Research into similar products

My groups decided genre is horror, this is because we all came to an agreement on making a scary horror opening scene, this is because we all enjoy horror and we feel like we can easily establish this genre in the open



ing scene. My group also had a little debate on whether it is horror or thriller, this is because tension is going to be created throughout, driven by the scary music and the loud sounds to keep the audience on edge. What made us come to a mutual agreement is that we are going to have a big massacre scene where we are going to be using meat from a butchers shop to capture the shier chaos from the creature that haunts these forests. 

A genre is established by conventions throughout a film, genres are used to appeal to a certain audience and there are three different types of genres, sub genres, hybrid genre and a film with one genre. 

Our opening scene theme is just horror, although my group has talking about it having a cultist theme we have concluded that it is majorly swung to a horror. 

My group has decided on four films that are very similar to our idea:

Wrong turn:

Wrong turn is a movie which really relates to our opening scene, this is due to most of the movie being set in the woods in broad daylight, this group of friends are stalked by a cult in these woods who end up killing most of them.

The characters in wrong turn will relate to our dog walker, as this movie is about a group of friends who are just normal teenagers going for a hike in the woods. Whilst minding their own business walking through the woods off path they start getting stalked by a tribe, and a few of the characters get picked off by a variety of traps throughout the forest. These friends relate to the character of our opening scene who is the dog walker, this is because he's just a normal man walking his dog through the woods when he unintentionally comes across a ritual summoning and the sacrificed girls body, the creature summoned then stalks him until the right moment. 

The setting of this movie is in the woods, which relates to our opening scene. Horror is very much associated with events occurring in the forest which in this film tends to happen a lot. The horror aspect is very much used as a big convention to forests, this is because of the decolate and abandonment you feel from being all alone surrounded by trees, the sound of nature tends to deafen out any other sound, which can create a big sense of uncertainty. This is because you don't know who or what is around you, and you don't know whats going to happen. This relates to this film very affectively as you don't expect anything to happen, out of nowhere tension is created which gets the audience invested into the horror aspect. This is the effect that we will be capturing in our opening scene, where just an innocent normal man walks through the woods, only to stumble on a blood bath. 

This film is majority set in the day, this means that there is bright lighting through the tree canopy throughout, this bright lighting throughout will be used in our opening scene filming also. This bright light connotes to the innocence of the our character and the build up of the events that will take place. The costumes the characters wear are just their normal outfits with the right hiking equipment, the props used include a lot of fake blood and makeup to signify a disfigured body.

The camera techniques from this movie that we are likely to use is the handheld shaky camera technique as well as birds eye view over the top of the woods (if we can) as well as establishing shots which show the vast size of the forest. 

The editing techniques used that we are likely to use in our opening scene is eye-line - matches, wear the camera focuses on the eyes, onto what the characters are looking at.

Scream: 

When looking at the narrative, and what we decided to do. The beginning of our opening scene is the man walking through the forest on a dog walk. Scream follows a narrative of a young girl, home alone, making popcorn. She suddenly receives a call which turns int

o her being tormented by a male killer, and ends up dying at the end of the opening scene. Comparing this to our opening scene and the similarities between them, our character in the beginning is unknown to the danger that is further along. He e




nds up coming across this bloody scene, which ends up being the unfortunate death of him. 

The setting of Scream takes place in the women's home, she is alone which is what makes her so vulnerable within the scene. It is at night which also relates to our opening scene. Within our scene the main character of the scene is male. stereotypically you wouldn't fear for the mans life, yet what ends u happening is he is scared, and you suddenly change that opinion. This goes against the stereotypes and conventions of a horror. Overall Scream and our opening scene are quite similar yet also differentiate. 

My group is doing horror and there isn't a direct theme to our opening sequence, with Horror being the main theme there is a lot of scenes with blood and disturbance. Within scream this is quite similar as there isn't a direct or key theme that can be in related to it, horror tends overpower any other theme which creates it to be the main theme of it. 

