Horror

Genre is the style or category in which different types of media, be it music, films or books, can be grouped. Some popular genres are:

• Horror
• Documentary
• Comedy
• Drama
• Romance

A typical horror film usually features a group of teenagers or a family with young children that either become involved in the murderous games of a psychopathic serial killer or they are terrorised by a supernatural presence. Horror films are usually set in abandoned or isolated locations that can be known for having a bad past. For example: a warehouse; a forest or an abandoned house are stereotypical settings for a conventional horror films.
 

 

Textual analysis of 'The Woman in Black' (2012)

'The Woman in Black' stars Daniel Radcliffe and is about the ghost of a woman who seeks revenge for the death of her son by possessing young children to kill themselves in horrific circumstances.

 

In the opening sequence we see three young girls playing with their china dolls and cutlery set, moments before they become possessed and jump out of the bedroom window.

   This is opening sequence is good at establishing setting because we can tell by the costume of the characters that the film is not modern day, as in fact it is set in the early 1910s. There also isn't any dialogue in this opening sequence, well not until after the children have jumped out the window and we hear a woman screaming and shouting "my babies". However, there is some music that is playing but it is fairly quiet and slow, which builds tension in the scene. During the sequence we see the three girls put down their toys and stare beyond the camera, at what we can only presume is the woman in black. Also at the very end of these first two minutes we are shown the woman in black, via an over-the-shoulder shot from behind her, where it appears that she is watching the girls as she hypnotizes them.

I think that this is a very effective horror opening sequence as it draws in the attention of the audience and makes us want to know who this woman figure is that is in the room with the girls. We also want to know why three seemingly normal children suddenly decided to jump out of their window.

 

An idea for my own horror opening sequence - A girl is walking alone down an empty street at night and in the background we can see that someone is following her. The street is not completely dark as there are some street lights, although there are some areas that are dark and shadowy. Whilst she is walking there is 'creepy' music playing but it is not too loud, so not to distract the audience from what is going on in the scene. As the girl walks up the steps to her house, the man that we saw following her comes up behind her and puts a cloth over her head, before pulling her away from the house.