Shropshire Star Analysis + History

The Shropshire Star is a regional newspaper, which mainly covers the whole of Shropshire, but it also covers parts of Herefordshire, Worcestershire, Cheshire, the Llangollen area and northern Powys in the UK. The paper is published 6 days a week, and is usually available from midday. The paper had been 40p for a while, and it has now gone up to 42p. The paper is sold in newsagents, off licenses, high end supermarkets and garages. There used to be 8 editions of the paper, these being County, South, North, West and East. Where as now I have only found a County one. The paper is very good value for money, as you get around 44-70 pages (depending on if there is a special article inside) and there are usually 9 stories on the front page. With around 17 stories per page inside. There is varied content so the paper appeals to its target audience. The paper also delivers to your home for around £10 per month, giving you 6 papers a week. The paper tends to have supplements inside, with different sections for housing, advertising, weddings and cars. The most frequent supplement within in the paper is the classified job section that comes out every Thursday.

The Star is owned by the Midland News Association, an independent media business with offices in Wolverhampton and Telford. MNA publishes 22 newspapers, including local papers such as the Market Drayton Advertiser, the Shrewsbury Chronicle and the Express + Star. The Midland News Association also owns 2 radio stations, The Severn and The Wyre, these were then sold in 2011. It is the 9th leading publisher in the country, and has sub-sections of Express + Star Ltd. and Shropshire Newspapers Ltd. The Midland News Association owns these papers, but they are published by higher end publishers. This means that they own the same house style and all the images used in the papers, this is why we see the same image in different newspapers. The Midland News Association has a circulation of over 1.5million


The Shropshire Star was the first post war evening newspaper, with its first edition being released on the 5th October 1964. The Shropshire Star was at the forefront of new technology, as it had better picture and printing quality. Newspapers used to use hot metal typesetting, which consisted of each letter being placed into a mould and then printed out, old Fleet Street newspapers still used this method. This way of printing was very slow and expensive. And because the Star was the first newspaper after the war, it had the chance to start off printing differently. It used a method called photo composition and web offset (and this is something that newspapers still use now). Offset printing is where the inked image and text would be printed onto a roller, and then this would be transferred onto the paper. This is what all newspapers use now, as it is a lot quicker than the old method.

 The total circulation for the Shropshire Star for January 2012, was 55491. The total readership was 139927 adults, 82% of these readers have their papers home delivered. With 71370 being Men and 68558 being Women. The majority of readers that buy the papers are aged between 45 and 54. Also C2DE readers, buy the paper more than ABC1, showing that working class people read it more than the upper class. The paper saw more of a surge in circulation after the old Shropshire edition of the Express + Star, which was originally sold before the Shropshire Star came along. The Shropshire Express + Star only got around a 19,000 nightly circulation whereas by the mid 1980s, the Shropshire Star was hitting of 100,000 readers a night. From this, the paper went from its original 3 editions to a further 6 more. In Shropshire, 39% of the adult population read the Shropshire Star, which is remarkable as The Sun only has 14%, coming in second. Out of 98,458 readers, 57% of them do not buy another paper to read. and 35% of these read it 6 nights a week. According to TNSmedia 2008, it takes an average of 33 minutes to read the Shropshire Star.

 The paper also has a website, where 182413 people visit it every month. In this case, AB readers are the most popular, with 64975 AB readers going onto the website. The largest age group for the paper is again 45-54 year olds. The Shropshire Star, was one of the first local newspapers to go online, with 'shropshire-online.com' in 1998. In 1999 the paper gained its first internet editor. Since 1988 the layout of the website has changed many times, and this is the most up to date layout (Feb 2012). The website itself pulls in nearly 1 million page views a month. The content on the website is very similar to the paper, although no all the stories are on there they are very difficult to find. The site could do with having better search engines, or a bigger capacity so it could hold a lot more articles on it, as you have to search for ages to try and find what your looking for. 71% of the adult population (Apr '10 - Mar '11) read regional newspapers, which has dropped by 13% in the last 5 years, suggesting that the digital newspapers and their websites have become a lot more popular.

Along with the website, the Shropshire Star now has a new app on iTunes, which allows you to read digital versions of the paper instead of having it delivered to you. At the moment they are also offering a buy the app, get a week free policy, so you can get access to the paper free for a week. The Shropshire Star also has it's own Twitter account, which means if you have Twitter on your phone, you can access the latest, breaking news on the go. This is also what other newspapers seem to have been doing, and it's a way of moving on with the digital age. Blogging, apps, video streaming and e-editions are the perfect way to attract a younger audience as they never would usually buy a newspaper.

The paper is in a Tabloid format, which it what newspapers are typically presented as. The print quality is generally very good, the clarity of images though could be a little bit better, but on a small budget, compared to the top newspapers, it's very good. The paper was also the first to used colour printing, 4 months after its first release. In March 1967, it was the first paper in the country to take a colour photograph, and print it the same day. This was the occasion when the Queen came to visit Shropshire. The front page of this edition saw the image of the Queen taking up around 2/3 of the page, and the masthead was also in full colour. The red masthead also went along with a small column of text which had a background of yellow. In the mid 1980s, the paper was also one of the first to computerise its articles, meaning that they would could out the middle man who would type set, and send it straight to the editor and then the printers, this is known as Single Keying.

The majority of the local news on the front page, is news that would be relevant to the whole County, rather than seperate news stories, this gives a high level of meaningfulness to the stories. They are from around all of the county, and with the paper I am analysing (Tuesday 21st February) there is 1 story that is nationwide news. The rest of the news are local stories, and things that would concern the county. Throughout the paper, the stories decrease in importance. A lot of the local news is about achievements within the county, especially to do with schools, and charity. In the back pages of the paper, there is a section for sport, which shows the achievements of schools, and sports teams in the county, and the back page shows main sports news from major events, or major sports matches between different teams. Photographs are used throughout the paper in some articles to promote certain stories, this could be a promotion for a theatre performance or a charity event. They are also used to identify people who have committed crimes or have been killed. They are mainly used to inform people of a story. There is enough national and international news to keep a high solus readership, as recently we have seen stories about the Oscars, and the Grammys.

Editionising was brought in to keep a more local focus on the news. There were 8 editions including, a North Shropshire, South Shropshire, Oswestry, Shrewsbury, Welsh Border, Bridgnorth and Last edition. Whereas in the past few months they have gone back down to a County edition which has a daily circulation of 7,628 readers, a Border edition which has a daily circulation of 7,685 readers and a South edition which has a daily circulation of 4,939 readers.

The lexis in this paper is formal, and easy to understand. They do use sophisticated words at times, but the majority of the paper is easy to read and informative. The mode of address within the paper is very friendly and direct. This suggests that the paper is aware of its target audience, who is a varied mixture of ABC1 and C2DE readers, this reflects on the paper well as it shows that it has a high standard for its readers.

