Theorists
Saul Bass
Saul Bass was an American graphic designer and an Academy Award winning film maker, he is best know for his design of picture title sequence, film posters and corporate logos. He spent the best 40 years of his life working with some of the best Hollywood's most prominent film makers. Including Alfred Hitchcock, Otto Preminger, Billy Wilder, Stanley Kubrick and Martin Scorsese. |
Bass became widely known in the film industry after creating the title sequence for Otto Preminger's The Man with the Golden Arm (1955). The subject of the film was a jazz musician's struggle to overcome his heroin addiction, a taboo subject in the mid-1950s. Bass decided to create an innovative title sequence to match the film's controversial subject. He chose the arm as the central image, as it is a strong image relating to heroin addiction.
Bass's poster work spanned five decades and inspired numerous other poster and graphic designers. Bass's film posters are characterised by a distinctive typography and minimalistic style.
Saul Bass designed some of the most iconic corporate logos in North America, including
Bass's poster work spanned five decades and inspired numerous other poster and graphic designers. Bass's film posters are characterised by a distinctive typography and minimalistic style.
Saul Bass designed some of the most iconic corporate logos in North America, including
- AT&T Corporation
- Quaker Oats
- United Airlines (1974)
- Alcoa
- Lawry's food
THE CLOVER THEORY: FINAL GIRL THEORY
The Final Girl Theory is a concept within thriller and horror films, that specifically refers to the last woman or girl alive to confront the killer, who then is left to tell the story. A common plot line in many horror films is where a series of victims get killed off one by one leaving which builds up the climax in which the last person standing from the group, a female, either defeats the killed or gets away. |
According to Clover the final girl in many typical horror fillm plots share a common characteristic, she is typically sexually unavailable or virginal and they sometimes have a unisex name, such as, Teddy, Billie, Georgie, Sidney. Also, occasionally the final girl has a shared history with the killer, for example, in Halloween II, Michael Myers is revealed to be the brother of Laurie Strode, in Scream 1, Sidney Prescott’s boyfriend, Billy Loomis, is the killed and in Scream 3, the killed is revealed to be Roman Bridger, half brother of Sidney. The final girl theory is used in modern movies as well for example in 'You're Next' the final girl was someone they thought was innocent and vulnerable, this is a good example because it displays clovers theory in a slightly twisted way.
KAMINSKY
Kaminsky's theory stated that weapons in horror films are extensions of the people using them, there are no guns used in horror films as in slasher its focused around the gore meaning that guns are too clean, the only people in horrors who have guns are authority figures but they never use them effectively this comes with a few exceptions such as in the ending of the original scream. there are example of Kaminsky's theory in the majority of slasher films in which the weapon is the extension of the killer these include 'Friday the 13th' (1980), 'Halloween' (1978), 'Scream' (1996) and 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' (1974) but this is most notable in 'Nightmare on Elm Street' (1984) where the weapon used is a glove which is a true extension of the character, there are next to no scenes in which Freddy appears without is famous slasher glove. In conclusion the theory is simple stating in these films all the antagonists very rarely part from there weapons in a way making them part of the character. |
Wheeler Dixon
Wheeler Dixon is a notable American filmmaker and scholar, he is seen as an expert of film history. His idea was that 'Sites of activity - there to be killed off'. This relating to a trailer commonly sees someone being killed off, this shows the audience that the film is a horror and due to the way the character is killed off, what kind of sub-genre of horror the film is. For example someone being killed by a knife shows that it is a slasher, where as someone being killed by a non living object like a doll, would signify that the film is a paranormal. |