Horror openings

Action Horror films openings vary depending on the sub genre of the film. In the opening there is very little action this is so the story starts tense. If they were to add all the action in the opening scenes the film will no longer be filled with excitement. Cabin in the woods starts different to the other four openings. It begins with a pleasant start with two men joking around with a fellow collage, this happy opening can create a misleading atmosphere for the audience as they are expecting a horror film and have been given something friendly at the start. This is supported by the next scene where there are two girls talking and picking out clothes this adds to the contrasting opening. However they still add that sense of mystery as there is a book which one of the girls in the opening take interest in.

Pyscho opening is mainly focused on lines and how thee lines create the full picture. The missing spaces which are filled by the lines coming in this could suggest this movie is going to be a film which is largely surrounded by mystery as without the line we don’t understand what the word is. The lines give us a clue of the sub genre suggesting it could be a slasher the way the lines come in from the side. The stabbing motion into the words could also relate the famous shower stabbing scene where the killer stabbings in a jerk movement.

During my research it was evident that most of the films had a reoccurring pattern which was that the first scenes would either give a hint of what was to come in the film or it would set the scene in where the action would take place. For example the next film I looked at ,Alien, things begin in space so we could guess the rest of the film is going to be set in space or the film will be largely link to the genre syfy. The convention of giving hints of the setting and type of film continues with Dawn of the dead as it starts with an interview the questions being asked are answered with little knowledge this again puts the viewer in an unknown position. It then moves short to news reports and videos of people being effected by something unknown these quick shots are what keeps the viewer guessing.

Print styles Print styles in a horror film can be very effect when used correctly. Most of the films use red as this has links to blood and fear which is largely played on horror films. They also used a dark colour like grey or just black for the background as black is isolated colour. Dawn of the Dead has bold font which could represent the zombies being bold or the infection standing out. Words that come up are damaged which could represent the zombies damaging the non infected humans.

Cabin in the woods uses a red font it flashes across the screen quickly which has links to the blood of the victims who die in the film Alien font comes in slowly like how the alien monster is first relived in the film this here is a link between the two. The latters are also quite separated The fonts used in Psycho are very basic as this was the opening of opening title sequences it’s a simple use of colour with very little behind it. The fonts start off disrupted with gaps in them . Saw font is a simple font used. The font size is quite big. The colour used is blue which is unusual in horror fonts as they normally used red to represent blood.

Music/sound Music and sound is used quite a lot in horror films to create a tense atmosphere or to build up suspense. This can put the audience on edge at moments that are tense. The music used in dawn of the dead doesn’t sound like a typical horror film song but they lyrics in there are connecting to the film and hint at the things that might happen. The sound that can be heard also is people screaming which grabs audience attention. The music used in alien is slow but has a sense of danger to it. The little sharp Sounds that come up adds to horror theme. The music used I'd very quite which could be relative to the setting of the film. As space is near but silence. This quiet music can make for a tense atmosphere as well.Cabin in the Woods and Dawn of the dead have quite a modern theme to them. As the music is not instantly scary to hear but have lyrics that relate to the film genre. This is what can confuse the audience and leave them more.

In Saw the music is more relatable starting slow building the intense atmosphere is too keep the audience always at the edge of their seats • • Psycho music is faced paced with short sounds which are made by strings sounds. There's short sharp

sounds are heavily linked to the short sharp stabbing motion. This injects an early fear to the audience as the music makes them tense.