Social groups are represented equally, and there is no differentiation between different social classes. The paper is written as if it were talking to young and old people, and all races. There are stories included in the paper that have more of an interest to elderly people, for example when they promote coffee mornings. It reflects the audience well because there is no divide in race, or social class. The Shropshire Star is known for sponsoring local events and getting involved with charities and schools. This reflects on the paper well it it gives them a strong bond with the community. It is very pro-community rather than being pro-political like many of the high end tabloid papers. It represents the community positively, which gives a good self image and encourages sales. The positive values represented are that they so caring (pro-environment, pro-people) they are very child centred, as they spend a lot of time trying to find out what is happening in local schools. They also cater to the elderly by having a 'Pictures from the Past,' section where anyone who has an image of a Shropshire town can send in what it used to look like. The paper also provides a service to the community by having a classifieds page, and supplements every week on jobs, cars, chemist opening times and competition offers. It also shows the voice of the reader by publishing letters and announcements from the public. 70.4% of ABC1 read local papers, and 71.1% of C2DE read local papers. Local papers have to fight harder for market share against the nationals, even though only 47% of people read national papers, (Jan '12) meaning that local and regional papers have a high solus readership. 26.7% of adults that read a Regional paper do not read a National daily. Local and Regional newspapers are considered the most trusted medium, as they don't end to make stories up, as they are mainly given by the local people. 60% of people will talk to their local newspaper rather than ringing up a national paper. 

In my edition of the Shropshire Star (21st February 2012) there are pages of classifieds, properties, competitions and puzzles, as well as a small section of stocks + shares and also adverts for you to hire agricultural items. The property and classified sections were the biggest of them all. The property section has many houses from different estate agents, which gives a great variety of location.

The Shropshire Star doesn't have a massive competitor, as it is the biggest newspaper in Shropshire. After the Star the next newspaper people read is national The Sun. The Star could be in competition with  local papers such as the Shrewsbury Chronicle and the Telford Journal, as these are in areas where the Star is popular, but the Chronicle and Journal are both at the front of the pack in those areas. 

Newspaper

There are many different forms of Newspapers, the varied design and information in the newspapers mean that there is a paper for everyone to read.

The styles of Newspaper are:

- National (e.g. The Sun, Daily Mail, The Times) 

- Regional (e.g. Shropshire Star, Chester Chronicle)

- Local (e.g. Whitchurch Herald, Market Drayton Advertiser)

- Broadsheet (e.g. The Guardian, The Times)

- Tabloid (e.g. The Sun, Daily Star)

- Berliner (e.g. The Economic Times)

- Compact (e.g. The I)

- Digital 

Now Newspaper companies such as News International have decided to create digital formats of their newspapers every day. The Independent for example have used Facebook to create an app where people can read it. Reading newspapers online is usually a lot more expensive than buying a newspaper, as you usually have to buy a subscription to the paper, whereas you can buy the paper whenever you want from the shop.

Newspapers can be biased, they mainly do this by being politically biased. For example, The Mirror is left wing Labour and The Mail is Conservative and The Guardian is Liberal Democrat. Newspapers are allowed to be biased but they must be accurate. Whereas broadcast news on the TV has to be unbiased and accurate. People tend to believe broadcast news a lot more, as there is moving image to back up stories. 

Newspapers are regulated by the PCC (Press Complaints Commission) they have a Code of Practice which is where anyone is allowed to make a complaint against an article under these categories:

1. Accuracy
2. Opportunity to reply
3. Privacy
4. Harassment
5. Intrusion into grief or shock
6. Children
7. Children in sex cases
8. Hospitals
9. Reporting of crime
10. Misrepresentation
11. Victims of sexual assault
12. Discrimination
13. Financial journalism
14. Confidential sources
15. Witness payments in criminal trials
16. Payment to criminals

 In 2011, one of the main complaints made was over the Phone Hacking scandal that involved the News of the World. The News of the World hacked into the voice mails and phones of Politicians, Celebrities, and also the voice mail account of Milly Dowler. A child who at the time was missing but was later found murdered. The hacking of phones had started in 2006, but the public was unaware until 2011. The News of the World broke many category rule from the PCC's Code of Practice.


Newspapers are also regulated by the Contempt of Court Act, the Official Secrets Act and Defamation.

The Ring

 The Ring is a 2002 psychological horror film directed by Gore Verbinski. The film is a remake of the Japanese horror 'Ring,' which was made in 1998. The film based on a Japanese folk tale called Banchō Sarayashiki. This is a ghost story of love separated by social class, broken trust, promises, leading to a dismal fate. The film was also adapted from the novel 'Ring,' by Kōji Suzuki.

The film beginnings with an establishing shot of a house at night, it is stormy outside and raining. We see two girls, Katie and Becca, both of which are teenage schoolgirls. Becca tells Katie of a story that she heard of that when you watch a video tape, it kills people. As Becca tells Katie this the camera slowly zooms into Becca building up tension. Katie panics as she watched the film at the weekend with her boyfriend Josh. Becca explains that after they watch the tape the phone rings and you then have 7 days to live. Katie messes about with Becca and pretends to choke and die on her lap. The phone then rings and the camera quickly zooms onto the clock in the room which shows that it is 10pm. There is a mass amount of tension when Becca and Katie go to answer the phone, Becca messes about acting all scared and hands the phone over to Katie as it's her Mum. These types of films always give you some suspense and then leave you hanging with something that isn't scary. As Katie is on the phone Becca seems to disappear. Katie goes round looking for Becca through the dark house, and we hear distortion noises and the TV turns on. There is then a slow pan around a wall to show the TV. It turns itself on and off, Katie walk back into the kitchen to see the fridge opening. At this point there is no background music apart from a few chimes, setting you up for a thrill. Katie then hears loud footsteps running up the stairs, so she runs up after thinking it's Becca. There is then a low angle shot of the bedroom door with water pouring through the gap at the bottom, she opens the door and there is no water in the room. As she looks up she looks at the TV and he camera the zooms into her screaming with a disturbing face. (Featured below) This then goes into a video montage showing different parts of what seems to be part of the video. (Featured below). In the video we see many enigma's that we assume will be explained during the film.

We then cut to a teachers evening, where the teacher show his mother images of what Aidan (her son) has been drawing. The images are quite disturbing for a little child as they are very dark and mysterious. We find out that Aidan was very good friends with Katie, and his Mum Rachel assumes that he has been drawing them after her death, when it really was done the week before. When they get back home, Aidan insists that he knows the time of death of Katie, and we find out that is was 10pm.

At Katie's wake, we hear Rachel and Katie's mum Ruth discussing how the cause of Katie's death is unknown. Ruth doesn't believe that her heart just stopped and believes that something more disturbing happened. This then cuts to a quick shot of Katie sitting in a wardrobe looking all decayed.

 

Rachel then goes outside for a cigarette and see's some of Katie's friends, who bring up the videotape story and that Josh's boyfriend also died on the same night. We then cut to Aidan who starts to walk up the stairs to where Katie died. He walks into the room towards the TV, when suddenly the TV ripples and Rachel is behind him. She tells Aidan to go downstairs as she stays up there. Rachel has a look around the room and sees photos of model's with their faces all scribbled out. Underneath these images there is a phone number and address for a local photo development shop. Rachel goes and collects the photos to see that Katie had been away with friends and Josh at the weekend, and that all the photos were normal until the last one, where they're faces were all distorted, and looked as if they had been smudged.There is then another shot of the clock which emphasises the time as it is 10pm, the same time Katie died. 

