what is the typical conventions of horror films?

When it comes to a horror film there are several conventions you can guarentee will be included in the film. these are things such as:

• Murder, usually the murder victim is a young woman. Also the murder happens within the begining of this film. Same as to this in our film the victim will be a young, nieve teenage girl. however we are going to adapt when our victim is murder slightly. The murder will happen about a quarter of the way through our film.
• Blood, as there is lots of vicious murders. There tends to be lots and lots of blood, making another convention of horror films which is gory.
• A murder wepon, the wepon is usually put in obvious places and used for previous scences to give you a clue that the object is going to be of some kind of significance later on in the film. In our film we are going to use this convention in a similar way, the murder wepon will be placed in an obvious place so it is clearly in view, therefore giving the audience a strong hint that this object will be of importance in our fim.
• Scary music, sounds are used to build up suspense in tension filled moments. This is usually before something bad is going to happen to give the audence a warning. In the opening of out film we will make use of the typical convention of scary music to have the audience sat in suspense before the film have even started, this way they will be prepared for the horror to come.

Media Horror film interview

This is a video showing our group interview two teenagers(one male one female)to find out why they are interested in the horror genre. We asked them several questions, they then answered one after another telling us why they think teenagers choose to watch horror films.

analysis of Land of the dead

The land of the dead

The film land of the dead is a horror genre film. It is based on the release of a bad virus causing people to mutate and turn into zombies. They then begin to eat each other. When you have been bitten by one of the zombies you begin to change and mutate yourself.

There is a variety of camera shots and movements, sound and editing throughout the film.  During the introduction there is non-digetic sound in the background of chewing and the sound of someone eating. This gives a clear idea of what the film may be based upon. There is then digetic sound of a news reporter as images of zombies are being shown. The digetic sound explains the situation.

This very first shot is a high angled establishing shot. The lighting is very dark and blurred. This shot is used to show the audience the area where the film will be based. Also the shot is filmed with particular dark lighting to give a spooky atmosphere.

The sign of an arrow with the words ‘eat’ written on it signifies that the film is based upon zombies eating other humans. The camera zooms in, doing a close up shot on the sign, this emphasises the importance of the word eat in the film.

The camera follows the zombies as they appear; this is called a pane shot. The director does this to show more and more zombies appearing. The more zombies showed the bigger the impact on the audience. The lighting is still dark. This is because traditionally zombies come out at night, also darkness gives a more tense and spooky atmosphere.

The zombies are shown holding instruments in a typical everyday environment. This makes the shot more shocking for the audience. Also the fact that they are still stood with their instruments where they would have been performing makes it seem more sudden that they haven’t had a chance to get a way.

Preliminary task

How did you approach the task?
As none of us had much experience with using a camera, We first went around filming random pieces of film and then editing them by putting in different effects such as music. This gave us a little bit of experience when it came to filming and editing our preliminary task. We then came into our chosen groups and drew up a story board explaining exactly what we wanted to do in our short piece of film. Then we began to film our preliminary task.


How satisfied were you with your filming?
Overall I think we created a decent piece of filming for beginners. Although there were a few mistakes such as: we didn't have a match-on-action shot; also our door scene didn't flow and we learnt that in order to get the best quality filming you should always use a tripod! However mistakes were expected as none of us are experts when it comes to filming.


How well did your team work together? How could you be better organised next time?
I think our team worked very well together. We straight away agreed on who would be best for each role. Bethany and Eli as the actors; me as filmer and Chloe as director.


What particular problems or challenges occurred?
We didn't really experience many problems during filming. However we did experience people walking through our film in the process of filming. That was a bit of a challenge because we had to have the patients to be disturbed half way through and then start again.


What have you learnt about filming from completing this task?
Filming our preliminary task has taught me that filming takes a lot of patients as a small film such as this takes a lot of time and effort. Its not something you can just run though once, it is a long process that consists of lots of little parts being carefully pieced together.

AS Media Video - Bethany, Eli, Charlie, Chloe

filming and camera movements

extreme long(establishing shot)
helps to establish time and location. this shot is oftern used at the begining to enable us to see the character from head to toe.


long shot
introduces character and shows their status.


mid shot
this normally follows a long shot. it enables the audience to see the character from the waist up.


two shot
shows two characters, its oftern used in chat shows.


close up
shows close up of a person face or object, this helps to show a clearer view of the characters expression. its engages the audience and shows the characters motive clearly.


over the shoulder shot
enables you to see the background over characters shoulder.


extreme close up
this shows a more intense emotion of the character.


tracking shot
when the camera moves with the character or object si tge audience can keep up with the same pace. oftern the camera is placed on a trolly.


zoom
the alternate of tracking shot. shows a much closer, clearer view of a character or object.


sideways track
enother shot where you follow a character or object, usually used in action shots.


tilt shot
the camera is still but is being moved on a tripod up or down.


arc shot
when the camera moves round in an arc shape.


crane shot
this shot is used in high up shots. Acrane is used hense the name crane shot.


pane shot
usually on a tripod moving across the room.