Risk Assessment

1) During the punch scene, the key could do some damage to the other person, therefore scene should be shot at an angle where we can avoid the impact without it appearing obvious that the punch never really occurred.

2) If contact lenses are used for the demon character, the instructions must be read carefully to avoid injury to the eye.

3) As the opening is being shot in a street, there is the risk of being run over so we should be careful when filming, therefore we will be careful when filming and ensure that there are no cars.

4) There is a brief running scene where someone could fall over, so make sure there is nothing to trip over.

5) All the scenes in the street will be shot during the daytime for safety against anyone who could possibly attack us if we were filming at night.

Ideas for Horror Film Opening

Final Idea (subject to change):
The final idea for the horror film is that a girl is meeting up with her friend/roommate when her roommate is attacked and possessed by a demon in an alleyway. The girl who is not possessed hits her (punches her with a key in between her fingers) in an attempt to get away and manages to get back home, where she is finally attacked herself.
She later wakes up and feels ill. As she leaves the room she finds her friend in the bathroom and realises that her nightmare is actually a reality.

The opening will happen in the daytime, as this goes against the conventions of a standard horror film.

(The storyboard will be here when it is finished)


Scrapped Ideas:
1. Originally we were going to do a horror-comedy that involved something chasing people around a shop for the horror aspect and the reality that the enemy was a giant chicken for the comedy aspect. We decided against this idea because it would be very, very difficult to do in terms of editing, props and filming in a crowded area.

2. The second idea had the girl and her friend meeting up in town, only to have the friend possessed before she got there and when they do meet up, they were attacked. This idea is present in most other ideas, but has been tweaked as we worked along.

3. Here we had the girl and her friend meeting up in a shopping centre, with the friend being partly possessed in an elevator and attacking the girl when they got up to the car park. The next idea was similar to this one but with the elevator removed due to issues with people wanting to use it when we would be filming.

4. This time the girls had already met up and were in an alley way when the friend got possessed, evident by a scratch that mysteriously appeared on her arm. The girl had met up with her friend using a skateboard and was then going to hit her with it to deter her possessed friends attack. We kept this aspect but switched the skateboard out with a key, as there is a larger risk to hit someone with a skateboard than there is with a key that can be dropped/moved into someone fingers before the person playing the possessed friend got hit.

5. This idea is very similar to the final one, as the idea of the two friends meeting up during the opening was far better than having them already together. The only difference was that the friend who was possessed was to be similar to the behaviour of the witch special infected in Left 4 Dead.

(Witch video here)

Possible Setting for Film Opening

 So far into planning, I have decided to use a sidestreet as the primary setting for the opening, as I feel that this is a less common convention for a horror film and for one that has demons as the main 'enemy'.

 I also plan on using a house setting later on in the film opening as a secondary setting

Demon Possession in American Horror Story: Asylum

One of the subplots in this particular season is demon possession. The second episode has a 17 year old boy, called Jed Potter, admitted to Briarcliff Manor Asylum because his parents are concerned that he has been possessed by the devil as he killed a cow, ate the heart and started speaking in Latin.

His face is pale and he is sweating. There is also blood and the veins are evident on the side of his face as the demon/devil is being exorcised.

He is able to refer to Sister Judes (Jessica Lange) past crime of a hit and run accident, and he makes the ghost of the girl she killed appear in the room adjacent to his, saying "you never even got out of the car".

After the exorcism the demon jumps into Sister Mary Eunice (Lily Rabe) who, in a later episode can be seen with red and yellow eyes. She also kills someone in a later episode while they are praying and makes references to the fact that she "is the devil".

She keeps her human appearance (aside from when her possession shows through in the picture below) and eventually breaks free long enough to ask someone to kill her, which they do. When she dies, the demon is taken at the same time as her soul.

My film opening is using the idea of demon possession and the way it is represented in American Horror Story: Asylum is useful in terms of how I can represent it myself in my film opening.

Resident Evil (Horror) Film Opening

Full Opening Scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zuDZrySShA

The opening scene starts with non-diegetic sound that is eerie yet modern. The backstory to the film is explained at this point. In the background, the screen is similar to a computer terminal, which hints at laboratory and office setting that is later shown in the opening.

Following this the music sounds clinical and the camera zooms in to someone working in a lab, which is a stereotypical for the resident evil franchise and the modern setting could also be reminiscent of the Nostromo ship from the first Alien film,moving vials of fluid into a case, these vials being relevant to the rest of the film.

There is more focus with close ups and focus pulls on the blue vial, which is the T-virus, as this is the virus responsible for what happens later in the film.

The close up on the case the virus' or in locking suggests the danger that they have.

