Filmmaking / Directing : Halloween tips for budget horror... by Lawrence Charles Benedict

Tips from Lawrence Benedict, a film festival judge, to keep your budget horror film from becoming horrible, (while saving money). Do not shoot scenes in daylight. Do not shoot wide or establishing shots. Exception: your final shot can be a crane shot filled with flashing emergency lights that blur and confuse the scene. Reverse the rule of thirds. Sound and music should be your biggest budget item. Run with the steadycam. Build in silence, to the STARTLE REFLEX! Your actors should laugh until they cry. Noise should almost mask a scream. What is not seen should be more important than what is. Put the camera on the floor. Dutch your close ups. Use a fog machine or hazer (thanks JD Hartman!) Test the effect of lenses before you shoot. People believe animals have a sixth sense. Use the Pleasantville/Sin City effect but don’t make the audience aware you’re doing it. Cut before the audience is ready. Animate inanimate objects. Chaos, chaos, chaos. Shoot reflections in water, even if it’s water in a sink. No water? Shoot reflections in a mirror or a broken window pane. Make the camera a voyeur. People believe authority figures. Have them lie. Blood can be red or black. Dead bodies should look like they might be alive. People believe video does not lie. Use it. If it doesn’t scare you, it won’t scare us. Happy Halloweeeeeen!