BA7 | Concept and Pre-Production #01

Introduction
Okay so here I am! Back for my final year studying towards my aspirations of working as a 3D artist in the games industry.  Over summer I was asked to give serious consideration and though to my final year project, trying to narrow down a theme and main project idea so that I could come back with a clear and focussed mindset. That is exactly what I did. Prior to the summer holidays beginning I was lucky enough to discuss my idea (yes, I already had an idea in mind haha) and was told that it would be best to refine it over summer but that ultimately it seemed like a good subject for my project. What is that idea/subject, I hear you ask? Well, I wrote a brief blog post prior to the start of the term explaining roughly what my thoughts were. Here it is…

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Discussing Dissertation Topic Options
I have had the idea of basing my dissertation on the subject of horror for a while. We were told to focus on something that we enjoyed and that inspired us so that our work would be pleasurable to conduct. For me, it is the subject of horror. Those close to me, heck even those who aren't, know that I love horror and when it comes to video games, horror is certainly my favourite genre.

I have various ideas that I previously discussed with my tutors at university prior to leaving for summer break. I narrowed down on a few ideas and possible subject areas concerning horror in games with idealistic approaches to the subject matter. Here are some of the notes I took when discussing the ideas with my tutors:

• Taking a hyper detailed insight into why horror games are scary.
•  Looking at what influences the horror within games and studying where they come from.
• Discussing how horror techniques are used within games and how they a subsequently influenced from other horror media such as films and books.
• Looking at the correlation between a variety of different media sharing horror as a genre and studying the similarities, differences and influences they may or may not share. Then applying this knowledge into deeper studies of horror video games, finding relations between the influences from the various media.
• Studying the physical, mental, psychological and emotional effects that horror games can have on the player and whether these are similar to what other audiences feel when spectating horror such as films and books.
• Doing detailed analytical studies into the theory of play, narrative and structure and applying the knowledge and findings onto horror games to determine how and why it is scary.
  
• Learning about and studying psychologists theories as to what inflicts horror into people and the ways in which people respond to specific subject matters regarding horror.
  
• Discussing and researching the gameplay mechanics used within horror games to inflict specific emotions onto the player so that they are forced to feel the way the developers intended.
• Conducting historical research on the progression of horror within games and how the audiences perception of horror has changed through t he various generations of games.
  
• Studying the ever growing dynamic of horror within games and how the genre has changed and adapted due to shifting audience expectations.
• Studying the effects of horror games on their audience and what exactly is it about horror that affects them. 

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What Is Horror?
To begin my research I thought it would be best to address the genre of horror and define what it is. Horror as a genre is widely fragmented into various sub genres and can drastically vary across multiple media outlets. I began looking up the definition of horror within the Oxford dictionary. The definition suggests that the noun “horror” inflicts “an intense feeling of fear, shock or disgust” among its audience giving the example that “the children screamed in horror”.

The definition in the Oxford dictionary I was interested in, however, was the one relating to genre; “a literary or film genre concerned with arousing feelings of horror: a horror film”. This is the beginning of my core subject matter, the definition talks about how a form of media, such as a film, book or video games, can arouse horror within their audience.

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 With these definitions in mind I needed to find the more specific definition of horror as a genre within media. This led me to researching horror fiction which is directly associated with various medias such as books, films and games. Wikipedia begins by defining horror as a literary genre separated into three sub categories; “horror fiction, horror literature and also horror fantasy”.  Wikipedia goes onto stating that these example of fictional horror are “intended to, or [have] the capacity to frighten its readers, scare or startle it's viewers/readers by inducing feelings of horror and terror. It creates an eerie  and frightening atmosphere. Horror can either be supernatural or non-supernatural.”

A Brief History of Horror
Before I dive into the world of horror video games and making comparisons and studies against/alongside other varieties of media I want to take a look into the history of the horror genre and learn about where it originated, how it began and what influences became famous.

I began by reading an article I found after simply searching “the history of horror fiction” written by M.O. Muriel named “The Dark! The Dark! The History of Horror Fiction” which began by describing the similar genres that coincide with horror fiction. They are science fiction and fantasy, and paired with horror they fall under the larger category known as “speculative fiction” because “they often overlap within a story”. However, Muriel goes onto stating that it's only horror fiction that has “suspenseful, frightening, surreal, morbid and often gruesome theme that has thrill seekers coming back for more”.

