DW: Evaluation Part 2

The only exposed character in our opening is a white British male. In my opinion he is represented neither positively nor negatively, he does not do anything out of the ordinary for a teenage boy – we were trying to make his activity as normal and familiar as possible, tying in with gender stereotypes/roles which conform with social norms. We did this because we wanted the audience to familiarise and sympathise with the character as much as possible. Because there is only one real person in our opening it means that many social groups are completely left out, however this does not mean they cannot position themselves with the boy. In the modern, cosmopolitan society that we live in it is perfectly common for people of all ages and races to relate to characters in films regardless of their social group or ethnicity (so long as they do not do anything controversial within the film).

 

Relatively innocent and usual teenage behaviour e.g. phone call helps give the character a positive construction to the audience as his behaviour is perfectly normal. His body language isn’t out of the ordinary and shows little fear, this is often looked upon as positive in horror films. Camera angles and shots involving the boy are plain and simple, perhaps connoting the same applies for him. Shots involving the intruder are slow and involve movement of the camera; this could be seen to be reinforcing his intrusive role. His costume and physical positioning within the scenes (e.g. on the roof) add to this and confirm to the audience that he is an antagonist. This man could belong to any ethnicity or background for all the audience know as he is behind a mask.

There is no conflict within our opening. In many horrors the opening involves conflict of some kind between protagonist(s) and antagonist(s). The “home alone murder” type genre is quite common in the horror film industry. In most of these sub-genre films, the protagonist is female, aged around 20, attractive, American etc. (for example Scream Craven 1996). However our opening involves a young male, who seems to show no genuine concern for the few events that occur, this could be perceived as challenging the ideological discourse behind this sub-genre. It shows audiences that males as well as females, can be victimised and alienated within a horror film.

Link to the scream opening: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1a_1T4tBWoE