The horror film ‘The
Collection Day’ is the opening film sequence of a horror genre made by my group
member’s and me. Our film uses, develops and challenges the conventions of
horror films.
For instance, we used conventions in the characters in our opening
sequence, three teenagers aged from eleven to seventeen. These characters fit
the conventions of real productions of horror films as it displays the age
range of the target audience.
Another convention we
used from other media productions of horror was music and sounds. One piece of music
we used throughout our opening sequence was called spider eyes off the website ‘Incompetech’.
(http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?keywords=spider+eyes&Search=Search) We chose this music, as it was very Dark,
Eerie, Mysterious and Unnerving which are the emotions we want to create to
provide a scary atmospheric feel, which is very conventional in horrors as it
adds something to film, creating a fearful tone that compliments the plot. The
sound track ‘Spider Eyes’ has a section using chimes, creating childlike bells
ringing which links to the child mind set of the killer shown by him wearing a
baby mask. It was the perfect music to fit our film as it has varieties in
sound and the pitch would fluctuate at times which we used to represent when the
climax was about to happen, without giving to much away which created suspense.
We used the chimes near the start of the opening sequence during the
establishing shot when ‘The Child Collector’ appears on the swing and flickers
on and off it as if he wasn’t there, which creates an atmospheric creepy tone.
(This is the clip from our horror which shows the flashing
effect of ‘The Child Collector’ appearing off and on the swing)
Music is
a very conventional theme of horror as it can have major effects on the
suspense of the film, such as the very influential music in the classic horror ‘Jaws’.
This music is now very famous and commonly associated with the film as it
created the right affect for the plot; this is why we wanted a useful sound
that fitted our genre. In addition to this we used conventional noises in the
film such as screams. This dialogue is apparent in most horrors as it adds to
the climax of the films when someone is frightened or being killed. We also put
in a conventional sound of banging and shuttering which we used during the
scenes where ‘The Child Collector’ hits ‘Lucy’. This acted as an affect showing
the fast pace and showing the scenes in stages and slow motions to create more
tension and suspense from the moment Lucy meets the killer until she is lying
on the floor. This sound affect is used
in the horror called ‘Bereavement’ created in 2011. In addition
non-diegetic sounds are very conventional within horrors, we have included voice
overs of the killer to add to the fear as the characters do not know he is
there but the audience do. Voiceovers can be found in films like ‘Candyman’. We also included the diegetic sound of scream
which is another generic convention found in horrors as it give us an indication
of the fear the victims has and the danger that unfolding. The film ‘Scream’ is
named after one of the most famous sound effects used in horror films. They
could have done this to indicate the genre of the film by portraying the prop
of a voice a scream as the main focus of the film. Props are also a major theme of horrors. We used blood as a prop in our film, as we
know blood is commonly associated with films that are categorized as the horror
genre as the plot normally involves someone being murdered. Blood is taken as a
sign by the audience that the person is dead hence as many people do die it’s
an established theme in horrors. Iconography was included using the mask as
this is commonly seen in horrors. Our horror questionnaire concluded that a prop
of a mask was the most popular as six out of the ten people asked said they found
it the scariest horror prop. Our mask was baby mask which we felt fitted
our plot of ‘The Child Collector’ as it all linked due to the killer victims being
children. A famous horror film we took reference from was the film ‘Saw’ in 2004,
an independent film directed by James Wan where it has a famous prop of a mask.
Masks are used within horrors to keep the identity of the killer hidden which
creates fear as we don’t know who they are so can’t make a connection to them. The images below show the mask we took refrence from in 'Saw' and the mask we chose)
Another convention
used in our opening sequence was the lighting, throughout the film was based
around dusk to create a tense atmosphere. The darkness acts as a symbol of how
dark the plots of horrors are as the dark lighting is parallel to the dark and
twisted storyline. The mise-en-scene of lighting is key, as it immediately tells
the audience what the genre is. ‘Saw’
and ‘Texas Chain Saw Massacre’ are examples of horror films that use darkness
to convey that the film is scary with the connotation of darkness implying
danger. (The images to the right show scenes from 'Texas Chain Saw Massacare' and our film 'The Collection Day' to show the dark lighting used)
Costumes are another famous convention of horrors;
our victims costumes wore are very ordinary, as we wanted the film to seem
real. The costumes helped reinforce the theme within horrors that the victims
are ordinary people, such as in the horror film ‘Scream’. However, our killers
clothing can be taken as an indication that he is going to be the villain as it
is quite minimalistic and the hoodie along with the mask acts as a disguise shielding
who the killer is. The scarf ‘Lucy’ one
of our main characters wore was red, which is a constant theme within horror as
it’s the colour of blood. This connotation can be alternatively shown as a
symbol that she is the victim of this horror as she is wearing the colour of
danger.
(The images to the right show the costume of a charcter from the film 'Scream' and our main character 'lucy' from our horror.
