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Nelly Wong

Professor McClure

Writing 39B

17 March 2017

In the horror film my group and I created, there are many rhetorical situations

present throughout the production of our film. The audience of our film is our class, Mr.

Greg McClure our teacher, and the Scholarly audience in general. Our film falls under

the genre of horror which means to elicit fear in audience reception. As our medium, we

used a movie or short film. Using a movie to create horror lies a lot on visuals and

sound effects to stimulate fear. For the horror film my group created, we used the

secluded area of a bathroom to capture the solitary conflicts of horror. The controlling

idea of the film is about the stress the daily student encounters from school along with

the pressure from parents. Although this movie was filmed at University of California,

Irvine in a college setting where there is constant stress, this context expands to anyone

in college facing the ugliness of hardship in school. Now in the 21 st century, the weight

of school and pressure from society and more importantly self, affect the individual

negatively a lot more compared to years prior.

This film appeals to the audience of UC Irvine students, college students, as well

as scholars. According to noted art historian Nol Carrolls statement, the audience is to

take reactions from the primary protagonist which is especially relevant in this film

targeted towards college students (52). All of the above stated audience can relate to

the idea of stress that are showcased through the main character which is the girl. The

phone call between the girl and her mom is something a lot of students have gone
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through some point if not multiple times in their lives. Her reaction of irritation, rolling of

the eyes, and throwing her phone are all actions and reactions stress from school has

naturally prompted a frustrated individual to do. Another example is in the beginning of

the film when the girl studying her Biology book buries her head in her hand and shakes

her head. That scene is very identifiable to anyone thats ever studied and become worn

out from it. Many students face academic struggles but more importantly the stress that

comes from it which largely takes a toll on that individual.

The medium and genre expectation of the film is met through distinguishable

horror elements and tropes. As Buscombe explains, once the conventions of the genre

are known and recognized by the audience, such recognition in itself is gratifying to

viewers (35). Here in our groups film, the special effects, scary music, setting, and

suspense mold the audiences expectations of horror which in turn creates an

anticipation that keeps the audience captivated. Scary music lies especially heavy on

the medium through a movie. For example in our film, the setting of the bathroom

contributes to the horror genre through the solidarity of the character. Also, the special

effects of blood on Sharons leg along with the alarming music that plays during the

scene builds the feeling of terror upon the audience that keeps them on edge for whats

about to happen next. This expectation directly ties in with tropes of horror that viewers

expect. As TVTropes defines, tropes are concepts that the audience will recognize and

understand instantly. Although there are more than two examples of tropes in our film,

Curiosity Killed the Cast and Door Closes Ending are two used. Curiosity Killed the

Cast exemplifies itself when the girl curiously looks into the crack of the bathroom stall

that plays the ringtone of One Missed Call, gets pulled in, and dies right after. We
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strategically chose the ringtone of One Missed Call because in the horror world, that

specific ringtone depicts a death scene thats about to happen. The Door Closes

Ending trope occurs in our film to stimulate the audiences imagination for the next

scene. The girl follows the guy in to the mens restroom with the door closing behind

foreshadowing his death as the next victim of stress.

My contribution to the creation of the RIP is in my main role as the actress as

well as holding a role in directing the film. As the main girl in this short film, I have the

biggest contribution to audience reception because the way I portray myself to be in

character influences how the audience will react and feel. With every scene I had to find

the best way to deliver my message across whether it be through my facial expressions,

body language, or the attitude in my voice. Because this project is focused around

horror, most of the ideas, actions, and thoughts had to be geared towards that direction.

For some scenes it took more than five tries to shoot because I kept popping out of

character while bursting out laughing. It was very hard to stay in character with my

group members eyes watching me as well as feeling my own awkwardness. Though

through each retake of the scene, I looked at what was recorded and found ways to

improve myself. For example in one scene of me looking at myself in the mirror while on

the phone being chewed out by my mom, my facial expression and stance totally said

boring. I thought about how to make myself look the way Im supposed to act,

furthermore I thought about how actresses act in the movies and came to a conclusion

that Im supposed to exaggerate while acting. Thats how the audience would clearly

know how I feel because they wouldnt know what Im thinking. In that scene I ended up
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changing my boring actions to me rolling my eyes, slouching in a worn out posture,

sighing, and throwing my phone in the end to show my frustration.

Aside from my own acting parts, I contributed a substantial amount to directing

the film. In order to do this, I had to step outside of myself and bird-eye view the filming

from a third person perspective at all times as well as receive constant feedback from

my group members. First I tried to make sure every shot elicit fear from the audience,

and I did so by picturing each scene in my head and executing the creative decision that

I saw fit for each scene. This of course had to take multiple tries with built up frustration.

There would be times we shoot one scene and realize that it needs to be continuous

with the next, so then wed have to do it all over again. To avoid that I had to keep

staying one step ahead by thinking in advance in order to set up each scene in

preparation for the next.

Working with my group members proved to be better than I initially thought. In

the beginning of the project when we were working on our script, I became frustrated

with the development of the script and how group members were contributing. Our

metaphor and trope tie just was not working, and my group was having a hard time

giving me feedback on it, so I felt like I was the only one contributing ideas. I think

overall our communication could have been better as a whole if we freely shared ideas.

I want to praise my group for doing a good job getting together at the appointed times

as well as feeling the urgency to finish the project. There was no laziness that I saw in

anyone. At the end of the project, I felt like everyone shared more of a bond from all the

laughs and time we spent together. Diana did a great job with being as helpful as she

could even though she seemed to be one of the busier group members. Sharon was
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helpful in the initial development of the script along with giving input here and there

during the filming. Arthur was a trooper and gave input while he stayed with the group

even though he did not want to go inside the girls bathroom which was where we filmed

91% of the scene. Adrienne contributed on the side of sound effects and preparation

during the filming on top of editing the entire film.

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Works Cited

Buscombe, Edward. The Idea of Genre in the American Cinema. Film Genre: Theory

and Criticism. Ed. Barry K. Grant Metuchen, , N.J.: The Scarecrow Press, 1977:

24-38.

Carrol, Nol. The Nature of Horror. The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, Vol.

46, No. 1. (Autumn, 1987), pp. 51-59. Print.

"TV Tropes." TV Tropes. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Mar. 2017.