Opening Sequence To Horror Movie

SYNOPSIS:

The opening sequence is a 4 minutes extract of the actual horror movie, it has to have the codes and conventions of horror movie as well as titles suitably done and we get marked according to variety of shot usage and choosing right props and location.

Narrative

Firstly we thought of the narrative within the slasher sub-genre and we came up with this idea:

A girl walks into a lift, presses the 4th floor button(Over the shoulder shot), while she is on the line with her boyfriend talking about a part. 

Her phone goes dead and she is trying to reach him while lights of the lift goes on and off. A little bit frightened and anxious, she finally reaches 4th floor and makes her way to her flat through the dark corridor. She tries to put the keys into the lock with her hands a bit shaky.

After struggling for a short time, she gets into her flat, and goes to her boudoir, where she checks herself up in the mirror. 

The camera zooms-in on a photo of her and another girl, the music goes a bit scary and suspicious. 

She grabs her comb, look in the mirror and brushes her hair. Her comb in a quick shot turns into a knife as if she is brushing her hair with a knife, a short shocking piece of music will be used for this part.

She then makes her way to the sitting room which is decorated for the Valentine party. The flat is dark and she feels a bit cold, putting on a jumper, she lights a cigarette and walks into the balcony with the dark view of the outside (it's night time). She looks worried and stressed, but we do not know why.

Her phone rings. Her friend is on the line and asks her to go to the lift to help her with her shoppings. She dumps her cigarette, and walks toward the exit door, leaves it open and goes to the lift. 

The lift is now reached the 4th floor, doors are opening and her friend is laid in bloods, with a writing on the mirrors of the lift which says happy Valentine. The girl screams as she sees her reflection in the bloody scripted mirror.

Similar Texts

As we came up with a rough idea of what we wanted to do, we started our investigations through slasher movies and note their use of codes and conventions.


The movies we looked at was "Scream" and "My Bloody Valentine". They are both slasher films which well link with our ideas.


"Scream", is an American slasher movie came out on 1996 and is about a Ghost-face serial killer, who kills a group of school friends. Ghost-face's identity does not reveal until the end of the movie when it becomes clear that the killer is Billy who is Sidney's boyfriend. Sidney is the survivor, whose mother is being murdered a year ago. Billy reveals his revengeful murder of Sidney's mother who has been on a relationship with Billy's father which has torn apart his family. 

Here is the Scream opening scene:

Analysis of Scream opening scene:
After the institution's name, The first thing that appears in the middle of the screen is "Scream", the film's title in white, follows by a phone ring, slash of a knife and a scream. The film's tittle then quickly dissolves into red and fades away. 




In the second shot, the phone is ringing and a creepy male voice is on the line with the blond Drew Barrymore who looks childish and naive, which are the victims characteristics in most horror movies.

Then the camera is moving around her showing the window and the dark outside. Follows by that is an establishing shot, shows her location in a nice countryside villa house; what makes it harder to seek rescue especially at night time. These all give the audience a sense of danger especially with the swing moving outside the house they suspect some one is outside, watching the girl inside the house.


Taking us back inside the house, the girl is cooking a popcorn when the phone rings again. Here fire connotes danger, and popcorn shows her childishness and therefore her weakness and vulnerability. With the phone ringing audience feel the stalker still being around. 


Then they talk about scary movies when Drew Barrymore takes out a knife which makes an slashing sound with lights shining on it. This is another way that Wes Craven has used to inform audience about the danger threatening the character.


Drew's favourite scary movie is Halloween which is also an slasher movie just like the film itself. And in Halloween the killer wears a mask which is another similarity with Scream. The film is providing us with information about the film by pointing out how the stalkers or killers possibly look like and what their intentions can be. And then the guy on the phone mention another horror movie of the same sub-genre "Nightmare On Elm Street". They talk about Freddy Krueger and his knives fingers, and the guy on the phone says how he loves the film. 





The camera is following her to the lounge(Tracking shot), where she can see the dark outside. It gives us a feeling that something is going to happen there. The stalker then says that he wants to know her name so that he knows who he is watching. The film pauses here for a second and Drew starts fearing some one is either in or outside the house. She tries to secure herself by making sure the doors are locked and she hangs up the phone. 

