The document discusses the opening title sequence of a student horror film called "Tracks of Damnation". It summarizes the key decisions made regarding various technical and stylistic elements of the opening, including: choosing a font and title design that evokes horror films; including typical opening credits about the director, actors, etc.; having the antagonist wear a mask and black clothes to conceal their identity; using different shots and editing techniques to build suspense and tension; and employing a voiceover of a radio report to set up the narrative without dialogue. The purpose was to develop and challenge conventions of real horror film openings through creative choices informed by research.

1. In what ways does your media product, use,
develop or challenge forms and conventions of
real media products?

2. Titles
 The title of our film is Tracks of Damnation. We decided to
name our film this as the location used to be an old railway
track many years ago. We tried to link the title to the narrative
by inserting the clip of the bloody old fashioned train whistle
at the beginning of our opening.
 In order to find the correct font for our opening I researched
fonts used in slasher and horror films and also free
downloadable fonts. I created a mood board shown on my
blog.
 We decided to use the font called “True Lies”. We selected
an array of fonts that we thought were conventional to a
slasher film. We audience tested them and this font was the
most popular. The font relates to the narrative as it looks like
the writing has been scratched using a weapon. Using this
font helps the audience associate the genre of film and to
make our film recognisable.
 We chose to use the an animation which resembled shaking.
I thought that this would represent being scared and is a
good contrast to the slow pace of the incidental music.
 We decided to use a deep red colour for the font as it shows
connotations for blood and danger. We thought that using a
darker colour is what would conventionally be used in the
industry and in a horror or slasher film.

3. Credits
 In order to find out what credits are included in the opening credits we did some
research. I watched the opening titles to Legally Blonde and then also watched
the titles for Halloween to see how they differed. From looking at the titles in
Halloween I saw that the opening credits were quite long but included all the
important details. So we tried to replicate that by including a fairly long title
sequence, including all the main elements of a film for example director, music
and actors.
 We also thought about what order the titles would go in and we decided that the
more important factors would go first e.g. Actors and the production company.
After looking back on our research we made the decision to try and replicate a
similar order to Halloween as this is a very popular slasher film.
 We decided to include the actors before some of the other titles as we wanted
to make it clear to the audience who the most important people are in our film.
 We decided to leave our title till last as we wanted our audience to watch the
opening and leave them in the dark about what the film was called. Adding the
title at the end created a suspense and build up which fitted in well with the
incidental music. We did this to create atmosphere and tension for the
audience- titles are often not put first in films to create a more dramatic effect
Halloween Title order
print screened from
my blog.

4. Costume
 For the secondary character we wanted to represent a stereotype. For
this we chose the jock representation. In able to represent this
stereotype we thought that he should wear a baseball cap backwards.
This is stereotypically something a jock might wear. We also thought that
he should wear jeans as that is also worn by jocks. Our character also
wore a sports jumper which could associate him with exercise and again
with being a jock.
 For the antagonist character we decided that we were not going to show
his face. Not showing his face added mystery to the narrative and could
make the audience wonder who the villain is. This could make the
audience continue to watch the film to the end to see who the identity is.
 In many other films such as Scream, masks have been used to conceal
the antagonists identity. We thought that we would do the same because
it added a ominous atmosphere to our opening and also could have
made the narrative more creepy and scary for the audience. We chose
to have our antagonist wear all black as the colour black shows
connotations of death and black is conventionally used for villains in the
media industry as shown in the film scream. Having the antagonist wear
black will help the audience to immediately recognise what character he
is.
 The use of the white art mask and the black coat will make the
antagonist character stand out to the audience-reinforcing the
importance of the antagonist.

5. Characters
 We got the idea of a dual narrative from Nightmare on
Elm Street. We thought that if we did a narrative similar
it would make the opening more interesting as the
audience would be able to see two points of view. In
order to introduce our characters we decided to have a
dual narrative so we could showcase the two storylines.
We decided to feature the antagonist first because he is
essentially the main character in the opening. We
included shots of him sharpening the axe because I
wanted the audience to wonder what he was doing and
to wonder if the antagonist had just finished killing or if
he was preparing for the next kill in the future. I think
that the keeping the antagonists identity hidden because
that is often conventionally used in horror films. The
mask that the antagonist is wearing may also be used
as an icon of the film and will help the audience to
recognise and make the film disguisable.
 I decided to add the secondary character’s storyline in
after to show that Ton would be the antagonist next
victim and to show to the audience that he could be in
danger. Using Ton as a secondary character meant that
the audience would be able to see the crime and
although he wont be seen again his death helped to
establish the narrative.

