fear of the unknown.

Now that we've explored Thriller Horror - what do you think of the Genre? And how would you implement it into your own film? I think I've already got a pretty solid idea!

Alright, everyone! 'till next time!

Research Post 2 - Exploring Subgenres

Hey! Welcome back to my blog! Today, we'll being exploring Subgenres - essentially, just genres, but set in a more specific scope.


Western

A subgenre of the typical western film is a "Spaghetti Western," ironically the most influential subsection within the Western Genre. a "Spaghetti Western" is a Western film created primarily in Italy by Italian nationals. Arguably the most influential movie within the Western Genre, a "Fistful of Dollars," falls under this genre, and was the film that first caused the subgenre to emerge. The film popularized the image of the gritty, lone desperado wandering the frontier, enforcing his own brand of justice among the usually-lawless frontier, infested with gangs, degenerates, and criminals galore. 

Another change that are often present in Spaghetti Westerns are that the protagonists are often sympathetic Antiheroes, as opposed to having a clean Good vs. Bad split. While the protagonist is often the character the audience sympathizes with most, Spaghetti Westerns introduced the masses to the moral ambiguity that often comes with vigilante justice. While these may be staples within the wider Genre now, Spaghetti Westerns were the primary influence for all of these changes

Historical Film

A subgenre of the usual Historical film is Historical Fiction. Historical Fiction doesn't follow events exactly; while they are used for the setting and contextualize the events occurring within the movie, the Movie is not based around a real story, and is instead heavily dramatized or even entirely made up. Historical Fiction is a rather popular genre, and has many examples among the film industry that are very influential.

An example of a Historical Fiction is Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. While taking place within the setting of the late 1930's, Events that did not occur at the time are shown within the movie, especially the mythical "Lost Ark" that melts the antagonists within the movie. Additionally, the film, the "300," which follows Spartan Warriors fighting against the Persian Empire despite being heavily outnumbered, could also be considered Historical Fiction. The reasoning behind this lies in the fact that while the Battle of Thermapolye did occur, many events within the movie are dramatized and never actually occurred, and there are many inconsistences with the events in the movie and the actual events.

Horror

the Horror genre focuses on capitalizing on fear for entertainment value or to provoke philosophical introspection on aspects of society or even reality itself. One of the most common types of Horror is Thriller Horror. Thriller Horror intends to keep the Audience glued to their screens with an engaging plot, mystery, and antagonists, making the stakes high to keep audiences glued.

The most classic example of a Thriller Horror is Alfred Hitchcock's "Dial M For Murder," which uses many elaborate angles in order to make the Movie, which would otherwise be rather forgettable due to it's subpar plot and lack of action, into a Thriller classic that set the standard for today's industry. Thrillers like this have taken after Hitchcock in this way, and use brilliantly-done set pieces and cinematography to heavily enhance the suspenseful elements of the story.

Research Post 1 - Exploring Genres

Hello! Welcome to my Media Studies blog; Today I'm doing some research for three Genres for an upcoming Project, namely the film opening, that I have fast approaching. For my three Film Genres, I chose Historical, Western, and Drama. Each of these genres have a long history in the film industry, and for inspiration I will be exploring the Cinematography, Conventions, and Narratives that each of these genres uses as their bread and butter that keeps audiences coming back again and again.


Western

Western, as a Genre, refers to a Genre shot in the backdrop of the American West - In the periods between the 1840's and 1890's. Westerns can be considered the precursor to the more modern Action Film, and additionally the Adventure Genre as a whole. With roots all the way back to the start of Silent Film Era (1894-1930), Westerns are one of the oldest genres in film.

The first true Western, shot in 1899, is "Kidnapping by Indians" - a short 2-minute silent black-and-white film, depicting two women being kidnapped by stereotypical Indians, and a group of 'Cowboys' fighting back, with one of the girls saved by him. 

On a side note, this depiction of Indians derogatorily would be a prominent theme in Western media for a very long time, however there were notable exceptions to this, such as the 1930 film 'The Silent Enemy,' which depicted a tribe of Indians' struggle against starvation in northern Canada. 

