Stay Out Of The Woods

Stay Out Of The Woods is a short horror film directed by Albert Gonzalez. The film appealed to me because it is roughly the same length as the film I have to produce and is also produced by students.

The film opens with opening credits, saying who produced, directed, wrote it etc. They use a simple black background, and the writing is white. As the credits change they use a fade effect transition. The name of the film then flashes on screen in bold and flickers like writing on an old broken TV, telling the audience that the film is a horror. I would like to use a similar effect to open my short horror film with as I think it really sets the genre.

They also use several difficult camera angles to build suspense and make the audience feel like they are the characters, the is the same experience Im trying to create in my horror. The producers used camera angles such as; POV shots to show what the subject is seeing therefore expanding on that 'in the movie feel'. Another interesting use of camera shots is the use of the high angle shots that are constantly used through out. The producers make the camera look up from a low position at the villain to emphasise that he is powerful, 'the hunter' and the girls are the weak and 'the hunted'.

A shot what is popular with in the film industry is the mid shot. I don't like this angle and Im going to try to avoid using it as I don't feel it creates any form of mood, it only shows whats happening in the film. The producers in stay out of the woods used this a lot to my annoyance where they could have used other more interesting and effective camera angles.

The film uses excellent use of sound throughout to great effect. The producers opened with a mellow saxophone playing as the credits role, setting the audience at ease and knocking them off guard for whats to come. Once the scene begins, two girls are walking peacefully through some woodlands with birds tweeting blissfully in the background. Once the girls make the decision to go into the woods; the tune changes; birds stop tweeting and an unsettling tune begins to play, indicating the girls have made a bad decision and something is about to occur.
A monotone hum plays as the girls get changed and several shots of the woods are shown, however the tune suddenly drops as the girls spot one of the villains. The girl runs over to confront the villain and he disappears, as she looks around a violin increases its frequency and volume to nearly a point that it hurts the audiences ears, this makes the audience feel physically injured by the film themselves and even more scarier. Once the killer reveals himself, a loud drum and symbol crash make the audience jump which is added to by the violin build up. The sound drops as the girl believes its her boyfriend however the sound begins to build up again, which tells the audience he isn't her boyfriend. The villain then takes a swipe at the girls with an axe and a slashing sound is heard which creates the effect that the blade is sharp and informs the audience that he's aiming to kill.

The girls are then surrounded by several killers who beat them, the beating isn't shown as as shot of the woods is used and screams are played in the background, indicating they are being injured. I want to use a scene exactly like this as my opener.