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6 Terrifying Horror Movie Making Tips | Scary Films | Sparks Arts

What makes a good horror movie

As Halloween approaches, it’s the perfect time of year to settle in and watch some scary movies. It’s also the perfect time to try making a horror movie of your own! Get inspired by some creepy movies you’ve seen and plan a terrifying horror movie for October…

so how do you make a really scary movie? How do you create a horror movie that audiences want to watch over and over again? Read on for some horror movie making tips to help you scare everyone at home!

1. build suspense

The making of horror movies should create a sense of fear and foolishly scare the audience. Acclaimed horror director Alfred Hitchcock once said “there is no terror in the explosion, only the anticipation.” There’s been a trend in recent years for scary movies to be full of jump scares, but the real secret to making a great horror movie is to spend time building tension and suspense first.

Suspense is built when the audience knows or suspects more than the characters. imagine this: we are watching a scary movie set in a creepy house. we see the villain setting a deadly trap, then we see the main characters running through dark hallways, desperately trying to find their way out of the house.

They think they’re running to freedom, but we know they’re actually running to the trap. we watch this scene on the edge of our seats as the characters approach the trap… but once they reach the trap and the villain jumps at them, the scary part is over and we sit back comfortably.

Horror Movie making - location

Tips for Building Suspense in Your Horror Movie Making:

– limit the use of jump scares – they become less effective the more they are used. – make things difficult for your characters, give them something to fight with during the cutscene. for example, have them try to open a door with a bunch of keys, each one they try doesn’t fit, then they drop the whole bunch on the floor and have to start over…

2. create well-developed characters

As filmmakers, we want audiences to support the characters in our movies and care about what happens to them. characters in horror and scary movies experience terrifying events, but if we don’t spend time making them believable and three-dimensional, the audience just won’t care what happens to them.

tips for character development:

– well-developed characters must have good and bad points, they must not be too perfect, they must be interesting.- there must be a reason for everything they do in the film. Do we understand why they act that way? Or is it just to advance the plot? if so, change it. give them a reason to behave like that, that’s true to who they are as a character. – write a profile for each character for your horror movie creation. make a list of his personality traits, likes, dislikes and important events in his life. this will give you a real idea of ​​who they are as people.

Horror Movie making - scary character

3. Don’t show the monster!

all horror movies have some kind of monster; an evil being that persecutes the main characters with the intention of causing them harm. it could be a literal monster like a werewolf, a creature like a shark, a supernatural being, or a human wearing a mask and holding a gun. We can spend a lot of time designing the monster’s costume and makeup to make it. really scary, but the longer we keep the whole monster image off screen, the longer the audience will be scared.

when the audience sees only a glimpse of the monster, they will fill in the gaps with their own imagination and visualize what the monster looks like; the idea of ​​the monster will always be scarier than seeing one on screen. In your own horror movie creation, try to find ways to suggest the threat to the audience, without showing them the monster itself.

Tips for making monsters in making horror movies:

– whenever the monster is in the shot, make it obscured by other things, for example a shot of the monster looking from behind a tree might be obscured by branches and leaves. – use close-ups or extreme close-ups of the monster to only show part of it – use shadows to show the outline of the monster without revealing everything – use reaction shots of other characters to give us an idea of ​​how scary the monster is

4. dialogue, dialogue, dialogue!

Poor dialogue is something that often lets horror movies down, but it’s one of the easiest and least expensive things to improve on a film set! what a character says can give the audience a lot of information about who they are. it is very important to spend time creating interesting and original dialogue for each of your characters. It’s easy to focus on all the scares in making horror movies, but don’t forget to make your characters and dialogue believable, it’ll help us care more when we watch.

tips for writing effective dialogue:

– listen to the people around you having conversations; what words do they use? would you have chosen different ones to say the same thing? – when you have written a dialogue draft, read it aloud yourself or ask some friends for help. sound natural? Do any of the words or sentences sound strange? think about the characters who are speaking. Sound like something they would say? go back to your character profiles to find out. remember, this is about making horror movies: you’re putting your characters in extreme situations where they may be short on time or in very serious danger. Consider your everyday dialogue, how could you change in the situation you are in?

5. love your antagonist

An antagonist is a character in a movie whose motivation is to work against the main character and create conflict. A great example of an antagonist is Voldemort in the Harry Potter movies. in a horror movie by making the antagonist the monster.

perhaps asking you to love the monster is going too far, but you should spend some time thinking about it. in a story, all the characters believe they are the hero, none of them believe they are the villain. characters don’t do bad things just for the sake of it, they do it for a reason. why is your monster doing bad things? what they want? what is your motivation?