Western Film would continue to thrive after the Silent Film Era, with films such as "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," which was praised long after its time for it's brilliant storytelling and cinematography. 

The final scene of "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" - a freeze frame, with a hail of bullets sounding off in the background from the Bolivian Army. Their fates are more than clear - but without visual confirmation, the viewer has just a little bit of hope that they survived. A hope that they had escaped impossible odds, yet again.

Western films will typically follow stories with Male leads, who patrol the deserts alone - either for Revenge, looking for prospects, or simply by a twist of fate. They often have very cut and dry morality - however, they also can explore themes of moral greyness, more often with stories following outlaws. Those who exist outside society's set standards, but are still loved by audiences. In this way, Westerns are very unique, and have continued to Stand out past the Neo-Western revival of the 1990's and 2000's.


Historical

Historical Films follow stories that have occurred in real life - some of which are dramatized for the screen, but are at the very least inspired by or are directly reminiscent of these stories in the real-life setting. Sometimes, Historical pieces are set in a certain year or time, and follow that setting, but have fictional places, events, or characters that change the outcome.

An example of a Historical Drama or a Docudrama, one that follows historical events closely and is meant to convey the events of such accurately, would be Oppenheimer. Oppenheimer follows the life of physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer - the scientist most accredited for the creation of the Nuclear Bomb, aside from Einstein. It stays close to the concerns of the time, and shows the life of the genius scientist, and the regrets that making the bomb made him have. 

Historical films are often character-driven, as they seek to make messages beyond what their historical constraints would usually allow. 'Oppenheimer' is the most evident of this, with the entire film revolving around his point of view, his life, and how he views his invention that changed the world.

Historical films are also usually ripe with representation; they seek to tell yet-unknown stories from many corners of the world and from many points of view. While it is regarded as a generally bad movie, "The Woman King" Is an example of a Historical-Fiction movie that focuses on underrepresented or lesser-known groups, namely the Kingdom of Dahomey and other West African Kingdoms. "Inglorious Basterds", on that same token, tells the story of a unit during World War 2 that, while not having a direct combat role, was nonetheless invaluable in retrieving Europe's stolen art from the Germans at the time.

Drama

Drama is a very ambiguous genre - but, to put it simply, It's any film that decides to focus moreso on serious moments than comedic or other entertainment value. Because of this, Drama has many different subsets - Dramedy, Drama-Action, Historical Dramas - most genres have a Dramatic subset thanks to it's wide interpretation.

Drama is very old - As it's an integral part of storytelling as a whole, Drama cannot be pinned to any one source. However, there are many examples of films that fit Drama's specific tenants. For example, a Tragedy is a type of Drama that explores the downfall of the protagonist for any number of reasons - often exposing fundamental flaws in personality that people have, or the subtle imperfections that drive us so very mad.

An example of Tragedy would be the film "Requiem for a Dream" - a movie that showcases the downfall of it's three protagonists as they hopelessly chase their dreams, and are pulled apart and lose everything they have worked so hard for, for something they may never achieve. Requiem for a Dream is deeply thematic, and deeply thought-provoking, and it's a perfect example for Tragedy.

Many Drama-films are like this - they are Character-Driven and want to be taken seriously. They expose things that we as people deal with in our lives, and how we react to that. Philosophically, it could be said that Drama is a Genre that explores humanity as a whole - which could also be the reason why it's so widespread among many different genres, as all stories are about human lives and human experiences, which Drama is deeply invested in.



Having explored so many Genres, it's hard to pick just one - but, If I had to say, I'd go with a classic Western. A lone gunman out in the old west, a storyline as old as time, that also incorporates many of the tenants of the other genres that we've explored (Historical and Drama)

But it's ultimately up to you to come to your own conclusions - I've only explored three genres here, but there are many more for aspiring storytellers and filmmakers like you and me to delve into!

Sources

What Is Drama? Tracing Its History and Evolution [With Template]

Zack Snyder's Film "300" tops in Golden Icon Awards - Axcess News

Oppenheimer (film) - Wikipedia

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid - Wikipedia

Watch Kidnapping by Indians (1899) online - BFI Player