Ideas for Short Horror Film

I've had several idea for my short horror so I've decided to list them all and ask for feedback from friends on what would be the best and efficient film to produce. Here they are:

Dreams can come true:

A film about a boy who has nightmares of demons tormenting him, torturing then finally killing him. He awakens to find out it was just a dream. At school he keeps seeing the demon from his dream throughout the day, reflections in mirrors, windows, has visions of the demon becoming the teacher etc. He goes to bed the next night and is suddenly awoken to find the demon at the bottom of his bed, ends on cliff hanger.

St'orker:

A girl is on her way home from school and keeps thinking she is being followed. She looks over her shoulder only to see no one there, as she carries on walking, she becomes more and more paranoid that someone is behind her, in her desperate bid to get home she takes a short cut through a graveyard and hides behind a headstone, to her horror she sees a hooded man walk through the graveyard looking for her, enlightening us on the fact that she was indeed being followed. She waits for him to go before running home and convincing herself that he was just some pervert. That night she's home alone doing work when she looks out of her window and thinks she seems someone walk past. She locks the doors, runs upstairs and calls her parents, she peers out of the window again to see him at the bottom of the drive. She then hers the stalker open the gate and try the door handles, by this point she's to scared to call the police and the sounds have all gone quiet.

Conversion to Short Horror Film

I have decided to change my idea from a music video to a short horror film.

The reasoning behind my choice is because I have more experience in the film industry over the music and I'm now working alone. To create a music video I would probably need more than one person to help film, edit, etc.

However, I've previously produced short horrors solo before, so this will be nothing out of the norm for me and working alone will actually help for this task rather than hinder me.

There's also been an influx of short horror films being shot in the North of England, not far from where I live:

http://www.castingnow.co.uk/auditions/acting-auditions/dreamscape-a-film-about-a-young-woman-who-has-had-nightmares-11962

http://www.castingnow.co.uk/auditions/acting-auditions/main-actor-19-26-for-independent-horror-film-able-to-speak-w-11749

This will allow me to get extra help should I need it, I could also email local directors for advice and tips on how to get an overall quality product.

Best CD covers and music videos

I've decided to do perhaps the most famous and iconic album cover of all time: The Beatles famous Abbey Road crossing, released in 1969 the band had originally intended to film at Mount Everest however they couldn't be bothered to go. So, instead they decided to shoot at the zebra crossing just down the road from their studios. The entire session took 30 minutes to film in total.

Male Gaze Theory- Lara Croft

 

The Male Gaze theory states that most women in media are viewed through the eyes of a heterosexual male. The camera emphasises parts of the female body that appeal to the straight boys. For instance, Tomb Raiders' Lara Croft shot to fame for her sexual appeal; despite being a game creation and not real. During some interviews, Toby Gard has also claimed that he changed the character from male to female because he decided that if he had to stare at the character's backside for hours on end while designing and playtesting the game, it might as well be an attractive female backside—although this is assumed to be a joke on the part of Gard, poking fun at the attention Lara was receiving for her sex appeal and had little if any actual sway into the final decision to make Lara a woman.     
 There was even a 'nude raider' where Lara would lose her clothes and play the game naked, this was developed by fans and admirers of Lara, the game was never officially acknowledged by the original developers of Tomb Raider but proves that the Male Gaze theory is right.
There was even a film made based on the character of Lara Croft. Lara was played by well known Hollywood actress: Angelina Jolie. Jolie is well known for being extremely attractive and sexy, therefore being a perfect match for the role that's famed for the same thing.
We see Jolie wearing the same attire as Croft: Short shorts, tight crop top, high boots and gun holsters.
This could be argued as sexist by some people however, its simply reinforcing the male gaze theory that some women enjoy being looked at and found to be sexually appealing: such as beauty pageants and models. It can also be argued that males are represented in the same way; to be sexually appealing to females and homo/ bisexual males. Examples of these are characters such as James Bond: famed for being attractive and sleeping with lots of women.




