Drawing from folklore of both ancient and medieval history, werewolves played a significant part in stories, books, and in recent decades, film and television. Similarly to vampires, the werewolf has earned an enduring role in fiction and popular culture, where they have become a staple in mainly fantasy fiction and monster films. Vampires and werewolves often have significant overlap in media, often holding similar characteristics and involved in similar stories. Guiley (2005) suggests that no supernatural creatures have adapted themselves to film and television so skilfully, alternately terrifying us and romancing us. Overtime in media, werewolves have evolved from only representing monster films and horror roles, to expand into a number of genres and represent a wide range of social topics. This trend is linked with the social and cultural changes in society.

Like vampires, werewolves were initially a shocking monster of disease and death-spreading evil. Guiley (2005) acknowledges that they have evolved into many character types, such as the hero, anti-hero, super hero and romantic lead, even becoming the ‘stock character as common as the people next door’.  This evolution is especially evident in their role in the Twilight Saga, where the werewolves become fleshed out characters, rather than merely a monster-horror form, as well as Being Human, the UK television show featuring traditional monster characters living together in a flat.

The earlier films and television shows featuring werewolves were almost entirely monster horror films, often featuring attacks, murder and danger. They often represented a raw, bestial nature, which Guiley (2005) suggests, lacks the subtleties available to the fictional vampire. Szainberg (2012) offers that a difference between vampires and werewolves in early works was regret and guilt, whereby the werewolf often felt terrible remorse, only knowing what they had done through distant memory or evidence of blood and ripped clothing. This trend of difference between vampires and werewolves is echoed in many pieces of fiction, such as Underworld, Van Helsing and even the Twilight Saga, where vampires and werewolves are enemies and often depicted in gruesome and rewarding action scenes.

The 1941 film The Wolf Man, is often considered to be the ‘Dracula’ of werewolf films and is said to have put werewolves on the map. It established the connection of werewolves and wolfsbane and reinforced the idea that silver bullets can destroy the monsters. Werewolves remained in raw monster mode through much of the middle 20^th century, often exploring lycanthropy and the curse of being a werewolf, Guiley (2005) claims. Prominent films that are indicative of this include I am a Teenage Werewolf in 1957 and the Curse of the Werewolf in 1961. Szainberg (2012) argues that the depiction of werewolves in this gruesome fashion stems from being one of the highest forms of undead; they appear human most of the month, only to lose control and eat humans. He argues that the popularity of werewolves is due to their bestial nature and ability to frighten. This is acknowledged in the high number of werewolf films and depictions in media which are inherently violent and frightening.

Guiley (2005) suggests that contemporary werewolf films have fallen into two camps, either featuring in a ‘monster rampage film’ or featuring ‘intelligent, supernaturally endowed man-wolf creatures’.  This is similarly found in vampire and zombie films, where these character and film types have evolved beyond their initial role as monsters. In many instances, they have become a backdrop for different genres, such as romance, action and comedy. This is seen in a number of films, such as Warm Bodies (2013) and to an extent, The Walking Dead (2007-present ), where characters are portrayed in a dramatic environment featuring zombies.  Valbey’s (2012) writings on the ‘Twilight Effect’ suggest how the influence of this saga, which uses vampires and werewolves to focus on romance, are circulating in modern popular culture’s bloodstream. She writes that Twilight helped create a tidal wave of interest in the paranormal – the popularity of the series helping to greenlight numerous shows including the Vampire Diaries (2009) and the Teen Wolf (2011) reboot. The popularity of the Twilight series is undeniable, boasting large ticket sales and an immense community online. Indeed, Rikk (2014) describes how ‘recent shapeshifters transform from human into desirable others, and in so doing, offer critical insight into a range of social topics’. He suggests that werewolves and their depiction can describe a ‘personal metamorphosis’ and examines that the desirability of werewolves is a repeated element in young adult literature. This desirability, which has been seen in contemporary vampire media, illustrates how werewolves have evolved from a primal and dangerous villain into a sexualised character that people can admire and be inspired by.