The next shot is an aerial shot taken from a helicopter, of a car driving, again the mise en scene shows us that she is going to a dark place as it is raining and gloomy, giving a creepy and unsteady atmosphere. The helicopter camera pans with the car until it reaches Shelter Mountain, where the cabin Katie and her friends were staying at. This type of shot was never used in Frankenstein or The Devil Rides Out, as hiring a helicopter would've been too expensive. This shows the development in the genre. Rachel goes into the main office of the cabin's and asks about the teenagers. She finds that they were staying in Cabin 12, and that they rented a video. She looks over at the video stand and see's that they are all packaged correctly apart from one which has no case and is tilted onto it's side. This small bit of detail has made a great impact on the video and already given it a suspicious look. Rachel goes to Cabin 12, which is situated in the woodlands where it s very dark and secluded. The cabin itself looks very old and looks unstable.

Rachel gets into the cabin and puts the video on, she sits and watches it .This is the same video that we have seen small snippets of previously when Katie was killed. The film is all in black and white and uses very high pitched squeals that are painful to hear. At this point the main emphasis on the video is the ring, a chair that spins around, a woman in a mirror, and sounds of drowning, and also a tree which was shown before Rachel went into the cabin. The video also features a lot of water telling the audience that the main theme of this video is water . After the video finishes the phone rings, and '7 Days,' is said by a child. 

The film then cuts to a shot with writing which has been edited on top saying Thursday - Day 1, and again it is raining. Rachel takes a photo of herself, and finds that her face is also distorted on all of her photos. At this point a man called Noah is introduced, and he gets shown the video. We do not know what relation Noah is to Rachel. After Noah watches the video the phone rings again, afraid to answer it she leaves it and a close up shot is shown of there being no voice mail. After Noah leaves, Rachel goes back to the phone where there is one message, she reluctantly presses the button and we see a close up of Rachel's face looking worried, and the film cuts to the next scene. Rachel then goes to copy the film and whilst doing so, the numbers on the copier keep misreading. She also discovers that something is being thrown from the tree. 

Not a lot happens on Friday - Day 2, only that she thinks she see's the ladder that's been used in the video, only to find that it's a man painting. 

Saturday - Day 3. Rachel visits Becca in a mental clinic, there are many pans of the wards that house mainly elderly patients and Becca seems to be the youngest there. Rachel and Becca then talk to each other and Becca says nothing, until Rachel reaches out and holds her hand. Becca says that Katie will show you how she died. Becca also knows that Rachel has only 4 days. Rachel leaved the clinic to look at the video again. She alters with the tape to the part where she saw something coming from the trees. There are numerous cuts back and forth from Rachel to the screen as she alters the video. There is a close up on the screen and there is a fly with it's wings twitching. She takes it off the screen, and it disappears from the video, Rachel turns around and finds that she has a nosebleed.

  

Sunday - Day 4. On the Sunday, Rachel find the lighthouse that's featured in the video on Moesko Island, and in the article it also shows the name of the woman in the video, she's called Anna Morgan. Rachel searches er online, and finds articles about horses, and that many of them died, but leaving an enigma of how they died. Moments later we then see that the horses drowned, and Anna as related in some way to all of them. We then see that Anna jumped of a cliff and killed herself, just is what we saw in the video where a woman in black jumped. As Rachel is writing notes down she realises that she is tarting to scribble out faces like Katie. The majority of this scene is done through close ups, which represents the importance of the scene. 

Monday - Day 5 see's Noah at a store, looking into a CCTV camera. He notices that he has a distorted face just like Rachel and the photos of Katie and her friends. Rachel then comes home to the babysitter and the camera goes over the actress, for this they probably used a jig, and to the TV, which has started to distort. The baby sitter leaves, an water starts to come out of the bottom of the TV. There is a close up on the water , and Rachel starts to choke. A close up from a low angle is then used to show Rachel choking and she then pulls out a chord that is used to monitor patients in hospitals. She pulls it out goes to the phone, only to see that the phone is leaking water. Rachel then goes to see Aidan and there is a girl sitting in the middle of the floor in a puddle. There is then a bright flash and Rachel wakes up in bed, knowing that it was all a dream, by she wakes up covered in hand shaped bruises. Suggesting that something has happened to her in her sleep. She walks into the lounge to see Aidan sitting watching the tape, angry and upset she turns the video off but the phone rings.Rachel then rings Noah and we find out that Aidan is Noah's son. 

Tuesday - Day 6.  There is a video montage of the information Rachel found of Anna and it's slightly faded so we can see an aerial shot of a car driving. This shot also includes a voice over of Rachel and Noah, telling us that they are both in the car. Before Rachel reaches the ferry for Moesko Island, she figures out that you see 'the ring,' before you die. At this moment in time we still don't know what the ring is. As Rachel gets on the ferry, the sea is very rough , it's windy and it's also raining. Again this builds up the mise en scene, giving the island an unwelcoming look.As Rachel is on the ferry, there is a mention of Anna Morgan having a daughter, and that she died. Rachel goes to pet a horse which becomes very agitated. There are a rage of shots showing the horses agitation. Many of them are close ups of the hoofs and face taken at a low angle to make the horse look more powerful. CGI is used when the horse escapes, and for a modern day film the CGI isn't very good. You can easily tell that the horse has been inputted into the film rather than filmed on location.

The horse then runs off the ferry into the sea, and it is then killed by the propellers underneath the boat. Blood comes out from the boat, and this shows a part of the video. At this point we cut back to Noah, who is at the mental hospital looking for Anna Morgan's old room and files. As he gets to the room there is a fly on the door, and inside the room is full of records and files. Leaving us with an enigma, we cut back to an aerial shot of Rachel's car. Before that though the shot takes  us over the lighthouse and to the road giving us an establishing shot of where she is. This is then followed by a series of panned shots showing us Rachel's direction. Rachel arrives at an old house, looks in the window, and there is a reflection. This leaves room for a sudden fright, but the tension stays on as nothing happens. There is then a very high pitched piano note as Rachel looks around the house, again building up even more tension. She turns around to see Anna Morgan's husband standing there. He talks to her about how many of the horses drowned, and as she's dong this, she see's the mirror used in the video. The house is very dark which again like most of the locations used in this film, gives an eerie feeling. Morgan's husband then tells Rachel that he does not breed horses anymore because of what happened. Rachel gets the video out and asks Morgan's husband about it. You can see in his eyes that he knows all about the video but is just choosing not to say anything. He also says that he doesn't have a daughter. This give you the enigma that he may have had something to do with his wife and his daughters deaths. Rachel walks out of the house not having any answers, and see's a rope swing tied to a tree. Something the husband wouldn't have unless he had a child. Rachel looks to some of the pictures that Aidan had drawn, and there is a rope swing on the picture, telling her that this house definitely has something to do with their deaths and the video. Back then cut back to Noah in the storage room, and he finds Anna Morgan's file. In these notes we see that Anna had suffered many miscarriages and also gave birth to a daughter named Samara. As Noah finds this out he starts to get a nosebleed, just as Rachel did, showing that the 7 day process has started.

We then cut back to Aidan who is at home and he has started to draw very disturbing images of black holes, just like a ring. He says that the little girl show's him things. Rachel then goes to talk to a woman on the island about the Morgan's, and there is a boy sitting on an old rusty roundabout. Because of it's age, the roundabout makes a screechy high pitch noise that sends shivers down your spine and is uncomfortable to hear, making the story of the Morgan's sound worse and menacing. 

