Ideas for Film genre

So, starting this blog, I shall discuss the themes that were mentioned during a group talk about the genre our film wanted to take.

Firstly, we had the idea of a Taken sort of film, you know, the one staring Liam Neeson. In the story line a friend/family member would be kidnapped by some Russian mafia, and these thugs request our anti-hero to give them some money, because obviously the hero just has to have this sort of money doesn't he. So instead of forking over, he gets really angry and decides to hunt them down.

I imagine how the beginning credits would pan out, thinking that the hero would answer a phone-call as he was scribbling notes, which the notes themselves would hold the credits to the film in bold, and as he flips each page to write more notes about the Russian Mafia's evil plot, the credits of each category would be on each lined pad, as he listened to their request. The camera itself would focus on these close ups of the hand with the  scribbling which held the credits, with the occasional MS of the hero's face to see his expression change from casual to angry as the phone-call progressed. I also wouldn't show the Mafia at this moment, instead a CU of a shadowed hand holding a phone, giving directions, as this would cause a sense of suspense of who this mystery person could be.

I'm probably thinking along the lines of a bond villain here, but that's a general idea, so I won't get carried away, but I'm trying to say, that sort of cliche. This would have been a great idea, to shoot for different camera angles, but as a group, I think we wanted to be more personal within the roles and didn't want to get older actors.


The second idea for the genre film was a Hammer Horror or Universal horror film, from any of the time periods. I preferably would have sticked to Hammer Horror as its more British toned, even though films like "The Man who laughs" and "Frankenstein" were supposed to have elements of British culture in the films.

If we were to film a Hammer Horror film, perhaps the most make-up efficient wise would be Dracula, as he required very little to look convincing Again we would probably have to get an older actor to play him if we were going to feature Dracula in the film.Yet Christopher Lee in one particular Dracula film, only was present for a whole 8 mins! so I probably wouldn't have him feature in the opening credits which is a shame. Although if I am mistaken, in Prince of Darkness, Dracula was featured straight away being resurrected by his slave/creature thing, but I think it would be wiser to stick to the more common, story line panning scene's as to get a general sense of the story.

The beginning credits would probably start (in black and white) with the framed, hand written blood font to give credit to the stars and crew (see image below) and have Jonathan Harker stumbling around in dark,creepy sets (probably made of cardboard) trying to find his way to Count Dracula's castle, with very limited interaction and mostly tracking shots of the person who plays Harker walking around, and maybe using a few MS to show his fear over the whole scenario. To do this genre would be fun, but again we would have to use slightly older actors, not many camera shots and no interactions, that basically would make the 2 minutes rather boring, and nothing much happening, so we decided not to go with this idea.

Our Final idea, again was horror, but a more stylized hidden footage, like Blair Witch, Troll Hunter, Rec and Paranormal Activity. Over the years these films had become more popular, and had gained different techniques how to film, like Cloverfield being CGI movement, while Blair Witch Project used a more psychological effect of not really being able to see it. We thought we should stick to a more Blair Witch project type, as this was easier to create effects and more stylized to recreate realistic footage. Our idea was for the credits, to have the crew exploring a pendle hill outing, and the normal interactions that you would find in a camping trip with social friends. By using gimmicky actions, like awkward zooming, and having the camera going in and out of focus, we are able to create a sense of falseness to the film to make up for limited camera angles that you find in this genre.

We finally decided that the Hidden Footage was the best genre to film, as we could explore its content and re-create a film opening with our own image in mind, instead of copying things like Dracula and Taken plots.

So, Pendle Hill Horror awaits! :)


(If there are any mistakes, please excuse them. )