What is a Horror?

A horror film serves many purposes-

1] PERSONNAL - the audiences own identification with the fears or threats of the narrative- tapping into primal fears of, .the creative/other in darkness. Body being ripped/mutilated. Emergence of terror but from a safe (vicarious) distance.

2] IDEOLOGY - the implicit (hidden) or explicit (obvious) messages embedded in the narrative. Themes of punishment / redemption and/or revulsion at any subject which deviates from ‘correct’ thinking. Beginning with ‘basic’ textual messages. (the virgin good girl surviving at the expense of the ‘slutty’ rebellious friend) and developing into more nuanced subtle ‘fears’ of strangers/hitchhikers/different religious beliefs/power of science to conquer the darkness- new faith in the expense of ‘old’ religion.

3] FINANCIAL/INDUSTRIAL – without a doubt one of the most lucrative genres to continually re-invent and exploit. Horror franchises regularly stretch beyond other genres in terms of sequels, spin offs and remakes because of the profit.

Prelim Post Production and Final Cut

EDITING

On Friday our class went up to the editing suite to edit our short film that we had filmed the week before. Mat showed us how to see our footage from the Final Cut Server, we logged on and found our footage on an edit proxy, and the edit proxy is a way for us to edit our footage with out editing the final cut.


LOGGING OUR SHOTS

We all had a lot of input in this part, we had to create a log bin which is where we put the best shots from our footage that we will use in the final footage. We went through the wide shots, the close ups, the over the shoulders and all the other shots and we chose the best shots of each of them and put them into the log bin for later. We chose the best ones which had the best continuity and the best camera angle with the best sound and the best frame.



ORGANISING AND ORDER OF OUR SHOTS

Once we had chosen the shots that were the best and that we needed for the sequence we then had to put them in the right order and to trim them down and make them perfect. The shot order and the specific one that we had chosen all helps to create a great end result, the shot order and angle can help the audience determine what side they are on and what they think of the characters and the film. If you start off the film with a bad portrayal of a character this will be the audiences first impression of them and it might not change throughout the film, you also need to have high point and low point in the film as it cannot be one constant mood as this will bore the audience, and so we needed to make sure our shots were in the right order. The audience will also need to understand the film and if the scenes are in the wrong order the film will not make sense, so you can see how important this part of editing is.


EDITING IN FINAL CUT

We had to trim down our clips so that we did not have the directors noises such as CUT and ACTION to ruin our film, but we had to make sure that we got this perfect so that we could have correct match on action and to make sure that the sequence was not robotic and distorted and that it flowed in a constant movement and made sure that everyone understood what was happening the film. We all had a go and trimming down each shot and getting them in the right order, this was very important as in a way it is what creates the film, after the actors have done their part it is up to the editors to create the rest of the film, the editors also have power over everyone as they can chose how to portrayal a character and the film through their editing.

Prelim Task Evaluation

I was in group 1 and we were lucky enough to have filmed in the studio with Mat. The location really helped us set the mood, we had all the technical help from the lighting and set to make are short film great.
The brick work on the set and the hard floor set a mood and an atmosphere of an unfriendly and harsh basement look.
I was working with Adam and Victor and as the people we had asked to be in our video were unable to come Adam and Victor became the actors and I became the director and camera man. This was actually a lot of fun, in the beginning I was a little worried and unsure but Mat kept saying that I had to take charge and so I did. By the end of the shoot I knew exactly what I was doing and we would bubble the tri pod and look at the frame and the background each time making sure everything was perfect. Victor had some really good ideas for different camera angles and we tried almost every single angle possible but still making sure that we would never cross the 180 line.

LIGHTING
We tried different types of lighting as we were unsure if we wanted to have a harsh lighting to set an intense mood or a low lighting to set a mood of mystery. But in the end we chose a very harsh lighting in the room and the light from outside was quite low, this gave the basement room a very intense atmosphere this also helped us to see the actors expressions clearly as this was very important to the shot. The lighting also cast a shadow which gave the atmosphere a scary feel about it, it also helped a lot as if we were doing a close up on an actors face, in one shot we were able to see the other actors shadow and this made him look daunting.

CAMERA WORK AND ANGLES
There is so much that goes into making a film and so much that goes into camera work, and while we were making this short movie I began to realize the effort that it takes. We first filmed the film all the way trough using different camera angles each time. We did a wide angle shot first then a mid shot then an over the shoulder shot then some close ups. After we had done all of these necessary shots we began creating other ones and coming up with different ideas. Victor had a great idea to film the sequence through the door so that we would be able to see one of the actors storming out of the door, and this was a very interesting and effective camera angle. Then an idea I had was to put the tripod on a chair and extend the legs to their full capacity so that we could get a very high angle shot, this made one of the actors look inferior which really helped give an effect to the scene.
Each time we moved the camera we would bubble the tri pod and make sure that the shot was framed correctly and that there was no backlights or things that were not part of the set in the shot. And each time we filmed I would have to say “STANDBY” and “ROLLING” then “ACTION” then “CUT” and all of these terms used during filming are extremely necessary, useful and important. I would also have the camera rolling for about five seconds before I said action and then about five seconds after we had finished before I said cut. This made sure that when the camera was rolling and the actors had began straight away it would give the camera man time to see if the tape was good or bad, and this is very important because if you were working on a huge movie and there was a 30 million dollar explosion about to take place and you said action before the tape had been running for a few seconds and the tape then was a bad one, you would have wasted the 30 million dollars, and then the film company would not be very happy with you. So all of these things are very important and they help organize the director so that they are able to control a huge cast and to know what is happening at all times, to get the perfect film.

My thriller poster, is a picture of a woman who is twice the size of the buildings, this gives her a suprior position making the audience seem inferior and she looks more powerful, terrifiing, aggressive and destructive.

At the top of the poster it is much darker and black and then near to front the houses have been made lighter indicating purity and innocence and unsuspecting, then it is dark and destructive from the direction in which the giant woman has come from, bringing the evil and destruction with her.

She is wearing dark clothing indacating evil and mystery, then the tital of the film is in one of the hot spots which attracts attention, it is also in red which sets a mood of horror and gore, her face and most of her body are in the hot spots to which drws attention to her. the houses also stand out more and attract attention because they are lighter against the dark background. The style of the writting also does not suggest happy or childlike it is more aggressive and intimadating in the shape and style.