Guest for Dinner

A one-minute film production

One choice can turn innocence and naivety into a gigantic horror story.

Guest for Dinner is a chilling and suspenseful short horror film that was produced by a group of students. The focus of the production was centered around the themes of naivety and gullibility and aimed to captivate the audience with a story that could easily reflect upon real-life experiences that viewers could find themselves in.
Group project

Duration: 4 weeks

My roles: Adobe premiere video-editor, Co-writer, Co-producer

Grade: 8.5/10
The origin of this project stems from the filmmakers' deep-rooted passion for horror films and their desire to create something that would make the audience reflect on the different situations they may face in their lives.
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To make the short horror film truly unique and successful, the filmmakers took a specific visual and film-technical approach. One such approach involved incorporating awkward silences and matching sounds that were inspired by the critically acclaimed horror film, Hereditary. The use of these elements allowed the audience to place themselves in the protagonist's position and truly understand the emotions and feelings they were experiencing in each moment of the film. Additionally, the filmmakers employed a minimalistic approach to narration, using the concept of 'show, don't tell' to demonstrate that a complete story can be effectively conveyed without the need for excessive text.
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The end result of this production was not only a personal success for the filmmakers, but it also won the school film festival, cementing its place as a standout piece of student filmmaking.
The filmmakers' decision to create a horror film was motivated by their admiration for the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock. In honor of Hitchcock's contributions to the horror genre, the filmmakers adopted his methods of producing suspense in the making of Guest for Dinner. This involved adhering to specific visual storytelling rules and making choices such as incorporating subtle hints and recurring elements in the story to keep the audience on the edge of their seats and suggest that something sinister is afoot. By showcasing important elements through different camera angles that the protagonist does not notice, the filmmakers created a sense of foreboding and allowed the audience to know more than the character, enhancing the overall suspense of the film.

Read the entire movie plan here (Dutch)
Including: Script, shotlist, breakdown sheets, storyboard, production and
post-production