CODES & CONVENTIONS OF SLASHER HORROR

Slasher movies are one of the most predominant sub-genres within the Horror category, and are highly popular amongst horror fans. Despite many slasher films having vastly different storylines, they all abide to a similar formula and abide to the same conventions.

The Killer

Of course, A killer is one of the main components of a slasher film. Although they are usually male, their identity is commonly hidden through the use of a mask, and is revealed (if at all) at the end of the film. Even if the killer's identity is known by the audience, they still keep their face hidden by the mask. This, combined with the fact that he usually has no or little dialogue, portrays the killer as having a sinister, omnipresent and threatening nature. His back-story is likely to include some sort of childhood trauma that lead him into becoming the homicidal maniac he is today, creating some sort of sympathy in the viewer, despite being aware of the horrific crimes committed by him throughout the film.

The Heroine

Although the slasher genre sometimes causes controversy for being arguably sexist, the 'heroic' role is commonly acquired by a female. It is evident to the audience that the Heroine (or The Final Girl) is conservative; she doesn't drink alcohol or take any drugs, and is most often a virgin. It is notable that a particular skill/ set of skills is possessed by the character, as this is known to help them defeat the killer in the final battle.

The Victims

The victims are one of the most substantial elements of the Slasher sub-genre, and are often teenagers, most commonly in high school, and have morals entirely unparalleled to that of the Heroine. Rarely does the killer pick off these characters specifically because of their immoral behaviour, however the unspoken code of slasher films is that they must be punished for their wrong doings. As sadistic as it may sound, fans of the genre tend to look forward to the deaths of these types of characters because they believe they deserve it.

However it isn’t always bad characters that get killed off, ultimately many characters die who, in any way, have an association with the main character. Sometimes a protagonist is killed off for shock value, for example Randy in Scream 2.

Violence

It is obvious that Slashers differ from other horror sub-genres when looking at the violence depicted throughout the films, and instead of focusing on such themes as character development, concentrate on the macabre gore. The storylines within Slashers hence allow the killer the opportunity to cause mayhem amongst the characters. The deaths are extremely graphic and bloody, and are caused by a particular weapon of the killer’s choice, for example Jason Vorhees’ iconic machete. 

History

John Carpenter's 'Halloween', made in 1978 is considered as being the first "true" slasher in terms of using all of these components within the same project, therefore setting the standard by which all other films within this sub-genre are viewed upon. 'Halloween''s success led to 'Friday the 13th' in 1980, which then opened the door for hundreds of similar during the 1980s, such as 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' containing the original and infamous villain, Freddy Krueger.

By the start of the '90s, the slasher concept had worn thin, with fewer and fewer films at the box office relating to the genre. However in 1996, Wes Craven's 'Scream', became the biggest hit the genre had ever seen, featuring all of the main codes and Conventions of the slasher sub-genre with a mildly ironic twist. 

THE FINAL GIRL THEORY

THE FINAL GIRL THEORY

The final girl is a trope in horror films (particularly slasher films). The final girl is referencing the last girl, usually the last character, alive to confront the killer towards the end of the film, and if there is a narrative voice she is the one to tell the story. The term was coined by Carol J Glover in her book "Men, women and chainsaws: gender in the modern horror film". Clover suggested in this book, that the viewer began by sharing the perspective of the killer but encountered a shift in identification to the female protagonist partway through the film.

A common plot line in many horror films is one in which a series of victims is killed off one-by-one by a killer, and the last character left alive (usually female) must either defeat the killer or escape. Usually the final girl is portrayed unlike the other victims and is typically sexually inexperienced or a virgin and avoids the vices of the victims such as consuming alcohol and using illegal drugs. The final girl is the "investigating consciousness" of the film, moving the narrative forward, and as such, displays many qualities such as intelligence, vigilance, and being strong willed.

