Distribution Companies

Distribution companies are responsible for the marketing of a film. The film distribution companies used will determine to which extent a film will be distributed. Larger distribution companies that are well known and successful are more likely to get the film to cinemas and to have it more widely advertised and broadcast. Distribution companies are usually responsible for the release date, where it’s released etc. Larger distribution companies are likely to have the film advertised and broadcast in cinemas across various countries whereas smaller distribution companies are likely to only have few products such as DVD’s that are only sold in a particular country. 20th Century Fox Film Co. Ltd. and Warner Bros. Pictures are two well-known distribution companies that are seen in trailers and at the beginning of many big hit films. This tells the viewer straight away that it’s most probably going to be a good movie. The distribution companies shown at the beginning of films say a lot about a film before we watch it. This is because, as audience members, we judge it depending on if we’ve heard of it before or not.

Film magazine analysis - Empire

Film magazine analysis - Total Film

Audience research (general)

Audience for Horror films A variety of films are released in the cinema constantly throughout the year. The main percentage of cinema goers are aged 15-24 holding 29% of the viewing. People aged 7 – 44 have 84% of the viewing when it comes to going to the cinema. Horror films are designed to startle the viewer. It’s a genre of film that specific types of people enjoy. Not everyone likes horrors and therefore won’t attend a horror movie at the cinema. After researching statistics on Horror film audiences, I found that the majority of horror film viewers are males between the ages of 15-24 (the majority age range). Men seek action, thrill and gore from movies and find amusement in going to see a horror with their mates. Another reason men may enjoy watching horrors is because of the way women are portrayed. Women are objectified and used for sexual enjoyment. This leads into men being voyeuristic by getting pleasure from seeing women brutally attacked or murdered just because they’re in minimal clothes. Women tend to prefer comedies or romances because they’re a lot lighter to view. Men may choose to take women on dates to see horrors as it means they can cuddle up and get close to them… or just laugh at their expense! However, recent figures have shown that females are attending the cinema to see horror films a lot more than they used too. Older people don’t tend to watch horror movies as it’s not their cup of tea. They don’t often go to the cinema. People who live in cities or towns are more likely to attend the cinema as it’s more accessible for them. Living in rural areas don’t live near cinemas so don’t bother to make the effort to go to them often.

Representation of women in horror films

Representation of women in horror films In general, women are seen as the weaker sex; the sex that are in need of protection from men. Though not everyone will agree with this, we all know that it’s just how society is. Laura Mulvey brings up an interesting theory she called ‘Male Gaze Theory’. This theory was a feminist theory that came about around 1971, the time that feminism was a big part of society. She basically said that the world is ‘male’ and that men dominate pretty much everything. Mulvey said that in horror films, women are objectified by men. The camera in horror movies is through a male’s eye point, hence the name ‘Male Gaze’. I put this theory to test whilst watching the remake of ‘House of Wax’ and I found the theory applied to Paris Hilton’s character. In this movie, Paris Hilton was seen as the ‘sexy’ girl who had a ‘hunky’ boyfriend who looked after her. A lot of close ups and focuses from the camera were on Paris and her body. The scene in which Paris dies, we get a dramatized, detailed death in which close ups on her body were present. She died in just her underwear, making the death a lot more appealing to men. This is a fine example of women being objectified to be aesthetically pleasing to men and to lure them into watching and enjoying the movie. I’m sure a lot of men will remember that part the most, and probably even say it was the ‘best bit’! 'Cabin in the woods' is a horror film which sees a bunch of young adults go on a mini holiday to a cabin in the woods. They all like to explore the cabin, of course, it's a horror! They come across some peculiar objects in the attic, and end up choosing one to examine. As expected, the characters die off one by one according to their looks and personalities. The 'bad' girls are quick to go followed by the muscly men. The final two characters, one guy who smokes marijuana which I think is unfair. It's going against the 'final girl theory', but it's allowed because he's male. The other final character is the typical 'final girl' who, in the end, ends up saving the final guy. It's reversed expectations. We would expect, from hearing that situation, that the guy would end up being the 'hero' who saves the girl and maybe even falls in love with her. But no, the girl saves the guys arse. A bit of girl power! This leads in to Carol Clover’s theory. Her theory was called ‘Final Girl Theory’. This theory was applied to horror movies in that she believed the final surviving girl within the movie was always the virginal, innocent, intelligent cutesy girl. This girl wouldn't do anything that would challenge the conservative ideology. However, this girl would also carry quite masculine attributes. In my opinion, the ‘final girl’ has aspects of a traditional woman from back in the days where women respected themselves a lot more than women do these days. A lot of women these days seem to have no self-respect; whereas a few years back women didn't revolve their lives around sex and drugs. I watched ‘Cabin in the Woods’ and noticed that the surviving girl within the movie followed the theme of Clover’s theory. The first girls to die in this movie were the girls that smoked the marijuana and had sex with the guys and were bitchy towards the ‘innocent’ girl. The surviving woman in this movie was, of course, the woman that stayed away from all of that and had her head in the right place. Feminists would argue that women in horror movies aren't given enough credit. They're objectified and made to look tediously vulnerable. A horror that would challenges these common conventions would, in my opinion, be a lot more interesting in terms of the unexpected. Women carrying power would more likely terrify an audience because it's something we're not used too and wouldn't expect. Any film that manages to challenge the common conventions, but still meet the target of that genre, is a good film to me. Maybe horror movies are trying to create an underlying moral to their stories? That if you stay innocent and intelligent and focus on things in life other than sex and drugs that it will get you further? Then again, the opposing argument would be that if you stayed well away from all of ‘the good shit’ then you won’t enjoy your life as much. In these stories, the woman who lasts until the end is the woman that is placed in society as boring and unpopular. I think these films are trying to tell us that even people of this type can be seen as a hero in the end. These theories don’t apply to every horror film. They also don’t apply to the thoughts of every man. Some men will argue that they have a lot more respect for women and they wouldn't ever ‘objectify’ them. Not all men would look at a women dying in a sexualised way, they would see it as grotesque. This is when the general rule of Clover’s ‘final girl’ and Mulvey’s ‘male gaze’ is challenged by audience members forming a sense of a moral panic. They worry that they’ll be labelled as viewers of the film in certain ways and that in enjoying these movies, they would be encouraging these structures of films to be carried on in future film making. Most of these theories relate to feminism and interestingly enough, these theories are constructed by women. These look at the negative depiction of women in horror films without touching on any positive portrayals. In my opinion, I can see the logic behind these theories and I can also see why a sense of moral panic could come about, especially seeing as these theories were about in a time when society was a lot more fragile with these topics of issue. Again, it's all about what topics are of an issue at that time and how society sees them.