Planning Film Opening - Storyboard

Firstly, we chose Tim's storyboard due to it meeting many conventions of the horror genre. For example, the mise-en-scene used in the storyboard is the location of a house, which is stereotypical for a teenage horror/thriller genre film as well as the equipment used being normal household objects such as candles and knives. Also, the costumes used for the characters are casual as the story plot is set in modern times (for example the antagonist wearing black), however the stroyboard focuses more on the dialogue of the walk-through of the house after the murders. The lighting within the film opening will be dim due to it being another key convention within the horror genre due to it forming a tense and eerie atmosphere which, using Barthes Enigma Theory, will be using the symbolic coe due to it connoting darkness and mystery such as why the teenagers are dead and what caused it to happen? Therefore, this makes the target audience watching question on what's happening and engages them to watch more.  

Secondly, the cinematography used within the storyboard are many extreme close ups when credits of the producer, director and actors are shown whilst showing props such as candles, tarot cards and a knife with dripping blood, which are key conventions of the horror genre as teenagers tend to play with ouija boards and tarot cards and end up getting into a dangerous situation. Also, many medium shots are used to establish the scenery around the audience and make it more realistic due to the cinematography throughout the whole film opening being in a point-of-view shot. Again, this will engage the target audience to watch the film and make them feel like they're in the scene themselves walking around the house. In addition, long established shots are also used to show the scenery as well as the dead victim (damsel in distress) and the murderer's (antagonist) body language as well as their facial expressions. According to Propp's character theory, every film uses at least two or more of the eight character types which are: the hero, villain, princess, dispatcher, donor, helper, father and the false hero. In my film opening, i'll be using the villain and princess. However, the princess will be the victim who cannot be saved and is a male, which portrays Propp's theory due to not following the stereotypical role of a princess.

Furthermore, the editing which will be used are mainly fade-in's and fade-out's as the film opening is a walkthrough in a teenagers house, which extends the duration of the shots as well as the opening itself. This is a key convention of the horror genre due to other film openings such as Insidious (which our opening was inspired by) having slow paced film opening which engages the audience to watch more and fears them by building tension. Also, blackouts will be used to build tension as well as fearing the audience as to wondering what will happen next (Barthes Enigma Theory). Blackouts are a key convention of the horror genre as they work well with dim lighting and it's also easier to edit scenes between them. This therefore helps consume time when editing as well as decreasing the pace of the shots.

Finally, the sounds which we will be including in our film opening are non-diegetic sounds. For example, in the beginning we tend to use screaming as the title shows the signify that an event has occurred and therefore, using Barthes Enigma Theory, making the audience question on what's going on by using the enigma code. Also, we intend to use continuous slow-paced eerie music throughout the whole film opening to build tension and create an eerie and frightening atmosphere for the target audience watching. These sounds are key conventions within the horror genre due to the use of exaggerating screaming and slow-paced music, which is used in many films such as Insidious and Thir13en Ghost. This helps engage the audiences attention and make them watch it, which also helps my film sell easier and more successfully to the target audience.