AS Media - Stabbing Evaluation

The Brief:

- To create an effective way of portraying someone being stabbed

List of ideas;

- show the stab into a pillow or other object beneath the same clothing as in the film
- don't show the actual stab, show a reaction shot
- show the aftermath of the stab

Evaluations:

- 1. The use of a pillow would make the whole thing much safer and more ergonomically sound, also everyone would be happy by being safer and more precautious as no one would get hurt and we would still be able to do the scene. The down side is the it may not be as gory or as explicit as we want it to be as there will be less realism to the piece which is what we are trying to replicate. The pillow will also not look as life like as a persons actual body making it loose its effect whilst also making it look unprofessional and bland. This does somewhat conform to the conventions of a slasher film because the stabbing is actually happening in frame however using a pillow as a body replacement is something that isn't usually seen as there is normally a fake body which we unfortunately do not have access to.



- 2. Not showing the actual stab would be much easier to film as there wouldn't have to be a shot of the knife going into the victim leaving it much easier for us to make the wound look better. Therefore we would be able to make the two shots look better and more seamless to the storyline and to the conventions of horror. However the slasher genre heavily includes seeing the death happen as you would if you were in front of the action. This poses a problem as we don't have the resources to show the knife entering the victim as we would require movie grade props which unfortunately we do not have access to. This is quite conventional as there are many films that just show the reaction of the stabbing and possibly the aftermath of it and I feel that this would be the most suitable to the film as it would be more aesthetically pleasing.



- 3. The aftermath of the stab would be the easiest of the three and enable the most focus to be centred on the wound incurred by the victim. Although this would not be as interesting and creative it would effectively portray the victims death and enable for the wound to be perfected and the blood that gushes out of the wound to be perfected. The problem with this is that we would have to work a lot to perfect one shot that could potentially go wrong and make the whole preparation of the scene and camera shot a complete waste of time which is something that we will be limited to due to our shooting script. This would be less conventional yet very effective if pulled off correctly and perfected so that it is seamless.



Conclusion;



To conclude I found that the second option would be the preferred method to approach the film with as it makes the stabbing part easier yet still maintains its effect, the pillow idea I have fond to be a good back up plan as it is still easy to pull off and look good.

AS Media - Murder Weapon Research

The Brief:

- To research murder weapons for the prop in our film opening

Guns/Firearms

Although firearms as awhile in real life are the major cause of death/injury related crime it is not much of a conformity when it comes down to the slasher genre. This could be due to the quick nature of death by a gun which extenuates the torture of being killed by a knife/sharp object.

Gun Stats 2016

• Total Number of Incidents 53,602
• Number of Deaths 13,854
• Number of Injuries 28,505
• Number of Children (age 0-11)
  Killed or Injured 636
• Number of Teens (age 12-17)
  Killed or Injured 2,890
• Mass Shooting 363
• Officer Involved Incident
  Officer Shot or Killed 307
• Officer Involved Incident
  Subject-Suspect Shot or Killed 1,754
• Home Invasion 2,256
• Defensive Use 1,683
• Accidental Shooting 1,988

Knife

Knives are much slower and more painful deaths, especially in horror movies showing the appeal for them in slasher movies as it highlights the animosity and audacity of murdering someone.

Expanded Homicide Data Table 8
Murder Victims
by Weapon, 2008–2012
Weapons	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012
Total	14,224	13,752	13,164	12,795	12,765
Total firearms:	9,528	9,199	8,874	8,653	8,855
Handguns	6,800	6,501	6,115	6,251	6,371
Rifles	380	351	367	332	322
Shotguns	442	423	366	362	303
Other guns	81	96	93	97	110
Firearms, type not stated	1,825	1,828	1,933	1,611	1,749
Knives or cutting instruments	1,888	1,836	1,732	1,716	1,589
Blunt objects (clubs, hammers, etc.)	603	623	549	502	518
Personal weapons (hands, fists, feet, etc.)1	875	817	769	751	678
Poison	9	7	11	5	12
Explosives	11	2	4	6	8
Fire	85	98	78	76	85
Narcotics	34	52	45	33	35
Drowning	16	8	10	15	13
Strangulation	89	122	122	88	89
Asphyxiation	87	84	98	92	105
Other weapons or weapons not stated	999	904	872	858	778

Researching typical killer's boots

I researched what type of boots the typical killer in slasher films wears. Firstly I searched up images of walking/muddy boots, that I would think the killer would wear. Here are some of the images I found. 

I then watched slasher films with a male killer, as this is the same as in our film opening. I watched Texas Chainsaw Massacre, both the new and older versions, and both of them have Leatherface the killer wearing big boots. I also watched Scream, and even Ghostface wears big clunky boots under his robe/cape, which shows that boots will be a good option for our killer.