James Wan.

Background Information:

• Born February 27th 1977.

• An Australian film producer/director/screen writer.

• He is widely known for the Saw Franchises.

• Is also a director of many possession horror films, which is my main reason for carrying out this case study. As my horror film fits into the supernatural/possession category to.

Wan, has had some extremely busy years, as he started his mainstream horror directing in the 2000’s with SAW, and then kept a continuous cycle up until 2013/2014, where he had directed INSIDIOUS 2, as well as an action film planned for next year. Proving wan as versatile, a key characteristic which has clearly made him popular and successful within the industry.

Filmography

As shown, Wan has kept busy by involving himself in a number of films, and the majority of them being horror.

James wan has also had a number of collaborations with a specified selection of five film experts. Proving that his best work is when having help from others, and making a joint effort.

his

Ratings by IMDb.Saw-7.6Dead Silence-6.0Death Sentence-6.7Insidious-6.7The Conjuring-7.6Insidious 2- 7.0

These films are what Wan are best known for within horror, due to them being successful. This again also proves that some of the most effective horrors are created when there is more than one creator/director, which will be proven within our own horror film (The Endurance).

roles within a film by himself, so he welcomes advice and in fact enjoys working as a team which is proven by the number of people who have worked with him on the successful films. This being a main inspiration, we as a group all have to create a horror film narrative as a team and then carry out the promotional package, seeing how effective the films that wan has directed/produced with the help of others reinforces just how important brainstorming, and getting every ones ideas are. If a Hollywood director can take criticism , and advise to better his narrative/plot, then so can we.

Every creator of a film would want theirs to seem ‘believable’, and even when criticised Wan comes back, doesn’t let this put him down and works on these features for his next film.

Wan has now decided to retire from horror directing/ creating, as he would like to ‘get a chance to make other kids of films’. He ended his highly successful horror career with the film ‘The Conjuring’ which is an effective and largely viewed movie. 10 successful years in horror Wan has worked, and now he would feels it right to change, as seeing himself as a ‘student of the cinema’.(filmdistrict-planning-insidious-chapter-3-director-james-wan-retiring-from-horror)

Styles & Techniques.

•A number of different camera techniques are used, such as rapid sequencing. For example, within the conjuring, when the protagonist (Loraine) is examining a young child’s music box the audience are expecting something to appear in the corner of the mirror which Loraine is looking into, this is a result of the positioning of the character and prop within the frame. In this sequence there are a number of repeated shots in order to build suspense.

• When an emotional shot is prominent, the camera examines the characters face for the audience to understand the emotion they are going through, and then are reassured that they are correct once the camera zooms out to reveal the body language of the character.

• Wan also uses a realistic amount of gore, as his films fit into the psychological and supernatural sub genre, the balance of sophisticated gore is carried out well. A characteristic which will be continued within our horror film.

Wan enjoys ending his movies on a twist, to keep the audience guessing. This is most likely due to him making most of his movies a franchise, so the twist will be answered in the next movie. However this technique will intrigue the audience into wanting to see the next movie, whilst allowing them to use their imagination to figure out the narrative of what could happen next. This effect will feature within our narrative, as we want to keep the audience guessing, and on edge.

The settings used are mainly in an abandoned warehouse, suburban house, or a deserted house out in the middle of nowhere.

Sound is used as a dramatic technique, to grab the audience’s attention or to build tension. This is an effective technique, as when the tempo of the music used is upbeat and getting faster the audience know and brace themselves for something out drastic to happen, usually the music will stop and then nothing will appear leaving the audience to sigh of relief and then out of no where the dramatic prop or feature will appear leaving the audience feeling vulnerable. Proving effective.

Lighting is used to highlight the mood or signify a change in mood. A hint of red will indicate to the audience that danger is going to occur, whereas the use of green/grey/blue colours are portrayed to create suspense. Natural light is used to set the scene, and display comfort or vulnerability.