The transitions in the film are usually parts of the video that are either connected to the next scene, or part of something that will happen later on in the film. Noah looks in the Morgan's file and see's that the video has gone, and the last person to see it was the husband, Richard Morgan. At night, Rachel goes back to the house, and background music comes in. She goes back to the room with the mirror in, and also goes to the TV. As she's looking she finds a box full of hospital chords, like the one she choked up before. As she is looking through the chords and the papers in there, a centipede crawls out (something else which was in the video). Rachel finds another tape and watches it. The tape shows footage of Samara in her hospital room, and in an interview at the hospital. She also draws pictures just like Aidan is doing. There is then a slow zoom into Rachel's faces as she watches the tape, to build tension. Everything at this point seems calm, until Samara says that her Daddy will leave her and he wants to get away. At this point we see a shot of Rachel, but with the silhouette of Richard in the background. Richard then hits Rachel and gets lead upstairs by Richard who is covered in cables. They walk into the bathroom which has water overflowing, and machines attached everywhere. Richard then electrocutes himself, and as this happens we see sparks flying everywhere, created by SFX. Blood also gets splashed about, and there seems to be some handheld camera work in the bath to really give detail. 

Noah then arrives at the house, an grabs hold of Rachel. They open up the stable at the Morgan household, and see the ladder from the video. There is a long pan upwards to the room at the top of the ladder. In the room, there is a rocking horses, dolls everything that would be in a child's bedroom, there is also baby music playing from one of Samara's ornaments. The only 'luxury, item she has in there is a TV. In the reflection of the TV you see the chair used in the video. As Noah is looking round he see's a gap in the wall with flaked wallpaper. They pull back the wallpaper to see a carving of a tree. The same tree that was outside Cabin 12 on Shelter Mountain. 

Wednesday - Day 7. Noah and Rachel arrive back at Cabin 12 at Shelter Mountain, they fight and knock off some marbles onto the floor, which magnatise at a point on the floor. Underneath they discover the well from the video. Rachel and Noah jump down, and there is then a pan down into the bottom of the well, showing how deep it is. Whilst Rachel and Noah are looking at the well, the TV above them starts to flicker, and water comes out from the bottom of it. The nails holding the floorboards in place also come up, and there is a bug on one of the nails. SFX and CGI is then used when the floorboards cave in, creating a lot of SFX work and also CGI when the TV falls and knocks Rachel into the bottom of the well.

As she falls, flies come out of the bottom of the well, looking like the flies you see when there's a dead body somewhere. As this happens the TV turns off again. Noah, still being at the side of the well shouts down to Rachel, who sees nail scratches on the well, and also a whole nail in the brick, suggesting that Samara was still alive when she died. The stone that covered the well starts to close over again and we then have a shot above the well and Noah has disappeared, and the TV starts up again. There is then a few odd noises and then silence, and there is then a bright light.

The is then a flashback back to the video, and it shows the remainder of the video, which is how Samara died. We see that her mother smothered her and pushed her down the well. Samara then opens her eyes at the bottom of the well and we see 'the ring,' which is the stone covering back up the well. Proving that she was still alive when she was pushed down, hence the scratch marks. It then cuts back to Rachel who starts to look around and dive down to look for Samara's body.

Rachel holds Samara in her hands, and after she says a few words about how sorry she was, Samara decays in her arms. This is all we see at this point and we think the stories over. Noah then appears again and rings the Police. When the Police arrive and get Rachel out, there is a romantic scene between Rachel and Noah, who we know have a previous history.

There is then a fade out into a shot of Aidan sleeping, and Rachel gets into the shower. As we previously thought that the end of the film was between Rachel and Noah, we are again set up for something scary to happen. As Rachel's in the shower the use of water comes up again which is a daunting thought. Rachel gets into bed with Aidan and wake up later. Rachel says to Aidan that Samara is no longer in a dark place. Adian then says, 'You weren't supposed to help her, she never sleeps.' As he says this Rachel checks his arms, he is covered in bruises, and he also starts to have a nosebleed. As this is happening, we change location to Noah's appartment where the TV turns on. Noah walks up to it and it turns off. Walking away from it, it starts up again. The tape then shows up towards the end where we see a shot of the well, from the outside. The phone then rings and at first we think that this is just like before and Noah's going to get a creepy phonecall. Instead it is actually Rachel trying to tell him about the girl. Samara then starts to get out of the well and towards the screen.

Rachel then drives to Noah, and this is an in-car shot of Rachel who is speeding through to get to Noah. The TV then starts to pour out water again, and Samara crawls out of the TV.

The SFX team brought Samara out the TV, in the same colour she was seen as in the TV, show she was a dingy grey colour rather than making her in colour. Samara then kills Noah and he see's the ring before he dies. We then cut to Rachel who walks into the room. Samara has gone, the TV is flickering and she turns a chair around and there is a close up of Rachel screaming. We don't see Noah's face. Rachel then burns the tape, she then turns around and there is some tension as we think Samrara's come for her. The camera then pans down under the TV, and there is a copy of the tape on the floor. As Rachel is walking out, Noah's girlfriend walks into the appartment and we see Noah's face, and it's just like Katie's.

Rachel then makes Aidan create a copy of the film, as she figured that if you make a copy of the tape you won't die. The film then fades out, and we are left to guess about Samara. This also hints about a sequel being made.

The Ring was branded a PG-13 in America, and a 15 in the UK. Both of which for its high violence and gore count, and also the talk of drugs. The BBFC stated that it was put as a 15, because of it's strong menace and moderate horror.

The Ring was produced by Walter F. Parkes and Laurie MacDonald and distributed by DreamWorks Pictures. DreamWorks Pictures is an American film studio which develops, produces and distributes films. As well as video games and TV programmes. DreamWorks is best known for, 'Saving Private Ryan,' 'Chicken Run,' and also co-producing Academy Award nominee and Golden Globe nominee 'War Horse.' The Ring is copyrighted to DreamWorks.

Brief History of Slasher Films

'Slasher,' is a sub-genre from horror. Typically the films involve graphically violent murders by a mentally disturbed killer, that usually use various weapons such as knives and axes. Slasher films have been around since the 1930s and you could say that 'Thirteen Women,' (1932) was the first slasher movie.

Directors that have made well known Slasher films are:

- Wes Craven (The Last House On The Left, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Scream [1-4])
- John Carpenter (Halloween, The Ward, The Thing)
- Tobe Hooper (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Eaten Alive, Toolbox Murders)
- Sean Cunningham (Friday the 13th, Case of the Full Moon Murders, A Stranger is Watching)

Halloween was directed by John Carpenter in 1978. The film revived horror, despite it being a small budget film that was only meant to be shown for a few weeks, it is the most successful independent horror film of all time. With no advertising campaign the film had great success and many sequels have been made. Halloween was inspired by Hitchcock's 'Psycho,' where a human could look normal but be a monster and deeply disturbed inside. Carpenter wanted the film to be more supernatural, and therefore decided to keep the killer's face anonymous, we only knew him by his name. This sparked a lot of interest with director's and writers as they could keep the killer's identity separate, much like Ghostface in Scream.

