The document discusses the opening sequence for a supernatural horror film and how it aligns with genre conventions. It compares the opening sequence to films like Annabelle, Final Destination, and Insidious in terms of location, characters, music, editing, camerawork, lighting, and sound. The opening sequence represents females and teenagers through the costumes, makeup, and power dynamics between the characters. While most films depict women as vulnerable, this one features a powerful female "demon" character, representing a countertypical portrayal of gender. Overall, the document analyzes how the opening sequence adheres to and challenges conventions of the supernatural horror genre.

1. CCR 1
Martha McAuley
How does your product use or challenge
conventions and how does it represent
social groups or issues?

2. What genre have you made, and what are genre conventions
of the genre?
Our opening sequence aligns with the typical conventions of a
SUPERNATURAL HORROR
This is due to the conventional colours, costumes, props, locations,
character types, music and narrative of a supernatural horror that we
used in our opening sequence
As seen below:

3. Location, character type, music and narrative
• Location – dark setting, creepy atmosphere, smoke, etc.
• Character type – costume, makeup fits either one of the contrasting
characters
• Music – eerie, mellow, focuses on the shots, surprised element when
the eyes are revealed at the end.
• Narrative – as the story progresses the supernatural element only
continues to grow.

4. What films can you compare yours to?
• Annabelle – 2014
• Director – John R Leonetti
• Possessed, creepy, thriller, etc.
Similar shot of central
object in the centre,
drawing in the
audience’s eye

5. Editing+Camera similarities
Here I found a similarity between
our opening opening sequence and
‘Annabelle’ as in both we use the
shot reverse shots to build tension
between the two characters like
this clip from a scene in
‘Annabelle’:
the editing is also fairly quickly
paced to build suspense between
the two and show the contrast in
facial expressions which can also be
seen in our opening sequence.

6. Sound similarities
In this clip I found similarities
between ‘Annabelle’ and our
opening sequence with the
sound as this clip uses non
diegetic sound like ours to build
suspense and add the element
of surprised when the demon/
the witch is revealed.

7. Mis-en- scene similarities
Lowkey lighting similar to our
opening sequence, helps create the
scary, supernatural genre and
connote the creepy aspect of the
unknown.
In this shot it reminds me of in
our opening sequence when
the ‘witch’/’demon’ take of her
hood and her face is revealed
with a close up just like this and
the facial expressions connote
an evil presence within her

8. • Final destination – 2000
• Director – James Wong
• Skull, dark, supernatural, etc.

9. Editing+Camera comparison
the title sequence for ‘Final
Destination’ similarly to our
opening sequence uses prop shots
for the titles however the
difference is that in each of the
shots for ’Final Destination’ has
movement in them – for example
in this clip we see the tv screen
playing as the titles appear on the
screen, in other similarities the
titles fade in and out just like our
title sequence, doing so makes the
title sequence more interesting
and engaging for the audience.

10. Sound comparison
Non-Diegetic Sound Diegetic Sound
• Ominous soundtrack
• Distant screams
• Low sound vibrations
• Church choir music
• Electric guitar riff
• Lightning strikes
• Rain sounds
• Trumpet sounds
• Paper rustling
• Prop movement sound
• Flicking through book
pages sound
In the table are there are sound elements
from ‘Final Destination’ the first film,
opening sequence and in red are the
similarities in what we also used in our
opening sequence.
In our opening sequence we use an ominous
soundtrack as well as low sound vibrations in order to
connote the supernatural genre as these techniques
are key conventions within horror films

11. Mis-en-scene comparison
I found this clip from ’Final Destination’
and found it very interesting as it
completely contrasts with our film
sequence, the Mis-en-scene in particular.
In this clip the character are wearing
normal, daily clothes, doing normal things,
etc, in our opening sequence the facial
expressions of the characters are a signal
to the audience as to what will happen
next, as well as their costumes giving some
ideas to the audience. Whereas in this clip
the heightened suspense is created from
the plethora of enigma codes and the lack
of knowledge that is given to the audience
as it causes more of a surprise at the peak
of the surprise.

12. • Insidious – 2010
• Directors – Leigh Whannell, Adam
Robitel, James Wan
• Dark, possessed, witch-like, lowkey
candle lit lighting, eyes, etc.

13. Camera shots comparison
Tracking shot towards the witch like figure is
unlike our opening sequence as we used little
to no movement with our shots, however I
chose this clip to compare our opening
sequence with as the ending shot of the close-
up reminds me of the shot we used to reveal
the witch like character in ours. The lowkey
lighting that is found in this clip from Insidious
is also a key convention we used in our
opening sequence as it engages the audience
to keep them watching as they want to see
what is hidden within the shadows and
darkness.

