Another unit done means another blog post. But what could it be about this time, especially based off a title like that?
Well recently in class we had the opportunity to complete a unit on horror. Our driving question was:

Why is horror such an effective way to reflect and comment on our society?

In order to answer this question we first had to have some knowledge on the subject. So we started off the project by looking at the horror genre through the time and how though you may think there is no hidden meaning behind a scary movie there truly is. To get this project rolling we began to read Frankenstein written by Mary Shelley. Going into this book I expected to read about a novel about a big green scary monster named Frankenstein as that is how modern day story’s portray him. However as I started to read I was instantly shocked at how much deeper this story is rather than simplybeing about a creature that destroys things. This was our first connection as to how horror does have a deeper meaning and that you truly should look for all of the details. Learning this and having this fresh in our mind was then a perfect transition to actually watching some horror films. We began by watching the 1978 Halloween movie, as this was my first ever horror movie experience I wasn’t sure what exactly to expect. If you would like to read more about the experience and how I believed that film reflected on society you can read my previous blog post which has been linked. Next up seeing as how we are dealing with different issues then we were in 1978 we also watched the movie Get Out. This film made it very evident how social issues are a part of horror films and relevant to the time. Yet another movie we watched was James Whales Frankenstein which showed yet another different perspective on society which is represented through a horror film.

At this point we had seen a few films and had a basis understanding however we were given the opportunity to deepen our learning we went on a field study.We hopped on the bus and travelled to Seattle Washington in order to learn more about this genre and other aspects of it. The first stop on this trip was the LeMay Car Museum. Now you may be thinking what does this have to do with our project at all? Well it surprisingly was very useful because it allowed us to see just how much society at the time can affect so much, even cars.

Truly why we went to Seattle though was to look through the MoPop museum and specifically the horror exhibit. This exhibit included everything from props such as like the Jason mask to video interviews of directors talking about films  and the genre in general.

It was helpful to learn at this very well done exhibit that fear is the anticipation that something is about to occur and is what keeps us alive and competitive as a species. It was also helpful to learn that a monster is something that will wait until you are least prepared, identification of a creatures primary strengths and weaknesses.

Other parts of the exhibition included directors such as Eli Roth and John Landis talking about films that changed them, the film industry as well as films directed by them.

That night we then went to the George Town morgue which is a haunted house type thing that is supposed to be one of the scariest in North America. Seeing as how I have never even been in a single haunted house and get scared fairly easily, knowing that not only would it scare me in the moment but that I would also think about it lying after I decided against entering. Once back at the hotel however it wasn’t quite time for bed because we then began the main project of this unit. Creating a horror movie. That night we began by discussing ideas for possible stories and also interviewed for roles such as director, producer and screen writer. I decided to apply as the director however did not get the but instead was given Post production supervisor, script supervisor, camera operator and location manager. So a fair bit of work to do.
As a class we began discussing possible story options and came up with a few. Once back in Vancouver with the teachers being away for a week it was up to us to think about the story and for the script team to start writing.

After contemplating many different story options the key creative team agreed that our best option was to make the movie about a group of teens who pulled grad pranks and got caught and as a result the janitor has to watch them and clean up after them which pushes him over the edge. As my role on the script team wasn’t needed until we were in the midst of filming and I couldn’t determine the locations until the script was complete it seemed that for a few days there was nothing to do. But after a while and after many revisions of the script that changed.

This was the location decisions I made:

We then began filming and came across many issues such as scheduling and communication. For example a few times while we were filming we could not continue either because the actor in the scene wasn’t there, we couldn’t use the location we had planned for or we assumed we could do it another time. This ended up being a major downfall and somewhat caused is to not fully complete this production. We were supposed to complete the film December 13th however were not even close to completing the film at that point so we continued on past the deadline.

As time went on we were struggling to complete this project. We would set times and decide we were filming however at the end would not fully accomplish what we had set out to on our call sheets.

 

So after all this time we decided with only a few scenes left that we couldn’t finish filming the movie. So we decided to create a trailer instead and here it is:

 

Overall this project was definitely a learning curve. As a team we had to learn our specific strengths and weaknesses. We learned that communication is key in all aspects. Wether that means communicating what we feel about the project, timing, ideas and much more.
I also specifically learned that it is important to get your ideas out there however not to take to much control and take things personally. This was very difficult at times however in the long run it ended up helping the entire project I believe.It was also very interesting learning all of the aspects of the film industry. Living in Vancouver there constantly are movies being filmed either at service itself, across the street from my house and all over the city. So to know a little bit more about all the intensive work that goes into a film is very helpful and interesting.

Another conclusion from this project was that I never realized how much the horror industry and stories in general are affected by society. I had always viewed horror movies as just something that is scary. However it is much more then that. They allow people to face there fears indirectly.

Overall this unit has been very interesting and I know that it will be useful for the future. So as I used to say when I first started writing these blogs.
Bye for Now.