Props list:
White V neck t shirt - We chose a white shirt to represent Alexs innocence, as the film progresses the shirt will become dirtier and blacker, showing his corruption and growing evil.
Mirror - Alex looks at himself in the broken mirror in the building, the mirror is cracked and will show his face several times, showing his changed and distorted personalitys.
Car - Alex drives to his date and later tried to drive home from his date in his car.
Flower - Alex takes Kirsty a flower for her on the date. At the end the film as Alex is walking towards the city centre, he stands on the flower, showing his relationship and love for Kirsty is over.
Red Dress - Kirsty wears a red dress on the date, we chose a red dress to show that she is a love interest and also to represent her dangerous side. We wanted Kirsty to come across as a 'Femme Fatale' character.
Cast List
Alex - The boy who goes on the date, gets bitten by Kirsty and turns into a 'zombie'
Kirsty - The girl who Alex goes on a date with, Kirsty bites him and turns him into the 'zombie'
Friday, 6 November 2009
Wednesday, 4 November 2009
Genre Essay
My film will be a Horror film, so I will need to look into and learn the conventions of the genre.
Horror films are created to create fear and fear in the viewer, this is done in a number of ways. Most horror films have a main or group of villains. Early horror films were based around gothic literature such as Frankenstein and Dracula, these ideas soon evolved into more modern takes on the originals, for example the film “Van Helsing” (2004) features both of these characters. After world war II, the idea to create films based on the insecurity of post war life came about. This created three metaphoric sub genres, personality defects (Films about “mental” and unstable people (Silence of the lambs)), the Armageddon, (Films about the end of the world (28 days later)) and films about demonic beings (More supernatural yet still realistic films (The haunting))
There is another horror sub genre called “Gore-shock” or “Splatter film” These often low budget films try to gain attention by exposing the vulnerability of the human body through an over use of violence and special effects. This genre was established along time ago with low budget films such as “Shogun assassin” but has been brought into the new film world with films like “Saw” and “Final destination”
In the early 2000’s a group of films became more self reflective of themselves, this increased the horror element as it made even the scariest of films seem more realistic and life like.
Remaking Asian films became a popular concept in film making after the success of films such as “The grudge” & “The Ring”
Lighting plays a big part in what makes a film scarier. A convention of horror films is to leave a lot to the imagination. In many horror films, the main villain is not explicitly shown to the audience until the it is absolutely necessary, this builds up the tension and allows the viewer to create their own envisioning of the antagonist, which in most cases is a lot scarier than the actual one. The most common way to cover up the villains physical appearance is through a lack of light. The victim could be looking the villain right in the face, but if there is no light in the scene, everybody’s none the wiser. A dim light, or no light at all is also perfect for creating an impossible to see event. For example in many films a victim will be dragged by the villain into another room and is only able to hear what is happening, this also lets the viewer create their own idea as to what’s going on, often increasing the fear in themselves.
Films such as Dracula & Frankenstein rely heavily on setting. These films are set in out of the way locations such as castles & caves. The sense of isolation creates a feeling that no one can or will come their aid & shows how alone and vunerable they are.
Cinematography is used in horror films to create an idea that throughout the majority of the film is more powerful than the protagonist. This is done by using high angles on the protagonist, making him or her seem vunerable and weak. The opposite is done for the antagonist, using low angle shots to make them seem superior and more powerful.
The narrative structure in alot of horror films is generally quite similar. The protagonist will have to embark on some sort of quest to beat the antagonist. Towards the start of the film the antagonist will usually be some sort of enigma, making him or her seem more mysterious and dangerous. A common convention for horror films is to break the stereotype ending of the heroes victory and have the villain come out ontop (Texas chainsaw massacre the beginning). I will be using some of these techniques in my own horror film.
The editing used in horror films is usually rather slow paced to build up tension, then juxtaposes to extremely fast cuts in the climax of the event. The fast editing shows panic and emergency and shows how in trouble the character is.
Music also plays a large part in building up fear and emotion in the audience. A quiet piece of minor music makes the scenes with slow editing and low lighting seem a lot scarier than if cheerful music was playing over the top. The music will normally match up with the pace of the scene and reach a crescendo just as the action begins to take place.
In conclusion, the most common and effective conventions of the horror genre are: Low lighting, a mixture of slow and fast editing, isolated settings, enigmatic characters, minor and scary music & high and low angle shots to show who has the power in the situation.
Horror films are created to create fear and fear in the viewer, this is done in a number of ways. Most horror films have a main or group of villains. Early horror films were based around gothic literature such as Frankenstein and Dracula, these ideas soon evolved into more modern takes on the originals, for example the film “Van Helsing” (2004) features both of these characters. After world war II, the idea to create films based on the insecurity of post war life came about. This created three metaphoric sub genres, personality defects (Films about “mental” and unstable people (Silence of the lambs)), the Armageddon, (Films about the end of the world (28 days later)) and films about demonic beings (More supernatural yet still realistic films (The haunting))
There is another horror sub genre called “Gore-shock” or “Splatter film” These often low budget films try to gain attention by exposing the vulnerability of the human body through an over use of violence and special effects. This genre was established along time ago with low budget films such as “Shogun assassin” but has been brought into the new film world with films like “Saw” and “Final destination”
In the early 2000’s a group of films became more self reflective of themselves, this increased the horror element as it made even the scariest of films seem more realistic and life like.
Remaking Asian films became a popular concept in film making after the success of films such as “The grudge” & “The Ring”
Lighting plays a big part in what makes a film scarier. A convention of horror films is to leave a lot to the imagination. In many horror films, the main villain is not explicitly shown to the audience until the it is absolutely necessary, this builds up the tension and allows the viewer to create their own envisioning of the antagonist, which in most cases is a lot scarier than the actual one. The most common way to cover up the villains physical appearance is through a lack of light. The victim could be looking the villain right in the face, but if there is no light in the scene, everybody’s none the wiser. A dim light, or no light at all is also perfect for creating an impossible to see event. For example in many films a victim will be dragged by the villain into another room and is only able to hear what is happening, this also lets the viewer create their own idea as to what’s going on, often increasing the fear in themselves.
Films such as Dracula & Frankenstein rely heavily on setting. These films are set in out of the way locations such as castles & caves. The sense of isolation creates a feeling that no one can or will come their aid & shows how alone and vunerable they are.
Cinematography is used in horror films to create an idea that throughout the majority of the film is more powerful than the protagonist. This is done by using high angles on the protagonist, making him or her seem vunerable and weak. The opposite is done for the antagonist, using low angle shots to make them seem superior and more powerful.
The narrative structure in alot of horror films is generally quite similar. The protagonist will have to embark on some sort of quest to beat the antagonist. Towards the start of the film the antagonist will usually be some sort of enigma, making him or her seem more mysterious and dangerous. A common convention for horror films is to break the stereotype ending of the heroes victory and have the villain come out ontop (Texas chainsaw massacre the beginning). I will be using some of these techniques in my own horror film.
The editing used in horror films is usually rather slow paced to build up tension, then juxtaposes to extremely fast cuts in the climax of the event. The fast editing shows panic and emergency and shows how in trouble the character is.
Music also plays a large part in building up fear and emotion in the audience. A quiet piece of minor music makes the scenes with slow editing and low lighting seem a lot scarier than if cheerful music was playing over the top. The music will normally match up with the pace of the scene and reach a crescendo just as the action begins to take place.
In conclusion, the most common and effective conventions of the horror genre are: Low lighting, a mixture of slow and fast editing, isolated settings, enigmatic characters, minor and scary music & high and low angle shots to show who has the power in the situation.
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