Storyboard of my Horror film

A structuralist film theory emphasizes how films depict meaning through the use of certain codes and conventions. So following these I have created a ‘chase scene’. I decided to start my scene with the victim (Candice) sleeping in her bed as she is home alone. I used a long shot for this so the room can be seen and of course the blonde female victim; the female victim being alone follows the iconography of the horror genre. Then there is an establishing shot of the isolated white house at night, set in a suburban area; which again is following the structuralist theory. I have included eerie music in this particular scene to add intensity so the audience expect something to occur and to set the scene.

In the third box there is a medium shot of the intruder letting himself in. The audience see him from behind; consequently they are unable to see his face. I chose to do this as the killer is never revealed until the end in a structural horror. A shot of the intruder’s hand on the handle is a technique that is used to create focus on a particular thing. I wanted the audience to fear as if the intruder was in their house. From Candice’s point of view there is a shot of the intruder peeping through the gap from the door to her room. The contrast of the intruders white face in the dark builds tension and panic; which is iconography of horror, and the extreme close up of just the intruder’s eye depicts he is staring at Candice. In which the male gaze theory can be applied. This theory positions the audience into the perspective of a straight man; he is at the door, looking at her body as she lies in bed. In addition the low angle shot makes him seem more powerful.

The sound of the door creaking awakens Candice to discover the intruder there. The fast pace music, screams and the intruder slowly walking over to the bed intensifies the scene further. The slow pace walking and the fast pace music is often seen in horror movie; depicting the message that the killer will always get the victim without having to run- as seen in Halloween. The victim always somehow manages to escape for a short period of time but then being caught again. Candice gets past the killer and runs down the stairs quickly, however she falls whilst the fast pace music is playing and the killers feet are in the background. A handheld camera or canted angle could be used to make the scene seem very fast and portray that Candice is not in control. I also used a close up of Candice screaming to represent how she is feeling at that moment in time, then an extreme close up of her mouth. When she manages to get up, she rushes to the door but of course the doors are always locked in horror films, and this one is no different. The killer then approaches her slowly and stabs Candice in the stomach twice with a knife. A knife is a more personal way of killing someone; as you have to be up close to them. It also creates the sense and mystery of who the killer is and does the victim know him.