He calls back again and again, but this time violent. He is threatening her not to hung up and listen to him, at the same time the popcorn is burning and smoking. He says he is playing a game which is bloody!


She runs to the back doors making sure of them being locked. She is frightened and attempting to call the police.



The house is in darkness with her startles when the doorbell rings. She cries and warns him that her boyfriend is big and plays football and will be here any second! Then the stalker tells her to look in the patio where her boyfriend is being strapped. He then plays a game and asks her to name the killers of the "Halloween" and "Friday the 13th". She loses the game and the killer stabs the boyfriend in the patio from back.

Horror Genre and It's Slasher Sub-genre

Genre is when media texts are categorised into groups with similar structures and conventions. Horror, Thriller, Sci-Fi and Romance are examples of different film genres.


Among these genres, movies which cause distress which can frighten its audiences and have a gory finale, are often Horror movies. Horror movies with their specific characteristics can be signified from other genres. For instance in both films "Hostel" and "Saw", the killers torture and punish their victims by doing things like finger cutting, throat slicing, gunshots, and so forth.

An example of torturing victims in "Saw"

In movies such as "Scream" and "Saw", killers are wearing scary masks which hide their identities.

The famous "ghost face" mask used by the killer of the same name in the "scream" movie.<-----




The "Jigsaw" mask used by the killer of the same name in the "saw" movie. ----->
                              
Sub-Genre is when a genre splits into smaller and individual categories. Slasher movie is a sub-genre of horror movie. 


Some examples of horror movies' sub-genres are:
Slasher, Vampire, Zombie, Gore, Ghosts, Dracula, Gothic sub-genre and etc. 


Our movie is a horror movie which follows the codes and conventions of slasher sub-genre due to its choice of weapons, such as knife and use of blood an a frightening orchestra soundtrack.


Slasher Sub-Genre is about killers frightening and murdering people, due to some mental illness, revenge taking, personal issues, or etc...
Like genres, Sub-genres also have their own codes and conventions which distinct them from other genres. 




Codes And Conventions Of Slasher Sub-genre:


The Killer, who is the main brutal character in slasher movies. Their identity is sometimes unknown throughout the whole movie and they often have special props that signifies them as the killers, such as knives, axes, hammers or any kind of weapon that can slash the victims. 

The "ghost face" in "Scream" uses knife to kill people

Jason Voorhees in hockey mask is the killer and stalker in "Friday The 13th". This movie unlike most other horror film has a female killer which is Jason's mother.

The killers sometimes wear a mask to hide their identities, like the "ghost face" mask in the "Scream" movie.


As we see in "Scream" and  lot more horror movies, the killer is one of the main characters that assumes to be the innocent until the very end of the film that his role as a killer reveals. 

Alfred Hitchkock's "Psycho"(1960), is known as the mother of all slasher movies.

Killers are normally males, with a dark and traumatic past usually linked with the victims in the movie, which causes the killer to take revenge and make the victims' life painful and horrific as his own. The camera is normally at low angle, looking up to the killer to make them look more frightening and powerful, with lots of point of view shots.

Michael Myers the first killer character in John Carpenter's "Halloween".

The Killers often have supernatural powers or skills that makes them invulnerable and hard to kill.


The Victims are often a group of youths involved in adventurous, rebellious or sexual activities. Sometimes being hallucinated, so that they have less control of their movements and behaviours and are less aware of their environments and the danger behind their back. Camera often chase the victims, giving the impression of the victim being watched by someone who is likely to be the killer. Lots of zoom-ins for showing the victim's facial expressions and establishing shots to show the location and the wait for rescue is typical camera shots in most slasher films. 

The characters in "Scream" are a group of school friends.

Victims are often naive and childish like Drew Barrymore in "Scream"1996 or promiscuous and perverts which targets males as their main audiences.

Drew Barrymore in "Scream" 1996

The Survivor in slasher films is normally one person who can manage to escape the killer and survives at the end by either killing, disabling, or catching the killer. The survivor is often a muscular handsome boy, a sherif or a girl with good morals often called the virgin girl who does not follow the immorality of her group of friends! 

