Truly Inspirational

Now that we have an idea, I felt it would be a good time to look at similar films for inspiration. Our movie is going to be a satirical horror film, so I decided to look at a variety of different films that fit this category. I should mention I avoid horror movies like the plague. They're scary, and I don't like scary. But this project is more important than my desire to keep my pants clean. So with that out of the way, let's look at what I found.

The first movie that came to mind was Unfriended, directed by Levan Gabriadze. Here's the trailer for those interested.

This movie has no elements of satire whatsoever, but it's a horror film about social media. It's a very good fit for what my group is trying to do. I really like how the film incorporates images of social media throughout, it's something we should definitely try to do. That being said, a group of people being connected through a Skype call is not something we're trying to do. Our film opening so far is going to focus on two people: the killer and the victim. Much like the killer in Unfriended, our killer's motives are going to be based on social media use. We haven't quite figured out the exact details yet, but we know that the murders are going to be a consequence of what occurs on social media.


The next movie I took a look at was Scream which was directed by Wes Craven. This movie is a more traditional horror film. Crazy guy stalks his victims, messes with their heads, then kills them. No social media involved, this was filmed in 1996. But Scream also has a good amount of satire involved. Here's the first five minutes of the film.

It starts off as a rather vanilla horror film, but what interests me the most of this clip is how the tension grows throughout the scene. The opening does such a good job of getting the audience on the edge of its seat. The popcorn on the stove just gets louder and looks like it's about to pop. The anticipation for the pop pairs well with the reveal of the killer. My main goal for this project is to create a sense of anticipation and tension similar to this. But that's not the only thing I really like about this film. The killer happens to be a big fan of horror movies, and it creates a very interesting dynamic. During the first five minutes, the killer frequently references other horror films. He also makes fun of things that always happen in horror films like leaving the relative safety of a home to investigate a strange noise. This satire is something we are definitely trying to accomplish. My goal is to over exaggerate certain characteristics of the horror genre in order to point out their flaws. Scream does this incredibly well, and I can only hope to have a similar effect in my group's film opening.

Obviously there are many other movies that I looked into, but these two are probably going to be the foundations for our project. Neither of them are exactly what I was looking for, but combined they cover a lot and will be very useful when it comes time to plan out our opening. Until next time, which will probably be tomorrow, this is Jacob signing out.


References:

Craven, W. (Director). (1996). Scream[Video file]. United States: Buena Vista Pictures Distribution. Retrieved March 3, 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3lSvJ5RXKA&ab_channel=LittleDarkOne

Scream (1996). (n.d.). Retrieved March 03, 2018, from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117571/

Gabriadze, L. (Director), & Greaves, N. (Writer). (2015). Unfriended[Video file]. Unvisersal Pictures. Retrieved March 3, 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lgj4GjqCFlY&ab_channel=UniversalPictures

Unfriended (2014). (n.d.). Retrieved March 03, 2018, from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3713166/

Gabriadze, L. (Director), & Greaves, N. (Writer). (2015). Unfriended[Video file]. Unvisersal Pictures. Retrieved March 3, 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lgj4GjqCFlY&ab_channel=UniversalPictures

Craven, W. (Director). (1996). Scream[Video file]. United States: Buena Vista Pictures Distribution. Retrieved March 3, 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3lSvJ5RXKA&ab_channel=LittleDarkOne

Scream (1996). (n.d.). Retrieved March 03, 2018, from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117571/

Unfriended (2014). (n.d.). Retrieved March 03, 2018, from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3713166/

Gabriadze, L. (Director), & Greaves, N. (Writer). (2015). Unfriended[Video file]. Unvisersal Pictures. Retrieved March 3, 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lgj4GjqCFlY&ab_channel=UniversalPictures

Craven, W. (Director). (1996). Scream[Video file]. United States: Buena Vista Pictures Distribution. Retrieved March 3, 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3lSvJ5RXKA&ab_channel=LittleDarkOne

Scream (1996). (n.d.). Retrieved March 03, 2018, from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117571/

Unfriended (2014). (n.d.). Retrieved March 03, 2018, from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3713166/