HOW DID YOU ATTRACT/ADDRESS YOUR AUDIENCE?

All horror films need to keep the suspense high and climaxes to a minimal. The longer something builds in suspense the more engaged the audience becomes with the plotline and an engaged audience is an entertained audience!

My opening consists of the audience questioning whether the main actress is the
killer or the victim and whether this alludes to more deaths throughout the film. Keeping the film a mystery from beginning to end seems like an impossible task when there are so many hurdles to trip up on and reveal any twists. Each inch of the plot must be calculated and scripted so well that the finale isnt given away at any point.

Music within any genre of film is important. Firstly it should fit the pace of the film, i.e an action film would have a fast paced whereas a rom-com would have a cheesy lovesong as well as an upbeat love song. Horror films however are alot more versatile in their music options due to the amount of sub-genres horror has! A slow dramatic soundtrack could be used, such as the iconic

soundtrack of Jaws which echoes the sharks slow yet calculated movements or a faster tempos
soundtrack for murder scenes/fight scenes etc etc. The music I chose fits conventions of horror films in some ways but opposes them in others. Its up beat tempo and fast melody generally dont belong in horror films, but the low drone and questionable crescendos throughout increase pace and add a sense of tension to the final piece, all building up to the conclusion that the character is dead.

The stereotypical colours for any horror films are black and red. The colour Black to signify the darkness, emptiness and sense of feeling alone. Red to connote death, blood, gore and murder.

Because I wanted the opening to make the audience question the life of my
character I decided to go against conventions and use high key lighting and bright areas in the allocated location of the forest. Simple colours were used for the characters costumes in order to emphasise the brighter colours in the inanimate objects yet again emphasising the immobility of the dead character.

I chose to use close-up shots of the actress in order to create tension in the opening. With a young female characters being murdered, in many horror films, it relates to the generic horror sub-genre of the girl in pursuit.