In Fear

The film In fear mostly falls under the genre of Horror. We know this due to the music and sounds used. The soundtrack is very dark and menacing. It also often overpowers the dialogue in the film to make sure the audience knows it's there. The soundtrack keeps getting louder and faster when the scenes get tense to show that there is a lot of tension building in these scenes.

It is a very dark film from the start through to the end which gives it a very stereotypical horror feel to it. This also communicates the popular fear of the dark people have which links to the horror genre as horror films attempt to scare the audience and remind them of there fears. There are also jump scares in the film which are typically shown in most horror film which helps communicate the genre to the audience. One of the locations shown at the start is a Forest. Forests  are very popular locations for horror films as they are creepy and give the audience the idea of being lost in the middle of nowhere with no escape. There is no gore in the film so it may also be considered as being part of the thriller genre.

In fear fits in as part of the British production context. Reasons it falls into this production context are that it isn't a very high budget film and it doesn't contain any sort of CGI or effects. If it was a Hollywood film it would perhaps show a lot of  big effects because Hollywood films have much higher budgets and big effects are expected in Hollywood films like World War Z for example.

The film also looks to be set in Ireland which is very close to Britain. The reason I believe it is set here is because one of the characters has an Irish accent and the boat they travel on the start appears to say the words 'Ireland' on it telling us they are travelling there. The actors shown in the film are also local to the UK.

The biggest star in the film is Iain De Caestecker. He is fairly well known for a few things. If a name people know is in the film. Fans of the actor may have more trust in the film and go see it.

This films narrative is just about escaping a big problem. Whilst a Hollywood film like World War Z are about resolving the big problem. The Dialogue is very British. For example when they moan about directions. This is a very British thing to do. There are only three characters which mean it can’t fit into the Hollywood seven character spheres which also tells it most probably isn't a Hollywood film.

 Location is just one place which shows the budget probably isn't the highest again telling us it isn't a big budget Hollywood film.

Compared to a big Hollywood film like World War Z the colours used are very dark and similar. This would be because both films fit into the Horror genre. However in Hollywood films there would be more locations used and a lot more CGI and effects. This is because Hollywood films have huge budgets so can afford this.

Relationships Between Audiences and Films

Active Spectatorship is when the audience gets involved in reconstructing a meaning from the film they are watching. This means the audience often looks deeper in to the film what they are being shown, trying to find a big meaning to the story. Often you may try and guess what is going to happen at the end of the film throughout watching it.

Often you can expect what you are going to see in the film by the genre of the film. For example the film 'Pulp Fiction' is a crime film, so you will expect to see some sort of crime being committed throughout the film which should be a big part of the film. This means if people went to see this film by knowing the genre they should expect to see a film about crime. You may guess for this film to have the same plot as most Crime films and play out in the same way as they do. In the films the audience gather information on what the film might be like from the people in the film or the person directing the film. 'Pulp Fiction' was directed by Quentin Tarantino so people who recognize the director may know he is known for his films being non-linear which may lead to them expecting this film to most probably be non-linear. He is also known for having some quite violent scenes in his films so the audience may also expect to see some violent scenes in this film. You may expect this film to play out similarly to other films he has written and directed.

You may also expect the film to play out out in a certain way based on an experience you've had which has been very similar to the story being shown in the film.

Audiences watch films to gain pleasure. Often people gain pleasure from watching films in the crime genre like 'Pulp Fiction' because crime films represent a world that most people never wander in to. They get to experience the thrill and danger of breaking the law with out the risk of spending a good portion of their life in jail.

Intertexuality is when a film refers to another. This happens a few times throughout 'Pulp fiction'. In the restaurant scene with Vincent Vega (Uma Thurman) and Mai Wallace (John Travolta), Mia says that she was in a TV pilot where she played a 'Knives Expert'. She then went on to star as this character in 'Kill Bill' a future film by Tarantino. This is because whilst working on Pulp fiction, Tarantino and Uma Thurman came up with this idea for the character. 'Pulp Fiction' also links to Tarantino's 'Reservoir Dogs' as the character from Pulp fiction 'Vic Vega' is brothers with the Reservoir Dogs Character 'Vince Vega'. This was done as Tarantino was planning to make a film set before both Reservoir Dogs and Pulp fiction but the idea was later abandoned as the actors who played these two characters got too old. 

Preferred Readings is when the audience take the intended meaning from the film. In pulp fiction this could be seen as not really possible because there isn't really a clear meaning throughout the film. This is because the film doesn't really focus on one story line or one main character and nearly everyone in the film is a morally bad person.  However these people end up in bad situations which may add the meaning saying to not be like them.

Audiences now expect to see big visual effects when watching films these days. Audiences have grown use to seeing films with CGI, big explotions and 3D. As pulp fiction isn't a current film and came out 20 years ago it doesnt tend to have any of this. When this film came out CGI and 3D films were not really about so the audience wouldn't have been expecting to see any of it. There isn't really any place now for these features in the film however if it was created nowadays for all we know it may look very different. 

Fandom is the term for fans and the things they do to express there appreciation of films. One way which this can be done could be over websites however as pulp fiction is an old film it came out before the internet was really about. This meant that websites never got made. There are some fan made websites to show appreciation to the film but not an official one. Social networking can also be used to talk about the film however this didn't really start till about ten years after the films release when it was already a big success.

Conditions of reception is when people have different meanings to parts of films based on an experience they've had in the past. In the film  Samuel L Jacksons character 'Jules' believes he witness a miracle and then takes a spiritual and religious job after leaving his job as a hit-man. This could relate to religious people who became religious after a specific act. They could probably relate to this character and see a part of themselves in this character.