Friday the 13th directed by Sean Cunningham in 1980, is about classic idiotic teenager, a plot that many horror films have adopted. Nobody expected the great outcome that Friday the 13th has had, although it was rather mainstream compared to 'Last House on the Left.' After the original, there have been a further 11 sequels, making it one of the biggest franchise's of all time. Friday the 13th was known for its overt violence that was rather over the top. Tom Savini, a special effects and makeup artist, worked on Friday the 13th and without his innovative creations, we would not know Jason to be who he is today. Savini was always trying to further himself create better effects every time. This showed the development of the genre as Savini was pushing the boundaries of his work. Friday the 13th is also known for the 'Suckerpunch,' ending when everything seems fine then Jason comes out of the water and kills the woman. The Friday the 13th franchise has been such a success, but with this, the films have become less scary as Jason has become a more familiar concept, whereas if the film were created over a longer time span, he might have been more terrifying.

 

Scream is an American Slasher made in 1996, directed by Wes Craven. The film features the typical conventions of modern slasher films, whilst also playing on them. For example in most slasher films if you say you'll be back, 10 minutes later you die. And the most important rule is that if you have sex you most definitely will be killed. The virgin girl is always the survivor. Scream is well known for it's killer, Ghostface. Now a popular Halloween character, Ghostface was one of the scariest killers of the time. Using a phonecall to tell you that you are going to die soon, and letting you hear your final words before he pops up and kills you. He also made the victims state their favourite horror films and answer questions on them. This terrified teenagers across the world, as the killing seemed so realistic. After the success of the 1st Scream, 3 other sequels have been made, the most recent in 2011. In the mid 90s slashers became more of a parody rather than a thrill, this is shown in Scream as it is a parody of Halloween. You were scared as well as mocking the film, which gave a great balance between horror and laughs. Since this, parody films have become a lot more popular. One of the most common being Scary Movie. Scary Movie parodies many slasher films, mainly Scream, The Sixth Sense, I Know What You Did Last Summer and The Blair Witch Project.

Directors would mix fact and fiction into their horrors. This is seen in 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.' Ed Gein, a real life murderer, was the inspiration for Leatherface in this film. Ed Gein was a serial killer who admitted to killing 2 women, but then stole body's from graveyards. With these bodies, he would create furniture, and decorations with their bodies. For example a woman's lips were used as a pull string for a light, and he made a belt out of human nipples. Gein was the all in one killer, a murderer, butcher and a psychopath, something which is now the prototype for all serial killers in slasher films, especially as he looked like a normal human being. One of Gein's 'creations,' were masks made of human skin, the key piece that Tobe Hooper used in the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, as Leatherface wore a mask of human skin. Director Tobe Hooper describe the film as being a nightmare story, saying that the true monster is a human. Death is what we fear, we cause death and we are part of death. He also said that because people could relate to the film because they all knew about the Gein case, which helped to establish the franchise.

A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) directed by Wes Craven, and is known as a 'Stalker Slasher,' as the victims would be followed to see if they were 'suitable.' The film was originally written by Craven from real life, when he saw a man staring at him outside his window when he was a child, who stayed there for ages. This gave Craven the inspiration for Freddie Krueger to be a child molester but after many production crews turned Craven down, he decided to make Krueger a child killer instead. This film made people scared to sleep, as the victims died in their sleep, and therefore viewers would have nightmares of the film.In nightmare 3, Krueger became more loveable and predictable, as he had been shown too much and was becoming familiar. The films therefore struggled to keep up with the high quality of storyline and film that they had previously had.

The Devil Rides Out

The Devil Rides Out is a Hammer Film Production made in 1967 and released in 1968. The film was X rated, which is similar to the 18 certificate we see now. The film is 95 minutes long, which is substantially longer than Frankenstein which is 71 minutes long. The film was adapted from 'The Devil rides Out,' by author Dennis Wheatley. Christopher Lee reoccurs in this film as Duc de Richleau, alongside Charles Gray, Patrick Mower and Paul Eddington. The film was distributed by EMI Films in the UK and 20th Century Fox in the USA. The film was proposed in 1963, but due to censorship worries of Satanism, the film was put back 4 years. The film has Satanic themes and references to black magic throughout and the whole film is revolved around a Satanic cult. This was a rare subject to make a film about in the 60s.

The titles of the film are in colour, as if the rest of the film, and the background is an image related to Satanic themes. Set in the 1930s any relation to Satan would've been seen as unusual and looked down on. In the opening titles there was details of copyright, the actors involved, the sound crew which was RCA, there was also dramatic music and black magic iconography. The titles then faded out from flames into the film.

After the fade we see a long shot of Simon's house. The mise en scene makes the house look creepy although it was shown in dim lighting, the music for this part keeps you on edge. We see that Simon has joined an Astronomical Society, which links the film into a Sci-Fi genre. The camerawork has more movement than Frankenstein, the camera follows the actors rather than just panning, I also think that the camera would've been on a track to create these flowing movements. The transitions are also smoother in this film compared to the choppyness of Frankenstein. Rex and Nicholas, who are friends of Simon, are asked to leave his house as they are not 'members' of the 'Astronomical Society.' Simon, Rex and Nicholas all walk into a room accompanied by some slow violin or maybe some oboe. As they walk into the room there is a tiled pattern on the floor which looks like a black magic sign. The music gets louder as tension builds, as Nicholas has suspicions of Simon and what he is up to. Nicholas opens up a cupboard to find some chickens, animals which are related for black magic. The music gets louder at this point, giving the build up to a climax to when he opens up the cupboard. There seems to be a use of a handheld camera when Simon is punched, this is the only piece of handheld camera in the film, and it gives the sense of action. Nicholas then sends Simon into a deep sleep, like he is hypnotised, Simon is then told to look into a mirror and listen very carefully to Nicholas.

Nicholas tells Simon to wear a pendant with a cross on to keep give him protection. As Nicholas is putting the pendant on Simon, the music gets louder again and there seems to cymbals clashing. When something important is being said, the camera zooms into Nicholas's face, giving what he says an emphasis. Simon then goes to sleep and is told that he will wake up at 10am the next morning, as he is in bed, the pendant seems to suffocate Simon. The butler Max then checks up on Simon and takes off the pendant, after Max tells Nicholas what happened Simon disappears out of the window. The music in the background changes volume depending on when the actors are talking, this is what most films do. Nicholas and Rex then walk towards the stairs where they start to get colder. This is a common feature of black magic and it gets even colder still even when they walk into the room with the devil floor. Nicholas then looks around and finds the 'Clavicle of Solomon,' book. Something which sounds related to black magic. After they find this the lights dim and it gets even colder still.  SFX is then used in the film, when the floor seems to let off smoke. A man then appears wearing red, a colour associated with the devil, at first he has a silver lining around him and then he fades into being real. A close up is then used on the man's eyes which is followed by a close up of Rex's eyes. They then cut back and forth with close ups and Rex seems to get hypnotised of possessed by the man. To counteract this, Nicholas throws the cross pendant that was on Simon into the man, whilst chanting and the man disappears.

