Film Franchise- Scary Movie

Scary Movie Franchise

This is the poster for the first film
 in the Scary Movie franchise

The film franchise I am researching is the Scary Movie franchise. This franchise consists of 4 films and they are based on spoofing several horror films, such as Scream and I know what you did last summer. Together the films have made over $818 million worldwide at box office.

Films:

Scary Movie (2000)

Budget: $19,000,000 (estimated)

Box Office:$278,019,771 (Worldwide) 

Director: Keenen Ivory Wayans

Ratings: 6.0/10 from 86,049 users

Scary Movie 2

Budget: $45,000,000 (estimated)

Box Office: $141,220,678

Director: Keenen Ivory Wayans

Ratings: Ratings: 4.8/10 from 55,325 users 

Scary Movie 3

Budget: $45,000,000 (estimated)
Box Office: $220,673,217 (Worldwide)
Director: David Zucker
Ratings: Ratings: 5.3/10 from 52,999 users

Scary Movie 4

Budget: $45,000,000 (estimated)
Box Office: $178,262,620 (Worldwide)
Director: David Zucker
Ratings: Ratings: 5.0/10 from 48,154 users 

Scary Movie 5 is expected to be released in 2012 and is again being directed by David Zucker.

Reviews:

Ends up being less funny than its primary target, the already-self-satirizing Scream series.

 -Michael Dequina TheMovieReport.com

Scary Movie is a good showcase for a talented, youthful cast, and the film is carried with aplomb by newcomer Faris, a fearless comedian and an appealing ingénue. - Kevin Thomas Los Angeles Times

Practically guaranteed to make you laugh until you're ashamed of yourself. -Joe Leydon Variety

Labored, Naked Gun-ish quotes from The Matrix, The Blair Witch Project, and The Usual Suspects merely congratulate us for recognizing them. -Michael Atkinson Village Voice

The only thing scary about this movie is that it took $155 million in the States. While it was inevitable that the current flood of self-referential teen horror movies would ultimately descend into parody, the fact that it should be done with such crassness is rather a shame. -Film4


Overall the film had mixed reviews. 

Budget and Box Office Analysis:

The first film had a low budget compared to all the other films made in the franchise as it only had an approximate budget of $19 million, it also made the most money at box office with $278 million which is almost $60 million more than any other film. The budget's then rose up to an estimated $45 million for the next 3 films. Scary Movie 2 was the worst film of them all, it had a $45 million budget while only grossing $141 million; half of what the first film did, it also made half of what the other 3 films did during the opening weekend grossing only $20 million.

The first and second film had a 1 year release gap, this was doubled for the film and then the 4th installment was released 3 years later. The 5th film in the franchise is set to be released in 2012, which is a 5 year gap.

The Killer:  

In the first scary movie the killer is wearing the mask from the movie franchise "Scream". The killer is setting out to kill the characters in the film after they killed an old man 1 year before, they dumped his body in a river. 

Victim's/Scream Queen


The first victim in the film is Drew Decker, she is being chased through her home; although she has multiple chances to save herself she chooses the wrong options- such as picking a banana up instead of a gun or knife, choosing the "Death" path instead of the "Safe" path. 


Final Girl


In the first film, Scary Movie, the final girl survives her name is Cindy Campbell. Her name is a parody of Sidney Prescott from the Scream series and her last name of Neve Campbell's last name.

Eden Lake Opening analysis

Eden Lake (2008) Director: James Watkins

The Eden Lake introduction lasts for 6 minutes and it involves a range of background characters as well as 2 main characters who are on screen the majority of the time.


It starts of by showing a lake but it is really bright and only lasts for a few seconds, it then switches to a picture of a woman screaming, this denotes violence. These could be flashbacks or memories from earlier in life as you don't see the full image only part of the it. Then it introduces you to the title of the film: Eden Lake, this is on a black background with red text and a sans serif font. A sans seriff font usually  this connotes danger and murder.

 The plot seems to be a couple going for a romantic weekend away at a lake, this is known by the woman saying "They are going to paris for the weekend and we are going to a lake!". As well as that; there is a scene in a car where the male character turns on the vibrating chair while their on the journey to the lake, the woman enjoys it and the male asks whether she wants him to pull over this denotes sexual activity and romance between the two. The soundtrack is slow and quiet which plays during scenes where their isn't much dialogue.

As the scenes are playing it introduces several roles such as who is starring, director, special make up effects designer and executive producers amongst others, these are also placed where their isn't anyone speaking on screen, they did this so it wouldn't take attention away from the film. These are shown as people may be more interested and not turn off the movie if they recognise an actor or actress they like in the film.

Their are several clues as to what is going to happen during the film, the first is when they are about to arrive at the bed and breakfast where they are staying, as they are about to leave the traffic lights several yobs on bikes ride infront of them, as well as that when they are at a pub, a woman hits their child across the face for messing about, this could connote what is going to happen later on in the film.

Bradford Film Festival

The film festival was an awesome experience for me, it was a chance to see, first hand, how others made short films and what they had included. The first thing I did at the film festival was Experience Tv, this showed you how shows are made and showed as well as the history of television. After that we went to a Q & A session with the Phelp brothers from Harry Potter, it was really interesting to find out what it was like for them during filming and having an insight into their lives. 

  We then went to Screening 1, which was my favourite part about the film festival, we got to see other people's work from all over the country. Overall the short films were well done and enjoyable to watch. My favourite shot was after someone had been caught stabbing someone else, his face was being pushed through a metal fence which reminded you of a prison, where he was soon to be.

  Overall i really enjoyed the trip and it was a very good experience and I hope to see my film up their next year.

Film Poster Semiotics

James Bond: Quantum of Solace


The machine gun is a signifer, it connotes danger and death, it also signifies that the person holding it is a killer. The machine gun is big and ruthless, you would expect a trained person to use this, the gun itself connotes that their will be a lot of action in the film.


We can denote the presence of a silencer on the gun. This changes the meaning, it signifies stealth as you won't be heard when using it and it also shows he is an assassin.


The suit is a signifer, that he may have been at a formal event. It generally connotes formality and is smart, it also commands authority. The suit is also sharply put together but dust is starting to be pushed of the ground.