Examples of final girls

Ellen Ripley

Ellen Ripley is the main protagonist of the "Alien" franchise and appears in four out of the five movies in the series, minus the prequel "Prometheus". She exhibits many of the traits that Clover associates with the final girl: intelligence,competent in practical matters and strong. She also has several traits that make her stand out from typical horror female victims such as being somewhat of a tom boy, having short hair. She manages to defeat the xenomorph in the first film by using her intelligence to cast the creature into the vacuum of space, uses her strength to kill the alien queen in the second film and even though she dies in the third film, it's only because she takes her own life in order to stop an alien queen from escaping her body and thus preventing further killing sprees.

However, it can be argued that due to being a science fiction film, Ellen Ripley is not a final girl, or at least not the conventional final girl- as the film does not follow the conventions of a slasher film and abides by those of the sci-fi genre. Although Ripley refuses the men's sexual advances in the films there is no foregrounding of the characters abstinence and in alien 3 it is heavily implied that she has sexual intercourse, thus she does not fit the standard conventions of the final girl.

Nancy Thompson

Nancy Thompson is the protagonist of the film "A Nightmare on Elm Street" and 'A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors". She is regarded as one of the most influential horror heroines and has lead the way for later female characters in horror movies. She is intelligent and investigates the Freddy Krueger killings and uncovers the mystery of why all the teenagers are dying in their dreams. She is strong willed and capable of defeating Freddy at the end of the film by actively getting him to chase her and louring him into a series of traps. In the third film she is portrayed as the same insightful young woman and helps teens troubled by Freddy by working with them to uncover their powers inside the dreams and is integral to the survival of the remaining characters.

Sidney Prescott

Sidney is the protagonist of the "Scream" franchise. She displays the general conventions associated with the final girl character archetype. However, towards the end of the first film she loses her virginity, to the killer nonetheless, but she defies the horror trope of the characters who engage in sexual activity die. She manages to defeat both killers; first by using her strength to over power Stu Macher and then pushing a television onto his face. Then using her smarts and turning the tables on Billy and stabbing him through the chest and the shooting a bullet into his head. In the second film she manages to defeat the two further killers, in Scream 3 she overcomes her half brother who attempts to kill her and in Scream 4 she overcomes her niece and her friend. She shows great strength in overcoming the death of her mother and facing her killers and shows much character development throughout the series.

TODOROV'S THEORY

Todorov's narrative theory suggests that all narratives have a three part structure where they begin with equilibrium, where everything is balanced, progress as something occurs that disrupts this equilibrium, and finally reach a resolution- when equilibrium is restored. 

There are general steps that the narrative must follow in order to conform to this formula:

Step 1:The narrative starts with an equilibrium
Step 2:An action or character disrupts the equilibrium
Step 3:A quest to restore the equilibrium begins
Step 4:The narrative continues to a climax
Step 5:Resolution occurs and equilibrium is restored.

Unconventioanl narratives
Non-linear narratives and circular narratives have a structure that is not so straight forward. A non-linear narrative can move backwards and forwards in time usually using a flashback technique. For example in the film "500 days(of summer" the film follows a relationship but the audience sees flashforwards and flashbacks as the story progresses. 

A circular narrative may begin at the end of the story and work its way back to the origins of the story. The resolution and understanding of the narrative is generally only comprehended by the audience towards the end of the story.

Flashbacks
Flashbacks are used to give the audience additional information, most commonly in regards to the past of a character, which helps drive the narrative. Flashbacks also manipulate space and time.

Point of view shots
These give the audience the same view of the situation and action occurring as a character. An example of this would be a point of view shot of the shark from the Jaws movies. These shots are particularly effective in horror films from the point of the killer usually stalking the victim. Following them until they meet their fate.

Impossible posistions
These are camera shots that are designed to give unusual perspectives of the action unfolding on screen, this can be achieved through the likes of an aerial shot 

Priviledged spectator positions
This is where the camera places the audience in the position where the viewer sees certain aspects of the narrative that other characters cannot see. This is commonly used in murder and detective dramas where the audience know particular information that some of the characters may not know - making it clear who the villain is.

Enigma codes
This is an editing technique in which the camera shows only some of the narrative, leaving the audience with a sense of mystery as to where the narrative will go next.

Murder mystery and detective dramas use enigma codes to slowly reveal the narrative, with key information needed to solve the case saved until near the end of the narrative to create a thrilling conclusion.