Cininas (2013) offers that the increasing appearance of shapeshifting characters in recent literature and media offer new and exciting options that help to challenge all manner of boundaries and social issues. They can offer critical insights into topics including ‘adolescence, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, disabilities, spirituality and religion’. She continues by proposing that the werewolf can become an empowering figure to combat feelings of loneliness and isolation caused by confused identity, dysfunctional families and vulnerability. There is definitely a significant amount of weight to her claim, especially evident in internet communities. On many forums, blogs and websites, communities often rehash werewolf culture, discussing it in stories and illustrations. Schell (2007) suggests that this innovative shift in their portrayal is one example of ‘popular culture’s rehabilitation of the werewolf’ and proposes that becoming a werewolf is not necessarily a ‘tragedy but a makeover’. Schell’s discussion is exemplified in Wolf (1994) where becoming a lycanthrope and ‘unleashing the beast has made a man out of him’.  This is indicative of a modern shift in fantasy, where what was once frightening and horrible, can now be powerful, sexualised and appealing to an audience.

Indeed, it is not only a change in culture and perception of the iconic character that has played a role in the evolution of the werewolf. Guiley (2005) and Cininas (2013) argue that the available film technology was instrumental in how werewolves were portrayed. Up until the 1980s, a werewolf’s transformation was a clumsy affair, requiring cutaway shots and elaborate costumes; a development of sophisticated technology allows a ‘slick transformation to take place in front of the audience’. This continues in modern cinema, allowing for graphic depictions of attacks and transformations as well as humanising the character and making them aesthetically pleasing.

Overall, werewolves in media have undergone many changes since their inception. There is always a relevant monster-horror side to the character to provide an action and fantasy feel, but there has been a definite growth and evolution in their portrayal in other genres. Werewolves are perfectly capable, like vampires and zombies, to provide a suitable character for a range of genres in popular culture.

Reference List

Guiley, R. (2005). The encyclopedia of vampires, werewolves, and other monsters. New York, NY: Facts on File.

Szainberg, N. (2012). Zombies, Vampires, Werewolves: An Adolescent’s Developmental System for the Undead and Their Ambivalent Dependence on the Living, and Technical Implications. Psychoanalytic Review 99.6.

Valby, K. (2012). The Twilight Effect.
http://www.ew.com/article/2012/11/16/twilight-effect

Rikk, M (2014). Werewolves and Other Shapeshifters in Popular Culture: A Thematic Analysis of Recent Depictions. Extrapolation.

Schell, H (2007). The Big Bad Wolf: Masculinity and Genetics in Popular Culture. Project Muse, Literature and Medicine.

Cininas, J (2013). Girlie shape-shifters with five o’clock shadows: Surveying representations of she-wolves, wolf girls and female werewolves in printmaking and the visual arts.  Luke Morgan (ed.) Intersections and Counterpoints: Proceedings of the IMPACT7 International Multi-disciplinary Printmaking Conference, Clayton, Australia, 27-30 September 2011, pp. 106-113

Sound is an important aspect to film as it helps us further understand what is going on in a scene. It can help to draw your attention to certain moments and to clarify aspects of the film.

A film I watched this week, called Room 1408, used sound and silence quite effectively to create a scary atmosphere. There is a moment after he enters the room where he goes deaf. The film is totally silent for a moment as he starts to panic. This lack of sound is very jarring as earlier you could hear things in the room, his voice and the ambience outside the hotel room. Suddenly, sound is sharply brought back as the radio ‘magically’ turns on in a shocking fashion.

It is evident that sound can be used to show and explain parts of the film, but the lack of sound can also help to portray things, especially the unsettling and the unnatural. It is also a great tool for the audience to understand space and distance in a scene. You can picture how far an object or a person is by the loudness of the sound and the direction it comes from offscreen or onscreen

This week I’ve been watching the Manila Major for Dota2. I don’t play the game at all but have really enjoyed the plays, the story lines and the energy that the games have and the chat contributes. After watching the latest International and sort of following the memes of Dota2, I recognise a number of teams and players and have enjoyed the reactions to them losing, in particular Arteezy and EG.

I recently watched The Hundred Foot Journey on Netflix the other evening and it was quite a delightful affair. The comedy-drama stars Hellen Mirren, Om Puri and Manish Daya and is about a feud between two restaurants in a small French town. One is a high class Michelin-starred restaurant, and the other a recently relocated Indian family’s new refurbished restaurant.

It was an incredibly fun film, with some very well shot scenes and some funny and loving moments. What made this film even better, was the fact I watched it with an Indian friend. She was able to reminisce and discuss the accuracies (and inaccuracies) of the film, the food and the characterisation of the Indian family.

