TITLETypical horror movie titles try to imply something about the film that is about to follow. For example:Halloween. The orange font matches with the pumpkin, and therefore the Halloween theme. The bold font and bold text is dramatic, and stands out against the background, making the audience feel less powerful.

Alien: The text slowly appears, starting from the middle letter, then working it’s way inwards. The text all points towards the middle. This is a nod towards the rest of the film, where the alien, the main character, bursts its way from the middle of it’s victims. The plain white font is also quite futuristic, which fits in with the theme of aliens and spaceships. It’s quite small in relationship to the framing, but this makes it’s appear ‘sneaky’.

We used this idea with our own title, and wanted it to relate to the theme and storyline of our film. Even in the opening sequence, there is a reference to ‘seeing the lights’, which signals the aliens approach. We then chose our title to appear to give off a powerful light, as a hint towards what it coming. We also gave it a white light, as it feels rather un-natural, compared to the yellow light most people are used to, this is a glare. The font was then plain and simple, a reference to the fact that although our film is sci-fi, it’s rather simple, and set in the woods. Our film did use typical title conventions, with it’s plain font and foreshadowing of what is to come. However, this is a move on from the original horror movies, which often had very dramatic fonts for their titles, such as:The Blob

Films generally generally start with an establishing shot, to give the film some setting. Then, throughout the film, horror films generically have lots of close ups, to create mystery and tension, and the audience cannot see what is around. They also have lots of fast paced cuts, also to create tension. An example of a horror film that starts with an establishing shot is Alien, which starts with a panning shot through space. This sets the scene and theme of the film, which is set in a spaceship and an alien planet.

For our film, we decided to have no picture behind our titles, just plain black. This is because we wanted to create the effect that the blackness was the screen of the hand held camera, not working. Towards the end of the credit we added in sound before the video appeared, to imply this. To give our film some setting we used sound, in the form of a radio voiceover, instead of a background image. By doing this, we challenged conventional horror film opening, by establishing our film through sound, rather then image.

We then go straight into a close up of the actress, and it’s not immediately obvious where she is. However, we then followed a pretty generic pattern of shots, as we used lots of close ups, and lots of fast paced cuts, to create tension.

An example of a film that’s make use of lots of cuts to create tension in its opening sequence is Twilight, where cuts of a deer running frantically through a wood make the film fast paced and heighten the audiences tension and apprehension for the rest of the film.

In horror films, mise en scene is often very stereotypical. Scenes are often set either in an abandoned place, or a normal, suburban area, which the audience can relate to, and the props in these settings will relate to their setting,

The victim/s are normally dressed in fashionable, to make them associable to the audience, or clothes and items that make them instantly representable as a particular social group. Colours may be used to represent something throughout the film, such as red for death or blood.

In our film, our only actor seen in the opening sequence was dressed in a ‘fashionable’ outfit that the audience would be able to relate to, and which would appeal to the audience. She is also a 17 year old female, which makes her accessible to the audience, and is blonde, which is a typical horror victim convention. We also made sure the audience could see she was dressed for being in the woods, and the bag on her back showed that she may have been planning to be there for a while. The woods were just woods. Our film was quite similar to the film ‘the Blair Witch Project’, in this sense, as there’s was also set in the woods, and featured a group of young people.

Therefore, we followed typical horror movie conventions, by giving our main character generic fashion to make her appealing, and having an isolated setting.

Blair Witch Project

Most horror films make full use of sound, in order to create tension and dramatise scenes. This is one of the most effective ways of creating tension. An example of this is Psycho, which is famous for its tension inducing music.

However, we decided we wanted our film to appear completely diegetic, not including the voiceover at the beginning of the film. Later on in the movie we would introduce some music, but at the beginning, we wanted it to be more natural, and make the audience really feel like they could be there. In order to create tension, we took the sound of footsteps off one clip and pasted it over another, and raised the volume of the actress breathing.

The typical start of horror films can be described by Tsvetan Todorov’s theory of equilibrium, starting either: in equilibrium, with a typical normal setting, or straight into the disequilibrium, with a murder scene, etc.

Equilibrium lures the audience into a false sense of security and makes them start to identify with the audience, which makes it worse when they get killed off, or makes them root for them more to stay alive, and starting with equilibrium sets the pace for the film and causes tension.

An example of this is Scream, where, within a few minutes, it appears something bad could be about to happen.

An example of starting with equilibrium is Blair Witch Project. They are setting off on a trip, but their lives are still normal and unaffected by the horror that is to happen.

For our film, we chose to start in a state of disequilibrium. However, after the opening sequence, the film then turns to a generic narrative plotline, with equilibrium, then disequilibrium, finally followed by a new equilibrium.