6. Settings and Location

7.  For or horror film from the beginning we had decided to film in an
outside location in a forest or woodland area. We chose this
because woodland areas are usually quite remote therefore would
be a perfect place to film a horror film. We also thought that horror
films are conventionally filmed in woodland areas as they make
ominous and creepy locations for example Cabin in the Woods. We
chose our location because it was easily accessible for all our the
actors and our group so there would be no travelling issues. The
location is a public footpath therefore we didn't need to send a
permission letter to a specific person- only to the council.
 Before we began shooting for the opening we went out a did some
tester shots of the area so we could see how it appeared on
camera. We did a couple different shots to see how they would look
if we were to use this location.
 The other location that we used was inside my garage. We though
that this would be a good location as it is quite dark and is the
perfect place for someone to prepare weapons for murder. In order
to create the flashing in the opening we used a phone strobe light so
it could look as if the lights were broken to give the audience the
creepy flashing look. This also made the setting look slightly
disorientated which could reflect the killers mind and mental state.
 The area in which we filmed in was very large which meant that we
could incorporate and experiment with different shots and angles in
particular close ups in the sequence before the character is killed.
 However filming was not competed during one session so we had
some slight lighting issues as some days it was brighter than others.
Although we managed to rectify this in the editing process.
Settings and Location

8. Camera Work
 When we were planning our opening we decided that we would try
to include a variety of shots and angles. If we did this it meant that
the audience wouldn't get bored and we would secure their
constant interest in the opening. The opening of a film decides
whether of not someone continues to watch so it is vital that the
target audience enjoys the opening.
 In opening we included these shots: Establishing shot, Extreme
close up, close up, in and out focusing, Tracking, medium long
shot, mid shot, panning .
 We included a variety of shots in the sequence before the murder
of the secondary character Ton. We did this in a faster pace with
more shots so it would build up atmosphere and create tension for
the audience. We also did this so the audience knew that
something bad was approaching. We built up the suspense in the
incidental music so it would reinforce the atmosphere and put the
audience slightly on the edge.
 Although we included more shots in this sequence we didn't want it
to be too long and overcrowded so when it came to the editing we
cut the clips down much shorter so the pace would be quicker and
it would build up tension.
 In the garage scene we mainly used mid shots and close ups
because we thought that this would be a good way to draw the
audiences attention to something that was featured more closely
than further away. We thought that it would show the audience what
the antagonist was up and how he was preparing his weapon for
the next murder.

9. Editing.
 Editing is used to put clips together piece by piece in order to create a flowing sequence. It is used to
link together the narrative of a film. The use of transition can be used to show different times and
places . The speed of editing can also reflect the amount of tension you want in that particular
sequence.
 In the pre murder sequence we included the use of fast editing to create a dangerous atmosphere
and to translate to the audience that something bad was going to happen.
 We used a plain cut effect so it made the clips link together fluently. In order to reinforce this fluency
we used a fade transition which made the sequence flow better and connect the clips together more
efficiently.
 As I said previously the lighting was slightly different when we had different filming sessions. During
the editing process we were able to change the tone of lighting and add a filter so the lighting in all
the clips were much more consistent. Doing this also made our film look more professional.

10. Narrative.
 In our opening we did not include any dialogue.
However we did include a voiceover. The voice
over we used explained to the audience what
the killer did and also fore shadowed what
would happen to Ton and to other adolescence
when they walk alone. If hadn't have included
this voiceover I think it would have been unclear
to the audience what the narrative was and
what motive the killer might have had. The use
of the dialogue helped to piece together the two
dual narrative sequences so they could link and
gain the audiences understanding.
 We decided to have the voice over as part of a
radio report because it showed the audience
that the crimes committed are public and would
have been reported as if it had happened in real
life. It could also make the audience wonder
who is listening to the radio.
 We decided to the se the radio report after
watching the opening from Texas chainsaw
massacre. We thought this would be a good
way to establish the narrative for the audience
in a conventional way.