14. Editing comparison
In similarities the title sequence begins
immediately after a black out of a
previous close up which is similar to
ours, however the title sequence uses a
desaturated animated montage in
which the titles do fade in and out like
ours but are in a bold colour of red to
foreshadow danger and horror for the
rest of the film, this works significantly
well as the desaturation of the images
forces the red to stick out even more
and catch the audiences eyes.

15. Sound comparison
I chose this clip to compare our opening
sequence to from a sound point of view as it
shows a big difference in 2 types of
conventional technique used in horror
genres. In this clip to the right, a technique of
contrapuntal music is used, in doing so this
highlights the supernatural elements of the
film as it throws the audience off guard due
to the happy music going on through a scary
scene – which usually makes the music seem
creepy. In our opening sequence we used a
very conventional ominous soundtrack with
low vibration sounds too as mentioned
previously but this allowed us to emphasise
the creepy atmosphere of the film too.

16. Mis-en-scene comparison
In ‘Insidious’ the mis-en-scene can be compared to our opening sequence as of the makeup and effects added to the
characters to create further scary aspects for the audience. In both the use of lowkey lighting is used and in particular
simple candle lighting is used to engage to audience as it intrigues them and makes them want to be able to see more as
the suspense continues to build. Also the makeup on both focuses on darkening the eyes which is a typical horror
convention as it creates links between the characters and demons/devil/dark associations.

17. What are the typical conventions of opening sequences eg intro to a character,
titles etc and how have you either used or challenged these conventions?
TYPICAL CONVENTIONS OF SUPERNATURAL HORROR UNTYPICAL CONVENTIONS OF SUPERNATURAL HORROR
• Ominous soundtrack
• Powerful male ‘villain’ character
• Lowkey lighting
• Familiar conventions such as jump scares
• Fast paced editing/ flashing shots
• Enigma/action codes
• Contrapuntal soundtrack
• Powerful female ‘villain’ character
• Unfamiliar conventions such as unexpected plots
• Slow paced shots/ long takes
• High-key lighting
Steve Neale's theory of genre – believing
that films should use familiar and
unfamiliar conventions to engage the
audience
RED – things in our opening sequence

18. What social groups have you represented in
your opening sequence?
• Specific gender – FEMALE. In our opening sequence we have a female
‘villain’ character as well as a female vulnerable character, relating to both
age and gender, as the female empowerment shows contrast to the
younger girl and makes her seem more vulnerable.
• Specific age – TEENAGERS. Having a young, teenage character interests
younger generations as audiences of teens are able to feel a sense of
relation to the film. As mentioned, we used a female ‘villain’ character as
well as a female vulnerable character which showed a contrast in gender
but age too.
• Specific interest group - SUPERNATURAL. The use of tarot, witches, demon,
etc. in our horror genre creates a wider interest for those in to
supernatural things like tarot.

19. How have you represented these people / groups
using camera, editing, mise-en-scene or sound
• GENDER/AGE – In our opening sequence we dressed the vulnerable teenage girl in a white top and
simple makeup to connote her innocence and exaggerate this vulnerability. This is very conventional
for a horror film as it exaggerate the audiences fear since they feel sympathy for the innocent
character. The innocent and vulnerable girl wore young, trendy clothes as it attracts the eyes of a
younger generation – also making it more realistic for them watching.
• The fortune teller was presented as powerful and with a high status and we did this by using lowkey
lighting and long paced shots as it made her seem in control of the situation. We also used low angle
shots to create a higher status for her.
- This relates to Levi Strauss’s theory of binary opposites even when they are the same gender.
- This relates to Laura Mulvey’s theory of the male gaze as the girl is wearing a cropped top.
• INTEREST GROUP – we used our previous narrative research to help us represent this group in
particular as we chose the three darkest sequence of cards possible – so for audiences who know
about tarot and have interest in supernatural genres this was very engaging as they would have
known the danger of the situation the character was in. – we exaggerated the facial expressions
shown to help the audiences who are not aware of tarot card meanings to understand that the
outcome was not good and very dangerous for the young, vulnerable girl.

20. Have you represented any of your characters or
social groups in a countertypical way?
• GENDER – in some views we represented gender in an opposing way
to most stereotypical films where the woman is always in the position
of vulnerability, as the ‘demon’ character was in fact a woman,
however it can also be argued that this is not countertypical as
‘witches’/tarot/etc. are all associated with women. Witch stereotypes
Villain stereotypes (male
power)