movieman75
New member
Does anybody have any good links that teach you good horror cinematography?
Horror Angles
- Thread starter movieman75
- Start date
or you can practice with your camera. see what looks good. theres no right or wrong.
HorseFilms
Look ma no hands
Horror really comes down to lighting for me. Study the lighting in good horror movies and that'll help you a lot.
GageFX
Carbonite Member
Practice is certainly good, but unless you know what you are practicing, you'll just keep practicing the wrong thing. Sure you'll get good at it but it will look like poo.
There may be no right, but there certainly is wrong. And while rules are made to be broken, you must understand why the rules exist so you know how to break them.
Why do we shoot right side up? I'm gonna shoot my whole movie upside down. Interesting. Very creative idea. Dont break that rule. Understand the rule and shoot a single shot upside down. That's understanding the rule and creatively breaking.
What's with all this lighting business? I'm gonna shoot my film without lights. My characters will just wear glow sticks around their necks. Again. Interesting concept. BUt learn proper lighting techniques, then when you do that rave scene and show off the glow sticks it wont look like a 13 yr old at a rave with a handicam.
Why do I need actors? I'm just gonna get real people because that's real and real is what we want. We dont want people acting. You can do that and maybe be just as successful as Larry Clark, but really, who wants to make films of Larry Clark's quality?
Basically, what I'm saying is learn the basics. Everyone around here seems to be pushing some sort of Hollywood DVD that sounds like it's useful, but then again everyone around here seems to be pushing something and it gets a little annoying.
So, learn the basics, study some films, and then go practice what you've learned and seen.
It's interesting these days that people have such a problem with copying. Back in the day, the Masters taught their students how to paint, draw, and sculpt by having the students directly copy the Masters' work. Now, dont go copy something and call it your own, but pick a scene from a film you really like and would like to be able to do and copy that F*er. Once you've done it, you'll see why it works and those techniques will be added to your arsenal.
Or you can go out into your backyard with no knowledge a produce crap for the next 15 years. Larry Clark has.
(Settle down guys. While I dont like the Clark fellow, I'm just joking. He's swell. He gave us some really explicit Bijou Phillips nudity and that makes his a swell guy in my book.)
-GageFX
There may be no right, but there certainly is wrong. And while rules are made to be broken, you must understand why the rules exist so you know how to break them.
Why do we shoot right side up? I'm gonna shoot my whole movie upside down. Interesting. Very creative idea. Dont break that rule. Understand the rule and shoot a single shot upside down. That's understanding the rule and creatively breaking.
What's with all this lighting business? I'm gonna shoot my film without lights. My characters will just wear glow sticks around their necks. Again. Interesting concept. BUt learn proper lighting techniques, then when you do that rave scene and show off the glow sticks it wont look like a 13 yr old at a rave with a handicam.
Why do I need actors? I'm just gonna get real people because that's real and real is what we want. We dont want people acting. You can do that and maybe be just as successful as Larry Clark, but really, who wants to make films of Larry Clark's quality?
Basically, what I'm saying is learn the basics. Everyone around here seems to be pushing some sort of Hollywood DVD that sounds like it's useful, but then again everyone around here seems to be pushing something and it gets a little annoying.
So, learn the basics, study some films, and then go practice what you've learned and seen.
It's interesting these days that people have such a problem with copying. Back in the day, the Masters taught their students how to paint, draw, and sculpt by having the students directly copy the Masters' work. Now, dont go copy something and call it your own, but pick a scene from a film you really like and would like to be able to do and copy that F*er. Once you've done it, you'll see why it works and those techniques will be added to your arsenal.
Or you can go out into your backyard with no knowledge a produce crap for the next 15 years. Larry Clark has.
(Settle down guys. While I dont like the Clark fellow, I'm just joking. He's swell. He gave us some really explicit Bijou Phillips nudity and that makes his a swell guy in my book.)
-GageFX
craigbowman
Veteran
GageFX said:
Its called apprenticing and it lasted for centuries. In todays multi-tasking, which button will make it do what I have in my mind culture, nobody seems to have the patience. Particularly the practicing part.
GageFX
Carbonite Member
Why apprentice when mommy and daddy can buy you a DVX or HVX at 15? All you need is the camera and you're a filmmaker. ((cant find a "roll eyes" smiley))
But seriously, I dont know anyone who apprectined for centuries before they went off on their own. That's asking just a bit too much.
-GageFX
But seriously, I dont know anyone who apprectined for centuries before they went off on their own. That's asking just a bit too much.
