This document provides an evaluation of a film opening sequence that was inspired by psychological horror films like "The Orphan" and "The Ring". It summarizes the key techniques used in the opening including: low-key lighting, a costume to convey the protagonist's isolation, non-diegetic sounds and asynchronous sounds from other horror films, a slow-paced editing style with flashbacks, and camera work like blurred shots and canted angles to imply mental instability. The goal was to challenge conventions and codes of the horror genre to create an unsettling sequence that leaves the audience with questions.

1. Thabssoom Islam
Media Studies
Evaluation Questions:
Evaluation Question 1: In what ways does your film opening use, develop or
challenge forms and convections of the real media products?
For our main production we has looked at many other films before settling down
with an idea, looking at the horror film ‘The Orphan’ we decided to do a opening
sequence similar to that film. The reason we chose ‘The Orphan’ is because the
main character has got a psychological problem just like in our production and
the film gave us some ideas so that we could add this into our sequence too. Not
only did we use that film as a template but also ‘The Ring’ as she is a instable
female character the same as our protagonist. Many of these films have so many
parts that uses the codes and convections that go perfect with our media
product.
Mise- En- Scene:
In our media product we use a wide range of techniques to make our opening
sequence look like a real film. In this case, we start off with the establishing shot
is introducing the hospital where the protagonist is held at; this shows the
audience a little bit about the character (mental illness). The costume that we
had decided was to make it simple black and white but has a lot of meaning
behind it. The black trousers reinforces that she is abandoned and alone whereas
the coloured white top has the meaning that she is innocent and pure. The props
that we used where;
 Wooden rustic chair
 Curtains
 Special lights
 Pen marker- to write things on the actor’s hands.
We kept everything simple as the production is not giving away too much
information and this is an psychological horror theme, so there are not blood and
knives involved in the opening scenes.
Sound:
For our main production we have used sound effects following the codes and
convections of a real horror genre film, we had used many sort of sound
techniques such as;
 Non- diegetic Sounds
 Asynchronous Sounds
We had taken these techniques from the other horror movies e.g. ‘The Shining’
and The Orphan’ as it is as similar style to our media product.
We managed to use voice over in our product, as we wanted to create an enigma
code right at the end of our sequence. The reason it was a voice over is because
we wanted to only have one actor/actress I the sequence to reinforce isolation
and aloneness. This was a two-minute dialogue between the hospital where the
protagonist was held at and the protagonists close friend. This was to create
suspense and give a little bit more information to the audience.

2. Thabssoom Islam
Media Studies
Evaluation Questions:
The music/soundtrack that we used throughout the sequence was a creepy one
that we found on the Internet. It was an instrumental sound track, which really
suited well with our sequence. The music engages the audience’s attention and
creates enigma when the music would go at a fast pace or slow down etc.
Lighting and Editing:
Lighting- As our product was based on many other horror films, we filmed in
low- key lighting; this creates a dull look, which connotes horror. Also makes the
audience think what is going to happen to the character.
When filming in the forest and filming the ident, as a group we shot our sequence
in natural lighting, this was a problem as it was too light and did not match the
theme that we were going for. This meant that we had to tone and adjust the
lighting to become low-key. Also as the dance studio shots were low-key the
forest filming scenes had to be toned down as it would not match and look
confusing. The credits that we added in are coloured red, as it is a colour that
connotes blood, murder, evil and the devil. It also links back to the title, as the
title is red and bold.
Editing- In our media product we used low pace editing because many of the
shots of the actor had been slowed down to show the audience what she was
doing. One of the scenes of the actor had been of the protagonist behind the tree
and when panned back she was gone within seconds, I wanted the effect to be
slowed down so the audience will realise and creates tension. Throughout this
sequence we used a montage of editing which is lots of random shots, which
have no connections and reinforces serialism. We decided on using two locations
as we could not actually use the hospital as it is out of access, so the editing
would be slow paced as it was showing flash backs of the protagonist in the
hospital and out in the woods.
Camera Work:
When filming in the dance studio the whole studio was dark, so that meant that it
was difficult for the camera to pick up or focus on what we were filming. This
was shot in a blurry effect, which makes it look creepier as the audience cannot
clearly see who it is. Also, when the protagonist was sitting on the high stool is
filmed at canted angle, which connotes that she is on medication or mentally
disable. We did not use the actors face at all as we decided to keep it hidden and
create suspicion to the audience.