The Edited, Final Version of Changing Faces

This is the final version of 'Changing Faces.' I

have worked hard trying to make the opening as conventional to a horror/thriller film as possible. There is still no dialogue as the opening is about the main character alone in the barn and the audience will still have to continue to watch the film to solve the disequilibrium beginning.I believe the opening is conventional to three different films th

at I had previously studied:

The first one is the village. (poster is to the left of the text) This film has an eerie location, which I believe my film has. The opening credits of this particular film are of the actors names and the images of trees and branches pass over the screen. My film also

contains images of trees which look eerie and adding the correct music to them sets the film up to look like a horror film.

The second film that I took typical conventions from is 'The

Blair Witch Project.' This film is shot completely on a hand held camera and is a low budget film and this is the catergory that my film will fall into. This film went from being an independent, low budget film. To becoming a worldwide phenomenon, so it proves that my film may start off as a low budget, art house film but over time people will begin to like it and then it would create a huge profit. Look at films such as 'Paranormal Activity.' It did exactly the same as 'The Blair Witch Project', so it can be done. The location of 'The Blair Witch Project' is very similar to mine which is another typical convention of a horror film. Also the use of the hand held camera makes it appear more

realistic than a high budgeted film, because these types of scenarios could happen to anyone. I believe that an unknown cast (which is what I have done) also makes the audience believe that the events are actually taking place.

The director which I chose to use conventions from is Alfred Hitchcock. Originally I didn't want to use music because I felt as though it didn't necessarily fit with the theme of the opening. However, looking back at that I know now that to create the ultimate impact on an audience is to create suspense using music. Alfred Hitchcock used music in his horror film 'Psycho' and the music is well known globally. It still haunts people to this very day and this is the kind of impact I wanted to create when people watched the opening of my film. The music I chose is chilling and un-nerving and fits into all horror conventions.

I also used a shot that Alfred Hitchcock used. When the lead woman is stabbed in the shower there is a close up on her eye and then the eye dissolves into the bath plug hole. You can see this shot in my film where the camera zooms in on the eye of the mask and then the shot dissolves into the eye of the lead females. In 'Psycho' this doesn't happen in the opening of the film however it shows the influence- as a director, that Hitchcock had on other directors (me). His ideas were inspiring to me and some worked well and others didn't, but I believe now, that I have created an original yet conventional opening to a horror film.