Creative Critical Reflection

Final Project

Here it is!

Artistic//Element

As I have been filming I have been wanting to add some artistic elements into my film. I enjoy films that have extra symbolism and are not straight to the point. One of the elements I want to add is the use of subtitles not because you cannot hear the actor, but just as a stylistic element. At one point in the film, the actor says some dialogue and instead of subtracting the attention to the eerie music, I will add the subtitles. I think this is a super cool idea because it adds to my style and uniqueness to my film.

As I am editing I am looking to create a raw, indie feel. Although I really dislike found footage films, I do enjoy the feeling they give off. It gives the viewer a sense that this could have maybe occured as it was filmed on hand held cameras and smart phones. As I have spoken about before I am breaking away from the stereotypical things done in this film and want people to see it as something new and original. I have been thinking of using a filter to make the film look a little hazier, but I am still on the rope about this because I am not sure if that would make it seem less real. At this point I am debating whether to make it as real as possible, as I intended at the beginning, or to make it more of an artistic piece.

I think I am going to try to make it more artistic then realistic because of the fact that it will be more unique and will give me more creative freedom when it comes to the editing and will hopefully resonate more in the viewers mind for its differences to most normal horror films.

Premier//Go-Pro

In my opening I wanted a very natural feeling. That is why I am using a Go Pro to film the scenes to give the best objective view of both characters.This will help add realism to my scenes and, hopefully, will add a creepy atmosphere.

This has led to me learning a lot about how to use this equipment that I have never used before. It is not that difficult to use, but the difficult part is learning how to use the programs that come a long with the equipment. To edit my film I am using Premier, a program I have never used, so it has been difficult, but entertaining learning to use it. 

The video is coming out phenomenal and the scenes are coming out exactly how I envisioned!

Music//Soundtrack

Luckily, I stumbled upon some royalty free music during my research that fits perfectly with my vision. I thought this was going to be a problem due to the fact that a lot of this music without copyright is not of the best quality,

The song is called, "Children's Theme" and it is the sound of a nursery song being playing "I love you, you love me." Very creepy and also short so it will fit in the opening when I need it. I want the music to eerily fade in and out of the scenes, sometimes playing and sometimes not. The goal is to somewhat confuse reality and the viewer and to add suspense and drama to the scene.

The link to the song and tons of free copyright music can be found here:  http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html/index.html?genre=Horror&page=5

Story//Board

After completing my story board, I am excited to start filming. The only trouble I'm having is the timing. I am not sure exactly how to pace myself and how to make sure it will come out to be 2 minutes. I want the film to flow and work well, so I will be working on that.

My film is very inspired by the movie "The Shining" by directed by  Stanley Kubrick. I find this movie broke so many tropes and typical things done in these slasher films. I want it to be artistic and very open into interpretation so I am working hard on trying to get the perfect shots and composition to make it come out the way I want.

I would upload my storyboard, but the drawings are horrific and I would not want to scare you guys off just yet! But, I have broken it up into 3 parts and that will hopefully help with the pacing. I will begin filming today.

Synopsis//Plot

I want the film to begin with the stalking of the prey by the predator. It would begin with a series of shots taken on hand held cameras to demonstrate the point of view of the stalker. The prey will be going about his business washing dishes and his normal routine within the house. This will be where the opening credits occur and this will occur for around 45 seconds.

The next scene will be the break in where the stalker gets within the house and the man realizes he is not alone. I intend to add drama to this by not allowing the viewer to see the face of the killer and really understand her intentions. I plan on using non-diegetic sound to really add to the horror. It will be sort of a cat and mouse chase within the house.

Finally it will end with the killing of the man and the revealing of the killer. I plan to make this 2 minutes and this might be difficult that is why I must plan to make a story board to better understand how to make this all flow.

Casting//Call

At the moment I am searching for different people to cast for the film. I am looking for two actors, a male and female. The female will be the main villan, while the man will be the victim.

This is my first step to really break away from the stereotypes of horror films by making the female the killer. The female should look like a killer, but not a bulky physique. The male can be any teenager. I do not necessarily know how to go about the casting, but I will I found some articles to help me get started.

