Horror Codes and Conventions

As we decided to make a film in the horror genre, we relised that we needed tp fit the codes and conventions of that particular genre. That consists of making the film scary for the viewers with a storyline that is interesting and has enough action to keep the viewer satisfied.

The horror genre usually consists of darkness which is a common theme in nearly all horror films such as the film The Conjuring which filmed its whole opening sequence in black and white. Darkness is a common theme in the horror genre as it is often associated with mystery and often death. Another theme in the genre is suspense which is a key part in making the genre interesting as the audience needs to have an interest in what will happen to the character.

This made us decide that our opening sequence will need to consist of a lot of mystery to get the viewers attention and make them want to know what happens to the character a the film goes a long. We also decided that our opening sequence will need to consist of a lot of darkness to make sure that it fits in the genre of horror correctly.

Character Profile

As our opening sequence consists of only one character he would feature in the sequence quite a lot. Our actor Jesse Cole is playing the role of an African immigrant who is living in the UK struggling with dealing with his past demons. This is shown by him getting possesed on a number of occasions making him seem insane. As the opening sequence goes along, the character becomes more and more insane.

Jesse Cole was suitable for the role as we needed a young, black male who can act as a poor immigrant. The role was fulfilled just as we planned as all we needed was him to act insanely. The majority of the opening sequence he will be sitting so his costume was not much of an issue. However, we made sure that he wasn't dressed in any designer brands as we needed him to look poor.

Photos to show representation and props

 This is a photo of Mustafa looking like a homeless person as shown by the way he is lying on the stairs. The fact that he has no shoes also shows how poor the man is. This gives the meaning that he is really poor and cannot last on his own.

 This is a photo of Mustafa opening a door with his ripped gloves. This emphasises how poor the man is as his gloves are ripped and he may not have the money to buy newer gloves. The picture also shows how he is black and this may be because he migrated to the country.

Our Character Representation

For our film opening we have chosen Jesse Cole, a performing arts student, to act as our main character. This is because he fitted the role of an African young adult. As he is black our film opening will seem more realistic as he is an immigrant from Africa living in the United Kingdom. The stereotypes that surround African immigrants are usually negative and often involve crime which we have considered in our film opening as our character has had a bad past in Africa and is in the UK looking for a better future. As our character is poor, he will wear cheap clothing and will generally have an unkempt look.

Jesse Cole as Robert Toure

Powerpoint on our Film Opening

Existing Title Sequence Analysis

The Conjuring

For our coursework we decided to create a title sequence for a horror film. Therefore, we saw it fit to research title sequences of a similar genre.
The Conjuring Title Sequence - http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/the-conjuring/
We found this title sequence interesting as it consisted of no live action but it used newspaper cuttings and photographs to show who played each character and the production roles.