My Blog

As you know, I often give quite negative reviews of most of the films
that I watch. I don’t do this out of meanness or just for the hell of
it but because, from seeing the mistakes that some make, it should be
easier for others to avoid them in the first place.

Alas, that
is never the case. Everyone thinks they know best when they are making
their own movies and forget even the most important rules due to budget
and time constraints.

So I thought today that I’d outline a few
points which would make my horror film watching more enjoyable.
Directors and actors please take note.

1) A horror film should
be scary. It’s no good just loading it up with blood, gore and
screaming if you are playing something like "The Smurf Song" in the
background or you have distanced your audience from any empathy with
your characters. Think of how to evoke an atmosphere of dread by using
suitable background music (or even not using any at all!) and by making
your characters attractive to the viewer. Remember your target audience
and what they are there for.

2) Characterisation is everything.
If we don’t get to know the characters then we don’t care about what
happens to them. Flashbacks and voiceovers don’t work. The character
should give his own exposition throughout even if you are short of
time. Also characters should be consistent or consistently
inconsistent. Don’t suddenly turn a weakling into a hero or a hero into
a weakling and try to avoid comedy unless you know your stuff and have
someone with natural ability to perform for you.

3) Unity of
time and place is also very important. This is straight out of
Aristotle’s literary criticism. Try to keep the action in one place
(unless you are making a James Bond movie) and in a reasonable time
period. You only have 90 minutes to fill so try not to get over
ambitious and put a year’s worth of action into 10 minutes. You are not
supposed to be making "Dances With Wolves". Most good horror movies are
over within a 24 hour period or less. Let’s try to keep it that way.
Also watch out for continuity errors. Even changes in light can make
editing later an absolute nightmare.

4) A story should have a
beginning, a middle and an end. It doesn’t matter if you put the
beginning in the middle or the middle at the start as long as the plot
has those three elements. Don’t confuse the audience with numerous
flashbacks and an ending that makes no sense to the original story. The
use of an epilogue is best avoided unless your name is Quinn Martin.

5)
Avoid CGI unless you have an enormous budget. Even the most expensive
computer effects always look fake and are easily spotted and sneered
at. If you don’t have a big budget avoid the gore in favour of other
more creative deaths if that is what you are after. Watch Twilight Zone
episodes to see how it is possible to be really scary at times without
resorting to buckets of corn syrup or a bag of pigs’ intentines from
the local butcher. If you are making a monster movie, keep him hidden
most of the time so that you can get some shock value with the final
reveal.

6) Make some suspense. Use some appropriate music and
focus on the predicament of one character. Don’t go overboard or the
audience will feel fatigued and bored. There is a natural timing
involved in such things and you will only see it once you view the film
yourself after shooting.

7) Don’t have too many characters on
screen at the same time all jabbering over each other either. More than
three speaking roles and the viewer is lost. Using an eavesdropping
character who is out of sight of the others is also a good use of a
silent character to create some intrigue.

If you are a
director then give your actors some appropriate direction. Remember
that this is your film not theirs and your vision is the one which will
be pulled apart by critics when you get it wrong. Don’t suffer
primadonnas from acting school telling you how they should be in the
role. Check with your scriptwriter often to make sure this is what he
or she intended the character to be like too. Use storyboards if your
cameraman doesn’t have a clue either and never let him use his own
judgment.

9) If you are an actor, do not give your director a
hard time. He has the producers breathing down his neck and just wants
to get on with the job. He doesn’t care if you just learnt how to speak
with a glass of water in your mouth in acting class and doesn’t want it
demonstrated in every scene. Do what he tells you to do otherwise
you’ll end up on the cutting room floor or be replaced with a sock
puppet.

10) Finally, for this time. After you have made the
film, don’t rush to sell it straight away. Watch it again, edit a lot
and reshoot if possible. You are very unlikely to get it right first
time and no movie is perfect but being realistic about what you are
seeing yourself is. If you can no longer trust your own judgement get
an outsider in to critique it before you make the changes.

*****

I may add some more to this but I’d like to get some feedback before I continue.