Genre Research: Happy Death Day

 During my research, I decided to watch multiple horror movies to get a better understanding of what characterizes the horror genre. One of the movies I chose to watch was Happy Death Day. Happy Death Day is a horror movie that was released in 2017 and was quite successful. I decided on this film as it is both recent and popular, which makes it a good representation of current horror films. Throughout the film, I recorded the editing, sound, camera angles, and Mis-En-Scene that was used in the movie.

Camera Angles

Common camera angles used in Happy Death Day include medium closeups, which were often used when showing the antagonist. Other camera angles that were often used over the shoulder shots, two shots, long shots and close ups.

Movement

Very commonly used movements in Happy Death Day were zoom ins and zoom outs. Pans and tracking shots are also used heavily throughout the film to show scenes in which the protagonist is running or being chased.

Costumes

An over the top mask was used by the antagonist and was paired with a sweater. The main character remains in the same outfit for the majority of the film except for a brief amount of time when she was in a hospital gown. The rest of the characters wear casual outfits and remain in the same outfits throughout the entire movie.

Lighting

The lighting was bright and well lit during the vast majority of the film. Quite a bit of the movie is outside during the day where’s a lot of sunlight. The only few exceptions are scenes in which the antagonist is after the main character. These scenes have either no light or very little light on the characters.

Actors

Jessica Rothe played the main character and protagonist in the film. The character she plays is a college student and she was able to portray the character very well. Other important characters included the love interest, who was played by Israel Broussard. The antagonist is played by Ruby Modine, however, she is in a mask and her character is unknown for most of the film.

Makeup

The main characters makeup is simple and remains the same throughout the film, only changing by becoming messy and returning to clean through the events of the film. The other characters either where simple makeup, or no makeup at all. The antagonist where’s a mask during almost all of the movie, therefore their face can not be seen, along with whatever makeup they may be wearing.

Props

The most prominent prop seen in Happy Death Day is a simple kitchen knife which the antagonist has in a lot of the scenes they appear in. One very important prop is a “poisoned” cupcake with a single candle. This cupcake is ultimately what helps the protagonist piece together the events of the movie. Other props include a baseball bat and an axe.

Setting
The first setting in the film is a college dorm room. This same setting appears many times during the duration of the film and is important to the plot. The other settings in the movie are a hospital, a college campus, and a cafe.

Editing

Commonly used editing techniques in Happy Death Day are jump cuts, cut aways, and cross cutting. These techniques add a suspense to the film and amplify the horror in the film. There is also a montage towards the middle of the film.

Sound
The film does not have a lot of background noise in most of the scenes and focuses on the dialogue. However, when the antagonist is on screen and after the protagonist, there is intense music to add a fear factor of the scene.

Elements of the genre I enjoyed
I enjoyed the repeating day concept used in the movie which is not used very often in the horror genre. It added an interesting element to the film and fueled the plot well. Although misdirects are used a lot in horror films, I also like the use of misdirection in the film.

Elements of the genre I disliked
During the movie, I wasn’t very fond of the constantly bright lighting as I felt it made the film less scary. I also felt the mask that the antagonist wore took away the fear for me.