“Supernatural horror has roots in religious traditions. From death and the afterlife to the principle of evil embodied in the devil, demons, and demonic pacts, the horrors of confronting otherworldly forces have existed in tales since time immemorial.”

The article grabs my attention when Muriel begins referencing folklore tales about witches, werewolves and ghosts stating that the ”genre’s ancient origins reformulated as “gothic horror” and marked with the publication of such notable works as The Castle of Otranto (1764), by Horace Walpole”. The novel contains subject matter such as brutal deaths, betrayal, mistrust and elements of supernatural horror. The book was dubbed the first gothic novel which was, as Muriel suggests, an early origin and inspiration of what was eventually to become horror fiction.

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Another author that Muriel references as early examples of gothic horror fiction is Edgar Allen Poe. Poe was an American author who wrote various poems and novels. He was also an editor and literary critic who was greatly associated with the artistic, intellectual and literary American Romantic Movement. However, Poe's more famous works are directly associated with gothic where he would use themes such as “questions of death, including its physical signs, the effects of decomposition, concerns of premature burial, the reincarnation of the dead, and mourning” all of which can be found in horror fiction today.

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Muriel goes on to say that these examples, among others, helped the push the horror genre onwards and it began to change. In 1952 Daphne du Mauriers short story The Birds published in her collection “The Apple Tree”. The story follows the lives of a farmhand, his family and community as they are attacked by flocks of birds who are seemingly on kamikaze missions.

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The story was regarded as horror and was the core inspiration for Alfred Hitchcock's horror film adaptation of the book using the same name. Hitchcock's film was released in 1663 and was a suspense/horror film. Hitchcock was known as the pioneer of film techniques associated with suspense and psychological thriller techniques.

Although this trailer is long and largely comical, if you skip to the later section you can see what the film is truly like and how Hitchcock describes it himself as “possibly the most terrifying motion picture [he's] ever made”.

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Continuing reading through the article on the history of horror by Muriel, there are references made to Mary Shelly's 1823 novel Frankenstein. Muriel defines Frankenstein as “[...] a creature [that was] produced by an unorthodox scientific experiment”. Muriel goes onto state that there are literary historians that who consider Frankenstein to be more of a “philosophical or science fiction novel” however “its mood, subtly and otherworldly flavour, in conjunction with its explicit cruelty (not to mention the monster), makes it one of horror's staples”.

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In 1931 James Whale directed a Frankenstein film of the same name. His film was adapted from the Frankenstein play by Peggy Webling which was in turn based on the novel of the same name by Mary Shelley. James Whales film was created with the intention to be a horror film and is a prime example of the horror fiction genre creeping its way into the world of film media. 

 

Muriel goes on to reference more famous authors who have pioneered the horror fiction genre all of whom have contributed to shaping the genre into what it is today. There are a few that Muriel references that I want to do conduct further and more in-depth studies into myself, and as this is only supposed to be a brief introduction to the history of horror fiction I don't want to go over the same things twice. I will list out the names as personal references though as, like I said, I plan to come back to them further on in my studies.

• H. P. Lovecraft
• M. R. James
• Robert Louis 
• Stephen King

Muriel discusses the various types of horror, aside from gothic horror which takes a prominent role in the article and history of the genre, that are apparent throughout various media outlets that carry the horror genre. “Aside from gothic horror, Dracula and vampires, Frankenstein and freaks of nature, psychological horror, and monster, ghost, werewolf and zombie stories, other subgenres and tropes include magic, the fantastic, erotic horror like Gaston Leroux’s The Phantom of the Opera (1910), body horror depicted in the likes of the 1968 film Rosemary’s Baby, bio horror (think The Exorcist when little Regan’s head spins all the way around, or Ridley Scott’s Alien), gore, grindhouse (exploitation cinema), and slasher (the 1960 classic film Psycho).”

Conclusion
Im going to finish this post with the same quote the Muriel uses to finish the article, it's a quote by Robert McCammon, one of the co founders of Horror Writers of America (HWA), he says: 

“Horror fiction upsets apple carts, burns old buildings, and stampedes the horses; it questions and yearns for answers, and it takes nothing for granted. It’s not safe, and it probably rots your teeth, too. Horror fiction can be a guide through a nightmare world, entered freely and by the reader’s own will. And since horror can be many, many things and go in many, many directions, that guided nightmare ride can shock, educate, illuminate, threaten, shriek, and whisper before it lets the readers loose.”

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