Conclusion - HORROR Opening Scenes

Conclusion of Horror Opening Scenes

After watching five different opening scenes of horror films, I found that the conventions of the horror genre were consistent throughout all the different films. The lighting in all of the opening scenes is usually low key or back lighting, and the colouring is very dark and dull, with the only sources of light in 'The Nun' and 'Saw III' coming from a torch or fire. The only use of a bright colour is from blood. These conventions make it seem more sinister and threatening. 

In all of the opening scenes the antagonist or the evil character isn't shown, however they are still able to cause fear to the audience. For example in 'Scream' where he is heard over the phone, or in 'The Nun' where he is doing supernatural things. The settings in 'The Nun', 'Scream' and 'Saw III' are all in abandoned places with nobody else around. This adds more fear to the audience as the character isn't able to escape. However, the other opening scenes are set in houses, which are made to look old-fashioned. I have noticed from watching different horror films that it is more creepy when the setting is dated or from an older era. 

The editing is mostly quite slow in all of the opening scenes, however there is the use of fast cutting to overwhelm and shock the audience, but also reflect the characters panic. Throughout all five of the opening scenes there is a lot of enhanced sound effects used to draw attention to something and unsettle the audience.