Research - Target Audience

Most Recently Released Gothic Horror Movie

Frankenstein (2025)

Frankenstein made $480,678 in the box office with a limited theater release throughout October 17 to November 7 and 29.1 million views in its’ first week of streaming.

The people who watched this movie were mostly young adults, fans of Guillermo Del Toro, Oscar Issac, and Jacob Elordi, Horror and Gothic film enthusiasts, and people who like Mary Shelly.

The Audience of Gothic Horror Films

The audience consists of young adults who dominate the horror genre and older generations who enjoy gothic stories. The audience also consists of people who enjoy period pieces, supernatural films, and psychological horror movies. 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/timlammers/2025/10/15/new-frankenstein-website-shows-which-theaters-are-playing-film/

Research - Gothic Horror Conventions

Camera Techniques

In gothic horror, the way the camera is used is really important because it helps build tension and show how scared the characters are. Directors often use close‑ups of people’s faces so we can see their fear clearly, and low‑angle shots of big, creepy buildings to make them look powerful and intimidating. For example, when a character arrives at a huge, old mansion on a hill, the camera might show a wide shot of the house towering over them, making the character look small and helpless.

Nosferatu (2024)

Editing

Editing in gothic horror is usually slower than in other types of horror because it focuses more on building suspense than on constant jump scares. Long takes are used to follow characters down dark hallways or staircases, making the audience wait and worry about what might appear. Then, when something finally happens, the editing speeds up with quick cuts between the character and whatever scared them, like a figure in the shadows or a door suddenly creaking open.

Sound

Sound also plays a huge role in gothic horror, because it makes the setting feel alive and haunted even when nothing is on screen. You often hear wind, thunder, creaking floorboards, and distant whispers, with very little music at first to keep things quiet and tense. Then, when a ghost shows up or something shocking happens, there might be a sudden loud noise or a sharp burst of music that makes the moment much more frightening.

Mise-en-Scene

Mise en scène in gothic horror includes everything you can see in the frame, like the setting, costumes, props, and lighting, and it all works together to create a dark, eerie atmosphere. These films often take place in old, decaying castles or mansions with broken furniture, cobwebs, candles, and portraits on the walls, which make the place feel full of secrets and history. Characters might wear old‑fashioned or Victorian‑style clothes, and the lighting is usually dim with lots of shadows, so even simple things like a long hallway or a staircase can look mysterious and scary.

Crimson Peak (2015)

Research - Horror Genre Conventions

Camera Shots/Angles

Camera work in horror often makes the audience feel vulnerable or uncomfortable. Directors use point of view shots immerse the audience directly into the situation, high angle shots make characters look weak and powerless, while low angle shots make killers or creatures look bigger and more threatening. Handheld or shaky camera movements create a sense of chaos and panic. Close ups and extreme close ups on faces, eyes, or weapons highlight fear and danger in a very intense way. This particular scene in Get Out displays the camera shots and movements that make the audience feel the emotion in the scene.

Editing

Editing in horror is mostly about controlling the pace and the audience’s expectations. Slow editing with long takes is used to build suspense, making the audience wait and wonder when something will happen. When the scare finally comes, the editing often speeds up with quick cuts during attacks, chases, or shocking moments to create confusion and adrenaline. Editors also use cross cutting to move between the victim and the threat so we can see them getting closer to each other. Sometimes, the editing hides the worst parts of the violence or delays what we see, so our imagination fills in the blanks and makes it even scarier. This scene from Scream VI displays editing continuity and makes the audience feel connected to the main characters.

Sound

Sound is one of the most important tools in horror because it affects our emotions instantly. Non diegetic music, like the creepy soundtrack, often uses high pitched strings, low rumbles, or strange, dissonant notes to signal danger and make us feel uneasy. The sound can slowly build up before a scare, and then a loud sharp noise hits at the exact moment of a jump scare. Ambient sounds, like wind, whispers, creaking floors, or distant screams, make the setting feel creepy even when nothing is on screen. Silence is also used on purpose to increase tension right before something happens, while loud breathing, footsteps, and door creaks are exaggerated so we feel the character’s fear. Diegetic sounds like screaming and crying make the audience feel uncomfortable.

Mise-en-Scene

Mise en scene includes everything that appears in the frame, like setting, lighting, props, costume, and acting. Horror movies often use isolated locations such as abandoned houses, dark forests, or empty hospitals to make characters feel trapped and alone. Low key lighting creates strong shadows and dark spaces where threats could be hiding, and color choices like red or very pale, washed out tones help suggest blood, danger, or death. Props such as knives, masks, dolls, and religious symbols become visual signs of horror. Costumes and makeup usually show victims as ordinary and relatable, while monsters or killers look strange, damaged, or masked. Actors use facial expressions, shaking hands, and nervous body language to clearly show fear and panic. In Don’t Breathe, the main characters try to rob a blind veteran but end up getting trapped in his house. This already makes the audience feel uncomfortable and trapped along with the main characters.

https://media-studies.com/horror-genre/

https://roundourworld.com/2024/10/23/understanding-production-choices-in-horror-films/video/

Research - Sub Genres

Main Genre

Horror is the genre I decided to focus on out of the 3 genres I researched. I chose Horror because I felt more connected to it than Fantasy or Thriller. With the Horror genre there are many different sub-genres to choose from with varying aesthetics and conventions. So, I researched 3 different Horror sub-genres to determine which would be the best fit for my brief using a list of Horror sub-genres.

