Making the Genre Film: Horror, Sci-Fi, and Fantasy

Working within a genre can greatly assist the fledgling filmmaker by suggesting content and stylistic elements, thereby freeing the artist to focus on self-expression. This is a hands-on production course with a focus on producing genre films. Our class discussions and video exercises will explore various ideas present in the so-called “lesser genres” of horror, sci-fi, and fantasy, including the idea of the “monster,” man/woman vs. society, suspense, fear, sexual politics, and repression, as well as the smart use of special effects and other strategies for the independent filmmaker working in genre filmmaking. In addition to class exercises, students will each produce and direct a short video project for their conference work.