The History of Horror Films presentation

The history of horror films

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Introduction to Main Task

We have been introduced to our Main Task recently. This is the piece we will produce after our Preliminary Task and after lots of planning and preperation.
Our task is to create a 2 minute film opening in the genre of Teen Horror. We have been studying different horror films to give us an idea of what a typical horror film opening is like, and to see how the feeling of fear relates to common horror films.
In our film opening we should include titles, different camera angles and display different editing skills. The plot should be clear, and attractive to the viewing audience. Any scenes shown should also be suitable for the target age we have been given which is 15.

Storyboarding - Preliminary Task

Today myself and Lauren began work on our storyboard for our Preliminary Task.

We began to draw out basic pictures of the shots that we are planning to use, in sequence, with the desired location and character/s. We also included the sound heard in each scene, where it is located and the camera shots and movements used in each scene.

Below is a picture of our storyboard so far:

Final Cut Express - Practice Editing

We have been using Final Cut Express to practice editing and get to grips with the program. We began to edit some footage previously uploaded to the Macs.
The footage was previous Preliminary Task footage of two people meeting and creating a dialogue. We used the footage to create our own individual films through changing the order that the clips come in, editing at different points and adding different effects to the clips.

Final Cut Express

We have been introduced to the program Final Cut Express. We will be using this program to edit all of our videos and firstly, our Preliminary Task footage.

With this program we will be able to edit the length of our clips, place them into different sequences, add sounds and music and change the original footage completely.

This will be a good way to improve the quality of our final product as we will have lots of different techniques in it.

Location planning and casting - Preliminary Task

While we were planning our script, myself and Lauren took casting and location into consideration.


Our casting consists of two drama teachers, Mr Townell and Mrs Pringle (although as this is only a preparation we have not yet asked permission...)
We have backup casting of two students in our class in case, for some reason, we cannot have the casting we wish.

Location wise we have planned to use the Drama Hall as it is where the teachers are based. We can also use the lights to affect the mood of the script as we decide.

We will also be filming in the corridor to the Drama Hall at the beginning of the script.

Our second planned location is in the Stage, although this will be a difficult place to shoot as there is a noisy PE hall next door which may hinder our audio recording.

In this lesson we also went into the Media Suite. Mr Henton showed us various techniques for editing a short clip on Final Cut Express. Some techniques he showed us were cropping film and adding different effects.

Producing a script for the Preliminary Task

In today's lesson we began to plan and write the script for our Preliminary Task.


The script includes the first shot opening the scene, the location of the scene and the rough time of day when the scene takes place. There are 4 lines and two characters, each character has two lines to speak and actions that go with them.


We have discussed different ideas for our script which we will develop in the next lesson. Below is a picture of the script:

We were also given our target grades. My target grade for Media Studies is B/C.

Introduction to Preliminary Task

Preliminary task - a 3 step approach


Today we were introduced to our Preliminary Task.
Our task is to produce a short film of two characters and some dialogue - a character walks into a room, sits opposite another, they exchange some short lines of dialogue.
There are 3 important steps involved in making our Preliminary Task.


Step One - Planning - Pre - production (Planning beforehand -  script writing, storyboarding, discussing ideas, casting, location planning, props)
Step Two - Filming - Production (The filming and editing)
Step Three - Editing - Post - production


We spent some time thinking about the camera angles and movements that we were going to use in our Prelim film, who we were going to cast, where we would film, and got onto writing our script.


We discussed the different aspects of each step, things we need to do to carry them out and what technical aspects have to be evident (match on action, shot/reverse shot, 180 degree rule).

Introduction to Camera Movements

We have also been introduced to different camera movements.


Basic camera movements


Tracking -  camera moves along tracks to follow a character. This is done using tracks and a dolly.


Crane shot - camera is attached to a crane, this shot is over or above where the action of the scene is taking place.


Side tracking / Crab shot - the same as the tracking shot, but along the side of the character.


Tilt shot - angled above or below instead of being on the same level as the object that is being filmed.


Zoom shot - shot which moves closer to or further away from the object using the lens, instead of moving the whole camera.


Arc shot - camera is moved in a circular motion around the subject.


Panning shot - shot where the camera pivots from either left to right, right to left, from up downwards, or from downwards up.

Introduction to Camera Shots

We have been studying different camera shots and movements.
We watched a clip a few times over to see which different shots and movements were involved and see if we could pick them out correctly.

Basic camera shots

Extreme Long Shot / Establishing Shot - literally a very long shot. Normally shows a building to establish the place.


Long Shot - shot shows a character head to toe, so that the audience can see the character and surroundings.


Mid shot - shot shows character from waist up. Audience can see character's facial expressions.


Two shot - shot shows two people and an action or interaction that they may carry out.


Close up - shot frames the head and shoulders so that the audience can see facial expressions.


Point of view - shot is what the character can see. If the character is writing something or signing a form, the camera would film the bit of paper that they are writing on.


Extreme close up - shot shows the character's face very close up, framing around the eyes.

Getting Started

So far in the Media Studies course, I have completed various tasks...


- Set up my own Blogger account.
I have set up my own account on www.blogger.com using my home email, kschambo@hotmail.co.uk. I had originally used k.chamberlain@ketteringbuccleuch-academy.org, which was supposed to be my school email, but I found no way to access this account so I have linked it to an account that I can access. This means I can now use the website to post blogs and submit them for my Media Studies coursework.


- Setting up a Slideshare account.
I went to www.slideshare.net and clicked on 'Sign Up' to create my account. Again I used my home email for this website which means all my notifications go to one email account. Now that I have this account I can post videos onto the website and then post them on my blog.


In our Media lessons we have been introduced to the Preliminary Task - this is the first task we will be asked to complete in our chosen groups. It involves making a short film including movement and dialogue. Tasks for this film include storyboarding, filming and afterwards, editing. We have been given three things to achieve whilst making this film - match on action, shot/reverse shot and the 180-degree rule. 


For this task I have grouped with Lauren Head.