BLK

Ongoing targets
1. Update and develop the detail on the detailed proposal espec. institutional context and sources
2. Think ahead to planning the focus group
3. Finalise film clip decisions and start textual analysis

'Carnival of Cruelty' by Tom Mes for Fangoria

Fangoria is an American Horror film fan magazine that has been in regular publiaction since 1979. In Number 206, there was a feature run on the films of Takashi Miike focusing on his two latest offerings 'Dead Or Alive' and 'Audition'.
On 'Audition' Miike refers to how it is the 'human aspect that makes the story so horrific'
'Normally when people go to see a horror movie, they know that the sacry element is a speacial thing that does not exist in real life, like a ghost or a monster. Thats why they can enjoy it'

Japanorama interview

This interview with Miike Takashi for Japanorama as the director discusses his view on 'Audition' and how it is important for Western wudiences as well as how the extremities in his films are perceived

Proposal Form unfinished

1. Topic Area - World Cinema

2. Proposed title, question, hypothesis - How do western Audiences perceive th films of Takashi Miike and how does his films defien the Asia extreme genre?

3. Teacher approval granted, in principal? yes

4. Principle texts (if text based study) - Audition, Ichi The Killer, Dead or Alive

5. Reason for choice - Have an interest in the genre and the director

6. Academic context for this study (similar research, relevant theory, named theorists) - Need to do some reseach on this

7. Institutional context for this study (industry focus, other texts for comparison, named practitioners, relevant theory, issues, questions - need to do some research on this

8. Identify the audience context for this study (audience profile, access to audience, potential sample) - Male 18-25 year olds who are deemed the principle watchers of extreme cinema, and would be interestd to how watchers of western horror films would react to their eastern counterparts

9. How will the 4 key concepts be relevant to your study (audience, institution, forms and conventions, representation)? - How does the director represent violence in his films and what impact does he want on his audience, How do western audiences perceive the films of Miike Takashi,

10 Potential research sources (secondary): Japanese Horror Cinema by James Mcroy, The Midnight Eye nguide to New Japanese Film by Tom Mes, Outlaw master's of Japanese Film by Christopher Desjardins, Agitator: The Films oF Miike Takashi,

11. Potential research sources (primary): Questionnaire, Internet Forum, focus groups

12. Modifications agreed with your lead teacher

13. Potential limits/obstacles/problems? trying to organise focus groups

14. Teacher concerns

15. Teacher approval

Takashi Miike as a focus

My Critical research question may have been too broad before and I am now thinking about focussing it more along the lines of what do Western audiences perceive 'Asia Extreme' Cinema and how do they react to it.
Wikipedia defines Extreme cinema as:
Extreme cinema is a term typically used to describe films containing violence, gore,and sex of an extreme nature. In recent years, the term has been a popular word to describe many of the violent films coming out of Asia (particularly Hong Kong, Japan and South Korea).
Some of the more notorious "extreme" filmmakers include Takashi Miike, Park Chan Wook, Shinya Tsukamoto and Kim Ki Duk.

From this I will focus on the Films of Takashi Miike (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0586281/) as not only do i have a basic knowledge of this director but he has been the most successful of the new breed of South East Asian Directors.
Films I would use for this study may include:
Audition
Ichi The Killer
Dead Or Alive
City of Lost Souls
Sukiyaki Western Django
Gozu
Visitor Q
Books I may use include:
Outlaw Masters of Japanese Film by Christopher Desjardins

Change of focus again in order to make a more interesting Critical Research

Just talked to Miss thrasher on what to do with my Critcal Research and what i should aim to do. After our discussion I know feel that i should focus purely on remakes rather than films that have 'inspired' other films. This means i will be able to make a more direct comparison between the films. As well as this im going to expand Japanese horror films to South East Asia horror films in order to get the most from my study. At the present I may study the following films and their western remakes:
The Ring
The Grudge
Dark Water
One Missed Call
The Eye

South Eastern or Japanese cinema?

I think that i may narrow down the films i choose form South Eastern horror films to purely J-horror, as this would allow me to get a clearer focus. As well as this most of the films i plan to look at anyway are japanese so it would not hinder me in my case studies.
This means films i may want to look at now may include:
Audition
Ichi the Killer
The Ring
The Grudge
Dark Water
One Missed Call
Versus
Tetsuo: The Iron Man