2. Introduction-A monologue introduction of hosts and the topic of discussion.
3. Discussion- Talk for about 5 minutes.
4. Closing remarks- A vote of thanks to the audience guests hosts.
5. Closing musical jingle.
Stacey is the host of the Movies Guru Podcast that is held every Wednesday to discuss a range of issues in the film industry. In this show, Stacey is leading a discussion with two other students on the topic; the history of horror movies since 1980s. The discussion intends to explore varied changes that have occurred to this genre of movies for the last 38 years.
Script
Opening musical jingle: a sound effect of Cinematic Harsh Light from soundbible.com plays for 15 seconds to mark the beginning of the show.
Stacey: Hello everyone, welcome to the favorite Movie Guru Podcast. I am Stacey Anderson and today I am here with two guests; on my left is Robin Williams and on the right is Danielle Hillington. As it is the tradition of this show, we share with our listeners the different issues in the film industry, both current and historical ones. Today we want to discuss how horror movies have evolved since 1980s. Before we begin our discussion, lets listen to this sound effect which I believe carries the thematic aspect of fear in such movies (plays the Creepy Background sound effect from soundbible.com before continuing). Wow, that sound alone can drill fear down my spine. I bet it can be a perfect sound track to almost any “serious” movie in this genre. Robin, what do you think of it?
Robin: I think it is a wonderful sound effect in defining horror movies by just listening to it.
Stacey: What about you Danielle?
Danielle: I agree with all of you. The sound is a refined piece that can easily be identified with horror movies for any fan of the genre.
Stacy: Then I guess from my selection of this particular piece, I qualify to be a movie producer (All the them laugh lightly at the joke).
Danielle: Yes, you do!
Stacey: Thank you Danielle for your encouragement. Anyway, lets focus on our topic of the day; how horror movies have evolved over time. In this discussion lets focus on the next semester students as the primary audience for this show. What will you tell those students about the changes that have been witnessed in this film genre since the 1980s? Let me begin with you Robin.
Robin: I would like to let the next semester students to know that although we have limited the horror genre history to the period between 1980s to date, this genre has a long history dating back to the late 19th century. In his article titled A Timeline of the History of Hollywood Horror Movies, Mark H. Harris documents the famous horror movies for each decade, starting with the very first movie “The House of the Devil” of 1896. Jumping to the period of our interest, Harris notes that horror movies in the first half of the 1980s were largely defined by slasher flicks, for example, “Friday the 13th.” In the 1990s, the genre witnessed unrivaled acclaim which spurred studios to fund large-scale projects. Lastly, Harris makes an observation that the 21st
century has been characterized by the remakes of both the American and foreign movies.
Stacey: Thank you Robin for the detailed and remarkable observation. Danielle, what can you say about the history of horror movies?
Danielle: I will base my view on the article, “The evolution of the Horror Genre” by Bailey Mount. Mount looks at the past, present and future of this category of movies with the opinion that the genre has had a great ability to evolve without its audience suspecting. Mount also argues that the slasher genre grew popular as it reflected the real life of the audience. According to Mount, the late 2000s saw a decrease in the number of films until the footage of “Paranormal Activity” that was based on a true story. The movies then changed in the making to include various social issues on politics and psychology.
Stacey: What detailed descriptions from the two of you! It seems you are all heading to Hollywood as producers and directors. (A light laughter). There are two other articles; “How Horror Movies Have Changed Since Their Beginning” by the New York Film Academy and “How Modern Horror Is Breaking the Rules of the 1980s” by Jordan Crucchiola. Robin, could you please brief us about the first article and Danielle to do the same with the second one.
Robin: The Article by the New York Film Academy argues that this genre seems to be facing exhaustion as the industry become increasingly full of remakes, sequels and reboots that have reduced originality.
Danielle: Crucchiola highlights various ways in which the modern horror movies have changed the film making rules of the 1980s. For example, in the modern films, the wicked are shown empathy and the movies also have a meta-horror as a new feature.
Stacey: That has been an informative discussion. All of you are super brilliant as far as this topic is concerned. I wish we could continue but we have to come to an end. Thank you everyone for listening to the Movies Guru podcast.
Works Cited
"How Horror Movies Have Changed Since Their Beginning". Student Resources, 2015, https://www.nyfa.edu/student-resources/how-horror-movies-have-changed-since-their-beginning/. Accessed 12 Dec 2018.
Crucchiola, Jordan. "How Modern Horror Is Breaking the Rules of the 1980S". Vulture, 2016, https://www.vulture.com/2016/10/how-modern-horror-breaks-the-1980s-mold.html. Accessed 12 Dec 2018.
Harris, Mark H. "A Timeline of The History of Hollywood Horror Movies". Thoughtco, 2017, https://www.thoughtco.com/a-timeline-history-of-horror-movies-1873246. Accessed 12 Dec 2018.
Koenig, Mike. "Cinematic Harsh Light Sounds | Effects | Sound Bites | Sound Clips from Soundbible.Com". Soundbible.Com, 2016, http://soundbible.com/2092-Cinematic-Harsh-Light.html. Accessed 12 Dec 2018.
Koenig, Mike. "Creepy Background Sounds | Effects | Sound Bites | Sound Clips from Soundbible.Com". Soundbible.Com, 2017, http://soundbible.com/2165-Creepy-Background.html. Accessed 12 Dec 2018.
Mount, Bailey. "The Evolution of The Horror Genre – 22 West Magazine – Medium". Medium, 2017, https://medium.com/22westmag/the-evolution-of-the-horror-genre-ab6741dc2a0d. Accessed 12 Dec 2018.
