Yesterday (Tuesday 11th October) we began our filming for our final genre sketch. We drew up a list of shot types that followed along with the initial narrative. I thought this was really beneficial because it steered us in the right direction instead of creating shots in the moment.

What was really successful about yesterday is the mise en scene of the film and the camera angles we were able to form. I was really happy with the location we came about and feel that it fitted the plot perfectly. We were able to get a lot of different view points for this horror which really emphasised the psychological movement of this sketch. It shows many points of view and throws off the audience more for what they expect and reinforce what has lead the characters to this situation.

What I feel that we struggled with is the depth of the sketch. We were able to film all the different scenes that we want to edit together but fear that it may not be enough to create an 8-10 minute horror with constantly engaging the audience. I think that once we have a rough cut of the sketch we will be able to see what is missing and the points that are the least engaging. Since we have done this filming early it will allow us to have time to have to shoot more for the film or re create scenes that are of less effect.

Overall I feel pretty confident that we have met the standards of the Project Brief in terms of what is expected.

This week we looked at the film ‘Cabin in the Woods’ I had seen this before and personally wasn’t the biggest fan. I feel like this is a horror film that throws together all of the expected horror conventions into one film rather than focussing on one. One part of this film that I do respect and feel was executed well was incorporating the ‘Final Girl Theory’. This is where the virgin survives/dies last. Not only is this a horror convention, in this film it was seen as a ritual for this to occur. I feel that this is a very expect convention of the horror genre and dates back to the earliest horror films. ‘Cabin in the Woods’ acts upon these conventions of a horror film and incorporates them into the narrative rather than being subconscious.

Watching this film again emphasised the knowledge I have for the horror genre and why I am so fond of it. What I really enjoy is the typical conventions and how auteurs and directors act upon this to either follow it, or find new ways to surprise the audience. I think this film had an influence into why for our PB4 genre sketch we wanted to divert away from the typical horror story line. This does not mean fully diverting away from what is expected in these films, but changing up the protagonist and antagonist to form a more psychological horror with conventions of noir to draw on these differences.

This was a very all over the show week, I had group assignments due for my other subjects and I ended up having to go home on Wednesday night unexpectedly. Although all of this occurred there was progress with our group assignment for Exploding Genre where we have constructed a script, and starting our story board. Im really happy with this progress because it means we will be able to spend more time on filming/editing to be able to create a successful final genre sketch and spend more time on the final Exegesis.

I decided to watch some horror clips as I wasn’t very active/engaged this week, to get some ideas that could contribute to the cinematography and narrative. I watched American Horror Story (season 6) which was a bit of a fail, but made me understand about editing and lighting more intensely for what we want to create. Out of this show I got the ideas of a dark ambience- this is really effective because it can make a simple shot seem more daunting and add to the narrative rather then having to make the scene more complicated. Also what we will need to think about is the sound track and non-diegetic sound. We want to use as less amount of characters as possible so I feel that these different things will be very important in order to put together this genre sketch.