The document summarizes techniques used in the opening of a horror film to attract and engage the audience. Quick cuts between shots of a character being strangled were used to create a sense of desperation and panic. The opening was filmed using a handheld camera technique to make the picture shaky and put the audience in the protagonist's shoes. Only background music was used without sound effects to focus attention on the disturbing images. Killing a character immediately generated questions about their importance and the killer's motives to intrigue viewers.

1. Q5. How did you attract/address your audience?
We wantedtoappeal to audiencesthatlike horrormoviessowe triedtouse quickercuts,whichcan
be seeninhorrors whena characteris indanger,while ourvictimwasbeingstrangledtogive a
sense of desperationandpanicasthe character wantsto be freed.
Between 19 (picture above) and 38 (picture below) secondsthereare 7 cuts.
Thiswas to make our audience feel onedge astheydon’tknow if the character will getawayinthe
end.It alsocan relate tobreathingandheart beatsas bothtendto speedupwhenscaredor in
anticipation.Thisiswhathorrorfilmsare supposedtodoto theiraudience otherwise people
wouldn’tgosee thembecause they’renotscaryenough.
The openingwasmostlyfilmedusingahandheldcameratechniqueasthiswould make the picture a
little shakyandwouldgive the audience the feelingthattheywere there orinour protagonists
shoes.Italsoemphasisesthe scarymomentasitcan looklike someoneshakingbecause theyare
scared. Thisis alsohowwe want our audience tofeel like.
We alsodecidedtoonlyhave the soundtrackplayinginthe background;nosoundeffectscanbe
heard.We thoughtthatthe imagesshouldbe the mainfocusof our opening.Aftersome research
intootherhorrors,we foundthatsome openings onlyhadthe soundtrackplayingwithnosound
effectsduringthe whole opening. ‘Sinister’didthisthe otherwayaround;theydidn’thave music,
justwhat soundslike afilmreel playingthe film.We thoughtthatthisopeningwaseffective and

2. makesthe audience focusmore onwhat’shappeningsince theycan’thearverymuch.
Here is a screenshotof the opening.Yousee these charactersgethungwhile the soundof afilmreel
playsinthe background.
Our openinghasa character dyingalmostimmediatelywhichcanmake the audience wonderif there
isany importance tothe character. He couldbe an innocentstrangeror someone whohasangered
the killer.These enigmacodesmake the audience wonderabouthim.The mainassumptionwould
be that he isn’tveryimportantthoughsince he isn’tonscreenalive forverylong.Ourstoryhasa girl
that basicallygoesaroundandmurderspeople bystranglingthem.Thiscanmake the audience
wonderwhatiswrong withthisgirl.Isshe mentallyunstableorholdingagrudge? The audience
doesn’tfindoutinthe openingandwantto know what’sgoingon.
Since our storyfeaturesapriest,mostpeople wouldassumethatthe priestisgoingtosort out the
evil andeverythingwill be alright.Thiscanmake the audience feel more comfortable.However,
laterinthe clip,we see someone getkilledandthe priestcan’tsave them.Insteadthe characterwe
thinkwill make everythingrightrunsawayfromthe danger.
Since our filmdoesn’tfeature anyweapons,there isn’tmuchiconographyforahorrorother thana
corpse of a recentlykilledcharacter.