Prop Search

 Going to a store like Party City can be an exciting experience, especially when you have a project in mind and are looking for inspiration or specific items to complete it. Unfortunately, sometimes things don't go as planned and you end up leaving the store empty-handed, feeling disappointed or frustrated. This was the case for me recently when I visited Party City for a project but didn't find anything that fit my needs.

I had spent some time researching my project and had a clear idea of what I wanted to create, which involved using certain materials and decorations that I thought I could find at Party City. I drove to the nearest store and eagerly walked inside, scanning the aisles for the items on my list. However, after a few minutes of browsing, I realized that Party City didn't have what I was looking for.

I asked a salesperson for assistance and they tried to suggest some alternatives, but none of them were quite right. I checked other sections of the store, hoping to stumble upon something useful, but no luck. Eventually, I had to accept that Party City wasn't going to be the source of my project materials and I left the store feeling disappointed.

Of course, not finding what you're looking for at one store doesn't mean the end of the world. There are always other places to try, whether online or in person. Nonetheless, it can be frustrating to invest time and effort into a project, only to hit a roadblock when it comes to the supplies. Perhaps next time I'll do more research or widen my search to avoid another fruitless trip to Party City.

Planning 1

    After further discussion with my group members we decided to do paranormal subgenre for our project.  We decided that we could film an abandoned hospital and basically, the plot would be several teenagers go into the hospital and then start being killed off one by one due to the strange activity. We were going to use lots of handheld camera shots and very dark lighting as some of our main camera techniques. Sadly, this idea cannot come to fruition because the hospital is now being demolished. Although this is a set back, it should only be a minor setback as we can have other ideas. For now all we know is we aren't doing paranormal or vampire. We are thinking of doing slasher, we will need to do further planning first.

Group Meeting Reflection

     Today I met with other groups/ people who were doing their projects and seeing how mine compared and how we can offer each other ideas. The first person that presented shared their movie idea about a girl named Stella. We looked at her blogs and at that moment I realized how behind I was, she had several paragraphs each post and large amounts of media incorporation. She already finished her research and started her planning. It was not just her who was this ahead, everyone had large amounts of information and planning. Each post was several paragraphs and my work dwarfed in comparison. This is a wakeup call for me and my group members to work faster and harder than we've been working. This group post won't have as much work because there is not more to discuss but I have had some slight planning, I have thought of doing a slasher and having either me as the main character or making our main character gay to cover representation. I will give my ideas to my teammates and see how it goes.

Intro Examination Sample Research#3

     Today I will be reviewing another sample. Today I will not review any slasher movie but instead a heavily praised slasher film. This is because I want to see how movie titles and credits are incorporated in their work. This blog, I will examine "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" (1974). I will also compare it to "Halloween" (1978) and "Friday the 13th" (1980) to see what I should incorporate into my own work. The movie opens with a date "August 18, 1973", it then fades to black but digging sounds are displayed. A sudden flash of decayed fingers, eyes, arms, and teeth are displayed. Then a close up of a corpse is displayed. The radio plays which tells the audience about cemetery body robberies. The camera then begins to zoom out and the audience sees two corpses. The title is then shown but the radio continues to play.

    I did not see the type of credits I hoped to see, however much was learned. In terms of arousing mystery, this intro did it the best. The brief showcases of the corpse help keep the audience invested but still scared. This intro differentiates from other intros as the lighting was normal and it was done in day. I think in this intro helped keep the audience engaged more and create mystery but the other intros displayed technique more efficiently.

Intro Examination Sample Research#2

     This blog will also use a examine a sample to seek inspiration on what makes a good slasher horror intro. This blog I will be examining "Halloween" (1978). I will also be comparing it to "Friday the 13th" and seeing what was better and worse. The scene begins with the handheld POV shot. It is in the night and in dark lighting. Michael goes throughout the house avoiding people. As time goes on, it becomes clearer that he has a mask on. Michael climbs the stairs and watches his sister. He approaches her and kills her. He then walks outside where the camera finally deviates into a long shot. The entire intro is encased with an eerie sound to create fear among the audience.

    Although this intro was good, it was much more flawed than the "Friday the 13th" (1980) intro. To begin with, the entire scene was done in one shot. Although this is fine as movies like "La La Land" do this, it is not viable for this project as our goal is to demonstrate the full capability of what we learned to Cambridge. Another problem with this intro is the Title and credits were separated from the movie and done in a mediocre manner. I think this piece was good but not much can be learned due to the fact that it was in one take. The only thing that I gained was the reaffirmation of the usage of handheld POVs, low lighting, night, and eerie non-diegetic sound.

