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Minimalist horror?

Semiazas

Semiazas

Slightly specific question I guess, but I don't have a budget or equipment or anything like that, and I'd quite like to write/direct a horror movie (a long with short films I have ideas for, something I'm doing for school, and a noir/Lynchian thing) and I'm wondering if anyone could suggest good ways to create horror without a budget.
Preferably without mentioning Paranormal Activity ;)
Cheers

EDIT: Just noticed I've accidentally posted this in the wrong place :blush:
Could someone please move it to the Newbies section?
 
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Unless you have connections for free equipment then you better find some money. Find some anyway; you'll have gas expense, food, etc. And, it's probably best to do a short film first.

As far as a storyline, that's up to you to come up with something. It's your vision.
 
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I guess I could get some stuff from school, I'd probably have to talk to someone who teaches media or something like that. I have a lot of short film ideas, I just struggle with writing scripts :(
 
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Semiazas said:
I'm wondering if anyone could suggest good ways to create horror without a budget.
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Something with few actors, no more than three locations
and no more than 12 shooting days. Not just good advice
for horror but for any movie being made without a budget.

Or are you asking for story ideas?

How about using what you have available? Where can you
shoot a movie? Even if the only location you have is your
apartment or house walk around the location and imagine
what would scare you. You're a writer so I assume you have
a good imagination. Am I right?

Think about why. Why do you want to make a horror film?
Because it's easy? Because it's popular? Because you, as a
writer, have a story you think will scare people?

What scares you? That is your story.
 
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We like to call it sweat equity.

Use your creativity and hard work in place of money. Build props, sets and wardrobe out of stuff you already own or can get for cheap and/or free.

Our last two features cost us under ten grand each, and they are both being nationally distributed. You have to know where to find great locations also...it's nice to know a bar or club owner...a diner owner...anyone willing to let you shoot at their place or establishment for free or peanuts.

Work hard with creative people who believe in the project...

Cheers.
 
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Directorik: I'm not asking for story ideas :P
I'm merley trying to think of one, trying to do a horror without big budget CGI stuff, but I don't wanna do just a serial killer or slasher thing.
I'm really not sure what scares me, which I know sounds stupid, but I don't. So, in a way, I'm asking for a fear to base it on, and then I guess I could work a story from there.
I have a few places I could shoot, some decent locations near my house, my house, school etc. I have a camcorder I can borrow from the Drama department, I know a few good actors/actresses from studying Drama in school.
So, I have a few of the bases covered, so I'm not a completley lost cause ;)
 
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do what you know..

Take a typical FEAR of your peer group and HYPE it up to be HUGE.. bigger than life..

just riffing here..

take a fear like.. being ridiculed for hanging with the wrong click..
and turn that into a horror story.. anything come to mind?

A star athlete, on the advice of the school physiologists, spends the day hanging with the goths. Of course the jock is hassled by the jocks, and the Goths are just annoyed.. boring sure.. but when the goths plan a "demonic sacrifice" whose the most likely victim? Jock must fight the evil.. or when the Jocks plan a homophoic murder, whose the group they will try and frame for the crime..

and other such nonsense..
 
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I hate to sound obvious ,BUUUUT what is the greatest fear of all??? Fear of the unknown, right?? So assign something to be afraid of, but don't define it. Go back and look at some of Hitchcock's movies. They weren't fx driven,or gory. Yet he had no trouble acheiving the desired effect.
 
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Things that you can't have: blood and guts, monsters/aliens, car chases, grizzly bears, ghosts...etc.

This leaves you with a lot of possibilities, but very little room for making something actually scary. If you want to go with the ideas above then you'll have to work very hard in order to produce something that both makes sense and is genuinely frightening.

My suggestion would be to use an unseen but identified threat. That is to say, some sort of malign force is at work but for the purposes of both tension/cost you keep it out of camera shot. Think Blair Witch Project. At no point do you actually see the psycho and/or any of the characters being harmed. Take The Last Exorcism- we 'suspect' that a demon is at work, but the evidence is purely derived from our own suspiscion (except for the crap last 5 minutes.)

So what could you use? Just to throw up a scenario:

A guy is walking his dog through a wood. Along the way there are lots of posters put up but he passes them by without noticing. Eventually he goes up and takes a look at one of the posters and it is a police warning that there is a lunatic escaped from a prison for the criminally insane and he has been spotted in the area. The man is then caught by a great desire to get home but along the way he begins to catch glimpses of things/hear sounds that make him convinced that the lunatic is in the forest with him. Eventually his paranoia drives him into a frenzy- then it would be up to you whether to end with the lunatic being real or a figment of his imagination.

