Media Timeline:The History of Horror and Film.

Dylan Mann-Hazell

The Beginning of Film.(1800-1900)

• Films and movies have always been interesting to the public, and were even considered fascinating in the 1800’s. The first motion picture ever was created in 1872 by a man named Eadweard Muybridge. This man placed twelve cameras on a race horse track, spread thread across the track, and attached the thread into contact with a camera's shutter. Once the horse ran across the track, it's legs broke the threads, which caused the cameras to operate in sequence. This was the first known creation of a motion picture, which was a huge contributing factor for how soon actual films would be made.

• 13 years later, two men called George Eastman and William H Walker both invented the first version of what is known as a reel of film.

Editing and Cinematic Time(1900-1920)

• Before editing came around, films that were made weren’t really refined, or story-like, which obviously made the films less entertaining to watch than they could be (despite the fact that any type of film or movie shown before editing was still considered amazing and unreal). When given the chance to start editing their videos, the directors usually used the opportunity to perfect their material by changing the angle in which a scene was shot, or just be completely redoing the whole scene all together.

• A film called ‘Photographing of a Female Crook’, which was made in 1904 used the very first example of shot of a person’s face being zoomed in on from a distance to show their reaction/emotions. (When I say zoom, I mean they literally moved the camera closer, the technology to zoom using the camera lens hadn’t been invented yet).

• Cinematic Time also had a huge influence on the way films are made nowadays, for the producers of movies could see the reactions of audiences and determine whether specific editing techniques were popular or not. In a film, a specific scene would be replayed from various angles, almost in a similar fashion to how instant replays are shown in sports programmes. An famous example of a film that used this technique is ‘A Trip to the Moon’, which was made in 1902.

Hollywood, Companies and Sound1920-1940

• The 1920-1940 era was the beginning of the studio and the birth of what we commonly know now as the "star". The majority of film making actually took place in the Hollywood area. In fact, during the mid 1920's, around eight hundred movies were being created each year. Hollywood was the rise of a new cultural phenomenon, and was a huge contributing factor in relation to how the film industry moved along in time. Here are five examples of recognisable companies that actually originated from Hollywood itself.

• Warner Brother Pictures• Paramount• RKO• Metro Golden Meyer• 20th Century Fox

• In the 1930’s, movies with sound came along, so silent movies were very quickly pushed out of the picture. These movies were commonly referred to as ‘Talkies’. The 1930's were also the birth of many new film genres such as gangster films, musicals, westerns and horror flicks. This decade in particular was important when concerning the film industry, due to the addition of sound and these genres.

1940-2000

• Obviously there were not a large amount of films during the first half of the 1940’s, due to the war, and aside from adding definition to the quality of the movies, as well as clearer colour, there aren’t many changes from mid way through the 20th century to the end of it. However, in the 1970’s, VHS video players, laser disc players and the release of films on video cassette tapes and discs massively increased profits and revenue for the movie studios. The ability to view movies at home created a down side though, which was that theatres attendance would dramatically decrease. The new millennium was a turning point in film history with a strong use of special effects, though, so the film industry has not completely ran out of ideas. The 21st century also allowed the film industry to advance in several different ways such as the creation of the IMAX theatre, the blue ray disc, HD discs and iPods and cell phones that can already play movies with just a click of a button.

History of Horror

• Horror is essentially an attempt to scare others. Some people enjoy the feeling of being scared, many people despise the same feeling. This genre has effected the imaginations of many a child, teenager and adult throughout centuries, and as time progresses, and aspects of horror films such as special effects, definition, 3D movies and how realistic it is gets better, horror films are progressively becoming more and more scary, gruesome, or even just creepy. However, there are examples of classic films that still scare a large amount of people that watch it even in modern day.

1920-1930

• The 20’s and 30’s were the first decades to really show films that were intent on scaring the audience. Generally the 20’s and 30’s consisted of remakes of classic horror stories such as Dracula. However there were many other films made in the decades. Below are a few examples of such films:

• Nosferatu• Frankenstein• Bride of Frankenstein• The Mummy

1940-50

• The 1940’s did include a few classic horror films, despite the ongoing war throughout the first half of it. Examples of horror films that occurred during the 1940’s include:

• Wolf Man• Cat People• House of Dracula• House of Frankenstein• When the war finished, people returned to the luxuries in life such as

cinema. Rather than return to the classic gothic horror scene though, the 50’s brought “Mutants” on the movie scene. Many 50’s films featured gross, oversized mutants that would reek havoc across cities. Horror films of the 50’s include:

• The Wasp Woman• The Beast from 20,000 fathoms.• It came from Beneath the Sea

1960-70

• The 1960’s managed to bring about a new aspect to horror films, and it was in the 60’s the word “thriller” was first properly seen. This mainly came about from the famous film ‘Psycho’. Other movies made in the 1960’s are:

• The Birds

• Carnival of souls

• Blood feast

• Night of the Living Dead

• The 1970’s saw a surge in horror movies. Many people think it is because the movies were made to reflect the time, and as the 70’s was actually seen as quite a depressing decade, especially compared to the 60’s it produced many classic films, such as:

• The Exorcist

• Jaws

• Texas Chainsaw Massacre

• Carrie

• The Omen

• Halloween

1980-90

• The 80’s and 90’s brought many new aspects to horror movies, especially as the technology in filming increased dramatically. The new technology was able to bring about better costumes, and better graphics, producing films such as:

• Hellraiser• Nightmare on Elm Street• The Fly• The Thing• The Shining• Se7en• Silence of the Lambs• Misery• Candyman• Sixth Sense

Conclusion

• To conclude, horror films have evidently improved since the original stories, yet they still have managed to keep the same intention: To scare the audience to the best of their ability. However, there is a definite change in the amount of blood, and general gore that is allowed in cinemas from the 1920’s to now, so there have been large changes within the way in which the horror stories are actually portrayed, but otherwise, the same aim and concept is evidently still there.