Action codes
These are actions within the narrative that reveal to the audience what to expect as the narrative progresses, it relies on the idea of cause and effect.

WORK LOG- FILMING

Once we were sure that all of our planning was in order, we set a filming date and eventually began filming our coursework.

Day one
We all met at Imogen's house as this was the first filming location. Here we did the makeup for both actresses, one being the sfx of the cut face and the other being the character make-up (eye shadow,lipstick etc)[see special effects makeup post]. We filmed the receiving of the text and the gathering of the possessions in the bedroom, which included close ups of the eyes, phone, and the items that the first victim gathers. We encountered problems with the lighting as it was somewhat a yellowish hue, in contrast to the darkness outside (thus we were unable to use natural lighting), however we resolved this by using extra artificial lighting. 

The montage of the character getting ready took many shots to film at first in order to get the match on action just right. Then we filmed the shots of her tying her shoelace and exiting the house to complete the 'getting ready' process. After completing the match on action shot with the front door, we left my house and walked across the road to the starting point of our next location.

Next, we filmed the walking shots of Katya as her character walks towards where she suspects she is receiving drugs. We had to use artificial lighting as it was very dark outside, and the street lights wouldn't provide enough lighting to make the character visible. Once this was filmed, we carried on to the overpass bridge which we would film the capturing scene. Luckily, the bridge remained unoccupied throughout filming, so we were able to complete filming the sequence quite quickly, although we were rather anxious regarding members of the public's reactions towards our mise en scene mask and camera equipment out on show.

By placing the camera behind a tree, we were able to film a POV shot of the killer looking across the road at the first victim. 

Additional filming
After we had reviewed all of our footage from the first filming session, we decided that we need additional footage to tie to the opening together. We felt that we needed more clips of the killer to cue the audience in to his motive, as it wasn't particularly clear as to what he wanted. To create the ideal atmosphere for the killer to be in- we filmed the additional scene in our school's dark room which contains red lights that we believe successfully convey the feeling of danger as well as adding to the whole 'blood and gore' aesthetic.

We made plans/blueprints of he mask that the killer would use as guidelines and we put them on the wall and put our killer in front of them. We filmed our killer holding the piece of flesh up to the plans, him putting on his mask, drawing lines on his victims face and finally washing his hands. The footage filmed here is (what we consider) as better quality than the other footage as the lens used was different and specifically for video in comparison to the previously used lens.

TYPOGRAPHY RESEARCH

To work out the most appropriate movie typography I looked at movie typography that I consider relate to our genre and premise.

Saw
The film saw is notorious for it's graphic body horror and immense amount of violence. The typography for the majority of the films (with the exception of saw 5) have the same font with something next to it which makes it have its own identity. The colour of the typography is dark and messily done, which reflects the gory and disgusting nature of the films and suitable for the content within the movie. This film relates to our opening as it shares similarities with the body horror violence.

Friday the 13th

The famous slasher film "Friday the 13th" has font that looks like it has been carved out of something which is suitable and Mrs Vorhees and her son Jason (in the later films) carve up humans with many weapons - most notably Jason's famous machete. The blood splattered 13th successfully shows the audience what kind of film it's going to be as there is a lot of blood within the movie. If we were to take an aspect from this typography and implement it into our typography we would use the blood as several shots of our opening contain blood.

Nightmare on Elm Street

The typography for "Nightmare on elm street" is blood red, which is suitable as the movie contains quite a lot of it. Unlike Friday the 13th the entire title of the film is in red so it stands out. The nightmare is in a different font to the rest of the title and it arguably heightens the appeal of the film as viewers will want to know what is so nightmarish about this film to have a title like that. We would, as I said in the Friday the 13th part, use the red of the title.

House of the dead

The house of the dead typography is of particular interest because it looks like it has been written with blood with it splattered along the bottom of the title. Just like the others it is suitable for the film. We would definitely take inspiration from this typography as I feel it would be suitable for our film opening.

FILM OPENING DECONSTRUCTION- SCREAM

One of the most famous horror films to come out in the last 20 years is Wes Craven's scream. Set in the town of Woodsburo, a murderer by the name of Ghostface is picking of members of the community one by one.

