BRITNEY DIXONOPENING TO A FILM

TITLING • Usually the title of a film is shown before it has even started and they will always catch the

audience’s attention. In ‘Scream’ the title was shown in red, white and bold on a black background.

• Red is the colour of fire and blood, so it is associated with energy, war, danger, strength, power, determination as well as passion, desire and love. Also black connotes power, death and evil. So all this relates to horror showing that the title offers an idea of the genre of the film you are watching. Also the size of the title changes from big to small so this could emphasise that there is scenes with a lot of screaming in or even screaming from the audience.

• However the titling in ‘Creep’ shows after the first two minutes of the film. The title is coloured in yellow and orange in contrast to the images with are in fluorescent colours so it suggest danger because of how strong the colours are so it catches your eye straight away. This connotes it is a horror film.

LIGHTING• The main source of lighting used through horror films is usually darkness and bright

but sharp lighting, such as flashes or quick shots of brightness. However ‘Halloween’ was mainly filmed in the daylight suggesting the characters live a normal life making us believe they did.

• On the other hand ‘Creep’ was filmed with a lot of darkness involved so it captures the fact it will be scary or a horror film as darkness connotes danger and evil. The dark mise-en-scene straight away alerts the audience to the genre of the film, which is important as it’s important to get the genre across in the opening of the films. In ‘Creep’ fluorescent lighting was used as it was used to create jagged shots which makes it more effective. It makes the audience wonder why the character sees these images and it makes the weapons or suspicious props stand out more.

SOUND• The most common type of sound is silence. This adds tension and

builds up momentum that something bad is going to happen. Also non-diegetic sounds are used, for example a piece of music is played which will always match with what was on the scene. This allows the audience the tune in more with what’s happening on the screen. Also it can frighten the audience depending on the sound used. Usually when diegetic sounds are used it is played in a fast paced way creating a tense atmosphere. Also allows the audience to get a feel of what the genre is.

POSITIONING AND MOVEMENT• In most horror films the movement tends to be quick and sharp. However in a

film like saw there isn't much movement as they are tied to something so have restricted movement but they are still panicky and shaky so have fast little movements so it shows they want to get out. A quick pace of movement suggest that the character is trying to get away from someone or something so fits with the genre of horror. Unlike movement the positioning doesn't really give the audience an idea of what the genre is as it doesn't show how fast they are moving to get into that position or if it did you wouldn't know without the movement so we could think they character is in a calm place or a frightening place. So it could suggest at the start of a film is isn't horror.