Crime? Or Horror?

 My top 2 choices of genre for this project is crime (mystery) and horror.

The reason I have these two genres as my top 2 right now is because horror and crime both create suspense and tension which helps entertain audiences and keep them hooked. I’ve always enjoyed these two genres in films a lot, they were always the type of movies id watch on a random wednesday afternoon and with all of the knowledge ive gathered from them i feel confident in making a good film opening!

CRIME (MYSTERY)

Crime films usually contain twists and turns as well as investigations, clues and suspects. It all focuses on a crime, commonly a murder. There’s sometimes a mastermind of crimes behind the act/s who has clever thinking which surprises the audience.

Crime films typically have black and white, red, blue, purple, and orange colors as well as certain sounds such as, dark eerie tones, orchestral scores that help create suspense and jumpy music which scares or concerns the audience. The cinematography is usually low-key lighting, has angle changes and many different shot types that help brung tension and mystery. The films may also use night filming, shadows, and fog to give more dramatic and scary look.

                                                                    Monk (2002)

For example the show Monk, although it contains a comedic and drama genre involved, it has an extreme amount of mystery+crime which is why I’m using it as an example of the genre i have in my top 2. The majority of the episodes begin with a crime happening, then after the crime is done it cuts to the theme song “It’s a jungle out there” and then begins with Monk, the main character, that has an amazing set of skills,  beginning on the investigationthe crime scene. Theres mystery all around the crime on why it happened, if the criminal is going to get caught, if monk will solve the case, and many more mysteries and curiosities. The opening of the episodes always caught my eye and kept me hooked, it kept me interested and curious to see what was to happen next and i really would love to interpret that in my film opening. 

HORROR

Horror films contain elements like gore, suspense, villains, supernatural things, or monsters. They usually contain suspense to build up tension to surprise the audience as well as dark, spooky settings. They also include gore like gruesome deaths or torture scenes and jump scares accompanied with loud noses and unexpected images that shock the audience. The cinematography is usually perspective shots that help the audience feel the fear, intimacy, suspense and immersion. They also include colors are typically red which represents blood or danger, black which helps symbolize death and darkness and white to help highlight other colors or create a sense of unease.

The exorcist (1973)

The exorcist has a very unsettling atmosphere, with slow build up tension, realistic special effects, believable characters, and scares without having to rely on jump scares. 

The special effects used to represent demonic possession were considered very realistic, and graphic too. It impacted the film very positively and the use of slow tension instead of jump scares helps bring more suspense throughout the whole movie. I’d like to use suspense in my film opening to hopefully capture the attention of the viewer and keeper them hooked.