Past students work

Incoming
This was made by a group of students in Prague. The themes of the film are issues and war.  The film maker used family and friends as the actors, they were well directed so the actors performed very well. The film maker uses a lot of close ups, this makes you feel closer to the characters as it gives an intimate feel to the film. Another strength of the film was research on the era that they were pretending to film in. It really felt that the war was actually on and that people were waiting for their sons to come home. This makes the film really emotional and real for the audience. Another strong aspect which stands out to me is the use of props, for example the TV which the mum was watching fit exactly with the intended time scale. Also, the phone which the son was using was very relevant and helped make the war at the time believable.

Burst
This film deals with the issue of drugs and the consequences which follow. The basic story line can be seen as a message to the viewers, as we slowly see his life being destroyed before us. We are just as helpless as him himself. The film plays with the idea if speaking in all, 1st, 2nd and 3rd person to narrate, describe and show his life to us. This is which makes the film so successful, as we become aware that he himself is aware of what's happening, he draws himself away from his own character and becomes a seperate person. Another strong aspect is the lighting, the film uses vibrant and strong colors to portray the different feelings.  They give a sense of emotion and realism.
A criticism that i have is the excessive amount of effects have the film has. Most of the clips have some effects and they do add an adult atmosphere to the film but sometimes i felt that not everything needed to be slowed down or coloured. Despite this, i think that when they slowed it down and showed the woman getting punched and then stopped it to show her expression to this- it was really effective.

Proof
The film 'proof' focuses on a man who is desperately searching for a logical reason for love. The short film starts with his girlfriend giving him a note and asking him to solve it. The rest of the film is him frantically searching for the answer to this note- and as the audience, you don't know what's written on the note. This gives the whole film a mystery feel and you just want to find out what is happening! The film is convincing because of the amount of adults and good locations in the film but the plot is a bit silly and unrealistic- especially at the end when he falls down an elevator shaft. :)


Wowman
I GUESSED THE STORY LINE! (CR)
Wowman is a comedy and you can tell it is a comedy from the title sequence because it has a cheery soundtrack. To be honest- 'wowman' is not the best example of a short film and i dont think that we will be taking any tips or hints away from it. At best it was some nicely framed shots and at worst- it is deeply creepy. Its very disturbing and crazy- therefore that is all we wish to comment on it. If anything we know what not to do.

Analysing other films

Twilight
After watching Twilight, we have come to the conclusion that we will not be using any ideas from the opening part. This is because although the film is quite vampire related, we do not see any of this in the opening scene. There is a lot of romance and we only actually see the threat once. This is at the very beginning when the deer is being chased through the forest.

There is an extreme long shot which was used of the forest, this is a very establishing shot because we see a lot of the setting and although we are not aware of it, it is where the majority of the film will take place.

There is also a lot of non diegetic parallel sound used which mirrors the mood which we will take into consideration. Also, the lighting we can take learn from when making our film, because there was a lot of low lit dark shots which create a sinister atmosphere, which will therefore be ideal for our film.

We do not know the film is super natural from watching the first 15 minutes as not that much is actually revealed. The film does not scare us but we do watch in suspense as to what will happen next- which is a start.


Interview with the vampire 
Use of camera-
Typical of all films, not just horror- the film starts with an extreme long shot of the sleeping city and this sets the scene. When the threat is introduced, a sort of jump shot is used to show that the vampires' movements are faster than the eye can see- this is then explained.  When a flashback occurs, it then restarts as an extreme long shot to signify the start of a new story. When the horror stuff starts, the threat always jumps into the scene so that it is unexpected and makes the audience jump every time.

Editing-
The shots start of long to set the scene and then as things get more exiting the shots get shorter and faster paced. They build pace by gradually making the shots faster and shorter- to ease the audience into the horror.

Sound-
A lot of scary non-diegetic is used near the beginning and it is creepy because string instruments are used  such as violins. At one point contrapuntal non-diegetic is used when the vampire is biting the main character and they are flying in the air. This is quite humorous as the two things clash and are contraversial.

Mise-en-scene:
setting is gloomy, creates scary atmosphere- low lighting, in the flashback it makes it seem really in the past as the flashback has a sepia effect. make up is used to make the vampire look authentic. things such as white face and blue veins being promenant. Also how the vampire stands tall and erect, stiff and formal as if he has born in a different time which he was.

