Sweet Music Centre

Count Dracula has been resurrected many times in the movies, especially in the Hammer ones. Conversely, he has also been killed off much more than once. When it came to coming up with some pretty novel – and gruesome – ways of disposing of the evil count, Hammer films were certainly outstanding in this respect.

In Dracula (1958), Hammer’s debut film in the Christopher Lee series, the count is vanquished by his arch enemy Professor Van Helsing (played so brilliantly by Peter Cushing), who bravely leaps across a table, whilst chasing Dracula through his castle, and pulls down the curtains, exposing the bloodsucker to the thing that is always guaranteed to roast a vampire into dusty nothingness: the sunlight of dawn. As Dracula crumbles away under the combined destruction of the sun’s rays and Van Helsing’s makeshift crucifix, hastily formed from two pieces of candelabra, we are witnessing the start of what would go on to be such an entertaining, iconic series involving the vampire lord.

In Dracula, Prince of Darkness (1965), the count is resurrected in the most gruesome manner imaginable: servant Klove cuts the throat of a suspended corpse over the sarcophagus containing Dracula’s remains… and as the blood flows down onto the ashes, the count slowly materialises back to life, whereupon he proceeds to feast on the vulnerable female visitors to his castle. At the climax of this sequel, Dracula slips under the ice to a watery grave as a priest shoots at the frozen moat around his castle.

But you can’t keep a good vampire down. In Dracula Has Risen From The Grave (1968), the count is resuscitated from his icy grave by the blood from the head wound of a priest who stumbles and falls down onto the spot under which Dracula’s body is lying in suspended animation, cracking the ice and trickling the blood onto the vampire’s lips. The death scene in this movie is truly my favourite Dracula exit of all. After a desperate struggle with the hero Paul (played by Barry Andrews) outside his castle, Dracula falls off a cliff and becomes impaled on a large cross, previously thrown down there by the hypnotised heroine Maria (Veronica Carlson). Some awesome Dracula death throes ensue, with the impaled count staggering around the woods with the top of the huge cross protruding from his chest, gasping and screaming in agony, blood pouring profusely from his body, as he gradually disintegrates, leaving only a crimson, viscous mess all over the cross and ground.

Short movies are becoming more popular nowadays. In the side of film makers, these kind of film are great since it is easier to make them and the production cost is also cheaper. Having said that, let me then share some short film making tips for you.

But before going into the short film making tips, let us first define it. When we say short film, we are referring to the movies that are relatively shorter than the normal two-hour movie. It can be 30 minutes or even one minute. While it is short, it must still have a complete story. That means it must still have an introduction, body, and conclusion.

My Short Film Making Tips

1. Make a simple story

Since you will be making a short movie, just create a simple story. Don’t make a novel because the time might not contain it. Just focus on a single idea and let the story revolve around it.

2. Make anticipations

Don’t show everything from the beginning immediately. It’s good to place some suspense to let your audience anticipate on what will happen in the end. This will capture your viewers’ attention until the story reaches the climax.

3. Use few characters

I watched some short movies that are not so effective due to having so many characters. It makes the story not so focused.

Don’t be afraid to use few characters. if you can even make a story that has only one character then that will be great. There’s a short film I watched where in they only used two characters but it was very nice. Having few characters not only make your life as a film maker easier. It will also easily drive the audience to focus on few elements of the film.

4. Complete the story

As I said above, a short film must still have a complete story. I’m not really a fan of those short movies that just end abruptly without any conclusion.

I understand that there’s another way of ending a story which is the open-ended one. In doing this however, you must still bring your audience somewhere. Do not just cut the story and that’s it. So what’s the point of ending the story if you only showed an introduction?

6. Gain inspirations