The film opens with title of the movie accompanied with the non digetic sound of a ringing phone followed by a loud scream. This informs the audience of the genre of the film they are about to watch, the scream connotes horror and violence.

The ringing of the phone is a sound bridge as it carried over to the next shot as we see a close up of a phone, thus the ringing becomes a digetic sound. The audience then see Casey Becker (Drew Barrymore) answer the phone. She is wearing white which usually connotes purity and innocence however, in the scene she gets into a semi flirtatious mood with the caller despite her having a boyfriend, something that can be seen as the convention of a . She is also wearing make up which may represents this sexualised manner. Wes Craven is credited with defying the regular conventions associated with horror with this film.

After hanging up after the caller dials her again the location of the opening is revealed to be a large house though the use of a long shot. Having the framed on its own and I the center of the shot creates a feeling of isolatedion . This contributes to the tension of the scene as Casey is all alone and a sense of helplessness begins to build.

The caller calls yet again, and they start talking about scary movies, which at the time, having characters within a horror film be self aware and start referencing horror films was unheard of. Which gives credit to Scream and Wes Craven revolutionising the horror genre. A zoom in shot with Casey's face framed in the center shows the concern and fright that is on her face. The non digetic sound of a dog barking perhaps alludes to the killer's presence outside and Casey begins to lock the door in response to this.

The killer begins to get more violent on the phone and the on screen diegetic sound of popcorn on the stove is getting louder and the bag is getting bigger perhaps to heighten the growing tension of the scene. The close up of Casey's face when the killer threatens to kill her shows the true terror she is feeling and the horror of the overall scene, Casey's mode of address begins to get frantic and scared conveying the sense of fright and desperation.

After the threat a non digetic drum beat begins to play and after a screech Casey runs and the drums beat faster to accompany the growing tension of the scene, and perhaps to show that the killer is getting closer. As Casey locks all the doors the music stops leading the audience into a false sense of security. The silence isn't there for long as an offscreen digetic sound of a doorbell is heard making Casey scream and jump in terror.

Then the phone rings again making her scream, the use of a long shot leaves her open and exposed so the audience are looking around her environment in case the killer is stalking around the house. Casey answers the call and a long shot of the door leads the audience to believe that the killer is on the other side. Then the killer reveals he knows the name of Casey's boyfriend and the background music of the string instruments stop playing, a close up of Casey's face shows how scared she is.

The killer demands she turn on the patio lights, the lighting is low key yet bright enough for the audience to see her boyfriends bound and gagged body, however at the same time not bright enough for the, to feel safe and secure. A close up of Steve's (the boyfriend) face shows that he has been injured and the audience now know that this killer is not messing around and is a very real threat.

The lights are turned off at the killer's command and after Casey gets one of his questions wrong he says that Steve is going to die. The darkness of the shot doesn't show the audience the killer. Then the lights return and the audience see his mutilated body. After more back and forth between Casey and the killer, then a jump scare with the sound of glass cracking is a sound bridge between a shot of Casey cowering and a shot of a chair coming through the patio door.

We finally see the killer from a P.O.V of Casey and a screech of non diegetic string instruments accompanies this. A chase ensues and a long shot shows the audience how the killer is right behind Casey, framed right in the center to show his close proximity to Casey. He manages to catch her and stab her in the chest with the phone still in her hand.

In a close up shot the killer then stabs her in the throat and destroys her vocal chords and her mode of address becomes gargled, as she tries and calls for help conveying the hopelessness of the situation . The audience can see the pain of Casey's face and endure this pain with her. She then tries and calls for her parents who have just arrived at the house however the dramatic irony that the audience know that Casey is in trouble but her parents don't creates a sense of hopelessness. Her parents come into the house and see the fire on the stove as a result of the overcooked pop corn and start to panic. Her mother begins to call the phone and in a close up shot we see Casey being dragged by the killer with the phone still in hand, the close up allows the audience to see the panic on the mother's face.

