Horror C&C

I have watched two classic horror movies, 'Scream' and 'Halloween', with the aim to find recurring or iconic codes and conventions within them, and explain the way (if applicable) our own film opening will conform or subvert them.

• An initial introduction into 'normal'/socially accepted daily life. Our opening is mainly following the heroine, as we have decided from the results of our first questionnaire, so this criteria is filled. This also gives our opening some relatability, as the actor we cast as our heroine is within our target age qroup. Relatability is something our target audience identified as adding more of a 'scare factor' within our questionnaire.
• A grotesque or unexplained death, with the murderer either known or unknown. Our 'hook' is the murderer twisting meat, which can be described as an unexpained death and keeps the audience guessing. Our murderer is never revealed, and is introduced in anonymous 'stalker' handheld camera shots.
• Teenagers/youths in an iscolated setting, either physically or just 'home alone'. Our heroine, who is a teenager, lives in an iscolated setting (close to woods) and no other characters are introduced whilst she is in her home, giving the impression that she is alone in the house.
• Enigmatic phone calls or other form of communication. Whereas we have not gone for the stereotypical 'I'M WATCHING YOU!' phone calls within our narrative, the heroine does recieve texts during the opening. We included this to show she has places to go, has connections to the outside world and is a stereotypical, relatable teenager, not to add to the horror. The texts recieved aren't shown on-screen though, so it can be up to the audience's imagination!
• An iscolated, vulnerable victim. Again, the heroine is iscolated in the wood scenes. We have decided to make her comfortable in this setting, only displaying distress when it becomes obvious she is being stalked.
• A killer that does not die successfully. Our coursework is of course only an opening and the narrative does not play out as far as to show the murderer's death scene, however the visible scarring on his hands could show he has endured countless painful situations, and the disfigurement holds connotations of a villain, impurity, and leads the audience to distrust the character.