Facts about Alfonso Cuarón

1. Birthday: Nov 28, 1961
2. Birthplace: Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico
3. Nickname: Alfie
4. He has always wanted to be a director, and also an astronaut.
5. When directing, he flashes the title of the movie both at the beginning and at the end of all of his films.
6.  He often uses hand-held cameras
7.  He turned down the chance to direct Addicted to Love (1997) to work instead on A Little Princess (1995).
8. He was the original director of the film The Perez Family (1995), but pulled out before production started.
9.  On his 12th birthday he received a camera, and since then he started to shoot everything he saw.
10. He has directed:· 

•   Solo con tu pareja (1991)
• A Little Princess (1995)
• Great Expectations (1998)
•  Y tu mama tambien (2001)
•  Harry Potter and the Prison of Azkaban (2004)
• Children of Men (2006)
• Gravity (2013) 

BBC video

Preliminary Task Evaluation

Our brief was to film someone walking through a door, sitting down opposite someone else and exchanging a few lines of conversation. I found this task a fun yet challenging experience. I also found it extremely useful to learn how all the equipment works, for example: video camera, tripod, final cut express, how to import clips into i-Movie, convert i-Movie into final cut express, use the final cut express razor tool and to edit clips into the timeline and finally, how to export my final film to my blog.

When planning my preliminary task I decided to draw out a storyboard and write out my shot list. This was very useful, as I then knew what I was doing and the shots which I would be using. I made a few small changes to my shot list whilst filming because I decided that doing certain things wouldn’t have looked very good, visually. For example I was going to zoom in on the teachers shocked face but this proved very difficult to make it look effective.

When I looked at my film clip in more detail, and had a professional camera man watch it, I discovered that I could have improved my filming by:

·         making sure that I moved the camera with the person walking and not just keeping it in one fixed position.

·         making sure I didn’t leave too much of a gap between the two people talking when filming shot-reverse-shot as in the clip, you can see quite a lot of the background between them and so there is no unwanted space.

·         tilting the camera down when the person sat down as it looks a bit odd in the clip

·         making sure I don’t leave too much headroom above the people talking whilst they’re seated or standing up.

·         making sure their eye lines match up to the camera and I’m eye-level with the people sitting down opposite each other whilst filming shot-reverse-shot.

·         making sure the actors are the same size in the frame (unless I’m wanting a dramatic change.)

Overall I’m fairly pleased with my filming, as it was my first ever attempt at it, although next time I shall take into account the points I have made above. Next time, I shall also write out a script for the actors to have in front of them as we wasted quite a lot of time trying to remember what had been said in the previous shot. However, after physically being in front of the camera, I now feel much more confident with a camera after completing the preliminary task as I have learnt not only about the camera angles but how to use the editing software too.

Horror Genre Conventions

Setting

·         Small communities or isolated places. Urban environments, dark streets and narrow alleyways. Large cities or run down ghost towns. Anything that connotes isolation or being alone.

·         Places with ‘dark’ history, like abandoned houses and hotels.

·         Locations: lakes, roads, highways, dark woods, cabins, underground tunnels, farms, countryside, graveyards, hospitals, churches and cellars.

Characters

·         The main character is often the victim/hero of the movie.

·         Teenagers are often the victims.

·         Police officers (whether they’re bad or good.)

Technical Codes

·         Camerawork is very expressive and not natural. High and low angles can connote fear and nightmares.

·         POV (point of view shot, shows what the character is looking at) because they allow the audience to see the world from the 'monsters' eye.

·         Disturbing sounds are very important. E.g. footsteps, heartbeat, screams etc.

·         ECU (extreme close-up) shots are very useful too, as it helps the audience with identification with horror and fear.

Iconography

·         Dark colours, like red and black are linked to evil, danger and fear

·         Low key lighting can create shadows and unfamiliar shapes e.g. bonfires, torches and fireplaces.

·         Objects such as: weapons, masks, religious symbols etc are all related with horror

Themes

·         Depression

·         Religion

·         Revenge

·         Lust

·         Suicide

·         Envy

·         Madness

·         Science gone wrong

Preliminary Task

This is my preliminary task where I show match on action, shot reverse shot and the 180 degree rule.  

                                                                   

Directors of horror films

James Wan

 James Wan was born in Malaysia on 27^th February 1977. He is an Australian producer, screenwriter and film director. He is famously known for directing the Saw movies. This was released in January 2004 and is one of many in the series. He has also directed Dead Silence, Death Sentence and Insidious. The styles of his films are mainly crime, horror thriller.

Takashi Shimizu

Takashi Shimizu was born on the 27^th July 1972 and is a Japanese filmmaker. He is best known for the film, ‘The Grudge’ which is one of a series and was released in October 2004. His genre is mainly horror and crime, often including murder mystery.

Oren Peli

Oren Peli was born in 1970 and is an Israeli American film director, producer and screenwriter. He is best known for directing Paranormal Activity. This was released in October 2009 and was the first of many in the series. His main genres are horror and thriller. 

Horror Genre Mood board

I chose these horror pictures as they are all typical 'horror' themed. This is because I find horror associated with lack of colour and spooky woods and these pictures are all apt for this genre.