What Scares You?

2. What Scares You? Monster Movies Today and Yesterday(Part 2)

3. Making monsters Review • What do you remember from last class?

4. Myth • A mythical monster with snakes for hair was named: • A: Cyclops • B: Scylla • C: Medusa • D: Charybis • Medusa

5. Folklore • Oriental Dragons are associated with: • A: Caves & Treasure • B: Water and Wisdom • C: Knights and Damsels • D: Evil and Death • Water and Wisdom

6. Folklore • Vampires in folklore could be stopped by all but one method: • A: Stake through heart. • B: Wolfsbane. • C: Beheading • D: Brick in mouth. • Wolfsbane.

7. Folklore • True or False: Werewolf stories were very common in England. • False

8. Folklore • According to traditional folklore a werewolf does not change because of a full moon. What will cause him to change: • A: Drinking a magic potion. • B: Being cursed by a witch • C: Eating bad cheese • D: Rubbing a salve (lotion) on his body. • Rubbing salve on body

9. Folklore • Zombie’s are associated with what traditional belief system? • A: Vodou • B: Catholicism • C: Protestantism • D: Buddhism • Vodou (Voodoo)

10. Science Fiction • The author of the early science fiction book 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea was: • A: H.G. Wells • B: Johannes Kepler • C: Jules Verne • D: Bram Stoker • Jules Verne

11. Science Fiction • Mary Shelly wrote what well-known early science fiction book? • A: The War of the Worlds • B: Frankenstein • C: Journey to the Center of the Earth • D: The Terminator • Frankenstein

12. History and Technology 1900 – 195o’s

13. Monster Movie History • The first commercial motion picture was produced in 1898. • By 1910 the first monster movie was made: a 15 minute silent film produced by the Edison Studios based on the Mary Shelly story Frankenstein. The film was thought lost for many years but has recently been found.

14. Edison’s Frankenstein

15. Nosferatu • First vampire film (Germany 1922). Based on Dracula book, but character names were changed because producers could not afford to by the rights. • Movie introduced the idea the vampire’s would die if exposed to sunlight.

16. Universal Monsters • Universal Studios produced a series of horror/monster films starting in 1923 with The Hunchback of Notre Dame and included Dracula, The Mummy, The Wolf Man, Creature from the Black Lagoon and Frankenstein.

17. Frankenstein (1931) • Based on the Gothic Novel by Mary Shelly. • Monster created by stitching together dead body parts and re-animating them with a lightning bolt. • Monster turns against its creator. • Monster dies, but is resurrected for the sequel.

18. Frankenstein: “It’s Alive!”

19. “Classic“ Monster Movie Formula(Usually will contain most, but not all) • Written as a cautionary tale. Man’s tampering with nature unleashes the creature to wreak man-made world. • Warnings are disregarded. • Heroine/love interest is menaced by the creature. • Monster is often a sympathetic figure. • Science/Technology is used to destroy creature.

20. Frankenstein (Continued) • The Movie and the Monster (played by Boris Karloff) became an cultural Icon. • Film was followed by numerous sequels and parodies. • Banned in Kansas. • Distinctive “flat-topped” head & neck bolts designed by makeup artist Jack Pierce.

21. Horror Movie Makeup • Jack Pierce created the make up for most of the Universal Monsters. • Movie Makeup differs from theatrical makeup in that theatrical makeup is designed to help audiences see expressions at a distance. • Movie makeup must be able to withstand an actors face being project on a 30’ high screen.

22. Frankenstein Makeup

23. Frankenstein (Continued) • Continues to be a cultural icon that shows up everywhere.

24. Bride of Frankenstein(1933) • Monster comes back to demand a mate. • Considered to be one of the few films where the sequel surpasses the original. • Director James Whale was able to demand full control of the picture.

25. The Lost World (1925) • Based on the Novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. • First major film to feature “gigantic beasts” like dinosaurs. • .

26. Discussion Point • How would you create giant monsters on the screen back in the 1920’s before there were computer image processing?

27. King Kong (1933) • Classic “Giant Beast” Movie to which all other are compared. • Willis O'Brien perfected his stop motion technique in this film. • Producer Merian Cooper got the idea from an real-life expedition to bring a Komodo Dragon back to NYC. • First Hollywood picture to have a full-length score. Also first to have a thematic score. • Featured a break-through technique for rear projection using a plastic screen.

28. Rear Projection • Rear projection: Puppet background, people foreground. • Miniature projection: People background, puppet foreground.

29. Kong vs. the T-Rex

30. Kong: Small & Large • An 18” model was used stop motion production. • A full sized bust and arm was built to interact with human actors.

31. “Classic Formula” for King Kong • Man takes Kong out of his natural environment and he escapes to tear up NYC. • First mate (hero) is skeptical of the bringing Anne Darrow (heroine) on trip. • Kong is fascinated by the blond Darrow and carries her to top of Empire State Building. • New technology (Airplanes) kill him.

32. Kong aftermath • Broke box all box officer records and saved RKO studios from bankruptcy. • Sequels Son of Kong, King Kong vs. Godzilla, King Kong Escapes, King Kong Lives. • Remakes in 1976 & 2005.

33. Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953) • First independent job by Ray Harryhausen. • Nuclear bomb test in Arctic frees frozen dinosaur. Scientist tries to warn others of danger but is not believed. Beast arrives in NYC and tears up Coney Island. • Hero uses radio-active material to kill beast.

34. The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms

35. “The Foghorn” • In 1951 Ray Bradbury wrote a short story about a dinosaur destroying a lighthouse. • Producers of “Beast” like the idea and put it into the script, but didn’t tell ( or pay) Bradbury. • Later they forgot what they had done and hired Bradbury to rewrite the script!

36. How Film Works • Though we see continuous motion on the screen, film is actually made up of individual pictures that flash by 24 times a second.

37. The Art of Stop Motion Photography • Articulated models are filmed on miniature sets. • As each new frame is photographed the model’s position is changed slightly. • During playback the model seems to move by itself.

38. A Demonstration of Stop Motion • A live demonstration of stop motion.

39. Example

40. The Great Skeleton Fight

41. Other Harryhausen Films • It Came from Beneath the Sea, Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, 20 Million Miles to Earth, Clash of the Titans, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, Mysterious Island, The Valley of Gwangi.

42. Making a Movie • The first step in making a movie is a story idea. • The second step is a complete script. • The producers of the film can raise money for the film using the script. • Once the production is financed, one of the first things created is a storyboard.

43. Storyboards • Storyboards are a series of pictures, very much like a comic book, that allow the people making the film to see what it might look like.

44. Storyboarding • Storyboards are used to figure out what sets, costumes and camera equipment will be needed for each scene. • They are also valuable for estimating the cost of the pictures. • Very important for films that involve special effects like stop-motion or CGI monsters.

45. Making a Monster Movie • Brainstorm with your group to come up with a plot for your movie. • Write them down as a series of bullet points (8 to 10 points would be ideal). • Story board your movie with one picture per bullet point.

46. Homework • Read “The Wolves are at the Multiplex Door” by next class. • Don’t for get to view your monster movie and do the associated study guide by the last class on Nov. 3th.

47. Believe in Monsters!