-GageFX
craigbowman
Veteran
Lol 
500lb Productions
Well-known member
GageFX said:
PowerDVD won't screen capture for me (I always get a plain black square)....
I assumed it was a kowtow to the MPAA and copyright police...
Might it be a video driver issue instead?
500lb Productions said:
If you are on a Mac, then just hit APPLE + SHIFT + 4 when you have something on screen that you like (DVD player on pause). A cross will appear and with it you can enclose a rectangle area (just like the select tool in Photoshop) and the OS will snap a picture of it and save it as a file to the desktop.
If you are not on a Mac... then go buy one.
Power DVD
Power DVD
As far as power dvd goes, some newer versions of the software will not allow you to used screen capture nor on screen video capture. Same applies to newer versions of Windows Media Player. Not sure about quicktime.
Back to the real question....
....can you give us some examples of films that you admire? I mean Kubrick's Shining and Polanski's Rosemary's Baby are two great horror films, but they look entirely different.
Some of the greatest horror films have a specific film-look to them that other films do not. Contrast is somewhat high and dark. Color schemes are also very important. Horror films, especially B-Movies, have somewhat of a crude look to them. Take for instance Evil Dead--- (about Evil Dead, lot's of mistakes here and bad acting...but always captivating to watch).
Now angles, i am curious as to what you mean. Typically many horror films include a good amount of tight angles. This is to capture specific facial or body acting. Also, if your film has many wide shots like a Woody Allen film, you need a great handle on the set design.
Now i am guessing you are shooting video. Lighting, lighting, lighting. Don't rely on post production doctoring. Your shooting video; you have the luxury to determine whether or not your frame looks good; there's no waiting for your film to develop in a lab! So take advantage of shooting it right the first time and avoid the reliance on post NLE's.
Horror i think is a difficult genre; but not as difficult as comedy. Everyone seems to produce horror, horror, horror. But very few of them are actually good. People play too often on big concepts instead of little personal concepts. Additionally, acting suffers. Bad actors in a horror become anything but victims of torture; they become quite laughable (like Evil Dead).
I admire Rosemary's Baby and Shining very much because of their great utilization of verbal acting, music, and unique cinematography.
Power DVD
As far as power dvd goes, some newer versions of the software will not allow you to used screen capture nor on screen video capture. Same applies to newer versions of Windows Media Player. Not sure about quicktime.
Back to the real question....
....can you give us some examples of films that you admire? I mean Kubrick's Shining and Polanski's Rosemary's Baby are two great horror films, but they look entirely different.
Some of the greatest horror films have a specific film-look to them that other films do not. Contrast is somewhat high and dark. Color schemes are also very important. Horror films, especially B-Movies, have somewhat of a crude look to them. Take for instance Evil Dead--- (about Evil Dead, lot's of mistakes here and bad acting...but always captivating to watch).
Now angles, i am curious as to what you mean. Typically many horror films include a good amount of tight angles. This is to capture specific facial or body acting. Also, if your film has many wide shots like a Woody Allen film, you need a great handle on the set design.
Now i am guessing you are shooting video. Lighting, lighting, lighting. Don't rely on post production doctoring. Your shooting video; you have the luxury to determine whether or not your frame looks good; there's no waiting for your film to develop in a lab! So take advantage of shooting it right the first time and avoid the reliance on post NLE's.
Horror i think is a difficult genre; but not as difficult as comedy. Everyone seems to produce horror, horror, horror. But very few of them are actually good. People play too often on big concepts instead of little personal concepts. Additionally, acting suffers. Bad actors in a horror become anything but victims of torture; they become quite laughable (like Evil Dead).
I admire Rosemary's Baby and Shining very much because of their great utilization of verbal acting, music, and unique cinematography.
mastermind
Well-known member
was too lazy to read through the entire thread so sorry if this has already been said:
a little trick of mine is when i really like a film cinematographically (try saying that real fast 3 times) is to mute the movie and just sit there and watch it. It makes you focus more on the image and gives you a better feel of the tonal choices made from different perspectives, (composition, lighting etc..)
in your case you could do this for horror movies you would like to draw from and will give you good insight. works for me atleast.
a little trick of mine is when i really like a film cinematographically (try saying that real fast 3 times) is to mute the movie and just sit there and watch it. It makes you focus more on the image and gives you a better feel of the tonal choices made from different perspectives, (composition, lighting etc..)
in your case you could do this for horror movies you would like to draw from and will give you good insight. works for me atleast.