Screenshots - ideas

Narrative

The Strangers

The masks worn by the killers gave us the idea to also have the killers in
our film wear similar masks. It's effect in this film, 'The Strangers' was an added sense of fear and the enigma code as the masks prevent the audience from knowing anything about the killers as we can't see their facial expressions. We hope to achieve the same effect in our film opening. The masks will keep the audience from relating to the killers, at least throughout most of the film during which they will not have any depth to their characters revealed, maintaining the enigma code and suspense.


Camerawork

Open Water

The film is shot with a handheld camera so the shots are very simple from a technical point of view. The film's simple technological approach was successful because there were no special effects taking away from the realism which enabled audiences to relate to the film more than those with lots of CGI and effects. It was the emotions of the characters in this film and the projection of these emotions onto the audience that made it exciting and not the use of effects. Although we have a tripod to use, our opening shots will still look similar to this because the level of technology available to us is similar. Also, we plan to use just a handheld camera in some shots such as the point of view shot when one of the killers is approaching the college.


Editing

Se7en

The film opening for 'Se7en' is a montage of the killer doing various intricate jobs without showing more than his fingers. The fast-paced style of editing is successful as it contains the enigma code which immediately intrigues an audience. We chose to show lots of short shots of the killers in our film preparing for the job they are about to take on though we also plan to have it cross-cutting with shots of the students so it differs from se7en. We decided to not show their faces so the audience can't identify with them, at least not this early on in the film. This will hopefully heighten feelings of suspense and mystery within the audience. The opening of 'Se7en' hints at the role of the character shown without giving much away in terms of their motives and character which we also hope to achieve in our opening.


Sound
We plan to use a non-diegetic soundtrack throughout our opening. This worked in thrillers such as 'se7en' and Hitchcock's 'Vertigo' as neither contained any diegetic sound but they still intrigue and excite audiences. Obviously it will be difficult to find a track that fits our opening, even if the tone and mood are right it won't necessarily fit with the time as our opening will have some fast paced stop and start suspense so as we can't make our own track we will have to find one that fits the best.


Representation
The killers in our film will come across as very stereotypical in the opening sequence. They will wear masks such as they do in 'The Strangers' and 'Scream'. However, part of the enigma code we hope will be the reason and motivation for the crime which they will commit rather than the excitement and build up to the crime itself. The reason would possibly be that they have formed an obsession with films such as the ones previously mentioned and have a passionate desire to replicate these stereotypical teen-horror film type crimes.