I felt the main cast was excellent, especially the father played by Om Puri. However, some of the side characters and the love interest felt quite weak and not enjoyable to watch.

www.imdb.com/title/tt2980648/

In Media 1 I have learnt a general understanding of creating media projects and how to manage aspects of creation and production. This includes basic operation of audio and video equipment, editing, planning and producing a project. In lectures and workshops, we also covered a number of concepts related to media theory, including audience, institutions, narrative, as well as its role in a wider environment.

Through this semester, I have found I enjoy analysis of media, especially from my other classes of Cinema Studies and Popular Culture. Understanding how media can create a cultural change or how it evokes a response in people is incredibly interesting to me. Research, planning and writing has been my favourite aspect of Media 1 – where I contributed to scripts and how to discuss the various topics.

I felt the week 9 readings of what an audience is and means were interesting and a strong insight into how media is affected by and affects the audience. It was interesting how it discussed a contemporary audience, who are more active and able to create their own media more readily, which resonated with me as I have grown up being active in online media especially.

http://www.mediafactory.org.au/blair-conway/2016/06/07/week-8-reading-audience-again/

http://www.mediafactory.org.au/blair-conway/2016/06/07/week-8-reading-audience/

It was either week 1 or 2, but most likely week 2, where we watched an extract from Scorsese’s Casino. It was a very fun and engaging class and ignited my interest in analysing and discussing aspects of film. It definitely aligns it my interest in my other class, Cinema Studies, where we analysed aspects of the shot and features that create a meaning for audiences.

http://www.mediafactory.org.au/blair-conway/2016/03/08/casino/

In the week 8 workshop, we looked at RadioLab and how it fits into creating an audio essay for project brief 4. I found this workshop to be informative and one of the most interesting ones. We focuses on the multitude of aspects that culminate in the finished product, including interviews, music, sound effects and how they are layered to create an entertaining and engaging product. I found the analysis and discussion on their techniques useful and insightful.

http://www.mediafactory.org.au/blair-conway/2016/06/07/workshop-week-8-radiolab-and-pb4/

Apart from the mental health problems, the most difficult and challenging part of the course was editing. I find it incredibly dull and tedious. Though choosing and understanding what to use in a film or video is interesting and offers an insight into the production of the media, the physical and slow task of editing and cutting shots, for me, is not a pleasant experience.

Establishing the content we wished to pursue in project brief 4 was also a difficult process. Our group initially put focus on social media and how it acts as an institution. As the research and discussions went on, this turned to a sole focus on ACMI and a local analysis of an institution.

Project Brief 3 and parts of Project Brief 4 was definitely the lowest point in this semester. Plagued by lack of motivation and mental health problems, I found myself putting off the project until the last minute, where I scrambled together basic footage and hastily edited it. It is much easier said than done, to say that I have learnt from this experience; I am hopeful it will allow me to seek help and manage my work in future semesters, as well as generally in my life.

The use of blogs was stressed from the beginning to the end of semester. Though I did some blog posts during the semester (but at times not enough), I did not find it enjoyable or useful to my learning. This did, however, change this week when I focused and did numerous in a row. It was less tedious and almost fun summarising readings, workshops, and lectures, and analysing how it applies to the course and overall discussion into media. There was definitely that moment after completing them, where you recognise it wasn’t so bad after all.

Overall, the semester of Media 1 was interesting and fun. I enjoyed the workshops the most, where we can easily discuss things in groups and have immediate feedback and difference on opinion on certain things. This was evident in the workshops where we got feedback on certain projects, using our Coloured Hats system to help give feedback and advice.

http://www.mediafactory.org.au/blair-conway/2016/04/27/week-7-workshop-interview-feedback/

Week 12’s lecture focuses on wrapping up the semester and introducing the learning graph. It is a way to analyse how we feel we have learnt and progressed in many aspects over the semester. There are many aspects to illustrate on the graph, such as our technical ability, professional work, conceptual knowledge and our overall practice as a media student.