Sidney Prescott is the survivor protagonist of the "Scream" series

Weapons used by killers in slasher movies are any type of sharp and cutting tools, such as knives, razors or axes. Freddy Krueger uses glove with razor fingers to kill the characters in Wes Craven's "Nightmare On Elm Street" (1984).

Freddy Krueger is a revengeful killer who kills his victims in their nightmares with his gloves.

Settings include locations which is often explored by the characters risky journeys to isolated places, such as jungles or out-of-town parties. Murders happen typically at night times or dark places, which all pave the way for the killer to trap the victims easier and also to arouse the audiences' fear of darkness and unknown. The other locations can be schools, parks, house parties or any place that youths possibly come together.


Music is often orchestral and anxious, expecting something bad to happen. Use of sound such as scream or slash of a knife is also so affective and gives the movie more sense of horror.

History of Horror Movies

Introduction

'The best way to understand and study Horror Movies is to watch them.'

Horror movies use imagination to make a dark story about supernaturals, ghosts, satanism, devils, morbidity, vampirism, Zombies and ... They are based on human nightmares and hidden fears of unknown, feeling the fear without physically being involved in danger.

Horror movies are usually inspired by true stories of different types of deaths caused by wars, diseases and disasters. They are deeply affected by the society of their time and they represent different issues and fears of the time. For instance boogeyman character which is part-man part-wolf, was made during the rule of Hitler and is a symbol of someone whose bestial nature takes over and kills anyone on its way. However in 1990s killer characters are completely human in their role and in 21 century killers are mostly ghosts and zombies since supernatural fear is more acceptable.

              

 History   of     Horror    Movies

The First horror movie is believed to be "The House Of Devil" made in 1890's, after that, most of the Horror movies were made by German filmmakers during the era of "German Expressionist Films" 1910-1920's. Paul Wegener's "The Golem" and Robert Wiene's "The Cabinet of Dr Caligari" are examples of films in this era, with a major influence on Hollywood films and directors such as Tim Burton later on. The first Vampire movie, "Nosferatu(1922)", is also a product of this time of the cinema's history.

List Of Horror Films Of The 1890s

List Of Horror Films Of The 1900s

List Of Horror Films Of The 1910s

List Of Horror Films Of The 1920s

Some of the institutes that were making horror movies in 1930's was Universal Monsters, Paramount, Warner Brothers and Universal Picture Co. Universal Pictures Co was one of the institutes that first popularized the horror film in early 1930 and was the producer of  films such as "Dracula" (1931), "Frankenstein" (1931), and "The invisible man" (1933) which were all influenced by German Expressionist film of 1920's.

In 1940's films were more based on satanic powers and the battle between the devil and the good, some example is "Day Of wrath" (Carl Dreyer, Denmark 1943), and "The Devil's Wanton" (Ingmar Bergman,

Sweden, 1948). One of the elements used for mise en scene in these movies are plants and insects, the idea was brought from Japan, whose society was affected by nuclear radians.

 List Of  Horror Films Of The 1930's 

 List Of  Horror Films Of The 1940's

During late 1950's and early 1960's , the British company " Hammer Film Production"  and director Terence Fisher started to make full-blooded technicolor films with classic horror characters. " The Curse Of Frankenstein" (1957), "Dracula" (1958) and " The mammy" (1959) are some examples. They are known as the pioneers of modern horror movie.

List Of Horror Films Of The 1950's
List Of Horror Films Of The 1960's

Horror films are sometimes based on stories written by famous authors such as Agatha Christie, or Edgar Allan Poe. They've told mysterious tales of crime, macabre, mental illness, and etc which has made the horrific narrative for such movies and is being used by companies such as American International Pictures Co., who made series of films based on some of Edgar Allan Poes' books.
Some of the famous horror movies of 60's can be named as, "Rosemary's Baby"( Roman Polanski 1968) where devils look like human, "The Bird's (1963 Alfred Hitchcock) with more modern background, and "Night Of The Living Dead" (1968, George A. Romero), which is a significant and influential zombie-themed horror movie in late 1960's. However this zombie theme changes into supernatural, when in 1973 Warner Bros releases "The Exorcist", which is about devils inseminating women and haunting children, popular subjects in 1970's horror films. 
"The Omen" 1976, and "Alice, Sweet Alice" 1977,
"Jaws" (1975) Steven Spielberg
"Halloween"(1978) John Carpenter
"Alien" (1979), 
"Nightmare On Elm Street" (1980) Wes Craven
"The Shining" (1980)

National Schools' Week

Today we made our National Schools' week trip to Covent Garden Odeon Cinema to watch an Spanish thriller movie directed by Guillem Morales, called "Julia's Eyes".

