A few tips to prepare for the Horror Challenge
The 48-Hour Horror Challenge starts Friday night at 7pm. We want this weekend to go smoothly, so here are a few things you can do before then to make the process easier, plus some advice from past workshops archived on our YouTube channel. Not signed up yet? Sign up here
The Schedule
7pm Friday, Oct 16 is the kickoff. Two optional prompts land in signups' inboxes and away we go.
7pm Sunday, Oct 18 is the upload deadline. Budget lots and lots of time for editing and uploading. It's not hard and fast but most people plan Friday night, shoot Saturday, and edit Sunday.
Things you can do before the kickoff
- Line up your friends, a good location you can control, and buy snacks. Feed your friends snacks! Because you want them to still be your friends.
- Get some supplies. If you plan on using fake blood, test it and get drop sheets or garbage bags out now. Don't get on the wrong side of your roommates.
- Download any software you'll need and watch a tutorial or two. Video editing software, REAPER for audio editing, Spitfire Audio LABS for free scary sounds. They're all worth grabbing early.
- Get out and record some background sounds with your phone. You can get the best audio quality if you record a video instead of recording a voice memo.
Hot tips from past workshops
Don't fix it in post. Fix it now. When you're saying "We'll fix it in post," you literally mean you. And you will be sad. You will curse your past self.
Mike Fardy — No Budget, No Problem
You're getting your prompt. You're getting your item. Think how do I make it weird? How do I make it horror? If you're lost and you don't know what to do, just always go back to that: what is ordinary, and how do I make it weird?
Francois Van Zyl, Grind Mind — Ghoul School 2022
Always be thinking about time. If you're writing a scene and you think it's gonna take 30 minutes to shoot, make that an hour and 15, because 30 minutes in here is not the same as it is out there.
Francois Van Zyl — Ghoul School 2022
Sound is 50% or more of the experience. Levelling out dialogue and cutting out any pops or background noise is really going to help immerse your audience. People can forgive bad camera work, they can forgive bad lighting, but we disconnect really quickly if the audio is sh**y.
Shane Mills, Grind Mind — Ghoul School
Make it sound the way it looks, the best you can. If the camera is close and gross, the mic is close and gross. If the camera is wide, the mic is wide.
Adam Foran — Ghoul School 2021
When you're making a costume bloody, think about it, break it down in your head, or make a little sketch of how it's gonna go. You can buy things so cheap and make it look so real if you plan it out and dampen your fabric. That's so important.
Alison Ruth Hicks — Ghoul School 2022
Special effects makeup does take time. Whatever you budget monetarily can be minimal, but give yourself a lot of time to design your looks, to practise the skills you'll need, and then to actually do them on set on the day.
Full challenge details and rules are at nickelfestival.com/challenges/48horror.
More tomorrow!