In the video clip above, we see through the use of various close up camera angles of Lara how she is being sexualised. Such as when she opens her legs to avoid being hit by the robot. The scene wouldn't have been remembered or be as appealing to audiences if she was wearing loose trousers that hid all body features. There's also the clip where she reloads her guns; the camera is actually getting the audience to focus on her hips and breasts. There's also a mid shot scene that focus's in on her guns however the shot actually reveals the fact that she's wearing short shorts and enlightens the audience on her toned thigh muscles.

Film Director Case Study

I decided to do a case study on the director of one of my favourite films: Insidious directed by James Wann.



He has also worked on several other of my favourite and well known horrors such as: Saw, The Conjuring and even action films such as Furious 7.

Saw was famous for its use of gore and special effects, however in Insidious, he wanted to get away from that and sought total creative control so Wann produced the movie independently. Wann stated he wanted to create a film that used restraint and silence to create horror film. He got the idea off other films such as the Sixth Sense and The Others. Im a big fan of this as well, as I believe they make horror films far more enjoyable than the expected jump scare. In my opinion these type of films also have more of a story to them than films such as paranormal activity. Wann was also the creator of Billy The Puppet our of Saw. This has also inspired me to create and use props of my own.

The idea of having a real life story for my short film also sparks an idea for creating a type of documentary. Also, Wann has been basing his work on real life stories recently; this has also inspired me to base my film on local real life stories and furthers ideas for a documentary. There are lots of local legends around the Derbyshire which I could use as a concept or base the entire short film on.


One of Wanns biggest regrets is his film Dead Silence. He was forced to create and direct this film as a back up before Saw was released in case Saw was a flop. Wann said that he was out of ideas and was so stressed that it caused him to start smoking. Whilst I think that making a back up film is a good idea, Id much rather just film extra scenes then try mixing and matching to see what works best.

Children Of The Revolution -Textual Analysis

Children Of The Revolution was wrote by T.REX in 1972 and was the No. 2 selling song of the year.

The song is wrote in the genre of Glam Rock.

The music video itself reflects the conventions of glam rock, as the artists themselves are wearing glamorous and quite eccentric attire, even by todays standards. They're also wearing make up and have long curly hair. This backs up chandlers theory that particular genres will be based on the particular notions that they constitute; Glam rock having a glamorous music video.

Buckingham stated that genre is not so much given by the culture, but it is under constant negotiation and change. At the time this music video was produced, dressing in female clothing and wearing make up would have been outrageous, however in todays society that is perfectly acceptable.

Neale stated that genres are instance of repetition and differences, and mere repetitions would not attract audiences. This backs up the idea of controversy in music videos as some people believe that artists purposely aim for social outcry to gain themselves and the video more attention: such as Robin Thicke with his recent controversial 'Blurred Lines' music video.

This takes me back to the idea of cross dressing in the music video, we see through various camera angles: close ups of the eyeliner the artists are wearing, therefore implying that they want the make up to be seen. We also see through mid shots that all of the band are wearing eccentric clothing, once again reinforcing the idea that they are wanting the audience to see what they are doing and aiming for a reaction.

The kindest Cut- Carol Vernallis

Carol Vernallis' theory states that there is difference in film/ editing, role of editing in narrative, meaning and continuity also how image and sound are synchronised, and how editing reflects the music.


Continuity editing


Broken edits to draw attention to the screen and what is happening.


Edits


Allowed to draw attention to themselves deliberately to be interesting. E.g. Special effects.


Jump cuts


Used a lot to speed things up


Master Shot


Also known as the base track, gives the video structure.


Camera


Usually moves in time with the music to give more rhythm.






In The Heavys' Cant Play Dead music video, we see a lot of broken edits being used with some clips having a black and white filter over them and others having a quite rustic look. This draws attention to the screen as it gives the appearance of two stories being told instead of just one. This is also helped by the fact that the video is of little figurines and therefore made by stop motion animation.


We also see interesting effects such as writing across the screen, this draws the viewers attention in as they have to concentrate to read the writing. This however goes against the theory as the writing isn't the lyrics to the song so the viewer has to some what 'zone out' to read the writing and by doing so isn't listening to the song.


The song is quite powerful and has heavy beat to it which makes it difficult for the camera to move in time with the rhythm all the way through, however there is also a violin in the background and the camera does move in time with that. The camera gently pans and tracks in time with the violin to create the smooth rhythm feel.