The document summarizes the opening sequence of a short horror film titled "Sasha". It discusses the film's title, setting in the main character Sasha's bedroom, her costume and key props. It describes the camerawork and editing techniques used to build tension. It explains how the opening establishes the story about Sasha's schizophrenia and her mother's struggle with her daughter's violent behavior. Finally, it discusses how the opening suggests the horror genre through the use of conventions like a knife prop, music, and camera angles.

1. SASHA

2. The title of the film
• This shot is the title of our film and is displayed at the end of the sequence. ‘Sasha’
is the name of the main character in our sequence. Many horror films are titled
after their protagonist e.g. ‘Carrie’ and ‘Annabelle’. The simplicity of our chosen
title makes it seem ominous and therefore almost sinister. It was important to us
that the title was short and eventually we used just one word as this gives away
very little information, leaving behind and sense of mystery and possibly dread
which is imperative for the atmosphere we want to create. We chose a minimalist
font and background for our title, being plain black and white as subtlety is vital in
creating a horror film. Often the fear of what cannot be seen is far scarier than
visual effects and CGI.

3. Setting/location
• This shot shows the location of our opening sequence which is a young girls
bedroom. We chose not to use a cliché location such as a derelict house, dark
room or isolated night time location outside. However, we discovered that
psychological horrors or thrillers which use children frequently use the location of
their bedroom throughout the film, for example ‘The Sixth Sense’ or ‘Insidious’.
This location gives an insight into the ‘abnormal’ child in the environment that
they feel most comfortable in and can give the audience an insight into their mind
which is important in a psychological horror. So, although we avoided over-used an
clichéd opening location; we have selected a location that we feel is appropriate
for the atmosphere we want to create and conforms to the conventions of the
genre.

4. Costumes and props
• This shot shows our main character’s costume and the key props used in our sequence. We
made a decision for our character’s clothing to challenge the conventions of the horror
genre. Often children in horror films wear very plain, dark clothing for example ‘Esther’ in
‘Orphan’. The use of Victorian style clothing such as ruffled blouses, long sleeves and high
collars can also be frequently found in the horror genre. However, we decided that we
wanted our character to wear much more ‘normal’ everyday clothing so that her actions in
the sequence are even more shocking as they aren’t expected since she seems to be a
normal child. The main props that we use, unlike costume, do conform to the horror genre.
Children's toys can be found in a number of horror sequences such as ‘Child’s play’ and
‘Chucky’. We chose to emphasise the jam as the colour red foreshadows violence and
conforms to the genre. Our opening sequence also features a knife which can be found in
most horror films due to the connotations it has with violence and gore.

5. Camerawork and editing
• This screenshot is a demonstration of the parallel editing that we chose to
include in our opening. This an editing technique that we found
particularly effective in heightening tension and building suspense as it
foreshadows a situation that our protagonist is not aware of; in our clip
the approaching of her mother. Parallel editing can be found in a number
of horror films including ‘The Shining’. Aside from this our opening
incorporates continuity editing to give a sense of realism, once again
therefore making Sasha’s actions more shocking as the set up is so natural.

6. Titles
• We chose a very plain font in a simple white colour so as not to detract
from the action. The font is very bold and clear, making it easy to read and
we chose to make it small so that it doesn’t pull focus from the shots.
Other horror films often use scratchy, handwritten fonts however we felt
that this was inappropriate for our film as our intention is to begin with a
normal set up with only a few hints at anything unsettling to make the
implied violence more of a surprise. It is important that the audience
focus in order to understand our opening so it was vital that our titles
were subtle in order to not take away attention from the storyline.

7. Story and how the opening sets it up
• Our story is about a girl with schizophrenia who believes that her toys talk to her
and her mothers battle with her daughters violent behaviour. Our establishing shot
introduces the themes of childhood and toys. The following sequences, including
the voice of the bear establish the girls mental disorder and the parallel editing of
the mother walking up the stairs is used to show her mothers discovery of her
violent nature. The opening shows no violence but the cut away shot to the knife
implies violence and often leaving this to the audience’s imagination is more scary
than a visual would be. Childhood and mental disorder’s are often found in the
horror genre such as ‘Insidious’ and ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’.

8. Genre and how the opening suggests it
• We used a number of conventions of the horror genre to establish our
genre. This screenshot shows a knife, a prop that can be found in many
horror films and is a key convention of the genre. We also included low
angle shots, non-diegetic music and extreme close ups, all of which we
found to be common conventions of the horror genre. Low angles create
an intimidating image of a character whilst non diegetic music is used to
establish atmosphere and extreme close-ups can confuse the audience by
not giving the full image.

9. How characters are introduced
• The first few shots of our protagonist are framed with the intention of
keeping the girls face concealed by either only showing a small part of her
face or showing her behind. This gives a sense of mystery, making the
audience suspicious of the girl. The mothers voice also appears in the
sequence and a shot of her feet however, her face is never shown in order
to keep the focus on Sasha. The bear is another key character in our
opening and the voice that we have put in for him in soft and quiet, used
to create an unsettling image of him.

10. Special effects
• This screenshot shows a pan shot of the bear which is
included in our clip. It is played once and then we reflected
the shot and put it in again, later in the sequence. This gives a
slight sense of de-ja-vu and constructed the warped sense of
realism that our schizophrenia protagonist may have, allowing
the audience to develop an idea of how her mind may work
and a look at the world through her eyes.