We are then told that Simon could become very dangerous if they do not find him in 24 hours. Rex is then told to go and get a woman named Tanith. SFX is used when they are n the car, green screen technology had not long been introduced, and they used it when they possibly could. There are less shadows in the film, as the technology in lighting is more advanced and the use of technicolor hides the shadows. The woman is talking to Rex and says that she is scared of a man named Mocata. An interesting part of the film is that Tanith tells Rex that she hasn't been re-baptised, as this film is based on Satanic views and religion, this is a key part of the film. All of a sudden Tanith looks in the rear view mirror and a man's eyes appear. Here we have an enigma as we don't know who's eyes they are, and the man starts talking to her. Tanith and Rex then arrive at Mr and Mrs. Eaton's house (Mrs Eaton is Nicholas' niece). Tanith then drives off in the car and Simon gets into another car and follows her. Here we have some POV shots as the camera is placed in the driver's seat (again showing that a green screen had been used). The eyes come back to the woman again when she is driving on her own, and the eyes tell her to 'listen and obey,' after this the eyes tell her what to do as Tanith is nodding her head, although the audience cannot hear what he is saying. This leaves an enigma as we do not know what is about to happen. After this we see Rex crash into a ditch, this being the work of the man from the mirror. Rex comes out to see a car drive into a housing estate. Rex follows and out from the building comes a lot of people wearing black robes, and they looked like they were part of a cult. There is then a transitional fade out.

We fade up into the next scene where all the black robed people have driven into a dark woodland area. Somehow all of the people wearing black robes are wearing white. Rex and Nicholas turn up moment later. The leader of the cult is recognisable as he is wearing purple with a symbol of black magic on the front. At this point here is a lot of dramatic music,and the man starts to chant spells. The camera pans and you see Simon and Tanith next to the robed man. A goat is then brought on as a sacrifice, the blood from the goat is then poured into a bowl and held up, symbolising power. The lighting inthis part of the film could be faulty or the scenes were filmed at different times because when you see the cult the lighting is very dark and sinister, whereas it looks like daytime when we see Nicholas and Rex. The next shot we see is of the people in the cult dancing around covered in goat blood. Then SFX are used again when the 'Goat of Mentis,' appears.

Again Nicholas throws the cross pendant into the goat and there is an explosion of smoke, another use of SFX. Rex and Nicholas then take Simon and Tanith back to Mr and Mrs Eaton's house. Tanith explain to Mrs Eaton that she has to leave before nightfall, this gives you an enigma that something will happen to her later on at night. The way Rex and Tanith look at each other give the impression that there is a romance between them, giving us a multiple narrative. Neither Simon or Tanith are allowed to be left alone, so they are accompanied by Rex and Mr Eaton. The man who wore the purple robe then turns up at the house. We find out that his name is Mocata, and he is here to take back Simon and Tanith. Mrs Eaton talks to Mocata and gets hypnotised by him, he controls her with his eyes, the eyes being what the whole film is based on, Mocata then tells Mrs Eaton that she is going to let Simon and Tanith go, at this point there is a mass emphasis on Mocata's eyes and the camera zooms in. As Mocata is hypnotising Mrs Eaton, there are many close ups of both of their eyes. I have noticed that throughout all of the close ups that neither of them blink, so they do not break the bond between them. Mocata is controlling Tanith using his eyes as well as when he looks up, Tanith wakes up being possessed by Mocata picks up a knife and goes to kill Mr Eaton. Simon also awakens and tries to strangle Rex. He then flick back to Mocata who is disrupted by Mrs Eaton's daughter, Simon and Tanith then stop what they are doing and Tanith drops the knife. Tanith then escapes into the woods as she realises what Mocata is trying to do. Mocata explains before he leaves that something evil is going to happen tonight. Rex runs after Tanith and ties her up and gags her in a barn. Back at the Eaton household Nicholas has drawn a safety circle out of chalk, that is surrounded by words of black magic. It is definitely an icon of Black Magic, but sadly we don't get to see what form of magic it is. Back at the barn, Tanith has hypnotised Rex, the camera follows Tanith's movements with Rex and he unties her and lets her go, she then uses so much force that she makes Rex unconscious. Nicholas notices that the lights in the house have started to get dimmer (a use of SFX as the lights are part of the set rather than lighting equipment) and it gets colder. A wind machine then blows out the candles in the room making the ambience unsettled and it makes everything feel a lot creepier. One of the most interesting pieces of camerawork is when a track has been used to go around the circle of people, this is the only part in the film that is a long piece of continuous camerawork. The biggest part of SFX is when a spider appears, there are many extreme close up's and a faint sound of spider's feet. Then the Eaton's child walks in, trying to save the child Nicholas throws water on her as he knows that the child isn't real. He also throws water onto the spider which starts to melt and smoke comes up from it. We then hear faint sounds of horses, a man on horseback then comes into the room , with a slight glow around him to make him look supernatural. They then showed many slow motion shots of the horse rearing, which were quite scary as the noises of the horse were really loud. Nicholas then chants another spell and the horseman disappears, Nicholas then walks out of the circle to the door and see's Rex carrying Tanith's body back, the Angel of Death (the horseman) has killed her. The child then disappears and Simon drives off to find her, the only way of finding the child is to make Mocata think that Tanith is still alive. Nicholas hypnotises Mrs Eaton, casts a spell and Tanith's voice comes through Mrs Eaton. Tanith explains that she loves Rex and she will help him to find the child. There is then a lengthy conversation between Tanith and Nicholas, using many close ups going back and forth. The woman then screams and Mrs Eaton collapses. Smoke then comes out of the lights in the house, Simon runs out and into another room where Mocata is with the child and there are 13 people wearing white robes, this again has links to black magic as 13 is considered an unlucky number. There are then many track shots of the child being brought into the room, Mocata takes a knife, just as the camera cuts away to the arrival of Nicholas and the others. Mocata says another chant just before he goes to stab the child, Mrs Eaton screams just before the blade hits her. Nicholas then uses the same hypnotising charm he used on Mrs Eaton on the child, and brings Tanith back through the child. The child starts chanting and SFX are used again. They let off explostions, fire and also the green screen of Mocata looking scared in the fire. We then cut back to the Eaton household where Nicholas and Mr + Mrs Eaton are, and Rex walks back through with Tanith, who was previously dead. This is all a moment of deja vu, as it seems what happened to Mocata wasn't real. Although that instead of the Angel of Death taking Tanith's life, it took Mocata's instead. The film then fades to the credits where it shows all of the cast and crew, as well as where it was made.

Black Magic is portrayed as a horrible thing in The Devil Rides Out, none of the scenes that include Black Magic are showing it doing any good, for example when Mocata keeps hypnotising Mrs Eaton, and nearly kills their child. This is also the case in Frankenstein, as both Frankenstein and Mocata are shown as evil creatures. Frankenstein's Monster however does have a slight sense of guilt about him though as if he can't help what happens. The representation of social groups is clearly shown throughout the film, as the Black Magic cult are shown as horrible people that can do nothing right, and that Rex, Nicholas and Mr + Mrs. Eaton are the victims in the film. There are certain violent points in the film, that back when Frankenstein was created, probably would've been edited out. The most violent parts of the film include the near death of the child, and also the sacrifice of the goat in the middle of the film.

Hammer Films Productions are the creators of The Devil Rides Out, and was distributed in the UK by Warner-Pathe Distributors when the film was first released and then by Studio Canal in 2010. The film would've been promoted by theatrical posters such as this:

In 1968, the film was given an X rating by the BBFC, and now since 1993, the film has been given a rating of 15. The last review of the film was 2006 and the classification stayed the same with no cuts being made.

