Group: Concept Development - Discussion in Class

We have had a group discussion concerning our analysis of a opening sequence, audience, location, montage on antagonist and plot. This has all been beneficial to thinking about our own production in the following ways:

Analysis of opening sequence - This has allowed us to learn about the typical horror conventions and think of ways we can incorporate these into our own work. 

• We started by thinking about any stock situations/characters/locations that occurred within our sequences and spoke about which of these we may like to include in our work. 
• Both 'The Conjuring (Wan, 2013) and Insidious Chapter 2 (Wan, 2013) are set in a creepy or haunted house. This is something we later considered when we were talking about our ideal locations.

The Conjuring house setting

The Insidious house setting

• We also thought about music and sound; Insidious Chapter 2 and Ghost Ship (Beck, 2002) both included music, however, they contrasted. 
• While Insidious Chapter 2 had the general creepy music which you would expect from a horror film, Ghost Ship had calm music which we felt to be effective because it gave a false sense of security to the audience making the horrific events which would later take place more shocking and therefore scary. 
• This is something for us to consider as we know we want to include music but will have to give further thought about what we want to replicate. 
• All of these film openings were very beneficial in terms of us finding all of the best camera techniques and plot points that are common within supernatural/paranormal horror films.

Audience pleasure - We though of the best ways that we could cause the audience to feel uneasy, we decided that music and slow cutting rates could be effective in doing this. Another thing we discussed was creating an enigma for the audience as it is something that can both build tension and create a sense of unease which is ideal in the paranormal sub-genre. We also thought about including a jump scare as these are common yet effective in the majority of horror films, we decided that this could be best done alongside the use of music to help further increase the tension before the jump occurs. 

Location - For the location of our opening we decided that our ideal location would be a creepy/abandoned building and also the woods. This is something that we are actually fortunate enough to have access to so it is a possibility. We will have to carry out a location reccie as it is important that we consider things such as weather and power, because if we are unable to control the lighting ourselves it could effect our shots. 

Montage on antagonist - We fully considered what we wanted our antagonist to be, because we want to follow the paranormal sub-genre our antagonist will have to match this theme. We decided that we wanted to do this by including silhouettes of the figure, windows opening, and reflections in mirrors to fully create the presence of the antagonist.

Plot - We discussed the idea of the ghost being a blonde young girl as this is something people typically find creepy in horror films, this is also something which we will need to consider when we think about casting. We wanted the opening to layout the antagonist's back story, possibly including the event of a suicide or murder, through a flash back. The protagonists would be 2 male characters, one of which is the 'skeptic' while the other is brave and curious of the rumour. 

Our mindmap from class -