The horror genre has been stuck in a hole up until very recently with every horror film being a very cookie cutter imitation of the last horror film to have been released. A genre that used to have integrity with classic such as Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining” (1980) or John Carpenter’s “The Thing” (1982) soon devolved into 90 minutes of dark hallways and jump scares which tainted the name of horror films which The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920) or Nosferatu (1922) worked so hard to establish. There are different variations of horror films. There are supernatural horror like the Paranormal Activity series or the Conjuring, slasher flicks like Friday the 13th or Halloween or there are gore fests or “torture porn” which just looks to be as gory as possible such as the Saw series. These three different sub genres of horror all have different plots and things that make them “unique”. The supernatural horror films are usually about exorcisms or getting rid of a demon or ghost form a person or house. Slasher films are always about people running away from serial killers with knives and gore fests are about making you feel as uncomfortable as possible while claiming that there is a story when really there isn’t. That has somewhat changed over the years, especially with films like Martyrs (2007), a French gore fest which is the story of revenge or Raw (2016), another gory French horror about a teenage girl finding herself. Recently there has been a big influx of the new sub genre of horror which can simply be described as “other”. The other category of horror films try their best to push the boat out to make a new story that has not been told before or they take a kn own story and tell it in an unconventional way. An example of this is the horror film by Robert Eggers The Lighthouse (2019) which is a horror story about two men (Robert Pattinson and Willem Defoe) living on a small island in a lighthouse together and it is unlike any horror film put to film before. Another example of a horror film that tell a story that we may have seen before is Ari Aster’s Midsommar (2019). It is a break up story about grief and loss while ls being a horror film about a pagan cult. Five or ten years ago, a horror film was something that you could watch in the background or with your brain turned off and not miss much, but now the horror genre has had a resurgence with horror films such as Hereditary (2018) and Get Out (2017) that are more than just horror films, they make you think and they have a message to send and a story to tell which is why in my opinion, when it is done right, the horror genre is the best genre of film out there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTaFFFyrj9c

Although the task asked for a 1 minute film about the amazing parts of films we watch, I decided for my idea that I couldn’t stick to just 1 minute. For this task I decided to look at some of the films that I see as perfect ten out of ten films. Looking at the wide arrange of films that I do believe are perfect films shows in itself why the media that is film is a much more superior form of media than other options out there. Films give people the opportunity to escape and relate to people at the same time. The wide arrange of films as well means there are never ending possibilities to the things that we can connect to. Only in film can I connect and feel bad for a character like Dani in a horror like Midsommar but also connect to a character like Tom from a rom com like 500 Days of Summer. The beauty of film is that it makes sense for my favourite films to consist of a gory retelling of the events of Nazi Germany, a sweet coming of age story of a 17 year olf gorl from Sacramento and an animated musical of four boys trying to stop their mothers from starting a war with Canada.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-WwBbv6gl

We were tasked to make a short film of something that can be said to be mundane. This short film that has to be one continuous shot that lasts around 45 seconds. I decided to take a more unique approach to this task, where others may film the rain or waiting for the bus, I decided to film myself writing my portfolio. Although it may not seem too deep on the outside and may just seem like a bit of a dig at the writing part of going to film school, that wasn’t the intention of the video. Of course it was a bit of a joke but the idea behind it was seeing the most mundane thing through the eyes of someone with ADD, something that runs in my family. To someone with ADD, the most painstakingly boring thing in the world is doing work that you don’t really want to be doing. Especially when you are on a computer, something that is made to distract you from most things. Also the video in question goes over the 45 second minimum because the loading time for powerpoint to open is truly the most mundane part of the whole thing. The waiting and looking at the orange rectangle in the middle of your screen makes the task 10 times more mundane.

The man known for thrillers such as Se7en and Gone Girl decided to focus on an entirely different type of story. Instead of stories about notorious killers like the Zodiac or fast paced yet thought provoking action thrillers such as The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, David Fincher decided to use his film making expertise to tell the story of the youngest billionaire in history, the creator of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg.  With the help of his trusty cinematographer Jeff Cronenweth, editors Angus Wall and Kirk Baxter and a powerful score from Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, known autuer David Fincher was able to put together the most compelling and gripping biographical film put to cinema.

To begin with, the way Fincher directs his actors has to be applauded because the acting is astounding. A protagonist which questionable morals who the audience finds difficult to either hate or love is something that Fincher is known to be able to perfect in his films now. From the narrator in Fight Club to Nick Dunne in Gone Girl, being able to pull off  an egotistical and disliked protagonist that we are able to care about is one of Fincher’s many talents and yet with every film and every protagonist, they get better by getting worse in nature and none of Fincher’s egotistical protagonists do we care about more than Jesse Eisenberg with his portrayal of Mark Zuckerberg. Jesse’s performance as the cocky creator of Facebook makes it so easy for us to dislike him with the way he talks down to people and cuts them off, especially when he is faced with Andrew Garfield’s Eduardo Saverin. However, that same cockiness leads us to root for him when faced with the Armie Hammer twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss.

The colour pallet of the film is very similar to other Fincher films with the entire shot being washed over with dark blues and greens. This choice to keep these dark and dreary colours not only reminds us that we are watching a David Fincher film, but it also adds to the expected mood of the particular scene. The dark and dreary greens of the courtroom when it begins to rain shows the terrible situation that Zuckerberg has got himself into. The dark blues when the Winklevoss twins lose their rowing match in London to the remixed version of “In the Hall of the Mountain King” perfectly reflects their failure to beat Zuckerberg in the race to make Facebook. When Zuckerberg meets Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake) and we see the film through his eyes, there is a bright yellow tint over the shots to show Zuckerberg’s jubilation whereas when we see the exact same friendship between Zuckerberg and Parker through eduardo’s eyes, the colours are dark once again. Everything that is done is done with a purpose, not just because it’s a David Fincher film.

Overall, of all of Fincher’s perfect films, this easily ranks as one of the best of his filmography and one of the best of the past decade.

Mise-En-Scene: translating to “seen on stage”, mise-en-scene for a film can be in reference to anything that can be seen on screen, whether it is the set or the performance being put on by the actor, if it is seen on screen, it counts as mise-en-scene.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMbWa8sqQOg

Shot reverse shot: Usually used during a discussion between two characters, the camera cuts back between the two characters when they speak.

Pan/Track/Zoom: Panning is when the movement of the camera mimics that of a head moving from left to right. A tracking shot is a shot that follows the subject, usually from behind. Zooming is closing in on the subject, this can be done with the camera or in post.

Psychoanalysis: A way to treat mental health issues by bringing thoughts from the unconscious mind to the conscious mind. In film is can be seen as the idea that the camera knows no bounds so it is able to bring the viewer anywhere so they can see anything.

Suture: Using techniques such as the shot reverse shot to make the audience to forget that we are watching something that a camera shot.

The gaze: The idea that an average cinema goer is a middle aged white man, so a film to be made for someone who fits that description which may mean explosions and sex.

Audience: The person who watches the film.

Representation: How a group of people are shown (or not shown) in a piece of media.

Montage: A style of editing which means that if you rearrange the shots, they can still make sense.

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