Opening scene details

In this blog, we will analyze our idea development and outline what we will try to achieve during our opening sequence

What happens in the opening sequence?

• To summarize the previous blog post's "Manipulate" (our chosen opening sequence) - we start with a male college student - who just finished their extra classes for the night, and runs in the rain to get to his home. As he closed the door, the house's interior started to glitch the interior of a haunted house that was owned by a deceased person in the neighborhood, and many people were somehow manipulated to come into the house - as the exterior was glitched and designed to look like their original home before they close the front door, which is then locked so they can't get out, and because it looked like their actual home. He was surrounded by darkness but chose to remain calm to assess the situation. On the shelf near the door, there was a map - which showed him instructions on how to get the key to get out. Seems easy, but with someone coming to have a word with him, his time is limited.

Where will this take place?

• We will record the opening scene in 2 different houses (our friends' house - which must have stairs) - as soon as the male student closes the door of the first house, there will be a glitching effect to change the house to the 2nd house, which is the haunted house. However, only the interior of the 2nd house will be recorded, as the only thing that changes is the interior.

What characters will be needed?

• A male teenager will be needed as they will be the main character in the opening scene, in addition, some other students are needed to fill in the extra class as well and a teacher (either male or female) is also required for the scene involving the extra class. The deceased person will also be included, but they don't show themselves in the scene, only the sound of footsteps is required.

What existing films can you use for inspiration?

• Cabin in the Woods would be a great film to analyze and be inspired by, as the shots in the film and the content are similar to what we want to do. As well as The Conjuring, which is well known for its unpredictability and fascinating camera angles and shots, and Lights Out - Diana, which is a great film to analyze the lighting required to make a film famous for making the audience's spine chill.

 => We were planning to cut the extra class and rain scene away from the sequence because we wanted to extend the content of the haunted house. However, we decided to add the extra class scene and the rain, as well as suggesting the sequence to be based on late night, just to make it seem like life is miserable, as he has to run home in the rain, and spends hours into the late night for extra classes, which is tiring for him and mentally and physically challenging.