Families in Horror Films

We have developed ideas from our initial concept of young women being brainwashed by the media. Our first idea was about the media influence of having the 'perfect' body image. However, we felt that this is a very broad issue and has already been exploited by many media products. Therefore, we have decided to focus on the way that families are portrayed in the media and have our main protagonist obsessed the love and security of having a family. For research I have looked at victimised families in horror films for casting purposes to see if there are any conventions, patterns or categories that we could use when casting actors for our film...






The Orphan:

• The main physical differences that can be seen between Esther and the rest of the family are their blonde hair (children in particular) in contrast to her dark hair. 
• This could be because of the innocent connotations associated with blonde children or it could be to make a clear identification between Ester and the rest of the family to highlight that she is adopted.
• Also, her acquired vintage Russian dress style makes a clear differentiation between her and the family. Again, this could be to obviously highlight her cultural difference and disconnection with the rest or the family. Or, to create enigmas about the character and show she is 'different'. The less the audience know about her, the more creepy she becomes.

The Imposter:

• Because of the documentary style of the film and being based on a factual story, I was not expecting to find many connotations and conventions as some footage is real.
• The victim child who went missing was blonde haired and blue eyed, giving connotations of innocence.
• The protagonist and imposter looks very different, this could of been for the purpose of the film to highlight the physical differences between him and nick that were obvious to everyone, including his family.
• Although the film is based on the fact that the two people looked completely different, it may of been over exadgerated for the film. The imposter has olive skin, brown eyes and dark hair.
• He also has a european accent which again highlights the differences to show he is not the misising teenager and creates enigmas to make the audience more fearful of him because he is a forigen outsider.

• The family of nick that took in the imposter also have the same connotations of innocence and being older makes them seem more vulnerable and at risk to the actions of the imposter.

Paranormal Activity

• These films take a different approach as the protagonists are not the villain but are possessed/ followed/ haunted by a deamond and are therefore portrayed as the victims.
• However, the generally dark features connotations follow those of villains in horror films.
• By using young children and babies the characters seem more vulnerable and at risk as they may have difficulty communicating what they see or be ignored.