Catherine f's Senior Project Blog

Project Title: What’s Your Favorite Scary Movie? A Look Into Horror and Its Importance Within American Culture
BASIS Advisor: Kelly Stoneberger & Tyler Kies
Internship Location: Independent Filmmaker
Onsite Mentor: Ember Crowley 



Project Abstract

Horror is a genre that often gets overlooked, looked down on, and is judged based on one type of movie or experience. I want to use this project to take a look at the importance of this genre within our society and show that it tends to be a lot more than what people may assume. Horror is a great genre to analyze as it often directly reflects society’s current fears and social taboos, leading to a better understanding of history and ourselves. It is a great genre to look towards when trying to understand human fear and the role it plays in society. This is an independent project and I will be completing it in my own time so that I can compile research on lenses pertaining to the historical, psychological and social aspects of the genre. I will then write a script in order to create a final documentary. A documentary format provides a more creative way to give people information that is interesting and more memorable. I hope that this documentary will show people that horror is important and has a place in our society and in conversations regarding film.

    My Posts:

  • Conclusion

    Welcome to the conclusion of my blog posts! I really loved getting to do this project. I’ve never made anything film related before despite my love for it so this was such a cool opportunity. I love horror and am so glad I got to share all the reasons I love the genre with other... Read More

  • Quick Guide to Horror

    Hello! I have finished and practiced my presentation! That step is completed and I only have a few minor touch ups before the documentary is complete too. It should be completely done and exported by the end of the week. For this last post, I thought it would be fun to do a quick mini... Read More

  • Why I like Horror

    Hello! I have finished my presentation slides and now need to practice and finish scripting it. I also plan to meet with my external advisor this week to finalize my rough draft of the documentary and add credits. Those are all for current updates so let’s talk about why people enjoy horror and my own... Read More

  • The Successful Rip Off of Halloween

    Hello everyone! I have finished the rough draft of the documentary and sent it to my external advisor. I am now waiting for her to finish reviewing it so I can get feedback and then I will show it to my internal advisor and a bunch of other people so I can hopefully have a... Read More

  • Low Budget Horror

    Hello! I’m doing the same thing as last week, trying to get everything edited and fix any audio and visual problems. I’m hoping to try and start the PowerPoint presentation next week and almost have a rough draft of the documentary done. That’s all for updates this week since I’m doing one thing that just... Read More

  • Vampires!

    Hello! I’m doing the exact same thing as last week. It is all so tedious. I’ve mostly finished putting music in the background (I haven’t decided if I want music with the interviews yet). I’ve still got three interviews to go through and then edit into the documentary. That’s all for updates so let’s talk... Read More

  • Me V. Computer: Saga Continued

    Hello! It's been really interesting figuring out what interview answers I want to include and where to insert them. I want to make sure they add something to the documentary overall, and so I have been messing around quite a bit with placement. This of course means that my computer has once again become my... Read More

  • First Interviews

    Hello! I just completed my first two interviews! It was a bit of trial and error and I suspect the next ones will be better but all in all I think it went pretty well. I was able to rent out a space at the public library and set up in there. This was my... Read More

  • Editing, Interviews, and Psycho

    Hello! This week I’m doing more editing and finding music to place in the background. I have finished cutting and inserting movie clips throughout the documentary. There is some beginning audio that I might re-record but I’m going to save that for last minute final touches in case I am low on time.  I’m going... Read More

  • Updates and Fun Facts

    Hello! This week is more editing! I have been staring at a computer for so long but it’s fun to learn a new program. I’ve used various Adobe products before but never Adobe Premiere so it’s been interesting figuring out how it works. I have most of the clips compiled and have been cutting them... Read More

  • Welcome to a Film Tangent

    Hello! This week has been very tedious in terms of the project. I have been collecting movie clips I want to use for the documentary which was tedious on its own but I then have to either download them or screen record them so that they can be inserted into the documentary. All was going... Read More

  • Introduction to my obsession with horror

    Hello! My name is Catie and I have long been interested in the topic of horror and how it reflects our society. I love horror in every form, from books and comics to movies and games. I grew up consuming as much of the genre as I could, from children’s TV shows such as Scooby... Read More