The credits of our
horror opening sequence follow conventions of horror films as it immediately
indicates the genre of this film is a horror. The colours we have used are
white, black and red are all stereotypically found in horror. Red representing
blood, white the purity or innocence of the victims and black the darkness the
film has. We also have the effect of blood trickling down the title of our film
‘The Collection Day’ which added to the conventions of horror, as blood would
be shed during this opening sequence.
The opening sequence of our media horror production
does use conventions of real horror films however some of our filming developed
these conventions too. For instance, the camera angles used within our opening
sequence. We used a high angle within our opening sequence one when ‘Lucy’ is
lay on the floor unconscious showing that the killer is superior to ‘Lucy’ as
he is towering over her so he is dominant, which is accurate as the killers do
have the powers in horror films. We also used a low angle when the killer was
climbing up to the slide which connotes almost a nightmare feel. (This is a clip from our horror film where we used a low angle
shot) We developed these common camera angles found in horror films
within our own to portray the killer’s odd nature of wanting to go on the slide
once he had committed the crime. Tracking is another camera angle that’s famous
in horror films especially vertical tracking. However, we developed tracking
into our horror film by horizontally tracking when ‘The Child Collector’ is
dragging ‘Lucy’ away. We felt developing tracking to horizontal would be best
as it suited the scene by tracking it in the opposite direction to the way he
was dragging ‘Lucy’ away, creating an air of mystery as to whether she was
actually dead and where she was being taken.
We also developed the use of the hand held convention in our film using it
twice, both from ‘Lucy’s’ point of view, as we wanted to show some shots
through the eyes of the victim showing what she is seeing. The film
‘Cloverfield’ which the 
image to the right shows is a prime example of a hand
held camera as the whole of the film is shot in with this camera technique. They used this idea from another famous horror
film they took inspiration from called the ‘Blare Witch Project’. Hand held cameras
help promote the feeling of terror and the unknown. We developed this technique
to make the scenes where Lucy is running to find her brother after hearing the
scream and when the killer attacks her, this creates a sense of unease for the
audience and confusion as to what is going on, which is conventional of horrors
as things are meant to be difficult to make out.
image to the right shows is a prime example of a hand
held camera as the whole of the film is shot in with this camera technique. They used this idea from another famous horror
film they took inspiration from called the ‘Blare Witch Project’. Hand held cameras
help promote the feeling of terror and the unknown. We developed this technique
to make the scenes where Lucy is running to find her brother after hearing the
scream and when the killer attacks her, this creates a sense of unease for the
audience and confusion as to what is going on, which is conventional of horrors
as things are meant to be difficult to make out.
(This is a clip below is from
our film were we used hand held cameras)
The opening sequence of our
horror also included the convention of a flashback from when Josh was a younger
boy aged eleven to when its years later when he was seventeen. Flashbacks are
commonly used in horrors like the film ‘Flashback’ in 2000 directed by Michael
Karen, where the films plot centres on an older woman who has flashbacks from
her childhood when she saw her parents being brutally murdered. We used flashbacks
in our opening sequence which shows the shots of the night his sister was
injured to the present when the killer is going to try and get josh back and
kill him. Once we had identified the key conventions within a horror film we
were able to develop and also adapt them into the ways we thought it would
benefit our film. Most horrors use flashbacks to fill in the gaps whereas we
used the flashbacks to set the storyline for the rest of the film. (This is a clip below from our film were we used a flashback)
The opening sequence of our horror film do
have many conventions to that of a real horror however, it does challenge some
of the conventions. Such as, incorporating the end of the film at the
beginning. We had to do this as we were only producing an opening of a horror
film so had to try and revel big parts of the plot in that opening. However, we
did include a voice over of the killer saying “it’s time for round two josh” after
the flashback had concluded. This is similar in the horror/thriller ‘The Silence
Of The Lambs” as the killer wasn’t captured. The open endings of horrors aren’t
too common however; we only made an opening so thought compacting the ending
into the start would be too confusing so left it open so people wonder what
happened. Similarly we have left the
plot open as to whether’ Lucy’ is killed or not, as the killer drags her
unconscious body away the camera pans in the opposite direction leaving it to a
mystery as to any events after this. Which challenges conventions of a horror,
as you would normally know whether a victim is killed or not but it is left a
mystery. We felt as a group that this added to the suspense of what the rest of
the film would entail as it is only the opening.
Another
way we challenged conventions is some of our editing techniques. We used some
seamless editing in our opening scene as we wanted it to look slick and flow
together. Commonly horrors are infamous for the amount of cuts they have to show
how on edge the film makes you feel. Even though we did use many cuts
throughout to create tension and suspense we used seamless editing during the
conversations between the teenagers to show the calm situation. We used
seamless in the seesaw scenes but less frequently to show that something is
about to happen. During the scenes by the swings with ‘Lucy’, ‘Josh’ and the
killer the cuts are rapid to represent the fast moving pace of the situation
and suspense of what is going to happen next. An example of a horror film that
contains rapid cutting is Alfred Hitchcock horror ‘Psycho’ in 1960 during the
shower scene. This acted to create suspense and uncertainty as to what would
happen next.
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