Question 1

 Question 1 

I think that our opening sequence links closely to other horror movies that we have researched. Normally horror movies don’t start off as scary and progressively build up suspense and create a enigma. I think we have created this affect well. The use of horror conventions has helped us to achieve this. I think our highlighting skill in our opening is the lighting, when we came to edit the clip we made the lighting black and white which futher pushed the horror film stereotype. As young girls wouldn’t been seen playing out in the woods at night we decided to film them in the early evening but still in daylight to make it believable. When we were editing we decided to change the contrast to give the daylight a unusual eerie atmosphere. We didn’t want it to look like a bright day and realistic as it wouldn’t then be typically horror stylized. I also feel our location fits well for these conventions, the natural surrounding with the big trees creating shadows with the sun. This all helps Rosie look that bit more vunerable, making the audience feel even more sorry for her. We think the opening to the film the Shinning linked well with our opening and how it is in a isolated area and filmed in daylight. The use of slow motion in the opening of the girls skipping in a circle helped to build tention making the audience alert for what may or is about to happen. We have focused on the idea of gender representation a lot, we have done this by making the three girls appear vunderable and and innocent. The clothing they were dressed in helped with the main character Rosie who was wearing a white frilly dress. This is a typical outfit for a girl of her age. Her shoes are silver which also portrays her purity linking her to a angel.

The titles in our film are presented in a different way to most opening titles. This helps to focus the audience on the filming rather than just the text, this also gives the audience time to react on the footage they have just seen. At the end of our opening sequence we run a list of credits with a black background behind the font. We choose to do this to carry on the horror conventions with the colour black been accociated with horror. Although, Our production name and title ‘Rosie’ and ‘MMR productions’ is edited in a professional format similar to the opening titles we have researched. We also looked at a variety of colours that we could use in our font titles and the signifiers from these. In our opening sequence we have sections were the sun is shining through the tree branches we decided to do this to resemble how Rosie is shining through him. Giving the audience a glimpse of hope. But also a there as a constant reminder. The soundtrack used in our opening sequence is still a clear relation to the codes and conventions of a horror film. I believe that the soundtrack is good for creating the eerie uncomfortable atmosphere that we wanted it also helps build up the tension. The soundtrack also fits the storyline well with the use of a nursery rhyme – ‘Ring a ring a Rosie’ but also with the baby laughing and the music box relating to children. The soundtrack is heavily adapted to the situation with the use of unnerving sounds putting the audience at edge. We wanted to keep our audience captivated to keep the suspense continuously endering our audience. I believe we have managed to achieve this with the use of the nursery rhyme – ‘ring a ring a Rosie’ relating to the little girl. This also creates the enigma and further enhances her youth.

The pace of our editing was chosen to be slow to make it appear that  this is a story being told. The slow edit of our clip was used to build tension as this made the audience unsure when something bad was about to arise. This slow editing technique will affect the audience making them gain insight of what is happening as you can clearly see what is happening in each scene. If we were to continue making our film the pace of editing would pick up in the scene when the kidnapping would occur. The soundtrack makes a contrast reminder of the danger Rosie is in using digetic and non digetic sounds. The slow edit also helps the children have even more of a ghostly appearance. This affects the audience by creating suspense and a enigma as it questions the audience to wonder what are these children doing alone and what is about to happen next helping make the opening more dramatic.

Our opening sequence doesn’t strictly follow Todorov’s theory, as we start with a flashback not at the beginning therefore our film does not have a stable equilibrium.

The use of close ups shots follow the horror conventions and codes showing all signs of danger up close to alert the audience.