Tips for creating a lovable antagonist:

– look at other horror movies and see if you can figure out what the monster’s motivation is.- write a backstory for your monster, it doesn’t have to be long, it could just be notes. think about what life was like for him before he started making his horror movie, what important things have happened to make them the way they are? what do you want?

6. creepy sound design

The way a horror movie sounds is a big part of how scary it is. In horror movie making, sound design sets the tone and atmosphere and you may have to work a little harder than in other genres.

Horror Movie making

Imagine watching a scene where a character is hiding from a monster. Now imagine that scene with some upbeat, happy music playing over it – would this be scary? Imagine that scene again but with the sound effect of a heart beating really quickly over it. Much scarier. When you are planning a scene think about what sound effects you could add to make it more creepy. These sounds can be very subtle and played quietly just to make the audience feel uneasy.

Tips for using sound in making horror movies:

: Consider creating a subtle sound design specifically for your monster to play whenever it’s on screen. use this as a theme; works especially well if you’re not showing off your monster. – to create a creepy sound design for your movie, you can make the sound effects yourself (in the movie industry, this job is called a foley artist). – you can also download free sound effects from a site like www.freesfx.co.uk (just make sure you acknowledge the site in your movie credits sequence).

happy horror movie making!

by sheena holliday. Sheena is a creative consultant and senior instructor at Spark Workshops, and has been running film projects and Spark Workshops in London since 2010. She is also an independent filmmaker, loves making horror films in particular and specializes in horror as a writer/director.

his horror and fear short films have been screened all over the world. This Halloween, she’ll be watching, well, Halloween, along with all of her other favorite horror movies.

3. don’t show the monster! all horror movies have some kind of monster; an evil being that persecutes the main characters with the intention of causing them harm. it could be a literal monster like a werewolf, a creature like a shark, a supernatural being, or a human wearing a mask and holding a gun. We can spend a lot of time designing the monster’s costume and makeup to make it really scary, but the longer we keep the entire monster’s image off screen, the longer the audience will be scared. when the audience only sees a glimpse of the monster, they will fill in the blanks in their own brain and imagine what the monster looks like – the idea of ​​the monster will always be scarier than seeing one on screen. a shot is obscured by other things, for example: a shot of the monster looking from behind a tree could be obscured by branches and leaves.  use close-ups or extreme close-ups of the monster to show only part of it.  use shadows to show the outline of the monster without revealing the whole.4. dialogue, dialogue, dialogue! Poor dialogue is something that regularly lets horror movies down, but it’s one of the easiest and cheapest things to fix on a film set! what a character says can give the audience a lot of information about who they are and what they are like. it is very important to spend time creating interesting and original dialogue for each of your characters. tips:  listen to the people around you talking; what words do they use? Would you have chosen different to say the same thing?  When you have written a dialogue draft, read it aloud yourself or ask some friends for help. sound natural? Do any of the words or sentences sound strange?  think about the characters who are speaking, does it sound like something they would say? go back to your character profiles to find out.5. love your antagonist an antagonist is a character in a movie whose motivation is to work against the main character and create conflict. A great example of an antagonist is Voldemort in the Harry Potter movies. in a horror movie the antagonist is the monster. maybe asking you to love the monster is going too far, but you need to spend some time thinking about it. in a story, all the characters think they are the hero, none of them thinks he is the villain. characters don’t do bad things just for the sake of it, they do it for a reason. why is your monster doing bad things? what they want? what is your motivation? tips:  watch other horror movies and see if you can figure out what the monster’s motivation is.  Write a backstory for your monster, it doesn’t have to be long, it could just be notes. think about what their life was like before your film starts, what important things have happened to them to make them the way they are? what do they want? 6. Creepy Sound Design The way a movie sounds is a big part of how scary it is. sound design sets the tone and atmosphere. imagine watching a scene where a character is hiding from a monster. now imagine that scene with happy music playing over it, would it be scary? imagine that scene again but with the sound effect of a heart beating very fast on top of it. much scarier. When you’re planning a scene, think about what sound effects you could add to make it more spooky. these sounds can be very subtle and played softly to make the audience uncomfortable. Tips: Consider creating a subtle sound design specifically for your monster to play whenever they’re on screen.  To create a spooky sound design for your movie, you can do the sound effects yourself (in the movie industry, this job is called a foley artist).  You can also download free sound effects from a site like www.freesfx. co.uk (just make sure you recognize the site in your movie’s credits sequence) happy horror movies

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