Threat is introduced by introducing himself. he says that he is a vampire and offers to tell the journalist about his life. He admits that he wanted to suck his blood and it is so straightforward that it almost seems that the film is taking the mick out of horror films.


30 days of night
The film opens with several extreme long shots. These long shot establish a sense of both isolation and seclusion. It makes us lose hope and we fear that they are away from humanity and away from any sense of help or hope.
There is also a extreme close up of the protagonists, Evan's face. The close up shows the pain and desperation in his face.
The sound used throughout the film is mostly parallel and mostly non diegetic, most of this being sound tracks which doesn't really help us.

Conventions of Vampire Films

For our film, we will be focussing on the vampire genre.


Original horror films were more about supernatural things than the more gore and torture that is common in horror films today. We hope not to use torture and indecent exposure in our film because we consider it cheap and tacky.


Typical conventions in vampire films are:

• Blood

Blood is a key point in a vampire film. Depending on the film and its certificate. Some films have more blood than others, i.e. in Twilight, we see very little blood, whereas in 30 days of Night, there is blood in pretty much every scene.

• Neck biting and prop teeth

Teeth are one of the most important aspects of a vampire film. They are also the most recognizable feature of a vampire and each film does them a bit differently. You can use actual sharp fangs like, for example, true blood- or you can just have normal white teeth but have it assumed they are razor sharp like in the Twilight saga films.

An advantage of neck biting is that if you film it the right way, you don't have to actually see teeth going into skin, you can just see a head on a neck and it is presumed. 

• Night setting

Although we do want a low lit, dark nigh time setting, we have discussed it and decided that shooting in the day time would be more beneficial. This is because we can then edit the footage and make it appear darker, as if we try to soot in low lit conditions the quality of the film will not be as good and start to pixilate. In most vampire films the vampires are burned by the sun so can only come out at night. In many horror films, not just vampire films, bad things always happen at night. I think this is because for most people, the dark and night is very intimidating and through stereotypical horror films- people have come to be scared of the dark and what is lurking in it.

These are other traditional props and places found in vampire films:

• Graveyards

Graveyards are a really good setting for a vampire themed film as there is something creepy about a graveyard- where you are treading on peoples graves. Also due to lots of films using graveyards as places where bad things happen- they have developed a negative connotation. Also they and are often used because of the eery quite that they have and because many people think they are haunted. We would most likely use a graveyard in our film as it sets the theme well and they are easy to film. Also you can get some good angles with tomb stones ect.

• Gothic setting
• Coffins
• Crucifixes

• Holy water

Holy Water is a good thing to use in a vampire film as it is often used a weapon against the threat. It is comforting for an audience to know that vampire(s) can be killed but we probably wont use it as its a little cheesy and also wouldn't a film be more scary if the threat couldn't be killed? :)

I think that if we were to give our victim a weapon then it would be something more original and hard to get like, for example, The Vampire Diaries use a herb called Vervain to poison vampires- but doesn't kill them. I think this is good as i doesn't wipe out our threat but just incapacitates them for a short while. (Megan)

• Garlic

Garlic is the same as Holy water in my opinion- i think that it is cheesy. The current young generation are very focused on horror and fantasy fiction and often things like garlic and holy water are teased for being silly so i think we should take a more original take on a vampire horror and get creative. :)

Other important features are:

• Costume

In traditional vampire films, the vampires are dressed in black capes, whereas in more modern vampire films these features are more subtle, and it is common for a vampire to be dressed in modern day clothes to blend into society. This makes it more realistic and believable. We think we will be aiming for pale skin, red lips etc, but also trying to keep it a little more modern.

• Make up/Pale skin

Pretty much in every vampire film the vampires are very pale skinned , this makes them more scary and dead looking. When we make our film, it will be easy to create this effect using simple everyday make up and a good imagination.

• Indestructible

Typical vampires are strong and indestructible, this makes them more scary as they appear hard to kill. In tradition vampire films, things like Garlic and Holy water can ward off or kill vampires, however in the more modern vampire films, these are seen as myth and superstition, again this makes the vampires more scary and adds a new twist to the vampire genre.