Assignment 8: Individual

Presentation Chosen genre is

horror

By Gledis Dedaj

Why I have chosen horror…• Horror films serve a general purpose, to shock, disgust

and terrify you, whilst also entertaining you.

• They take people’s worst fears and make them reality. • Things like possessed characters

•I like the idea of

shocking my

audience to ensure that

they remember

my opening sequence

General conventions of Horror films…

• The conventions of a horror film depend on what type of horror it is…

They aim to scare. They aim to disgust. They aim to make you think.

Supernatural Horrors

Gory Horrors

Psychological Horrors

Appearances of demonic

creatures and evil spirits

Grouse, bloody and

gory deaths

The villain or the ‘bad guy’ is often

mentally ill or crazy.

General conventions of Horror films…

Horror films often consist of evil forces, spirits or events. These evil and normally supernatural elements are usually placed into the everyday life.•Common themes and elements presented in typical horror films are :•Ghosts

and poltergie

st’

•Torture•Violent deaths

and gore

•Werewolves•Haunted bulidings •Demons

•Vampires

•Possessions •Zombies

•Serial killers

Films that have inspired me…• The film that inspired me most is ‘The Ring’

• I want to use a similar long shot in my opening sequence.• It’s an effective way of keeping the audience’s attention to

the puddle of water whilst showing the character come up the stairs.

• I also want to use a fast zoom in my opening sequence.

Use of costume and make-up in ‘The Ring’

• Quite frightening to look at and an effective way of scaring the audience.

• The lighting throughout the whole movie is kept more or less the same.

• This creates a very eerie and creepy atmosphere in the movie, common in most horrors.

• I want to use dark lighting in my opening sequences .

Films that have inspired me…

• A scene from ‘Rosemary’s Baby’ also inspired me.

• I want to leave the audience guessing in my opening sequence in order to create suspense an enigma.

Close up of hand reaching into crib

Draws the audiences attention to what she's doing.

. Allows imagination to run wild .It never shows what Making the audience uneasy she sees only her reaction. . Close up of Creates tension Rosemary’s face, emphasises her shock and horror at what she sees.

Films that have inspired me…

• Another film that inspired me was ‘The Haunting in Connecticut ’

• Its paranormal theme has inspired me to make my opening sequence about a haunting.

• Slamming doors…

• It especially inspired me to set my opening sequence in a building that’s haunted. E.g. a haunted school.

• I would like to use old newspaper articles such as this to briefly show the history of the building.

Supernatural Theme:

•Hell

•Ancient curses

•Demons•The devil

•Possessions

•Vampires

•Witches

•Ghosts

•Haunting

•Spirits

•Poltergeist’•Satanism

•Unexplained deaths

•séances

The theme of my opening sequence…

The theme of my opening sequence…

The theme of my opening sequence is a haunting.

Someone moves into a haunted A haunted school where a

house and begins to be terrorised student gets trapped inside

by a ghost. and tormented by a ghost.

e.g. The Amityville Horror

Someone is haunted by the spirit of a person they murdered and is driven to insanity.

A Haunting

What happens in the whole film…

• Main character fell asleep during detention and is awoken by a noise at 8:00pm, the building is empty. This is when she discovers a body in a cupboard (opening sequence). After student’s body is found and removed, an investigation to find the murderer begins. More students are murdered but its not revealed what’s killing them only their reactions before they die.

• Main character is curious about what she herd in the hallway (whispering) -does research on building before it became a school (mental hospital). She discovers there was a fire and someone died (but this was a cover-up for a murder).

• The main character tries to tell others and warn them but they think she’s crazy and don’t believe her. She then begins to be tormented by the spirit haunting the school and thinks she's going insane.

• At the end of the movie the main character discovers that the body was buried in the basement (creepy and eerie and no one goes down there). She has to dispose of the body for it’s spirit to leave permanently.

• Whilst in basement she realises the body is behind the wall and knocks it down to find it is no longer there. She desperately looks for the body and heavy breathing and footsteps are herd coming from behind her. She turns around and screams.

• The End

What happens in the opening sequence…

• The main character (a student) runs up the staircase to the top floor of the school. (close up of feet running) A long shot from the end of the hallway of the character as she reaches the top

• As she walks down the hallway, incoherent, but loud whispering can be herd coming from the walls and the lights start flickering.

• In between shots flashing images of newspaper articles will appear revealing that the school used to be a mental institution and something happened involving a patient.

• She continues walking. At this point the character is very frightened and shaking. All the doors begin to slam by themselves. The students drops her folder from the shock.

• She notices blood on a door knob, opens it with her sleeve and follows a trail of blood to the cupboard. As she opens the door, high pitched music plays, what she sees is not revealed you only see her reaction.

How my opening sequences creates enigma and

suspense• In my opening sequence enigma will be created

through the second character whom is not revealed. (inside the cupboard)

• The fact that it is not shown to the audience what the main characters sees and is horrified by creates enigma because the audience will then become curious as to what it is she is reacting to.

• Their curiosity towards the mysterious character will lead to my audience wanting to see the rest of the film in order to find out what happened to them

Characters in my opening sequence…

• My opening sequence consists of only one character.

• The character is a student at the school, this is shown

through props and costume.

Actor befor

e costume

change:

Actor after costume

change:

•She will be dressed

in a uniform and her hair and clothing

will be neat to represent her

innocence and make her

appear more venerable

Characters in my opening sequence…

• The main character will represent typical normal high school students.

• She represents the victim and the hero in the movie.

She carries a folder and is dressed in uniform.

This shows she's a typical high school student.

Her body language tells the audience she’s scared she clutches tightly to her folder and is constantly looking behind her.

• There will be another character but who they are remains a mystery because the audience doesn’t see who has been murdered. This also creates enigma and

suspense.

Basic Storyboard of my Opening Sequence…

•Blood drips from the door handle

•An extreme close up of her feet as she

runs

•A fast reverse zoom when she reaches the top

•Doors slam by themselves

•She enters the room and follows a trail of blood to the

cupboard

•She opens the cupboard door and is horrified by what she

sees, but its not revealed to the

audience

The Target Audience for my Opening Sequence…

• In order from my opening sequence to really affect my audience, I want my target audience to relate to the character.

• Lifestyle-Therefore my opening sequence is mainly aimed at teenagers still in high school of both male a female genders.

• People who live in London-working class.• People who like to be shocked and thrilled and enjoy mystery.

• However it is also aimed at people of an older generation who like suspense and gore and enjoy watching horror movies.

• My opening sequence is suitable for ages 15 and over as it doesn’t include any graphic or violent scenes.

Feedback from my Target Audience…

Feedback from my Target Audience…

Feedback from my Target Audience…

• For my target audience feedback I asked five different people four questions about my opening sequence .

• The people I asked varied from ages 16-48.• Everyone asked was a horror film fan.

• Results:

• Question 1 : 3 People chose -A 2 People chose -B No one chose -C

• Question 2 : 4 People chose -A 1 Person chose -B No one chose -C

• Question 3: 5 People chose -A No one chose -B No one chose -C

• Question 4: 5 People chose -A No one chose -B No one chose -C

• Overall my feedback was generally positive

• From my feedback I learnt that my opening sequence successfully creates suspense and enigma

• I also learnt that it is appropriate for teens as young as 15 to view it.