Film Opening | Horror Film Conventions

Upon searching for a wide range of horror film conventions on the internet, we came across this presentation which gives a detailed outline of conventions of many horror films:

http://www.slideshare.net/marine18/horror-genre-conventions (credit to George Woodford)

The first slide which was of importance to us was the one with information on setting. This gave us a great idea of the sort of setting we were looking for and after already deciding on the old mill with the abandoned section, this reassured us that we had picked a suitable location; it is isolated, dark, abandoned and, as the presentation states in the 'Locations for any good horror genre film' section, does resemble 'gloomy underground tunnels' and also an abandoned basement.

The images on the slide after this show particular locations such as an abandoned building, a long gloomy looking tunnel and a dark mysterious forest. All of these features can be incorporated into the old mill which we have chosen as our shooting location.

A very good slide named as 'Technical Codes' gives us a wide range of information on camerawork and editing with examples from particular films they are used in. From this we were able to understand the importance of POV shots as the presentation states that they 'allow the audience to see the world from the monster's eye.' As we are shooting a film opening, we thought that instead of doing the perspective from the monster's eye, we would show the POV from the teenager who is exploring the mill as the audience can get a real understanding of his isolation and confusion in quite a dark abandoned space.

The 'Technical Codes' slide also gives us details about handheld shots which we decided we would use frequently within our opening sequence. It states that 'handheld shots make it difficult for the audience to make out what is happening. Cloverfield is one prime example of this, since the entire movie is shot with a handheld camera to promote the feeling of terror and the unkown.' The fact that we are able to promote the feeling of 'terror and the unknown' through the use of handheld shots will help establish the type of film that it is going to be and also help to build atmosphere.

In addition to the handheld shots, the presentation states 'Disturbing sounds are very important in a horror movie. Ambient sound like footsteps and non-diegetic sounds (like a heartbeat).' From this information, we now know that we should incorporate 'disturbing' sounds to make it seem all the more mysterious and to startle the audience just as much as the teenager walking through the old mill. This will then help to build pace and bring the audience right into the heart of the film. 'Types of shots like ECU (extreme close ups) on a certain victim's face can help the audience identification with horror and fear, and also to exclude any threats (if we can't see it, then it's more terrifying).' This is something we could incorporate into our own film opening sequence to help build the fear of the unknown.

As for editing, the presentation gives information such as 'Editing can create unsettling tension and suspense. If the editing hasn't been paced up in a while then you know that something very bad is about to jump out and scare you.' Again, this is something we can think about during the editing process of our film opening sequence.

A section titled 'Iconography' emphasises the importance of dark colours like red and black which links to things like evil, blood and danger. As the area of the old mill is very dark, this could give the sense of evil. It is also states that 'lighting is expressive and non-naturalistic. Low-key lighting can help to create dark shadows and unfamiliar shapes in the blackness.' Again, the dark area of the mill with lots of old columns and beams and particular lighting can be used to create these shadows and unfamiliar shapes.

The rest of the presentation talks about how the main protagonist is often the 'victim/hero'. In our case, the main protagonist of the opening sequence of the film will fall victim. The villain is described as 'often a monster' but we have decided that we will keep this unknown to the audience so that they remain engaged.

This presentation has been extremely helpful to us as we now know what particular conventions we need to incorporate into our opening sequence to make it a successful opening to a horror film.