Intro Examination Sample Research

     This blog I will review what happened in the "Friday the 13th" intro and the techniques I learned from it. The scene begins with an establishing shot of the time and location of the movie (Crystal Lake 1968). The lighting is dark and the intro takes place at night with the moon out. It then switches to a wide shot displaying the teenagers/ soon to be victims. There is then a cutaway to presumably the killer. The use a handheld and POV shot, most likely to establish realism as well as a stalker vibe. An eerie non-diegetic sound starts to play "ch ch ch ah ah ah ah" which tells the audience when Jason is near. The killer is looking at a whole house full of possible victims and then starts stalking two alone teens. The director uses the obstruction technique to let the audience know the couple is being stalked. The teens then start getting physical. The camera switches back to Jason's hand held POV and then has Jason kill his victims. The intro then ends with the title and credits.

    I learned that obstruction and hand held POV allows for the audience to know that someone is being stalked. I also learned that dim/ low lighting helps create a scarier environment. Another fact is that playing an eerie sound allows to create a creepy feeling when appropriate. Although this sample was great, I feel like the ending was cheesy and that the incorporation of the credits and title were done horribly.

Slasher horror subgenre

     Our group has collectively agreed to do a horror movie. We each have chosen a sub-genre of horror to research and then read each others postings where we will decide the route we want to go. I have chosen the slasher subgenre. The slasher subgenre includes movies/ franchises such as Halloween, Friday the Thirteenth, Scream, Terrifier, Psycho, etc. I believe the slasher genre is defined by a human entity who brutally stalks and murders their prey. This human entity is a serial killer and has the option of having supernatural powers. For this project I think I will ignore the supernatural aspect as there is only a 2 minute run time and trying to go in depth on this topic will most likely confuse the audience.

                                       

 In slasher movies, the setting is typically a secluded area or small town. I believe for our movie/ intro we will either do it in a woody forest or an abandoned building. The victims and main characters also typically tend to be teenagers. The last person standing typically tends to be a girl, our group may deviate from this trend as we are all males, however, we will see. Deaths usually involve heavy gore and tend to deviate kill to kill, however in a 2 minute frame I think there will only be 2 victims max. The time of the movie typically tends to be at night so there will probably be a lot of work to be done with the lighting. The killer also tends to have a signature weapon, some ideas I have are chainsaw, cleaver, knife, or pitch fork. The killer also tends to have a set costume design, I believe we will show it in the opening, however, I have no idea what that will look like. That will be expanded upon during planning. Another staple of slashers and horror in general is the jump scare. I plan to just have one at the very end when the killer kills his first victim.

    The horror genre also has many conventional techniques. In terms of camera techniques, POV/ perspective, tracking shots, wide shots, and extreme close ups. One common technique is obstruction where the camera is held behind an object to imitate the feeling of being watched. In action sequences the camera tends to be shaky and handheld to help create a feeling of chaos, suspense, and reality. I feel like this would work well if the victim is running, I do not know if the killer will run, that will be taken care of with more planning. Mise-en-scene usually consists of a foggy texture in the air. Color pallet consists of heavy black, grey, blue, red, and brown with hints of white. Common lighting techniques are: uplighting, silotete, spotlighting, underexposure, harshlighting, and projection of shadows.

Bibliography:

By, P. (2022, October 24). The Ultimate Guide to Horror subgenres. No Film School. Retrieved February 21, 2023, from https://nofilmschool.com/ultimate-guide-to-horror-subgenres

Designing for horror. Entertainment Partners. (n.d.). Retrieved February 21, 2023, from https://www.ep.com/blog/designing-for-horror-friday-the-13th/

Kench, S., Sam Kench Sam Kench is an internationally-awarded screenwriter, & Sam Kench is an internationally-awarded screenwriter. (2021, October 25). The slasher film - definition, characters, villains & tropes. StudioBinder. Retrieved February 21, 2023, from https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-is-a-slasher-film-definition/

Rae, John, A., & Scripts, I. (2021, November 30). The 13 key elements of a slasher movie with 10 slasher movie examples. Industrial Scripts®. Retrieved February 21, 2023, from https://industrialscripts.com/slasher-movie/

Rampton, M. (2022, November 1). 10 horror subgenres to know before planning your next movie marathon. Mental Floss. Retrieved February 21, 2023, from https://www.mentalfloss.com/posts/horror-movie-subgenres

A study on the positives and negatives of using technology in the ... - liu. (n.d.). Retrieved February 21, 2023, from https://digitalcommons.liu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1012&context=post_honors_theses