Our opening scene takes place in the woods. We are filming in the day so lighting isn't a huge deal as we will be using natural light. Within Scream it was filmed in a house so they were able to use artificial lights that the house had already, and just incase we have to film in some darker shaded locations in the woods we will be binging artificial lights. Looking at the two opening sequences the props that were used are surrounding a house and the woods location. The set in scream was the basic necessities of a village house, while our opening scene is just simple necessities of the woods. What we have in common, is using what is around us to the advantage. We are using twigs, sticks, the tree foliage etc. 

In Scream many camera angles are used effectively which do not give too much away so that suspense is built at all moments. Capturing facial expressions is one thing that scream do quite well with the use of close up shots. One of the key shots we will use is establishing shots as they are contributing factors to the introduction of a location. Scream do this as if the young girl is being watched, which is something we will be trying to achieve within our opening scene. We want to communicate the idea as if he is being watched and is not alone.

Stranger things (series):

The narrative of stranger things about four innocent kids trying to rid the world of creatures from this parallel universe, one of these kids has powers which comes to the aid of all these kids, as she has a connection with the supernatural she is able to rid the world of traces of this parallel universe. This narrative relates to our opening scene as the narrative of our opening scene is about a dog walker after his encounter with this creature, living through it and then hunting down the creature as well as the people who summoned it. 

This series is similar to our opening scene due to the characters, these characters are four innocent kids who have to defend theirselves off from a parallel universe which contains demonic creatures, just like our opening scene, we have a creature that has been summoned from another place who is accompanied by his victim which is the innocent dog walker, not knowing what he has found. 

The theme of stranger things is horror and supernatural just like our opening scene. In stranger things there are horror elements throughout with a creature killing people just like the demonic creature my opening scene. 

In stranger things there are a lot of locations, but the location that most relates to my groups opening scene is the woods. Which has a big part in the first season of stranger things. 

The costumes in stranger things are just the four kids wearing their own clothes, the lighting majorly bright with dark elements throughout, our opening scene will be on the same line as this. The props used is fake blood, and carved writing on walls, and scratches throughout over various things in this series. My opening scene is going to be using a lot of these props.

In stranger things not much is given away to present it as a horror in the first episodes this is to relate to the conventions of horror, it is crucial that the horror factor isn't given away so that suspense can be built up. It is very important in a horror to capture close ups of the characters and this is done very well in stranger things. One of the big shots we will be using is an establishing shot as they show the outline of the location. Stranger things does with the main characters to show that they are being watched by a creature we can't see, which is something we will be trying to replicate in our opening scene. The idea of our opening scene is that the old man is not alone and that he is being watched. 

Blair witch project

The narrative of The Blair Witch Project is about three friends who go hiking in the woods, everything starts off as normal until a few hours in when they realise they are lost, this makes them a stressed enough to loose their mind. They then get theirselves together but start facing paranormal experiences, they come across a lot of symbols made out of sticks as well as other materialistic items like eyeballs, blood. Things get crazier throughout, a bit like the narrative to our opening scene, where it start off normal, then things take a turn. They come across body parts of one of their friends who had gone missing and they begin to freak out, this relates directly to our opening scene also, as our main character (the dog walker) comes across many pieces of scattered body parts belonging to a little girl. 

The characters of the Blair Witch project are all friends and they all go on a trip hiking together, these characters mental state slowly deteriorate throughout, with a big event of getting lost changing their mindset for the worse. This relates to our character a lot, as he is an innocent man minding his own business taking his dog for a walk, but then he comes across weird symbols. Which make him freak out and loose his mind.

The theme of Blair Witch Project is just horror, there isn't a specific theme because we are not shown much throughout the duration of the movie. This is the exact same to our opening scene, we don't have a specific like slasher as we don't actually see the cultists or creatures throughout. 

In Blair Which project the location is set in the forest, the sets of this film are based just around areas in the woods, which have props of satanic props throughout. Comparing this to our opening scene this relates perfectly to where we our setting our filming, we are filming in the woods with satanic symbols going to be throughout. 

The costumes in Blair Witch project is just own clothes and some camping gear, this is due to the characters going for a hike just as friends and camping over night, until tragedy strikes and they get lost. This is the same as our opening scene our main character is just wearing his own clothes.