http://www.mediafactory.org.au/blair-conway/2016/06/07/week-12-lectorial/

The semester tracked fairly okay at the beginning – I was keeping up, learning and participating. As the semester progressed, due to a few internal issues, I fell behind on a number of issues, such as blogs and the project briefs, missed some classes and had a difficult time engaging in the class. This culminated in a low point, especially for project brief 3 and 4, though I did improve towards the end and felt happy with my learning and engagement as the projects finished and I had an extended opportunity to do blog posts and finish my reflections.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8MGrD8DvdRWNjlFNUNuQ1pfUXc

It is the final workshop of the semester. It has flown by so fast, it is hard to imagine where the time went. It was quite a relaxed class, even with people frantically trying to finish the project. Some very kind and friendly classmates brought in some food to share, including chocolate, lollies, fruit, crackers, dip, more lollies and more chocolate. It really was a distracting affair, but ultimately a good time.

I rewrote much of the audio essay this class, morphing different paragraphs into new blocks of text. Nonetheless, the 3 hour class went by so quickly and we were off into the night. Me and Sam quickly grabbed a camera and headed back down to ACMI for some final shots of the exterior and the interior.

In this workshop we were spoken to by Brian who gave us initial feedback on the audio essay. We showed him some brief paragraphs that were written regarding ACMI. He suggested we consider how it is not only a media institution, but has helped grow Melbourne’s cultural and historical heritage.

Following this advice, our group hired a recording device and went down to the ACMI Gallery 1 to both explore, learn and ultimately record some background sounds. This was my first visit to the Australian Centre for the Moving Image and it was intensely interesting and exciting. There were a number of unique learning opportunities and plenty more entertaining exhibits, screens and games. I was particularly enthralled by Mario 64 which they had running, as well as a unique light display in an almost completely dark room. There were also a number of learning opportunities presented in an almost documentary or museum-like way, such as Cate Blanchet and a focus on Indigenous actors. The recordings were of random background sounds as well as audio segments that ACMI has stationed around their gallery.

This helped provide an insight into workings of ACMI, where we saw people actively involved in the setup, many of whom were learning and having fun.

The week 8 workshop had a number of focuses, such as finishing the collaborative contract, watching and discussing audio essay techniques through a RadioLab example and working on our annotated bibliographies.

The collaborative contract for project brief 4 was used as a project management document, as well as evidence of collaboration and initial planning. It helps outline the project statement, group goals and group governance for the project, such as communication, meeting times, and procedure and individual roles. It provides an outlet to discuss how the project will unravel and ways resolve problems with negotiation or other unforeseen problems.

For our contract we outlined our initial thoughts on the project, which was difficult as we didn’t have a solid grasp as to what we should cover for our audio and video essays. We initially planned to cover social media and its role as an institution, but we gradually changed our ideas and focussed on ACMI.

This workshop also covered a RadioLab example, which discussed dolphins and sleeping patterns. We discussed some features that the show utilises, such as hosts, interviewers and interviewees, stories and structure. We noticed the use of sound effects was constant throughout the show, such as brain waves, drills, dolphin noises and sleeping sounds. The information they covered was presented in multiple ways, where the hosts act as the leading speaker and the audience towards guest speakers, such as experts and interviewees.

The final aspect of class we worked on our annotate bibliographies. Like the annotated contract, we did not have a solid grasp on where our project was headed. We initially researched social media topics, such as trends and its role in media and institutions. This was an interesting perspective, but we eventually changed our minds and focussed on ACMI and local media institutes.

The week 12 lectorial was a basic wrap up and summarised the goals and aims that this course represents. It introduced the learning graph and outlined what each section represents. These include technical skills, conceptual skills, professionalism and a sense of your media practice.

Technical skills covers blogging and everything involved with audio and video recording. It covers both in terms of understanding how equipment works and translating it to capture and record appropriate content, as well as editing and sequencing a project.

Conceptual skills is involved with theory of media and its related concepts, including audiences, institutions, narrative, research and the academia behind it.

Professionalism is simply the work ethic, processes, collaboration and feedback on all tasks.

Finally media practice is creativity, learning, passion and reflection on media. It deals with the engagement and contribution to culture, society and the world.

This lectorial discussed medium, technology, and communication. Medium theory focuses on characteristics of each medium and how they are physically, socially and psychologically distinct from other forms of media. There are a number of concepts that relate to this, including media being considered ‘the message’ and how media recreates the world in the image of a global village. Another aspect discussed was the relevance of technology and, in particular, how it is altering how media is used locally and globally.