https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWs6PDraHTM
Hi my name is Lily Rosenblum, and I am the director of the suspense and horror film Run. Throughout our film, our group used plenty of small elements that are common to horror films as a means of establishing the genre. For example, we used suspense music that slowly built up in loudness. Such suspenseful, building up music creates a sense of anxiety in viewers that is common to a horror movie. You can see an example of such suspenseful music in the next clip. Moreover, our team added blue tones to the film to create a sense of darkness that naturally creates a sense of fear in viewers. Our team also used costume by giving the predator dark clothes, leaving viewers with a sense of confusion as to who the villain is and why they had no defining attributes that could help anyone identify them. Moreover, our team also used a baseball bat as a prop due to the affiliation with damage and danger. Our team’s video did, however, challenge typical conventions by making the villain a female. Typically, in horror films men are made the villain due to their stereotype as “stronger”, thus our film counters typical conventions.
Our team’s video ultimately represents the social issue of race that is so prevalent in our society. The man being chased in the film is African American which indirectly represents the struggle of African Americans being oppressed in our society.
Our team’s video engages with the audience due to the cliffhanger style of our video and the questions left unanswered. Viewers do not know who the man being chased is, who the predator is, or why the man is being chased by the predator. While viewers see the chase and the moment before the climax of the man being hit, viewers technically do not know what will come next. Does the man get hit? Will he escape? Will viewers get any further background information? Suspense movies tend to leave questions unanswered and slowly build up to showing viewers the deeper meaning of the movie, thus our film opening engages audiences by leaving them to question what direction the movie will be going in.
Given that the characters we chose to use in the film are young, our target audience is younger people who also care about the underlying social issue of racism in the world. Thus, I would like to advertise this movie on various forms of social media such as Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat as younger individuals tend to use those applications. Moreover, on the basis of convenience, younger people tend to use streaming applications such as Netflix and Hulu, thus I would put the movie on those applications.
In terms of filming itself, I also learned the importance and difficulty of steadying the shot through balancing the camera on objects and keeping a steady hand. Also, I learned the importance of maintaining a steady speed in a tracking shot. Both of these issues were present in the shot shown here, as when we trailed alongside the running actor in the car, we struggled to avoid showing the bumpiness of the ride or moving too fast or slow for the actor. Moreover, I became stronger in my ability to lead a group and tell the actors where to go and what to do in order to best convey the meaning and direction of this film.
Throughout the process of making this film, I grew exponentially in my ability to use software such as “Premier Pro” to edit the film. Prior to the film, I had no idea how to use Premier Pro, but by the end I became aware of how to color correct, fit shots to frame, upload videos in order, and add music and transitions. I also became far more familiar in the process of uploading videos to YouTube as well as using a blog to upload videos/pictures as well as to document my journey.
