George Brinan A2 Media
Candidate No. 8149
Horror Synopsis
Horror film is a genre designed to create a sense of fear, panic, alarm, and dread for the audience. These films are often unsettling and rely on scaring the audience through a portrayal of their worst fears and nightmares. Horror films usually center on the arrival of an evil force, person, or event. Traditionally, Horror films incorporate a large amount of gore and jump scares into the plot.
This is the classic plot structure for most narratives. If you watch most genres of films you will be able to almost exactly follow this structure.
1. Setting and Characters:
When you watch any film the first thing you are introduced to is where the film will be set and the main characters involved, often less important characters are discovered later. We are often introduced to the hero/villian early on in order for the audience to build up a relationship with the characters, so that if the character dies the viewer, most likely, will be shocked.
2. Problem:
Often in horror films the problem will be some sort of bad situation or the introduction of an event/villian. For example in 'Saw' the problem is when they wake up trapped in the house, fighting for their survival. The problem usually arises from an unusual event that leads them into a bad situation.
3. Rising Action:
The rising action occurs whilst the characters are fighting the problem they are faced with. At this point there is likely to be a large amount of characters present on screen, posssibly when they are faced with their first challenge.
4. Climax:
The climax of the film is when the amount of action is at its peak. This means that the film has led up to this moment in order to shock the audience. The climax is closer to the end than the beginning but not directly in the middle. This is done in order to keep the audience engaged until the very end rather than them becoming bored of the film halfway through. The climax in a horror will either be when the villian is at his most prolific or when the so called 'hero' defeats the villian.
5. Falling Action:
Falling action occurs after the climax has unfolded. This is the point when the 'hero' has come to terms with what they have done or is trying to discover what happened.
6. Denouement:
The final part of of a narrative, in which the strands of the plot are drawn together and matters are explained or resolved. This is when the audience comes to terms with what has happened in the film before it ends. In several films the Denouement can be a narrator explaining the plot or one piece of action that reveals the whole scenario.
Typical Action film synopsis
Action films usually follow a 3 act structure.
In act 1 we are introduced to the hero, the villain and any character or thing that becomes the the target for the villains in act 2 and later the target for the hero in act 3
Also act 1 will establish the differing career directions of the hero (whose career will be in decline) and villain (will be establishing himself as a big player with his end of act 1 actions)
Act 1 will end in the hero announcing himself to the villain usually by winning a small battle and foiling a minor part of his plan.
Act 2 is the villains time to shine as he acquires the target and gives the hero a proper kicking, this leads our hero into a period of disappointment, regret and defeat, followed by some soul-searching, a renewal of hero attitude.
Act 3 deals with the heros recapturing of the target after running the gaunlet of villains until he reaches and kills the main man, at this point the hero/villian career trajectory as mentioned in act 1 is reversed.