The opning ends with the man who was wearing the hazard suit throwing a vial of the T-virus so it breaks, this being the final part of the scene needed to set up the events of the film.

As I have watched this film, I know that the opening scene is actually setting up all the events for the film and provides and introduction to the whole backstory. My opening scene is intended to be similar to this, in the way that it is setting up the events of the film and providing a backstory. (Had it been a full film, the rest of it would be set further into the future, about a year after the opening).


Silent Hill Film Opening Analysis

Full opening scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJspxq_btno

The opening scene starts off with a non-diegetic sound that is an acoustic guitar being played with the tremolo picking technique. As Silent Hill is based around a video game of the same name, this piece of music is associated with the series and provides some of the horror feel.

The sound then changes to being far more mechanical and having an eerie feel to it before the non-diegetic sound is replaced by Rose, the main character, screaming for her child.

The ellipses editing technique is used so you hear her calling for her child before you actually see her outside her house. 

The sound also emphasises the surroundings and makes the breathing seem louder that it actually is.

The use of camera angles shows the frantic worry of the characters looking for Sharon. This also allows for a good close up on he teddy bear Rose finds that obviously belongs to Sharon.





Many panning shots are used in the extract to show the surroundings, such as the forest that is a stereotypical setting for a horror film, even if it does not last for the entire duration of the film.



There is then another setting that is stereotypical to horror films, which is the graffiti ridden underpass with a busy main road above it.

An ariel shot shows a waterfall just outside the tunnel, connoting the danger of the area if the child is around there, with the possibility she fell down the waterfall.

The scene then cuts to show Sharon standing near the edge of the waterfall, with non-diegetic sound returning with background music that provides the feel of danger and mystery as well as the horror that is present elsewhere in the opening.

The camera pans to show Rose standing away from her. There is then a close up to show her face as she notices her and it shows her emotions of concerned and relieved that she found her daughter but she is standing over a waterfall.

The camera eventually goes to a close up of Sharon before travelling down the waterfall pit which has transformed into what appears to be a mine that is on fire and looks like hell itself.

The extract then goes on to Sharon being saved by her father and she starts screaming "Silent Hill!" which adds to the mystery of what happened in the opening and sets up the movie for what happens later in it.

The final scene is the Silent Hill title card.



Similar to Resident Evil, this opening is setting up the events of the film, hence why Sharon screams Silent Hill, which is the name of the town where a majority of the film is set. Once again, because my opening is supposed to be setting up events, this will be useful in terms of sound and explanation.









28 Weeks Later Opening Analysis.

Full Opening Scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHf6Th-E3kE

 The scene starts with a close-up of a man reading a newspaper, with the only sound being russling pages.

The scene then cuts to show a framed picture of a girl with candles burning in front of it. This seems to be a memorial for her, and would line up with 28 weeks later being a horror film set 28 weeks after a virus infected the UK, where many peoples loved ones would have been killed.

The setting is dark with most of the lighting coming from candles (this further fits the post apocalypse theme), and the sound as a whole is diegetic, as it is mainly the ambience of the setting and people talking.

There is then a close up of a bowl of food being served at the table. The food does not look appetizing, as shown by the look on the girls face as it is being put in front of her, once again emphasising the post-apocalyptic feel.

 The conversation that follows is tense, as Jacob talks about the possibility of the womans friend having survived the zombies outside.

A knock at the door, which is the loudest sound in the scene at this point, causes everyone sitting at the table to turn around, and a long shot sows them all looking in the same direction.

A close up on the character Don's face shows conflict of emotions when the realise the source of the knocking is a child, and he is deciding whether or not to allow the child in.

At this time, non-diegetic sound comes in and provides the opening with a tense feel, that is further emphasised by the urgency in the child's voice. The music builds as Don gets closer to the door and hits a climax when he opens the door to see the young boy standing there.
After this, the tense feel of the music dies down and sounds similar to a choir but still has an uneasy undertone to it.

The scene then cuts to show the burnette woman hugging the child and it cuts again to show the people who are still at the table looking anxious at the new arrival.

The background music completely fades out shortly after, now that the tense moment is over, and there is a close up oof the child eating the food with his bare hands, suggesting he has not eaten in a while.

As the other survivors ask the child about where he came from, the blond woman leaves the room and looks outside, while the non-diegetic background music begins to build again, this time with an eerie feel to accompany its tense feel.

While the woman is looking out a gap in between the wood siding for the pace they are staying, a zombie comes into view and the growl sound that is louder than all else in this scene shows the shock of it appearing and its dangerous presence.

The jumpscare may be useful for my film opening, as it is a common convention for horror films (the other heavily present type of scare being tension scares). Survivors huddling together is also a good idea but anything of that sort will not fit the opening of my horror film.