Film Trope Blog Post #23

 Film Tropes found in our Film Opener!

Hi guys, welcome back to another blog. Today, I will be talking about the film tropes our movie opener contains and some movie inspirations we got them from. Ok, let's get started!

First of all, our film opener contains several recognizable horror and slasher film tropes. These help establish the genre and set expectations for audiences. In our film, we used the isolated victim trope. Our opening focuses on a teenager named Kyle walking home alone at night. This makes him vulnerable to something happening. This trope is common in slasher films since it allows for suspense to build because the audience is aware of danger before the character is.

Next, another trope in our film opener is the unseen stalker. For almost the entire opening, The Killer is hidden or only partially shown through POV shots from behind a tree or a shot where only The Killer's legs are shown. The limited visibility creates fear by making the audience visualize The Killer, while also making them witnesses to the crime that just took place.

The film also uses the trope of technology as a source of fear. The text message Kyle receives, which says "I see you," modernizes traditional slasher conventions. This illustrates the anxiety people may have online about being monitored and viewed. Instead of relying on a physical threat, the danger is introduced psychologically, which increases suspense before the violent attack occurs.

Another trope used in the film opener is the sudden aftermath reveal. In the film, we did not show the entire attack in detail. Instead, we cut away to black and later reveal what happened through Kyle's dead body. This allowed us to make it even more disturbing, and it makes the audience envision what happened before it cuts to black.

Lastly, our film opener is inspired by similar films like Halloween, It Follows, and The Strangers. These films all emphasize atmosphere and silence. Also, like these films, our opener uses familiar slasher tropes without using excessive gore, just realism and tension instead.