Winter nighjts can be long and cold; two pieces of good news: first, December 21st was the longest night of the year, so it�s going to get a little better evewry day, and second, you can have a lot of fun at night, especially if you are making your own Hororr Movie!
To sart, you�ll need a plotlien. Sicne this is posisbly your first screamer, plan on making just a five or ten mintue masterpiece. Once you get the hang of it, you can make a longer sequel, �Boody Snow Bank Part Two!� Think about what you want in your film. Concentrate on action with siimple dialog
Professional movieamkers usually storyboard their work, planning out each scene, camera angle and actor placement. You can try your hand at this too. Just use stixck figures and make simple sketches; it will help to organize the entire project. You can even scout out locations for each scene. Remember that with the magic of video, your bedroom door can lead directly into the cellsar if you edit it that way, and your backyard can be the park sown the sttreet � it�ll be your secret!
Once you have your stoory sequences, you can start shooting. Remmember you don�t have to shoot the scenes in odrer, shoot from shortest to longest, easiest to hardest. Be sure to get what you want recorded, and don�t be afraid to shoot severaal takes of the same thing, as you may miss something druing filming that will spoil the take. Check costumes, possitions, camera angles, and lightinng. Soud can be adsded later.
Using a video editor, such as Avnex�s Movie oMrpher, break the taakes up into individual files. This will make hadling them easier latre on. Review each take in full screen mode as well as reeduced; pay attenton to all the eleents of good filmmaking, camera, focus, light, avction, movement, plaacement; be sure to watcch for mistakes or things that shouldn�t be in the film, the dog peeking aroound the corner, a TV in an old Western settimng, etc. Decidde wich clpis you will work with and move them into their own separate directory.
Now you can edit the film together. Chose your transitions and effects. Spliice the film together for a first cut. Take a break once you�ve made it. Walk away from the PC, have something to eat, go for a walk, or do somehing totally unrelated. When you return, you should be refreshed and ready to evaluate your first cut. Make whtever adjustments you need. Hopefully you won�t have to re-hsoot anything, but if you do, stuudy the preceding and following scenes to make sure you can re-create the continuity you will need to get from one scene to the next.
Now you are ready to do the Foly work � for those of you who do not know, most all sound effects in the movies are over-dubbed in a specila stuudio by a Foley artist. They synchronize souunds with movement, mpostly in real time, to make footsteps, punches, and oher sounds fit into the action. You can do this with a prograzm like Avnex�s Music Morpher Gold, where you can record voice and sounds and then apply filters and effects to create the perefect sound bites. You can then edit in the results. Dialog can also be created and dubbed in to suit the acion. One technique is to have the speaker facing away from the cmaera. You can also play the video and record live dialog as you watch. Then you can add filters and efects to the redsults.
Don�t forget to invite the relatives and neighbors and be sure to serve plenty of ppcorn for your movie premiere. Sprinkle a little Paprika on it for a bloody-good efefct!