Psychological Horror

I was interested in Psychological Horror because I find it interesting to see the ways the human mind could work in different, ususally outlandish, situations. To get an idea of an opening for this genre, I decided to watch the opening scenes for Talk To Me and Pearl.

Gothic Horror

When I had chosen my brief, my first thought was to create a Horror movie opening with a Gothic aesthetic because of my enjoyment of the movie Sinners and also my interest in the fashion of the past eras of history. For inspiration, I watched the opening scenes of Sinners and Nosferatu.

Slasher Film

I’ve always been interested in Slasher films due to the mysteriousness of the murderer terrorizing the main characters, when the audience gets to learn their motives it makes the film more interesting than before. The film openings I decided to refer to are Fearstreet: Part one and Scream VI.

Chosen Sub-Genre

Out of all 3 sub-genres I researched, I decided on Gothic Horror. I felt the most connected to it and I felt that I had a lot of creative inspiration with all of the Gothic films that have come out in these recent years.

Research - Genres

 Since I chose the film opening the first thing I had to decipher which genres I wanted to do. I only had an idea of what I wanted to do so I referred to a list. (List of Genres) Out of that list I chose 3 genres: Horror, Fantasy, and Thriller. I chose genres that I felt drawn to and I could make the most out of.

The first genre I picked was Horror. I was the most interested in it due to my enjoyment of horror movies and when I had picked this brief my mind went immediately to the genre. I referred to different horror movie openings for an idea of what mine could be like. The first horror movies I thought of were Scream and It due to their very popular opening scenes. 

The second genre I picked was Fantasy I picked Fantasy because there is a lot of creative freedom with smaller boundries but to get the type of fantasy film I wanted to base my brief off of I looked at a fantasy movie list. Corpse Bride was the movie I wanted to be inspired by so i watched the opening scene to get an idea of what I could do if I ultimately picked the fantasy genre.

The last genre I decided on was the Thriller genre, it’s a lot like Horror which is why I looked into it. I also could not find any other genre I cared to do. I also did research on thriller movies as I did with the other genres using a list. With that list the movie I felt I could get ideas from was the Black Swan. I felt that movie captured the disturbing feeling of thrillers that do not rely on jumpscares or unnerving places.

Magazine Cover Conventions

The Learning Process

To learn about the conventions of magazine covers, the class got a paper of a fake magazine cover with boxes that were blank. We had to fill out the different conventions of the fake magazine while also taking notes of the convention of magazine covers. We learned many of the conventions like mastheads and coverlines along with some parts of a magazine that might not always be there, like boxouts and direct addresses.

Genre Choice & How It's Conveyed

The genre I chose was the lifestyle genre, I chose that genre because I had taken pictures of my grandmothers garden and those pictures were the best images to use for this project. My magazine cover conveys the lifestyle genre through calm colors and a soft font. I tried not to make the magazine too overwhelming so it could have the "Down-to-Earth" feel that the lifestyle genre offers.

The Magazine Conventions and Their Effectiveness

I used the most common conventions like the cover image and dateline but I also had strips and puffs. The strips and puffs really accentuated the magazine feel, it made my magazine seem more interesting and had added more depth to it.

Challenges & Successes

A challenge I had was importing the picture and manipulating the text. The coverlines were constantly getting in the way of the feature article. I was constantly rearranging the text boxes and also changing their orientation.

A success I had was incorporating the puff. I searched on Google for transparent green circles and downloaded them. It was easy to see which circles were actually transparent which ones were not. I ended up downloading two different pictures with one actually being transparent. I then put text on the transparent green circle and it was not difficult at all and took me about 2 minutes.

What To Do Next & How It Will Help My Portfolio

With my newfound knowledge on InDesign, creating another magazine cover would not be as hard as it was this time. This would improve my portfolio project a lot if I changed my mind on the 2 minute movie opening and switched to the magazine cover.

Video Editing Practice Blog Reflection

 Learning Premiere Pro & The Experience of Creating the Clip

Before being in Media Studies I'd never used Premiere Pro before so I had no experience with using and creating clips with the software. I had a bit of experience in editing clips together and adding music but I only did it on my phone using free applications. 

Learning Premiere Pro was slightly challenging for me due to my inexperience with it. I had to learn a specific way to import the clips we downloaded and at first I imported them into the project incorrectly. Due to my mistake I had to start from the beginning and create a new project. 

Once I created a new project, creating a new clip was not as challenging because I was completely following the compilation of tutorials that were posted. I was able to import clips and manipulate them to make the project I wanted to create. 

Challenges & Successes

While I was creating my clip, I ran into 2 challenges. My first problem was that I was not sure how to split my clips up which is shown in this screenshot as it shows the Zach interview as one complete clip. I wanted to cut up this clip because the video was made longer due to the filler words and silence throughout the clip I imported. 

The second problem I ran into was when I tried to include the lower thirds, I didn't like the way the text popped up abruptly. I wanted the text to have a smooth transition into the clip and I also wanted the text to have a transition when it left the clip but luckily I could work around it by cutting to a clip of b-roll while the interview was still in the background.

I had success with overlaying different sounds with different clips. As shown in the screenshot above, the audio of the interview of the woman was playing while a clip of b-roll played at the same time. It felt accomplishing that I could achieve my vision.

What I'll Do Next & How It'll Improve My Portfolio Project

I plan to use what I've learned to practice creating more clips, I also plan to learn more about Premiere Pro so I can be efficient when I'm able to utilize it. The practice I plan to do will improve my portfolio project because I plan to create the 2-minute opening clip. When I gain more experience with Premiere Pro, my project will end up looking better than what I've created before.