HR: Conventions of a film opening

The conventions that you would expect to see in a horror film opening are the following:

• The setting is usually in small communities or isolated places such as dark streets, narrow alleyways or ghost towns - anything that connotes isolation and being alone. Also places with a dark history such as an insane asylum or abandoned buildings are a common theme as well.
• The camera work is filmed in unnatural angles to connote fear and make the scene appear obscure.
• Non-diagetic sounds are very commonly used like footsteps or the sound of a heart beating to help build up tension
• ECU shots of the protagonist or antagonist eyes help the audience to identify with them as true emotions are said to be seen best through eyes. It can also be manipulative.
• The pace of editing is important too. If the pace of the editing has not been sped up in a while, the audience knows that something is going to happen so the suspense is not as effective.
• Dark colours are used to make links towards evil, blood and danger so that is why red, black and white are the usual colour schemes.
• Lighting is expressive and non naturalistic. Low level lighting helps to create dark shadows and unfamiliar shapes in the darkness.

The normal characters you would expect to see in a horror film opening are:

• The hero
• The villain
• The immoral character who gets killed
• Children (they can be a victim or the villain)

Seven (Fincher, 1995)

In the following extract from Seven, we can see that it has a lot of features that are linked to the conventions of a horror film opening.

• It is shot in close up so we never see the characters face in the extract, only his hands which gives the obscure feel as we do not know if he is a good or bad character. It also sets up mystery for the viewer. The way that he is constructing what appears to be a scrapbook creates an enigma for the audience as the cuts are fast paced.
• The sound is a high pitched scratchy soundtrack that is mechanical, but rhythmic which could reflect the cutting and sticking he is doing in the clip so what he is doing is repetitive.
• The colours of the clip are saturated so the audience only see the dominant dark colours commonly used in horror films (black, red and white)
• The font of the text reflects on what he is doing as it looks handwritten. Some of it is broad and on a black background with white font, but other moments it is over layed over the clip.
• There are religious associations such as him cutting out the word "God" so we know that there is a spiritual background behind this which can be portrayed as haunting.

The Ring (Verbinski, 2002)

In the following extract from The Ring, we can see that it has a lot of features that are linked to the conventions of a horror film opening:

• There are close up shots of the victim's face which helps to show the emotions she is feeling which in this clip is fear of the noises she is hearing in her house. These is a non-diagetic sound of the TV static so the audience are aware that this is a key feature of what is about to happen.
• There is silence as you are forced to listen out for any sudden noises or movements which keeps audiences on the edge of their seats as the suspense builds they are anxious of what the next shot will be.
• She is alone in a house which connotes obscurity as she is oblivious to her surroundings which makes the audience feel anxious.
• As she opens the door with the water coming out of it, the pace of the clip changes from slow to fast. As the TV zooms out, the camera zooms in on her face to show her demonic face which makes audiences scared as they were not expecting this. Horrific still images are shown extremely quickly so some of them will subconsciously stick in the audiences minds which will horrify them.