Wednesday, 30 January 2008
Tuesday, 29 January 2008
Handheld Makes Me Cry (Blair Witch)
Personally I find handheld camera work being the most effective way into scaring your audience. It takes P.O.V shots and makes them incredibly creepy. As an audience we are still very limited with what we see and since the camera is far more unsteady it really gives you the sense that you're the one behind the camera and that you're far more involved, making the whole cinematic experience more realistic and in effect frightening.
Blair Witch Project (1999) is most famous for its documentary style of filming with it almost entirely being filmed with handheld cameras. I find it one of the most scariest films I've watched yet through out it we are never shown any gore, violence, or witches, believe it or not. This may also be the case for many other thrillers yet if they don't depend on visuals to create tension music takes over. Again, there is no sound track of any kind with the only aural elements in the film being conversation between the student film makers. Handheld camera work is the reason in why this film is so scary and such a success, tension is incredibly high throughout the film as you really find yourself believing you are stuck in the forest with the other students desperately wanting to find your way out.
The reason I looked at Blair Witch is that it was both incredibly cheap to make and a great success. Handheld camera work can at times look unprofessional if used for the wrong genre but i feel we can take the disadvantage of us having basic equipment and a very low budget and use it to our advantage, hopefull making a truly frightening thriller opening.
Blair Witch Project (1999) is most famous for its documentary style of filming with it almost entirely being filmed with handheld cameras. I find it one of the most scariest films I've watched yet through out it we are never shown any gore, violence, or witches, believe it or not. This may also be the case for many other thrillers yet if they don't depend on visuals to create tension music takes over. Again, there is no sound track of any kind with the only aural elements in the film being conversation between the student film makers. Handheld camera work is the reason in why this film is so scary and such a success, tension is incredibly high throughout the film as you really find yourself believing you are stuck in the forest with the other students desperately wanting to find your way out.
The reason I looked at Blair Witch is that it was both incredibly cheap to make and a great success. Handheld camera work can at times look unprofessional if used for the wrong genre but i feel we can take the disadvantage of us having basic equipment and a very low budget and use it to our advantage, hopefull making a truly frightening thriller opening.
Monday, 28 January 2008
top 10 thrillers according to IGN
1. North By Northwest
2. Chinatown
3. Rear Window
4. Psycho
5. Silence of the Lambs
6. Manchurian Candidate
7. Night of the Hunter
8. Seven
9. Vertigo
10. Sixth Sense
2. Chinatown
3. Rear Window
4. Psycho
5. Silence of the Lambs
6. Manchurian Candidate
7. Night of the Hunter
8. Seven
9. Vertigo
10. Sixth Sense
"Master of Suspense"
Alfred Hitchcock (August 13,1899 - April 29,1980)
The most successful thriller director. Hitchcock has created some of the most iconic, influencial and chilling films of all time, Psycho, The Birds and Vertigo are just a few from his legendary library.
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