Evaluation Question 5 (How did you attract your audience?)

All horror films need to keep the suspense high and climaxes to a minimal. The longer something builds in suspense the more engaged the audience becomes with the plotline and an engaged audience is an entertained audience!
My two minute opening consists of the audience questioning whether the main actress will survive or not and whether this alludes to more deaths throughout the film. Keeping the film a mystery from beginning to end seems like an impossible task when there’s so many hurdles to trip up on and reveal any twists. Each inch of the plot must be calculated and scripted so well that the finale isn’t given away at any point. Small details should be revealed every so often throughout the film to allude to the ending but never give away it’s true form – and its for this reason that I’m thankful I was only doing the opening!
I used a shot of a dripping red fairy liquid to connote death through the colour and consistency of blood – represented in the fairy liquid. The slow drip of it adds goriness without the fakeness and alludes to the characters questionable death once again.
Music within any genre of film is important. Firstly it should fit the pace of the film, ie an action film would have a fast paced, loud soundtrack.. whereas a rom-com would have some kind of cheesy lovesong as well as an upbeat love song. Horror films however are alot more versatile in their music options – most like due to the amount of sub-genres horror has! A slow dramatic soundtrack could be used, such as the iconic soundtrack of Jaws which echoes the sharks slow yet calculated movements or a faster tempo’s soundtrack for murder scenes/fight scenes etc etc.
The music I chose fits conventions of horror films in some ways but opposes them in others. Its up beat tempo and fast melody generally dont belong in horror films, but the low drone and questionable crescendo’s throughout increase pace and add a sense of risque to the final piece, all building up to the conclusion that the character does indeed die.
Using realistic characters also attracted the audience as it gave them something to relate to. The clothes and make-up is used on the girl to signify that she is normal, just like the audience.