I'm not saying this in order to give you a storyline, I'm just saying that you could easily shoot that sort of film in some deserted woods with a couple of mates, some printed WANTED posters. It doesn't require any special effects but can be very effective. I just worry about the practical difficulties of creating a storyline based on 'the fear of fear itself'.

Sorry for the overly detailed post :D
 
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wheatgrinder said:
do what you know..

Take a typical FEAR of your peer group and HYPE it up to be HUGE.. bigger than life..

just riffing here..

take a fear like.. being ridiculed for hanging with the wrong click..
and turn that into a horror story.. anything come to mind?
Click to expand...
I don't know why, but that instantly reminds of something like "Carrie", where it's all angsting and rage that manifests itself in a horrific way, but I don't just wanna do a rip-off of it.

Murdock said:
I hate to sound obvious ,BUUUUT what is the greatest fear of all??? Fear of the unknown, right?? So assign something to be afraid of, but don't define it. Go back and look at some of Hitchcock's movies. They weren't fx driven,or gory. Yet he had no trouble acheiving the desired effect.
Click to expand...

Which Hitchcock films. I have LOADS of them that I'm gonna watch for an essay in school (as well as making a short, Hitchcock style film) so which are best to start with that do that?
 
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wheatgrinder said:
do what you know..

Take a typical FEAR of your peer group and HYPE it up to be HUGE.. bigger than life..


take a fear like.. being ridiculed for hanging with the wrong click..
and turn that into a horror story.. anything come to mind?
Click to expand...
Reminds me of Carrie, where angst and frustration and rage manifest themself in a horrific way, and, although I love the premise, I don't just wanna do a rip-off of Carrie.

Murdock said:
I hate to sound obvious ,BUUUUT what is the greatest fear of all??? Fear of the unknown, right?? So assign something to be afraid of, but don't define it. Go back and look at some of Hitchcock's movies. They weren't fx driven,or gory. Yet he had no trouble acheiving the desired effect.
Click to expand...
Which in particular. I have a stack of like 20 to watch for an essay I'm doing for school on Hitchcock's influence on directors, cinema & filmmaking. I'll also be making a Hitchcock style short film to go with it, well, that's the hope ;)
But which of his are best to start of with that do that?
 
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Start with Rope. Pretty cool for its long takes, but besides that, after the kill, the film itself is all pacing and good acting. Its not terror as much as suspense, but you'll get it.
 
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watch 'psycho' or 'rear window' or even 'the shining'? try watch 'the vanishing' original version!! also.

for the original question, how can u make a good horror without a budget?. u need a good story.

so how do u get a good horror story with no blood or guts? go psychological.

how can u find a good psychological horror story? watch films, read up on the subject. create a story.

how can u do this with no budget? because you have no budget.

will it be good? idk, only a very few directors can do this type any good. and they're mostly dead.
 
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Remember that there are different kinds of fear.

One of the things that Stephen King does is make mundane things scary. He has a short story about a chair. You don't want to sit in that chair. So maybe there's something ordinary you can make frightning.

A whole genre of gangster films are based on intimidation.

Then maybe you can find something like phobias. The dark, clowns, bridges, closed in places. And make it worse.

Kidnappings, crime. There's lots of stuff.

-- spinner :cool:
 
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Everyone has hit some good points of topic....I'd say keep your locations to a minimum, story and pacing means everything, and sometimes it's what you don't see that is more terrifying. Let your audience use their imaginations in that regard; don't spoon feed 'em with effects and crappy looking monsters.
 
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If you want to go psychological, look up Morgellons syndrome. I'm not here to say I beleive it one way or the other, but it could make a good 1person psyco-thriller.
 
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As has been stated it is the story that will drive it, especially without a big budget, blood & gore and special effects. You should check out "The Changeling" (1980, George C. Scott). Lots of good ideas you can use. A lot of the "scary" stuff is done with minimal special effects;
the ball down the stairs still gives me the creeps. When in the mansion the camera always follows Russell so there is always that sense of being watched.
 
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"I have a camcorder I can borrow from the Drama department, I know a few good actors/actresses from studying Drama in school."

Then the most important things are:
1) the good actors
2) the school location

Use that school all you can. It's a great place to make your film look like a much higher budget than it actually is.
 
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