Watch a horror movie right there on my TV Horror movie right there on my TV Shockin' me right out of my brain Watch horror movie right there on my TV Horror movie right there on my TV Shockin' me right out of my brain It's bound to get ya in, get ya under your skin Hit you right on the chin, oh yeah It's bound to be a thriller, it's bound to be a chiller It's bound to be a killer, oh yeah

What are HORROR films?

What are they? Horror Films are unsettling films designed to frighten and panic, cause dread and alarm, and to invoke our hidden worst fears, often in a terrifying, shocking finale, while captivating and entertaining us at the same time in a cathartic experience. Horror films effectively center on the dark side of life, the forbidden, and strange and alarming events. They deal with our most primal nature and its fears: our nightmares, our vulnerability, our alienation, our revulsions, our terror of the unknown, our fear of death and dismemberment, loss of identity, or fear of sexuality. *cathartic = purification and purgation of emotions - especially pity and fear - through art

What makes a horror film a horror film? In groups of 4 Discuss and write down what you think makes a horror film (Conventions & Elements you expect in a horror movie) What makes it different from other genres? What are 5 examples of Horror films?

What makes a horror film? Iconography Haunted Houses Blood Chainsaws Dead People Graveyards Good v Evil

Setting Horror films are usually set in a location or settings where people are most vulnerable such as dark places or at night time. Examples are Haunted Houses and Abandoned Warehouses during the night

Narrative (The Story) A horror movie normally has a good v evil scenario where monsters/zombies/murderers go terrorising a community or group of people.

Style A horror movie usually uses sound to create suspense – It’s scarier when you can’t see things but can hear them – Imagine you’re in bed and you hear noises, but you can’t see them. Horror movies also use the Point of View Shot so you are looking through the killers eyes to create mystery

Characters The killer is usually a supernatural being or someone that is a deranged killer who has escaped from an asylum Victims are usually females or vulnerable young adults

Theme Themes are normally something to do with struggle – Good v Evil, loyalty v Deceit etc

Sound Diagetic Sound – Any sound where the source is visible on screen – Voices, noises made by characters, objects on the screen Diagetic Sound – Any sound where the source is visible on screen – Voices, noises made by characters, objects on the screen Non Diagetic Sound – Any source where the sound is not visible on screen – comes from ‘Outside’ – Narrator, voice over, sound added for dramtic effect, mood music, film score Non Diagetic Sound – Any source where the sound is not visible on screen – comes from ‘Outside’ – Narrator, voice over, sound added for dramtic effect, mood music, film score

Annabelle Video in Google Drive

What else? What else makes a horror movie?

5 Elements of a Good Horror Movie Fear Fear is the most important factor in a horror story

Surprise Getting someone to fear what you’ve created isn’t the hardest part, making the fear surprising is

Suspense If things are popping up constantly, the audience becomes wise – There is a bomb under the table, you can’t see it, when is it going to explode?

Mystery Don’t tell your audience everything straight away – keep some secrets, reveal them slowly

Spoilers Yes, everyone loves them. The main character freaks out at the sight of a spider, so you know they’re going to face one at a later stage on a bigger scale.

The Three Stages of Making Movies What are they?

Pre Production Pre Production is best described as the planning or inception stage. Common tasks in this stage include developing your idea, researching the idea, creating story boards, and determining how much money it will cost you to make

Production If Pre Production is the planning stage, then what is this stage? This is the DOING stage, the making of the movie.

Post Production This is what happens AFTER you finish filming. This is the finishing stage. Here is where you would edit and release your film.

Let’s make a Horror Film What’s your idea? Have a scary idea for the movie – make it a good one and make sure the audience won’t suspect it. Remember, it can be more frightening if you HEAR noises rather than see something

Turn your idea into a story Always have a story / script before filming What’s going to happen? Where does it start? What’s in the middle? What’s at the end? What are your surprises? This element needs to have a beginning middle and end and be engaging. You can’t make it up on the spot.

Have a scary killer monster whatever For some reason, killers that don’t talk are scarier than ones that do. Make sure their motive is simple (Revenge / Insanity is good)

Make something completely ordinary the centre of the drama Make something completely ordinary the centre of the drama (not centre of the movie) Ie: a telephone, a toilet, a doorbell, a tv, a videotape If you do it well, it will be scary

Plot twist Have a plot twist Make the audience think something, then surprise them with something else

Find an awesome place to film Now, most of you will be filming at school, so where can we create a dark and scary atmosphere? What will we need? Remember to relate your setting to the story – how can we make it scary?

Effects Add good effects – if the blood looks like tomato sauce it’s not going to be scary – use something more realistic like soup or hot sauce

Actors & Dialogue Do you actually need dialogue? Would not talking make your film scarier? Would a voice over make it suspenseful? Who will you get to act? Can they act?

Remember the elements Fear Suspense Mystery Spoilers Iconography etc One character, one room, sound, camera, editing, suspense

Cargo (short film) Video in Google Drive

Once we’ve got our script we need to story board This is your ticket to film You need to have a strong story and a visual storyboard

Learning Activity Use the internet to find examples of professional pre production work or templates (such as the ones I will show you & scriptwriting software) to help you create your own planning tools for this and future productions.

Toy Story Story Board Video in Google Drive

Lesson 2

Quick Summary From Yesterday What makes a horror film?

Recap on Yesterday Iconography Setting The Story (Narrative) Style Characters Theme Sound

What else?

What else?? Fear Surprise Suspense Mystery

3 stages of making your movie Pre Production Production Post Production

What stage are we at right now?

PRE PRODUCTION

Planning Stage of Pre Production Start to think who you want to work with - groups of 4 max (at the editing stage, get into groups of 2) Have an idea for your movie Have a Timeline of Pre Production, Production & Post production ie - When should you have things ready? What do you need to do to plan? How long will it take?

For example See Weebly – surfcoastmedia.weebly.com – go to Horror Movie Production – you will find my basic timeline I have created for you If you follow this, you’ll be on track!

Steps to Pre Production Video

Example of 5 Min Horror Video

Help! 5 mins in length Try to use school time as much as possible Recruit actors from this class, don’t rely on others who may let you down There are numerous royalty free sound websites you can use