The mother exits the house and screams. This clues the audience into the fact that something has happened but they are not shown until the camera zooms in onto Casey's gutted body hanging from a tree. The zoom is fast paced and shows her body in gory detail making the audience very uncomfortable.

The opening is brilliant as it establishes the genre of the film and shows the killer in full force and shows what he is capable of. Drew Barrymore did a lot of the promotional material for the movie so to see her get killed off in the first few minutes of the film was a real shock to the audience. However, in my opinion- this opening peaks the film much too soon, as the killer doesn't really appear for much of the film until the ending and when he does it doesn't impact the audience like he does in this opening.

MOVIE TRAILERS VS MOVIE OPENINGS

In order to further our understanding in regards to how to edit our film opening, it was important for us to know the differences between a film trailer and the opening of a film.

Trailers
Trailer editing is about how you can condense a film into a 1-2 minute preview. A well cut trailer will have a flowing motion to it, a sense that everything follows one sequence to the next and the the viewer on a mini experience of the film. Trailers build up excitement and anticipation, and a keen sense of rhythm heightens those sensations. What plays a big part in the effectiveness of the trailer is the music used within it. Generally there are three music  cues, a basic formula of a trailer has been devised something like this: Act one; Introduce films' characters and environment. Act two; complicate the world act one has set up to overcome. Act three; intensify the conflicts and build up tension/excitement/humour(normally with a heightened pace and jump cut montage editing). There can be four acts but there also can be one it all depends on the material the editors have to work with. Most importantly; the editors never resolve anything within the trailer, this is because they don't want to give the plot of the film away at any point. A good trailer just reveals the movie's potential to be great. If the trailer has a seductive rhythm to it and an arresting structure the viewer will be more interested in seeing the finished product. Trailer editors, are disrespectful, they de-contextualise everything, the editors have to see everything  for what they are inherently, not how they function in the context of the film. They have to unpack the feature in order to repack it and turn it into a trailer. There are so many familiar editing tropes in trailers; dissolves, fades from black, fades to black, white flashes with slams, fast paced flutter cuts, double exposures, speed adjustments, audio rises, audio drones, audio stings. A romantic film for example, the editor will use dissolves and fades. In an action film, the editors will use fast cuts that crescendo in a metal door slam and white flash. The editors have to sell the story as well as tell it in its simplest form.

Depending on the studio and the project, the marketing work is often split between the studio's in-house marketing department and one or more outside agencies. These agencies are known colloquially as "trailer houses". A trailer is a condensed version of a feature, so it should be a collection of its greatest elements, lead with its merits. The genre of the movie will often determine how the trailer is edited, for example if its a comedy the editor will include som of its funniest moments, a good comedy trailer will include some funny moments without giving away the most hilarious jokes.

Openings
An effective film opening will have to grab the audiences attention straight away to make sure they'll continue watching. The film maker s will have to quickly introduce the characters briefly, with a couple of broad strokes and then throw them into the pit right away and over the course of the film let the audience see if and how they'll claw their way out. It should tell the audience the genre of the film right away and the setting/location. It should introduce one of the storylines and give the audience a taste of the narrative. Usually there is music and quick editing, particularly to create an element of suspense. The audience want to learn, in these opening minutes- the tone, the atmosphere, the stakes and what the characters have to overcome.

• Scream(horror)- In this brilliant opening the phone rings, a cute girl answers and a freaky voice is heard. The audience is given a few pieces of pop culture dialogue about horror films, the tension builds as the tension builds the killer begins to get more violent , her boyfriend ends up dead. Then the audience finally sees he masked killer. The girl (played by Drew Barrymore- who did a lot of the promotional material for the film) dies. The audience know the stakes ANYONE can be killed, now they're engaged.
• Star Wars (sci-fi)- The opening threw the audience into the world of the film. The star destroyer coming into endless view in pursuit of the smaller ship, the droids making their escape, the entrance of Darth Vader, his confrontation with Princess Leia where the audience learn about the pans, by the time the droids make their escape the audience know what they're in for and are engaged.
• Raiders of the lost ark(adventure/action)- In this classic opening the audience sees Indiana Jones, barely hear one word from him and learn next to nothing about his back story. He's a man of action, the audience learn about him by his actions and by the time he escapes from the natives and he film cuts to him wearing glasses and teaching a university class, the audience are hooked- where will this character take them next.

