2. Throughout this PowerPoint I will be
discussing the opening two minutes
of horror movies and what they have
in common.
The four films I have deconstructed
are Dawn of the Dead, Prom Night,
Scream and What Lies Beneath.

3. Within the first two minutes the genre of the
film is established. It is suggested that the
films are intending to scare the viewer which
helps us establish the genre. All the films
have something which helps us know that it
is a horror film, in Scream the person on the
phone is unknown to both the female
character and to the viewer this gives off a
sense of danger and uncertainty about the
situation.

4. I found that in all the films I deconstructed the
main characters were established within the first
two minutes. All four films introduced a female
character who appears to be in danger.
In dawn of the dead a women is shown to be
having a nightmare and is comforted by a male
character, this also suggests the stereotype that
the man has to be strong and look after the
female victim. This is similar to what lies
beneath where the female character is shown to
choke in the bath and then appears to be distant
which could suggest that she is distressed about
something.

5. All the films I have deconstructed help create
tension within the first two minutes by using
different sounds and music. Dawn of the Dead
and Scream both starts with lots of noise,
alarming the viewer. However Dawn of the Dead
continues to use loud diagetic sounds, whereas
scream changes to a quieter scene. This is
similar to Prom Night and What Lies beneath,
which both start with the quiet non diagetic
sound.
Despite the films having slightly different uses of
sound they all share the same theme which is
suggested through the music

6. This is the theme of a threat or danger, all the
films I have looked at make it feel like the
characters are in danger or they are about to
find themselves in danger. For example in Dawn
of the Dead it is apparent straight away that the
characters are panicking and are in a dangerous
situation. The way the dialogue is addressed also
suggests that they are in danger and are all
panicking.
In scream the opening two minutes creates a
sense of danger by having jump cuts to outside
the house where this can suggest that someone
is watching the house in the dark.

7. This is also similar to What Lies Beneath which
has a tracking shot where the screen goes very
dark and we cannot see much on the screen but
it feels like we are being pulled towards
something, suggesting a lack of control which
makes you feel scared about the situation.
The theme of danger is also made very apparent
in Prom Night through the setting and dialogue.
The setting is in an old empty building with
broken glass and looks like people shouldn’t be
allowed there. The word “kill” is repeated in the
dialogue making the viewer feel unsure about
what may happen next.

8. The main similarity used by the technical codes
is in the sound. The sound helps the viewer to
establish what genre film it is. A sound which
suggests a horror genre is a quiet non diagetic
sound which is used in both What Lied Beneath
and Prom Night. The sound helps create tension
in Scream by having a telephone ringing which
isn’t answered for a long time. This suggests that
the character could be alone.
Camera techniques are also used very
effectively. They are used appropriately to the
kind of atmosphere that is trying to be created.
This is shown in Scream when tracking shots are
used with jump cuts to give the impression the
female character is being watched or followed.

9. Different editing techniques are also used in
Dawn of the Dead which help show the tension
and stress that the characters are in. A birds eye
view shot is used to show all the characters in
their panic and also several jump cuts to suggest
that they are in a serious situation.