Reviewing other students'' opening scenes.

1. Reviewing horror
opening scenes

2. Information on the task
 I looked at 4 other students’ thriller opening scenes and assessed the
scores and looked at the mark scheme to see where they picked up marks
and what else they could do to improve. This helped me to understand the
criteria and mark scheme better, so when I do my thriller opening I have a
better idea of what I need to focus on and include to get the grade I want
to achieve. This task also gave me inspiration and ideas to the standard in
which I’ll be completing the task rather than a professional companies
production which may be unachievable, so it allowed me to see more
realistic ideas and expectations.

3. Hidden – 52/60
 I liked the use of text and titling in this video, they’re
simple and don’t distract the audience away from the
scenes. They’re also placed well, it doesn’t obstruct the
view of the scenes in any way and seems to flow with the
video appropriately.
 There’s also a wide range of shots (e.g. close up, wide
shot, tracking) which makes the opening more
interesting rather than long continuous shots, it also has
allowed the audience to know what’s going on in the
scene.
 The mark scheme asks for asks for close attention to
mise-en-scene, I think the setting was well thought out,
where he is in an open space, perhaps representing his
time to think.
 The voiceover for the video is also very effective as it
clearly represents his thoughts
 Although this video meets most of the Level 4 criteria, to
improve on this video, more after effects and editing
techniques could be used to keep it more interesting as
the video primarily focuses on simple clips.

4. Torn – 54/60
 The beginning is good as it starts out with a panning establishing shot of the
house, letting the audience clearly know where it’s set.
 The quick flashes of superimposed images of dolls are placed throughout the,
what seems like an average suburban mans life makes it seem quite different
and sets the appropriate atmosphere for the thriller.
 The choice of music is also important, during the start of the opening
(collecting paper) the sound effects have a high pitched squeaking sound
which builds up tension for the rest of the opening making the audience
uncertain. Then when he closes the door to his shed an extra soundtrack of
happy “clown” music begins to play, immediately changing the atmosphere.
The asynchronous sound creates an unusual atmosphere and possibly
suggests that his workshop is his happy place.
 This opening also explores good lighting, the man at the desk is shown in a
silhouette figure making it mysterious, although this shot would be more
affective if the shot was used whilst we didn’t know who the character was.
 This video out of the 4 received the highest marks, so a lot of the criteria was
clearly met. However, the titling could be improved, for example the white
text blends in with the white background at the beginning of the video. This
makes it look less professional and hard to read. So from this video I take
advice that I would make sure I think about placement of the titling and make
sure it’s appropriate.

5. Peek-a-boo – 44/60
 The start of the video is good, with a range of shots and angles used
and establishes the area where it’s set building tension. But at the
same time also keeps mystery.
 The sound, a low tone mellow piano sets the dark mood for the
opening and sets the appropriate atmosphere.
 The part of the video where the friend is trying to scare the girl from
behind the bushes uses good camera shots from her point of view.
This creates mystery and the music is built up to create tension
making the audience wonder what’ going to happen next.
 As the video goes on, the tension drops as the transitioned cuts
between shots is abruptly interrupted by the shot of the girl having a
conversation on her phone, this shot was also long and dragged on a
bit, so thinking about timing is important.
 The rest of the video (presumably to represent the death of the girl) is
in black and white, restricting the ability to use lighting to its full
potential and this also makes the rest of the scene monochrome and
boring.
 The end of the video also seems rushed and audio is distorted, the
“peek-a-boo” said by the masked man is very unclear so to improve
this the audio needs to be increased in volume.

6. Penumbra – 39/60
 In this opening, the soundtrack at the beginning of the clip
works well with the titling and the editing done to make the
titling fit to the beat. The beginning builds up tension for the
opening.
 When the titling sequence ends, it fades off into the scene of
the group of 4 kicking a ball and conversing about the death
of a fellow student. However, at this point the audio is not
very good and is really low making it hard for the audience
to hear what’s going on. For instance, I was confused
because I didn’t hear the male actor begin to talk about the
death so for the scene to suddenly cut from this scene to a
death scene is very confusing.
 The ending clip was a close up of the bloody hand, which is a
good shot as it lets the audience know what has happened.