FINAL CHARACTER PROFILES

Victim

For our AS media film opening we decided to have our initial victim as a female, as in horror films a female is seen as generally more vulnerable which is the feel we wanted for her character. However she isn't a "Mary sue", she is not at all a conservative character, as in the opening she is on her way to pick up some drugs. This will be further emphasised through use of mise en scene, where in her flat there will be various explicit and non conservative items such as lighters, cigarettes and alcohol.

She'll be wearing dark, grungy colours to show that she isn't a pure person, and she will have make up on, for example: smokey black eyeliner and dark lipstick to showcase her non-conservative, somewhat unruly nature. Going by horror film codes and conventions she has done things that would get her killed, and that's what we are aiming to portray through this character; We don't want a final girl in our film opening, but someone that, in a cynical way, deserves death.
An example of this is in the opening of "Scream". Casey (Drew Barrymore) gets a call from an anonymous caller and despite having a boyfriend she gets flirtatious with the person on the other end, even lying and saying she doesn't have a boyfriend. This gives justification for her to be killed off, according to codes and conventions, and does eventually get killed by Ghostface in the opening. 

However, this doesn't mean to say that our character is an 'ice maiden'. When she does get captured, she is genuinely terrified and really wants to stay alive. While she may appear like she hates everything and is a complete sadist who would want to rebell, not caring about the consequences she may face through her non-conservative attitude on the outside, she isn't on the inside. She just wants to get on with her life and do what she likes (which involves traits and characteristics that by horror convention must mean she will die) but by no means does she want her life to end.
In addition to the main first victim, we will also use another victim who has already met their demise because of the actions of the killers- this will be the same girl as seen in the missing poster during the flashback scene of the film opening. We will be displaying their corpse on screen as a way of showing the audience what dangerous situation the (alive) victim is now in.

Killers

To subvert from the traditional slasher use of one killer, we have decided to use two almost identical killers in our film opening. To follow the codes and conventions of slasher horror, both killers will be masked to some extent- we will have masks which we have made to look like patches of victims' skin sewn together which covers part of the face (as it will be the killers' work-in-progress), and they will both be wearing identical black clothing which includes a hoodie which will also work to mask the face. When we put framing focus onto the killers' faces, it will be clear that they are somewhat scarred in a certain way, which could link to their back stories and motives.

Alike certain slasher genre killers such as Halloween's Michael Myers, our antagonists will both be silent as we feel like it will add to the overall eeriness of the situation. This will also make the audience more curious as to what the identities of the killers are.
In addition, they will have simple handheld weapons; a knife and possibly a small axe will be used by them when they are killing their victims, making the situation more frightening as these are objects familiar to most of us.



EDIT: Once filming was complete, it wasn't completely clear that our opening involved two killers, so instead we have decided to recreate the storyboard so that the film opening only involved one killer, which still looks professionally filmed whilst editing, however it doesn't subvert much from the traditions of the slasher genre.

FINAL IDEAS- Film opening

We have decided to have our film opening fall into the horror category, more specifically the sub genre of slasher/thriller genre of film. We have drawn inspiration from horror films and thrillers alike.

Narrative/plot
It begins with our female character waking up bound and gagged in a dirty ditch, she realises where she is she begins to try and recall The opening is about a girl who's on her way to meet her friends to do drugs and other illicit activities . As she is about to leave her house she hears on the radio/television that people have been going missing. She walks down the dimly lit road and as she walks takes no notice of the missing posters with peoples faces on them. The audience get a view of her walking down the street from behind the bushes/ trees(from one of the killer's point of view). The audience follows her journey as she walks under a bridge and as she's walking an out of focus figure emerges from behind a column. She walks up the stairs and onto the bridge. The girl sees a masked figure at the other end of the bridge, we see the look of caution in a close up of her face. The masked figure starts to walk towards her, she turns around in an attempt to flee however she is greeted with another masked figure. They both begin to walk towards her she screams in a series of fast paced case up quick cuts. The screen fades to black.

