Evaluation of AOTT activity

Brief synopsis and opening outline
Our idea is that Alistair, the main character, is a pupil at school who is being stalked by a malicious teddy bear. Our chosen genre is horror. In our opening, Alistair is doing his daily school routine however there are subtle hints that he is being followed by the teddy, and then the last shot shows him being viciously attacked.

The opening
Information included in our film opening is who the main character is, what his daily school routine consists of, how the main location is set, the billing of the star and director, and an insight into the plot about an evil teddy on a vengeance.

Titles
The titles link to the main film because they are conventional of the horror genre - white and capitalised. White is typical because it is such a blank and mysterious colour that it is quite unnerving. The capitalised font makes things seem more robotic and emotionless which is also unnerving. The 'based on a true story' title makes the picture seem a lot more creepy and horrific. The 'Teddy' title is the most important title because it is the most prominent and holds the most weight about information about genre, characters and plot.

Audience reaction
By the end of my opening the audience should be thinking about the teddy. Why is it evil? Where did it come from? And so on. They should also feel quite disturbed due to the distorted images creating an unnatural feel. The opening gives a clear general idea but is ambiguous about details of the plot because the main features are shown but there is no additional information.

Important features of construction of an opening sequence
1) Introduction of the two main characters - gives the audience an insight into what the film is going to involve.
2) Distorted location shots - implies the film's genre (horror) and unnerves the audience by being an unnatural version of reality. Also gives a clear understanding of setting.
3) Star billing - these credit the star and director and give the audience an idea of the type of film. For example, the star and director are both well-known pupils which implies that the film is going to revolve around a school.

Effectiveness 
I think our project is successfully effective as a film opening because it follows the typical conventions of the horror genre. It also hints insights to the film without giving away too much information. The grid is set out appealingly because the four blurred shots contrast well against the five sharp shots.