Westwick - C'est finis!!

This is the final edit of 'Westwick'
I am really happy with how it has turned out, but this copy slightly differs from the one we have submitted, as there is a skip where chesca is running.

Hope you like it!!

Deception

This is the preliminary task we had to create. The brief was a one minute film where one person walks through a door, sits opposite another person, then walks out. Each of these elements have been fulfilled in our prelim.

Narrative Stages

There are 5 stages of narrative when creating a horror film.


stage 1:
a situation of equilibrium is clear

stage 2:
disruption to the equilibrium by something negative

stage 3:
an anagnorisis of sorts, trying to resolve the problem

stage 4:
attempt to fix the disruption, overcoming hurdles in order to do so

stage 5:
reaching a conclusion, fixing the issue and returning to a new equilibrium.


As our film is only the first 2 minutes of a horror film it showsonly the first and second stages. The equlibrium achieved at the beginning is when we see the character through the hedges, they are talking and laughing and are clearly unharmed. In order to challenge horror conventions we used a POV style filming to add an edge to the equlibrium, so whilst the characters are fine there is something weird or wrong about the image. The second stage, the disruption of the equilibrium is where we see footage of two girls running screaming through a forest. The swift change to this is effective as it scares the audience.

Conventions of a Horror film

There are many different genres within horror, and each of these have their own conventions. A few of the genres available include: thriller, pychological, religious, monster and gore.

The genre of monster does as it says on the tin. You can't have a monster film without a monster. A classic monster film would be 'Frankenstein'. Not only would a monster film have a monster, but it would most likely have a hero, a 'damsel in distress' and quite a lot of gore!

Here is the trailer for the 1910 version of 'Frankenstein'.



The aim of all horror films is solely ton scare the viewer. If the audience is not scared then the film would not be popular, as its purpose would be defeated. Conventions are the way that things are usually done. There are conventions in any medium, but within a horror film the main three are a human monster, a supernatural force, or a natural disaster.

The other conventions of a horror are one that made each film predictable, mask wearing villains, innocent protgonists, death, feeble helpless victimes. Films such as 'The Haunting', 'Scream' and 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' all follow these conventions to the letter.

'The Haunting' trailer



'Scream' trailer



'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' trailer




I have included an extract from 'The horror film: an introduction' By Rick Worland for further information.



Not all horror films aim to follow the conventions set out in these rules and regulations. It is these films that we aim to follow in our horror film. Beyond 'The Blair Witch Project' and 'Cloverfield' there are many films that aim to move past the conventions of a horror.

The film 'The Crazies' follows some of the conventions of a horror, but at the same time the use of a huge group of people as apposed to a monster or a antagonist allows the film to be unconventional.

The trailer:

The film 'Shutter Island' also moves away from the conventions of a horror or a thriller. By not revealing that Teddy Daniels is one of the mental patients the audience is drawn into the story created within his head.

The trailer:

The film 'daybreakers' is a refreshing take upon the more conventional vampire films. By making vampire the norm and human the few, there is a different feel to this movie, and the cliffhanger ending allows for interpretation within the audience.

The trailer:

Cloverfield

This is the trailer for the 2008 'Cloverfield' film. Like 'The Blair Witch Project' Cloverfield is an influential film as it is a POV film. However the story behind Cloverfield is that there is an monster attacking Manhattan. This is a different sort of story-line to us a s in our film we aim to never actually see what has killed all the charcters. This film has been influential, as the second half of the film is played from the POV camera, and this is something that we are considering for our film.

The Blair Witch Project

This is the trailer for the 1999 film, 'The Blair Witch Project'. This POV style film has been extremely influential, as it has all the arty mysterious effects as aim to use. The Blair Witch is never actually seen, and the cliff-hanger ending is the best part of the entire film. The use of enditing in this film has also been influential as it shows that we do not need to use transisitions for a siuccessful edit. This film has created a sort of basis for our film, but we will also use more editing, and cretae a more spooky opening, as the opening and title sequence for 'The Blair Witch Project' is not very effective.

The Brief

We have been asked to create a 2 minute opening to a horror film, and to document our planning process, including a 1 minute preliminary film. We decided to create a POV style art-house horror, similar to the Blair Witch Project or Cloverfield.
We want to create a more sylistic piece than either of these films, and have both POV and normal filming however both these films are influential. Blair Witch was a low-bidget high revenue film, which is also what we are aiming for.