Casting conventions
- When considering the casting of our trailer, we had to take
into account the three genres of our trailer in that it has the two sub-genres
of a horror and an urban drama, and therefore comes under the genre of a
hybrid.
- The typical conventions of a horror cast are fairly clear
cut for a conventional horror. Usually, a horror will be shown through the
perspective of the protagonist and therefore, show the obstacles which the
protagonist or group of protagonists must overcome. This is designed as a
construct to help the audience develop an attachment with these characters and
therefore, pity them and evoke sympathy for them should anything negative
happen to them. This will essentially heighten tension because the audience
wants all of the protagonists to overcome these obstacles. Typically, the
heroes within a horror will mainly be men and will possess risky jobs with
symbols of masculinity such as policemen, firemen, spies etc.
- In turn, this means that the women within the group will
take a more vulnerable position because they are protected by the strength of
the males and rely on them for their safety. Women within a group can be
divided into the innocent and the explicit. Explicit women, (those who are
sexually objectified, swear and are in many ways represented as not innocent)
will usually die before the horror film has finished. This is in relation to
the ‘Final Girl Theory’ and it explains how the innocent girl of the group will
survive. These girls can usually be identified by their innocent mannerisms,
for example, they will not swear, will not be crafted as a sexual object by
dressing explicitly / flirting etc.
- In relation to our trailer, I feel that we can subvert the
typical conventions of a horror by complying to the themes of an urban drama:
perhaps we can focus our casting on an ‘all-female’ cast to empower women, as
well as empowering the British working class youth. Reasons for wanting to do
this include how we want to give a more balanced representation of the reality
of the world and typically, women in horror films are generally represented as
being weaker / lacking masculinity.