Frankenstein

Frankenstein is a 20th Century film directed by James Whale made in 1931. The screenplay has been adapted from the play by Peggy Webling and the original novel by Mary Shelley. There are elements of the film, such as the bolts in the Monster's neck, that were thought of by Universal Pictures. Things had been changed from the novel and the play to fit in the film. The film is short at 71 minutes long, but in 1931 this would've been a feature length film compared to the 90 minute films we see now. Frankenstein is a classic horror film that has recently celebrated it's 75th Anniversary, making it one of the world's most loved classic horror films.

Sound had only recently been introduced into films in 1927, and Frankenstein would've been one of the first horror films to featured sound.

At the beginning of the film there is an advanced 'friendly' warning by Edward Van Sloan, an American film actor who was best known for his roles in Universal horror's.

'We are about to unfold the story of Frankenstein, a man of science who sought to create a man after his own image without reckoning upon God. It is one of the strangest tales ever told. It deals with the two great mysteries of creation – life and death. I think it will thrill you. It may shock you. It might even – horrify you. So if any of you feel that you do not care to subject your nerves to such a strain, now's your chance to – uh, well, we warned you.' - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankenstein_(1931_film)


The presentation is very calm and clearly explains what the audience is going to see, until Van Sloan tells you that the film might even horrify you. This would've uneased the audience and prepared them for a fright. Whilst giving this warning, Van Sloan is placed in front of a curtain, like he is about to start a play. This may been adapted from the play of Frankenstein. 

We then see the titles to the film, they show the name of the Producer (Carl Laemmle Jr.) and who the film was distributed by (Universal Pictures). The background of the titles is a man looking evil, with clawed hands and an odd light shining from his eyes. The title Frankenstein isn't in a scary font, it is quite normal. Typically you would expect the title to have the classic dripping effect so it looks like blood, but in this case it is rather normal and safe. The next section to the titles shows the crew which includes the sound crew. Sound was very important in this film, as sound had only been introduced into films in 1929. We then see a list of the actors involved in the film. All the characters have the name of their actor next to them apart from the Monster. The name of the actor is left with a '?' to leave an enigma for the audience. 


As you expect, the film is completely in black and white, which helps in some scenes of the film as you can see the high and low contrast shots, and it easily shows the lighting, which helps to set the mood of the scene. The sound is also very crackly, which is expected as sound had only just been put into films and microphones weren't that great.  

The mise en scene at the beginning of the film shows a graveyard. Obviously this is a creepy location and somewhere that is quite typical of a horror film. Panning is used quite a lot in the scene, as being able to move with the camera was new for the crew, as camera's were heavy and hard to move around. Being able to pan made it easier for them to make the scene flow better and look smoother. On this graveyard scene there is a fading transition that makes a smoother cut from one part of the scene to the other, this fade isn't used much in the film which is a shame, as I found that going to a blackout after each scene was choppy and made the film hard to follow at times. The sound effects in this scene sounded very fake. Every time the coffin moved, it would make the same creak as the time before. Hearing 'We must find another brain,' leaves an enigma with the audience, making them wondering about why they need a brain, and what is going to happen later in the film. Shadows play a very big part of this film, as they give you little bits of detail that you wouldn't usually see. Shadows are something that are seen everyday, but Frankenstein uses shadows in a way that confuses the mind, whilst making it hard to see behind the shadow. 


After the black out from the graveyard we change location to the House of Frankenstein. Here we are met with another narrative, as well as the Monster plot, of the romance between Henry Frankenstein and Elizabeth Lavenza, Henry's fiance. We see a pivotal change in Frankenstein here when he decides to drop out of University. Henry had been studying science and had embarked on an experiment to piece a human body back together and bring it back to life using various electrical devices he invented. When he drops out of University we see a psychological change that sees him wanting to focus more on his 'experiment' than his fiance and University. In the House of Frankenstein, depending on where the camera is, the volume of the sound changes. The further away the actors from the camera the quieter the sound became. Again this probably comes from the fact that microphones wouldn't have been on a rod where it can be moved close to the actors involved. 

We then cut to another blackout and rejoin Henry Frankenstein and his assistant Fritz at Henry's lab. We can see from the mise on scene that this is a place where evil is going to happen. The walls are brick which gives a cold feeling + we can also hear thunder and see lightning which adds to the effect. There is then a close up of the brain and Frankenstein, where he almost looks amazed and mesmerised by it. The film almost sounds to start like a Sci-Fi film, as weird noises start when Frankenstein turns on the machine. Again there is another pan upwards to show the crooked lab and the rest of the building. Frankenstein shouts 'Don't touch that!' to Fritz and as he says that you hear a clap of thunder and this coincides with Frankenstein's anger. We hear Frankenstein mention that he used to cut up dead animals and human hearts. Once keeping a human heart beating for 3 weeks, and this shows his admiration and obsession about his work. This is demonstrated by using many close ups. Once the machine starts up the ambiance in the room changes, everything gets a lot darker and you see a long shot of the body on a slab. Frankenstein takes off the sheet to reveal the monster tied up in straps and buckles. Straps and buckles that give a resemblance of a patient being taken away to a psychiatric ward. There is then what seems to be a pan of the body being lifted up towards the ceiling, here we have an enigma as we don't know where the body is going. As this is happening, there are shots of the electrical equipment being shown and more claps of thunder and lightning. The body is then brought back down and we see a close up of a quivering hand from the monster. Frankenstein then shouts, 'It's alive! It's alive! In the name of God! Now I know what it's like to be God!' This part of the film was cut in New York, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts for being blasphemous. This censored part was not fully restored until 1999.
In the next part of this scene, Dr. Waldman, Frankenstein's old medical professor, tells him that the brain he stole from the University is evil and no good will come of it. Frankenstein then ventures upstairs to bring the monster into the light. This is a pivotal moment in the film as we see Frankenstein's Monster for the first time. 

When the monster first walks out it is very dark and he is walking backwards, this would've kept the audience of the edge of their seats. After walking backwards a little we cut to a close up of the band of his head where he very slowly (again keeping the suspense) turns around. This would've been a moment of terror in the 1930s. They then use two further close ups that are zoomed in more to give emphasis on his face. When the monster revealed himself you would've expected him to have made a sound of maybe grunting or shouting. Instead the actor is silent, this would've added to the eeriness and the suspense of what he is going to do next. This silence prepares you for an unexpected loud noise or for something that will scare you. The Monster then comes forward looking almost like a sad, confused child that is very scared. Fire is waved around at him and this scares him, so therefore he uses fighting to defend himself. The Monster is then drugged, tied up and dragged away into his cell where Fritz goes to him. The monster is then whipped with chains by Fritz.


There is then darkness, and in this darkness all you can hear is bangs and smashes. This keeps the audience enticed and afraid of what is happening. There is then a scream which opens up the next scene, this scream sounds like torture. The door is then opened to the monster's cell, and if you look closely behind you can see the body and shadow of Fritz hanging from the ceiling. This shadow reiterates the point I made before about the film being partly based on shadows. The Monster makes some weird moaning noises that make him sound very angry. When Frankenstein and Dr Waldman go back into the Monster's cell, we see that the body has disappeared. This may not have been done intentionally, the body may have just been out of shot, but it looks like the body has disappeared. 


