Question 1
- 1. Similarities and Differences to Other Products Our opening sequence is very similar to The Blair Witch Project in the way that it uses POV camera angles to create realism. We believed that this realism made the audience feel as if they were there and as a result, makes the situation scarier. Furthermore, the setting of our sequence is in the woods just like The Blair Witch Project. We chose this setting because we now it connotes darkness and fear anyway without being included in a horror film and when it is, it contributes to a spooky and disturbing atmosphere. To add to this we put a dark filter over our footage in order to create a mysterious feel and a sense of not knowing what is more than two feet ahead of you. We noticed that this created a sense of the unknown (a basic primal fear) when we analysed The Blair Witch Project and as a result, decided we should include it in our sequence. In addition to all this, the ‘demon host’ stereotype taken up by our villain ‘The Demon’ was taken from The Blair Witch Project. The villain in this film is a Blair Witch who plays up to the ‘demon host’ stereotype which we believe allows us to conform to the female stereotype of women being powerful. The sequence is also very similar to Alien since the audience will hardly see our villain. We have tried to make our villain scarcely seen in order to make the audience incapable of making a connection with her. We believe this will have the audience on the edge of their seats throughout the film because they’re unable to understand the character and as a result the jump scares will be more effective. Our sequence isn’t anything like The Exorcist where religion is the broad theme throughout the film. Instead our film focuses on male and female stereotypes since that’s what our demographic of 16-25 year old male and females are interested in.
- 2. Why we Kept to the Conventions of the Form We have largely kept to the typical conventions of horror films. Firstly, we chose our setting (an old abandoned fridge in the woods) because we knew that isolated settings connote loneliness. An example of how this has worked in films is the Camp Crystal Lake in Friday 13th. Furthermore, like in most horror films which feature a female antagonist we have decided to cover the face of our villain with her own hair in order to make it impossible for the audience to make a connection with her. This plays on the fear of the unknown making it scarier. Moreover, the sacrificial lamb who’s played by Alex is the first character to die which continues the long tradition of horror films having innocent characters who die first. This shows that the villain is evil enough to pick on innocent characters who are unable to defend themselves. Films such as Alien have used this to great effect.
- 3. How we Defied the Typical Conventions One way in which we have defied the typical conventions of a horror film is by not including the character with sex appeal. Characters such as Paris Hilton in ‘The House of Wax’ are promiscuous and are often the ones to die first because of this (sinning). We felt that characters such as these would detract from the gritty reality we were trying to create by distracting the audience and making it unrealistic. We have also chosen to leave any form of weapon out of the sequence. We felt this was the best idea because we were not making a supernatural thriller set in a home where weapons are likely to be found. Instead we wanted to make it as realistic as possible. To add to this, ‘The Victim’ wouldn’t have used a weapon since we were trying to portray as a male with feminine traits who is weak and unable to fight for himself whilst Police are not legally allowed to carry weapons so letting that character would have defeated the object and made our sequence wholly unrealistic.