I read a couple articles, but I the one I found the most helpful was to try to envision my actors and try to cast people that fit the role best. Be kind and make them comfortable and try to get them to see your vision for the character. The next step in my process is to get he layout for the scenes and the setting which I will establish in my next blog post.

Sources:

http://www.ehow.com/how_2087796_cast-movie.html

Stereotypes//Broken

In the slasher genre and in horror films altogether there are a lot of stereotypes that are found throughout most of the movies. Some of them I respect, but there are a couple things that I would like to change and do differently in my film.

1. Femal Antagonist: I would like my villan to be female and that is probably one of the biggest deviations I want to make in my film. Typically the villan is a strong male that usually has a mask to cover his face. I would like to include the mask, but I will make sure to make it obvious to the audience that the antagonist is a female,

2. Invincible Villan: In most films the villan cannot be killed because of supernatural powers he has attained. I do not like this for several reasons, including the fact that this makes the situation less believeable. I want my movie to be a visual interpretation of your worst nightmare, not some fantasy.

3. Making it believable: In so many of the films I have seen, it just seems to unbelievable. The baddies are way to over powered and the situations they are placed in are so impossible to recreate, they don't even feel real.

4. Dumb Victims: Finally I am so tired of the dumb victims. These teenagers have half a brain in these movies which always leads to there demise. This will not be the case in my movie.

These are the different things that I am planning to do different in my movie.

Sources:
http://listverse.com/2012/10/21/top-10-stereotypical-horror-movie-victims/

Producer//Wes Craven

Wes Craven was a movie producer most notably remembered for his films  A Nightmare on Elm Street and the Scream series. He is remembered as one of the Gods of Horror and his films really brought slashers into the mainstream. Unfortunately, he died of a brain tumor in 2014, but he is still remembered today for his amazing and horrifying work.

I read an article of advice given by Craven to young film makers before he died. Below I will give a summary of the main points that I plan on incorporating into my film opening.

-´´The best horror taps into intimate fears that are often representational of something bigger.´´

-´´You can make a solid flick following the tropes of a genre, but to make something really memorable, it’s almost guaranteed that you have to look beyond the monster you’ve created to the one it can represent.´´

-´´Search beyond the cliché, and you’ll find something that works to replace your action space-filler.´´

Out of everything I learned in the article I resonated with these the most. I believe what Craven said was very true. You must be able to see beyond the cliches and create something new and creative. This has helped me really develop my idea that I will present in the next post. I want to be able to follow the guidelines set before me by other great producers, but break away from other stereotypes.

Article:

http://filmschoolrejects.com/features/6-filmmaking-tips-from-wes-craven.php

Genre//Slasher

Genre//Slasher

Scream, the first one because the rest really suck, is one of my favorite movies of all time. It has so many quotable lines and such an interesting take on the genre of horror films. This was my first introduction into the genre of slasher films. According to horror.wikia.com, “slasher film (sometimes referred to as bodycount films and dead teenager movies) is a sub-genre of horror film typically involving a psychopathic killer (sometimes wearing a mask) who stalks and graphically murders a series of adolescent victims in a typically random, unprovoked fashion, killing many within a single day.” For some odd reason these films are so entertaining and controversial that they draw my attention.

As stated before these films usually have one psychotic killer that murders people for no reason. The victim is usually a adolescents that have traveled far from home conducting promiscuous activities and illegal drug use. The killer usually has a some form of mask and a unorthodox weapon such as a machete or kitchen knife. Guns are a definite no-no for the killer and the antagonist is almost always a male. In my film I would like to break away from this notion that the man must be the killer and want to use a female killer instead. Furthermore, these characters are considered pure evil with no remorse whatsoever.

The craze for slashers came during the 1980’s with the success of are John Carpenter's Halloween (1978), Sean S. Cunningham's Friday the 13th (1980) and Wes Craven's A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984). Most of these movies follow the Final Girl Archetype. This trope refers to the last woman alive and has to confront the killer. She usually remains alive and is the one that goes around and tells the story.

This is some of the basic frameworks for slasher films. I will continue to study successful directors and producers to really understand how to present a successful slasher film.