Shane meadows

10 points from Joe Queenan's guide to horror film cliches

1. If the Japenese started making horror movies that did not revolve around creepy little girls who come back from the dead to avenge themselves on other,even creepier little girls,no one would go to see them.

2. If zombies didnt constantly turn up in unusual places - convenience stores,high-rise student housing,rural Pennsylvania - aficionados would drop the subgenre just like that.

3. Small children are often evil in horror movies,a tradition that descends from The Bad Seed and The Exorcist and The Omen.

4. Teens in horror movies are usually spoiled brats who deserve to die. They are always the products of broken homes. This is why they are so often home alone.

5.Horror movies almost always contain a scene in which a woman washes her face in a sink, and when she straightens up and looks in the mirror, a girl missing half her face is starting directly back at her.

6. Horror films work best in rural settings, because rustics are scary in and of themselves, and because there are lots of frightening farm tools on hand,and also because there are no neighbours to beg for help when the flaying and amateur surgery get into full swing

7. Horror movies also contain lots of scenes in which the living dead or the living undead zip past an open door or window,but nobody sees them.

8. Women constantly take showers in horror films, even though this has been a terrible idea ever since Psycho.

9.In a horror movie, you should never purchase a dirt-cheap house or apartment without making detailed inquiries about how many previous tenants were skinned alive in the pantry.

10.Never go into a darkroom alone,because someone in the film you are developing will come to life and rip your lungs open. Finally never answer te phone in a horror movie.To avoid disaster,text.

updates (again)

above: on set of our preliminary task when i was locked in a cubicle. see later

below: we has to make a sign so filming didn't get interrupted, not only did this look dodgy but there were a group of boys being taught in the room opposite. oops!

hello :)
we have finally done the long awaited preliminary task which was immense fun! i have been so excited about doing the task and thought it would be super easy but as i found out - i was completely wrong.

For the 2 minute film task, i was thinking about working alone but just from filming this preliminary task i have decided i am more than willing to work in a group and all of us contribute ideas.

because we had a triple media lesson we had some time to plan out what we were going to do for the task. 2 of us out of the group take drama (me and gemma) and i had an idea for the location which was the girls toilets. In class time we planned out our camera shots who was going to be who and even managed to get our friend nicole involved in her free period.

Being involved in drama i love to act so i wasn't behind the camera much in this task but when not in shot i helped with camera work and gave my opinions and advice to the person that was behind the camera. We found the tripod quite handy but also at times very hard to use.

As i want to be involved in TV acting when i am older this also gave me an insight into what it would be like. We had to do the scene many times say the line and match the actions everytime we shot it. There were also many outtakes. And a point during the two hours where i sat in a toilet cubicle for about half an hour.Overall i enjoyed the making of our preliminary task.

Next lesson a year 13 student will come in and share some editing experience and we will get to edit together our preliminary task which i am excited for.

As soon as i can i shall post our preliminary task.

certificates

These are the ratings from bbfc.co.uk

our film would be a 12A

This is a pre-preliminary task

Evaluation:

Things that worked well:

locker shots
overlaying music

Things that didnt work:

keeping the camera steady
using the tripod smoothly
continuity editing

Things that i could have done better:

editing
better microphone
more shots when the two people are in conversation

update

Soon in class we will be making our preliminary tasks which is quite exciting. I will post it on my blog :)

Possible Target Audience for My Film

It is most important to check out the categories and tick off each one too make you film successful. My film which at the moment provisionally is a chick flick is aimed at 13-17 year old females. To make my film appealing and to make profit if i were to release i would have to consider

Age
whats suitable for 13-17 year olds? i would have to bear in mind that something suitable for a 17 year old will most probably not be suitable for 13 year olds. Also a relevant storyline/narrative, i would have to do more research into what is going on in teen life at the moment. Obviously there is the obvious heartbreak and the 'gay' bestfriend. I will also have to think carefully not to make my characters to stereotypical, I will have to include characters that can relate to teenagers but make sure they are not too cheesy.

Gender
In the cinema, recent surveys showed that male audiences dominate. My film is targeted more at girls but i will have to also think of the boys that will go to see it with there girlfriends, have something for them to watch also. Maybe like 'freaky friday' the annoying little brother harry and the grandpa who are quite humourous and immature.

some other things i may want to think about are

Location,
Occupation,
Lifestyle choices,
Political backgrounds,
ethnicity and attitudes.

update

In class recently we have been editing our practice tasks. The way you edit will give a definite effect to the audience.