Teaching a horror film workshop - anyone have tips?

[Ralph S]

My next class I'm teaching a short horror film workshop and we're going to finish the films for a screening on Halloween.

Anyone have tips for low budget special effects, fake blood, etc? Cheap but safe stunt ideas? Tips on writing a short horror script?

Any one have easy techniques for shooting night scenes? - not anything complicated like day-for-night. These are first-time students.

Important themes in the development of the genre, or films I should discuss and why? I've been doing some research but I want some input from other people.
I would appreciate any comments or ideas...

[calgodot]

Anyone have tips for low budget special effects, fake blood, etc?

You can buy these relatively effective kits on ebay for $10-20, depending on size of latex appliance desired. Like this one:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... gory=19255

Cheap but safe stunt ideas?

Leave the stunts to the pros. Even they screw up sometimes and people get hurt or killed. You can get a lot of effect in horror from good lighting, camera angle and cutting. Blood and latex effects are very safe if done properly. Check it out: this is me:

http://www.calgodot.com/vampire.jpg

That said, if you have a local college or theater community, you might be able to find someone trained in stage combat to at least do a fight scene with a zombie or something like that.

Tips on writing a short horror script?

Since you'll likely be shooting without sound, make it something punchy like an old fashioned ghost story. (Where's my golden arm?) Obviously something visual, as most horror tends to be these days. There are any number of folk tales and myths that might work as a good horror tale.

Or something funny. A vampire goes to the dentist. Werewolf gets a haircut. Frankenstein's monster taking dancing lessons. Guy smokes funky weed and his lungs start bleeding from DEA pesticides.

Any one have easy techniques for shooting night scenes?

Why not set it during the day? Little girl goes for walk in forest, encounters wolf. Two children abandoned by their parents are taken in by a child predator. The woods are scary, dark and deep.

Bend the conventions! Break the rules!

Important themes in the development of the genre, or films I should discuss and why? I've been doing some research but I want some input from other people.

One book I always recommend is THE MONSTER SHOW by David J. Skal, an excellent cultural history of horror. It's probably too long for your students to read, but it will certainly give you a good overview of the horror genre. Much better than one of those books that ends up being little more than summaries of plots and lots of pretty pictures.

BEGOTTEN is an interesting piece of experimental horror. I recommend taking a look at it. Intensely visual and hallucinogenic. No diaogue or synced sound. Difficult to watch in one sitting. You have to learn a new way of seeing in order to enjoy it. It's like Brakhage but with guts and gore.

http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0101420/

Definitely show your students the wonderful work of the German expressionists. The low production values of these films and the unique production designs might inspire your students. THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI is a must-view.

Try your best to keep them from going with something cliche, if you can. Get them to do what scares them. Something contemporary, like the flesh-eating virus in CABIN FEVER. Maybe they're scared of a terrorist detonating a 'dirty bomb,' everyone dying a slow grotesque death from radiation poisoning. Maybe they're scared the teacher is a space alien who eats teenage brains. I WAS A TEENAGE FRANKENSTEIN is a classic horror movie that is essentially about an extremely bad case of acne. The Werewolf version is a parable of teen sexuality.

Above all, have fun.

[Ralph S]

Right on! I was definitely thinking of the German expressionists for those reasons - production values and style. I have not seen Begotten. I'll probably check it out tonight.

But in regard to stunts, I wasn't talking about dangerous stunts- I said cheap and safe - more like fake arms falling off or replacing your actor with a dummy before he falls off a balcony. No hollywood-type blowing stuff up or whatever. Anyone else think of some tricks more like what I'm talking about?

And I asked about filming night scenes because some students will want to do it. I can think of some tricks like using street lights or car headlights to light your scene, but are there any other ideas? Does anyone have experience with shooting Kodachrome or Plus X in situations like these?

[Alpha60]

If you want to know more about making make-up fx check out http://www.themonsterlab.com/.