Dr Waldman then carries out an examination of the monster for Frankenstein who has been taken home by Elizabeth and his father Baron Frankenstein. There are many panning shots of the surgical equipment that is going to be used for the examination of the monster. Unknowing to Waldman the Monster has started to wake up. They used close ups of his face to show his eyes blinking, and then a long shot where you can see both the monster and Waldman. The Monster's arm then slowly creeps up behind Waldman when he then strangles him. This then fades into Frankenstein walking down the lab stairs and outside where he is free to roam.


This then fades into the day of Henry and Elizabeth's wedding. The opening shot of the scene is then zoomed out to show the bridal party. Most of this film is made up of stationary shots because of how large the cameras were back in the 1930s. The biggest part of movement we see with the camera is the next shot of the town. The camera may have been placed on a track to shoot this, as it looks like the camera has been placed on the back of a car to show all the people who have come out in celebration for the wedding. 

This then cuts to a house out in the country. A little girl is left on her own, and the Monster comes out of the bushes towards the girl. The mise en scene here also shows the girls innocence as she is wearing pale colours whilst he is wearing blacks and greys. The girl gives him some flowers and they throw the flowers into the lake making them float like a boat. The Monster then runs out of flowers and throws the girl into the lake, where she drowns. 


We then cut back to the wedding, where Elizabeth has a bad feeling because Dr Waldman isn't back in time for the wedding. She mentions to Frankenstein that, 'Something is coming between us,' not knowing that the Monster has escaped. There is then a mention that the Monster has escaped and Frankenstein locks Elizabeth in her room for safety, little does he know that when he is checking the house, the Monster is in the room with Elizabeth. Again when they are searching for the Monster, they cleverly change the volume of the bangs and noises that they keep hearing. 

 

We then see the Monster lurking in the shadows behind Elizabeth, she screams and everyone runs to her. There is then a series of crashes and bangs and just as Frankenstein opens the door we see the curtains moving where the Monster has escaped. Frankenstein then says that he will destroy the Monster for what he has done to Elizabeth. In this sense love has beaten the Monster has Frankenstein doesn't care about his experiment anymore, all he cares about is his fiance.

The next shot is then of the Father of the dead girl walking through the town with the girl's body in his arms. The town is in disgust as the Father shouts that his daughter has been murdered. They go to the House of Frankenstein to tell of this tragedy and to tell him that they must fight the Monster. All the men in the town search for the Monster, they go up the mountains towards Frankenstein's lab, where the lighting gets darker and darker the closer they get. This dim lit, shadowy location sets the scene for a terrifying ordeal. Frankenstein then wanders off from the rest of the men, ad is left on his own. Out from behind a stone the Monster pops out, this would've scared the audience as it was unexpected. 

There is then a fight between Frankenstein and his Monster, where there is minimal camera movement, but it follows the action. Frankenstein is then knocked out, and the Monster drags his body up to the lab which is disguised as a windmill. The men hear the fighting and follow the Monster to the windmill. There are shadows of the men with weapons as they walk, and they get bigger as they get closer to the windmill, making them look more intimidating. Frankenstein then wakes up and fights again with the Monster. During the fight, they both end up on the top of the mill and the Monster throws Frankenstein off the side where he lands on a sail and then to the floor. For a film that doesn't have the SFX and technical advantages that we have today, the fall looks pretty realistic. The men at the bottom then set fire to the windmill with the Monster still inside. This would've been expensive to do as fire is a Special Effect that would've been hard to get right in the 1930s. The Monster starts to panic, and a wooden beam from the building falls onto him. It then cuts to a long shot of the outside of the building and the men chanting as the windmill falls to ruins, we then fade out to a short scene showing Baron Frankenstein, his son and Elizabeth and their servants enjoying a drink. We do not actually know if the Monster escaped or died. 

The film then finishes, and moves onto the credits, again showing the cast. This time though at the beginning of the credits it says, 'A Good Cast is Worth Repeating,' something which Universal was very well known for, as it was cheaper to use the same cast in every film. There was also a difference in the Monster's name as it now said, 'Frankenstein's Monster.....Boris Karloff,' rather than the '?' used before.


Frankenstein represents people differently depending on what their character is, and what social group they are in. For example they represent the Monster as an evil creature with no heart, something that is terrifying and something to be feared. This is stereotypical of what a Monster should be like, the audience would've been expecting the Monster to look terrifying, and by doing this the producers met the audience's demands. The representation of social groups is also well thought out. The House of Frankenstein for example is ornately decorated, they have servants, and they are very well dressed. Whereas the people who live in the town are represented to the target audience through where they live, in this case in small dirty looking town houses, and the clothes they wear. The town people tend to wear shabby looking clothes and look dirty. You can see a vast difference in the representation of locations, as if you look at the House of Frankenstein and Henry Frankenstein's lab the lighting and placement of everything is strategically done to make the set look as it should be. For example Henry Frankenstein's lab is dimly lit, being lit by fire most of the time, giving it a mysterious look and making part of it look creepy, again this is what the audience would've been expecting. When the Monster is being whipped, it is quite a disturbing scene tat is rather uncomfortable to watch. In the 1930s this might've been acceptable, but this scene was cut in New York, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts until 1986 when they we re-instated back into the film. This violence and the violence when the people of the town go to find and fight the Monster could'e had a negative effect on people as it might have lead to copycat violence. Elizabeth comes across as a good role model in the film, acting as a caring, loving fiance that always looks after Henry. This would've represented the women of the time, as they were expected to look after the men all of the time. 


Universal Pictures is global company that was founded by Carl Laemmle in 1912. This American company holds many studios where films were produced, and Frankenstein was one of them. Universal didn't have a niche market at the time, but it was known for its Horror films. Frankenstein was actually produced by Laemmle's son, Carl Laemmle Jr. hence why they used Universal to shoot in and distribute the film. 

Frankenstein was distributed by Universal being released on the 4th December 1931. The film made around $53,000 a week after it's release. The budget for the film was $291,000 and in the USA, it has made a gross of $12,000,000. Promotional materials would've included posters, as you can see at the side, radio adverts, and it would also have been passed by word of mouth. There would've been no TV commercials as America didn't have TVs until 1941. These adverts would've been nationwide across America, and then branching off into Europe. Obviously the internet wasn't invented then so message about Frankenstein wouldn't have been spread virally. Frankenstein has now been released on DVD, and been available internationally, making it one of the greatest and classic horror films of all time. Frankenstein recently celebrated it's 75th anniversary and has entered it's way into Universal's Legacy Series. 




Universal Pictures Corporation holds the copyright for Frankenstein, and has done since the 16th November 1931. The original musical score was composed by Bernhard Kaun, with help from fellow composer Guiseppe Becce. They were uncredited in the film, but would've had performing rights, and would've earned royalties from the film. The actors and crew would also earn royalties from the film, as that is how they would be paid. If someone were to download the original musical score the royalties would now go to Universal Pictures. Frankenstein did not breach any laws or legal restrictions, it kept inside the boundaries. Apart from the film being banned from 3 states for nearly 50 years, the parts of the scene that would be censored were seen as blasphemous, and offensive to the audience. Especially the scene with the child, this was cut soon after the original release after a negative response from the audience. The BBFC gave Frankenstein a certificate of A when it was first released, and cuts had to be made. When the film was issued on video in 2002 it gained a PG rating.