Welcome to the Japanese Horror Visual Aesthetics Archive
Purpose of the Japanese Horror Visual Aesthetics (JHVA) Archive:
The Japanese Horror Visual Aesthetics Archive is intended to explore Japanese Horror (J-Horror) films and trace the popular themes and artists within the works. Through the lens of Japan's most famous directors, the Archive reflects on each director's unique brand of Horror and gives users the ability to deep dive into their unique work in this genre At the series level, the Archive is divided based on directors, and within each series, there are various types of records that help demonstrate that director's vision of Horror. Throughout the Archive, users will find video interviews with directors, movie trailers, movie stills, as well as movie reviews and materials from the University of Michigan Mark Schilling Collection (more information on the Mark Schilling Collection in the next section).
Creating this Archive gave our group the chance to work with a variety of types of records, both digital and physical. Due to the nature of our project, we incorporated many videos and multiple media records such as trailers and interviews. As a group, we felt that these types of records best showcased the visual aspects of each film. Along with each record is a short narrative description to help locate the record within the context of the director’s vision. In addition, we worked with several physical records from the unprocessed U-M Mark Schilling Collection (more details on the Mark Schilling Collection in the next section). This project gave our group the chance to work with real archival materials that are largely unprocessed and develop hands-on archival experience.
Promotional poster for The Ring 2