Research Into The Horror Genre: A 'Typical' Horror Storyline

A typical 'horror' storyline would begin with focussing on the protagonist, (in our case, Agnes, played by Emma Irwin) beginning a venture into something new- such as moving into a new property, for example. This would enable the audience to build empathy and a connection with the main character, meaning that when things happen to them throughout the film it will provoke sympathy in the audience because they feel like they know them on a personal level and therefore do not want anything 'bad' to happen to them; this provokes the fear aspect of watching a horror film.

Throughout the film, the protagonist will be faced with several challenges by the antagonist (in our case, Mark, played by Connor Hewitt) that will affect the journey of the venture. For example, the new house the protagonist moves into could be haunted and as a result of this disturbing things could happen such as ghost sightings, missing objects and suspicious shadows or spooky reflections etc.

The ending of a horror film usually comes together to provide the protagonist with a solution to the problem- such as the horror film 'Orphan' for example, where the mentally ill 40 year old woman posing as a young child eventually dies after tearing apart a whole family. However, some horror films prefer to take a darker approach when it comes to the ending and never reveal a solution to the said problem meaning that there is no 'happy ending' as far as the characters are concerned. An example of this would be the film 'The Woman in Black' as some people would suggest it ends in tragedy as the protagonist actually dies in the end. We have decided to make our own film end in tragedy as we feel it contributes more the the desired emotional connection to the protagonist and fear aspect that we wish to achieve by creating a horror film.

This scene from 'Black Swan' is an example of a spooky mirror scene as stated above and has inspired us to create a mirror scene of our own because we feel it creates a sinister atmosphere for the film and think it would have a spooky and dramatic impact on our audience.