Bonus footage(optional). She finally remembers how she got there, however footsteps can be heard and as she looks up she see boots coming down the steps and the last shot is of her weeping crying face as she screams.


Characters
We looked at various iconic slasher villains and came up with killers that we feel are a combination of multiple; We're having two killers as we see this as a bigger threat and makes the victim more hopeless as there is no way she can escape her fate, films such as 'Scream' have two killers and towards the end of the film he see Sydney feeling more scared and hopeless when she realised that the murderers are Billy and Stu. In terms of the physicality of our killers, we're having them tall but not necessarily big built or muscly- as we wanted a more human and real character not a supernatural monster of a man like Jason Vorhees or Michael Myers. However where we did take inspiration from these characters is their masks, we wanted masked killers because we believe it creates a scarier effect, when you can't see the face/eyes of the person drawing the knife on you or approaching you in the dark. Another idea we have for the mask is based off of Leather face from "Texas chainsaw massacre" which is made of his victims skin, an idea so sickening that we believe it will be terrifying. In addition to the fact the killers remain voiceless, just like Jason and Michael. The killers are also partly based off of the design of the killers from the film 'The purge-anarchy', in that apart from the masks they're wearing everyday clothing like hoodies and jeans. Our protagonist is a young girl who is on her way to do drugs with her friends and other debauchery. Of course being at the start of the horror film and doing these activities, by horror conventions, means something bad must happen to her. In fact in the movie 'Scream', Randy states that one of the rules to surviving a horror film is that you can drink or do drugs. We're not making her the final girl, more like Drew Barrymore's character, Casey, in the same film, she flirts with the killer on the phone despite having a boyfriend is killed off in the films opening.

Setting
We looked at a variety of settings from different films e.g. the woods, cabin in the woods, abandoned warehouse, domestic settings like the house etc. We came to decision to set it in multiple locations. Firstly in the domestic setting of a house, but to create the appropriate atmosphere in which our female character would live, we are going to have white dirty sheets up all over the room with not many items; a few cigarettes, a needle and some alcohol and a few other times that would generally be seen in a house such as lamps and a tv to show she isn't so far removed from social conventions.

The next setting is the dark street, the street is dimly lit and at night giving an eerie and ominous atmosphere, the sides of the street are trees and bushes which removes the local familiar setting of a road filled with houses. This leads onto the bridge/overpass which only has one exit and entrance which isolates our female character. 

The last location is a dirty ditch in which our female character will be tied up and gagged. This will give the sense of entrapment.

CODES AND CONVENTIONS OF THE HORROR/THRILLER GENRE

As with all genres of film, the thriller genre contains many codes and conventions that will feature throughout. Thriller movies often revolves around a fast paced plot, with anticipation and suspense featured heavily to keep the audience on the edge of their seat, with tension usually being at the forefront of it all. Many of the conventions overlap with that of the horror genre. 

Lighting

The lighting in a horror/thriller is very important as it creates atmosphere. low-key lighting is usually used due to the different shadows and dim hue are suitable for the dark mood. It sets the tone, mood and is associated with the dangerous mystery often associated with horror thrillers. The lights are often used at eye level or from the floor. 

Editing 

Quick cuts are a technique used in editing when the shots are of a short duration and rapidly move from one to the other. It can be used to give a lot on information quickly or to create a sense of chaos. For example the saw movies use this technique a lot when the characters are stuck in their traps and the technique represents their struggle to escape. Hip hop montage: This technique uses very fast cutting to portray action through a rapid series of simple actions accompanied by sound effects.

Sound
The sound in a thriller is very important feature in order to make the audience feel on the edge of their seat. A common technique is using the music to build tension during scenes of an ominous and suspicious nature. The non digetic music can start of quiet and low pitched and as the tension in the scene builds the background music gets louder and high pitched, it is also very common for the music to increase in pace towards the climax of the scene. Digits sounds such as the creaking of floorboards and opening of a door can also be used in conjunction with silence as it can create a jump scare for the audience and place them in the character(s) on screens shoes.