The document summarizes a student's foundation portfolio evaluation for a horror film opening sequence project. It describes key conventions used in the opening, including a vulnerable victim being chased by a masked killer with a weapon. It also discusses the use of red titles/credits, an unknown killer's identity, young female victims, and horror-related music. The student reflects on learning camera techniques to build tension and the importance of costumes/mise-en-scene in establishing characters for the horror genre.

1. Foundation Portfolio EvaluationHolly Whitaker

2. Conventions of Horror/slasher opening sequence’s. Horror films usually contain vulnerable characters who are been chased by a killer with weapons such as a knife.The titles and credits of horror films are always related to the film by using the colour red. This is because red has connotations of death and violence, and it would be essential to use it in a horror film.Every slasher film has a killer who usually stalks their victim or instantly kills them. The killer’s identity is usually kept hidden till towards the end, which gives the effect to the audience that the killer will never be caught, emphasizing fear to the audience. Victim’s are usually young girl’s on their own or a group of young people as they seem most vulnerable and the audience can relate to them. This could make them feel the same fear as they do when the killer is after them.The main title of a horror film is usually accompanied by a beginning of a particular song which relates to the horror genre.Iconography is usually seen in a opening sequence to help establish the theme of the film and what the film is going to consist of. Therefore this sets it in the genre of the film, for example a knife.

3. First of all, to have a successful horror opening sequence we had to follow some of the conventions of horror. When filming our opening, we included a victim been chased by a killer. The victim is running through the woods, however the killer is not shown till after, so the audience are unaware of what the victim is running from. Secondly we created titles and credits using the colour red, to symbolise death/blood as a horror film would. We also used the mise en scene of the killers costume and a knife to establish the horror/slasher genre. For the killers costume we used a black cloak, to make the character look like a killer, and also this symbolised death. The knife creates an iconography of the horror so the audience will know what the film is going to consist of.As a victim we used a typical young vulnerable girl, (blonde hair, normal everyday clothes), which the audience can relate to, and make them feel the same fear.We used both diegetic sounds and non- diegetic inour opening sequence. We didn’t use many diegetic soundsas the only sounds the characters made were a scream and a gasp. The noise of the birds and step on the leaves used were the natural sounds. However, we used sounds to emphasize the presence of the killer which was non-diegetic.

4. How does your media represent particular social groups? Our media film does not particularly represent different social groups as it only consists of two main characters. We used a young teenage girl as the innocent victim, with blonde hair and wearing everyday clothes which a typical teenager would wear. We particularly wanted to represent the teenage girl as vulnerable and weak. This would give the audience a chance to relate to the vulnerable young girl, and feel the same fear as them.

5. Therefore, we wanted the killer to look like a stereotypical killer. We established this by using a black cloak and a knife. We had to make sure the killer looked in control over the young teenage girl in order for it to look like a horror, where the killer takes control. The kind of media institutions that might distribute my media product and why?The kind of media institutions that might distribute our media product is the UIP (United International Pictures)

6. Who would the audience be for your media product?The audience for my media product would be particularly aimed at teenagers who enjoy watching violent/death scenes. Specifically teenagers would be able to relate to the content of the film.

7. How would you attract and address the audience?We have addressed our audience through using particular characters such as a young teenage girl, which would appeal to our audience because teenagers is our target audience. Also the vulnerability of the girl as many girls can be seen as vulnerable. The setting/location of our film (the woods) would appeal to the audience in a specific way. The setting of the woods usually is associated with the horror genre as they are known to be a ‘creepy’ setting. For example the horror film ‘Wrong Turn’ is set in the woods throughout with many gory scenes.Furthermore, at the beginning of our film the young teenage girl is shown running through the woods along a path looking frightened. This instantly appeals to the audience because they will be interested into who is chasing the girl and what is going to happen next.

8. What have you learnt about technologies from the process of constructing this product?Through constructing our product, we have learnt various ways how to edit and produce our film using i-movie. We had to decide some of the camera angles to use to create a certain sense of terror. We used close ups to emphasize the fear of the victim as shown below. We also learnt how to slow camera shots down to create a sense of suspense and horror that is waiting to happen.

9. Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?In the progression of the preliminary task to the final piece, we have learnt various things. In the preliminary task the mise en scene and costumes were not seen as very important, unlike the final piece. In our horror film the mise en scene and costumes of the characters were essential, for the characters to look like a typical teenager and a typical killer. I have also learnt that you have to take many shots in order for the camera angle/shot to be perfect for the film’s genre. For example, a dolly shot is where the camera moves behind the character (usually the victim) in order to create a sense of tensionof the killer chasing the victim.