The movie was about a woman called Julia, who gradually looses her sight, after finding her blind sister Sara, skeptically being hanged in her house.


She then starts investigations through her sister's death, when she realises being chased by an invisible man, to whom she suspects to be Sara's killer.


Throughout the inspections, she finds out about her sisters' overnight stay with a boyfriend in a hotel. However, despite being unable to find any record of their stay, she is then being given some information about her sister's bandaged eyes during her stay in the hotel by the waiter in the hotel's restaurant. 


Julia, However has been told by doctor that will loose her sight shortly, has found a donor and is undertaking an eye operation which requires a carer to whom she ends up kissing while being cared and trained in Sara's house, and it results in him leaving her house unexpectedly. However she pages him again that night, after being horrifiedly woken up and sensing the invisible man in her house. As she rushes out, she finds herself in neighbours house where she confronts the neighbour's young girl telling her about the invisible man being the killer of her sister Sara. 


After leaving the neighbour house, she finds Ivan -the carer- in the courtyard who has just come to rescue her. As she is frightened to stay there any longer, Ivan takes her to his house where Julia surprisingly confronts the neighbour's young daughter again while Ivan is gone downstairs to bring an spare bed. The girl tells Julia that Ivan is the invisible man and therefore is the killer, as his room's wall are covered by pictures of the twin sisters. 


When Ivan is back, Julia tells him she needs to go to toilet, where she removes her eye's bandages few days early and is regained her sight. However she pretends that the operation has failed in order to secure herself from Ivan while seeing pictures of her and her sister on the wall and the young girl being stabbed. Ivan reveals her lie by asking her to open a box where he has kept the body of the real Ivan -the nurse- when she suddenly screams. 


Finally she can manage to escape by stabbing him and makes her way back to Sara's house where she seeks help from the blind lady next door who then becomes clear that is the killer's mother when knocking Julia down. 


The killer then leaves his mother's house after blinding her again using an injection, taking the Julia's body with him into Sara's house where he tells Julia that he loves her only if she is blind, because blind people can understand the man who lives in shadows and has being ignored by the society. 


The movie ends when the police come for the rescue after Julia had called them, and the killer cuts his throat before being arrested.

At the end of the movie I filmed my teacher and classmates asking their opinions about the "Julia's Eyes" movie.  

The movie overall was good I believe, it had used variety of shots such as close ups and over 

    the shoulders.

 The use of mise en scene had 

   made it even more scary,

 especially with dark lights  and 

 using blood and knife as props. It 

 helped us having a better

 understanding of Horror-Thriller 

 movies and how they are set.

   

Camera Activity

Our first activity with camera was to do an interview with random people. We were given a sheet of paper with an interview questionnaire and a camera to interview and record people.

As it was a group activity, I was working with Ella and Shahida. We shared the duties, one had to hold the camera and film the interviewee, while another person is asking the questions and the third person's directing, then we swap the places. We also had the option to chose our own location and ask our own questions. 

So we started from Kingsland road, going towards Shorditch and Brick lane. The interviewees were mostly people waiting for buses or sitting outside shops and cafes, or just a pedestrian. In Brick Lane we recorded some good shots of the shops with the shopkeepers being interviewed. We found two nice shopkeepers and a photographer to find answers to our questions.

At first I found it quite embarrassing to go to people and ask for interview but after a while I liked to hold the camera and try different angles. We were trying to use variety of angles and shot types, we used high and low angles, and closeup, medium and long shots and sometimes just leaving the camera on while walking down the street, just to see how the footage will look like, we also used the music as background in some of the shots -like the one in trainer shop-. Background picture was also an important factor, as it adds more meaning and effect to the footage. It was a really good practise with the camera, for trying out different camera angles and shots after being taught in the lesson.