Horror opening

Horror opening

1. Sub-genres

   • Psychological
   • Thriller
   • Body
   • Sci-Fi
   • Slasher
   • Comedy

2. Sound

   • Non-diegetic
     • Deep music
       • Intensifies the situation
     • High pitched
       • Could be seen as the screaming of characters
   • Diegetic
     • Screaming
     • Blood spilling
     • Heavy breathing
     • Footsteps

3. Characters

   • Teenagers
     • The bully
       • Usually the first one to die
     • The Jock
     • The nerd
     • Mysterious/new person
     • Protagonist
   • Adults
   • Children
   • Killer
     • Mental Patient
     • Outcast
     • Masked murderer
     • Long lost relative

4. Location

   • Isolated area
     • No one around them can help
       • Ghost town
       • Forest/Woods
       • Haunted House
   • Large Community
     • Lots of people will be worried
       • 'Perfect' town
       • City

5. Props

   • Weapon
     • -Something that would usually inflict a slow, painful death. -Gets the killer close with the victim: increases intimacy/personal space 
     • Knife
     • Axe
     • Machete

6. Camera angles/shots

   • ECU/CU
     • -To show detail and importance of the shot. -To portray facial expressions and to introduce the characters so the audience can get an understanding of what they are like. -Gets the audience thinking who that the character is: hero or villain?
   • Tracking
     • -Conveys to the audience that something is going to happen: most likely something bad. -Non-diegetic sound links in as it determines the mood of the situation.
   • Panning
     • -Puts the audience in the position of the killer but doesn't suggest who the killer is. This will build intensity to the situation.
   • Zooming
     • -Draws the audience into the moment and it stresses the importance of the shot. -The pace of the shot will suggest if something is about to happen: slow means something MIGHT happen and fast (with loud non-diegetic music) builds up tension and the audience may get scared.
   • POV
     • -Puts the audience in to the killer's position. - Creates a mysterious mood to the situation: makes the audience who the killer is.

7. Lighting

   • Dark
     • -Connotes something dreadful may happen and it will worry the audience. -Using it in the opening minutes indicates something bad will happen and that it is a horror movie.
   • Bright
     • -At the start of the day, shows the characters live normal lives. -Later linked with Todorov's Theory. -Very bright light will unbalance the character's view of what is going on and also the audience's.

8. Halloween opening

   • In the opening scene to one of the most notorious slasher films, it takes the audience on a journey through the eyes of someone who seems to be watching a young couple. This immediately makes the audience that this could be the killer and this accusation will become for definite because the killer takes out a kitchen knife from a drawer. The killer slowly moves their way through the house and decides to kill the young woman from behind but before she is murdered, she yells the name Michael. The audience now know that the killer's name which will ruin their attempt hide their identity. The last shot is mid shot of a young boy wearing a colourful clown costume, while the camera tracks backwards and it now becomes a high angle shot of the young boy. The camera movement could portray the shock the audience would have; when people are shocked, they would move backwards away from the situation thus meaning the audience is moving away from Michael as they didn't expect him to be a boy. 
   • How can we use this for our opening?
     • I personally believe that this opening is a great example and could give us ideas on how to create our movie opening. The use of a POV in the killer's position is a great idea because it will hide the killer's identity. It has a mysterious and creepy element and it will leave the audience asking questions: who were they? why did they do that?. However, Halloween is a famous 'Slasher', whereas my group want to create a thriller horror, meaning we would need to have a different feel to it. 

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