Representation

I have two characters in my opening sequence. To a certain

extent I wanted to include some codes and conventions so that
it would be obvious to our audience that it is the opening
sequence of a horror film. However, we didnt want to make the
characters too stereotypical as they would have no depth and
the audience wouldnt connect to them, as they are too
stereotypical.
Character 1: The drug taker (Ewan)
Gender: The drug taker is male. I decided to keep this aspect
stereotypical as a woman heroin addict might put off viewers
as they are so used to seeing men drive themselves into
insanity (with the exception of Requiem for a Dream).
Throughout the sequence he is portrayed as a complex,
disturbed addict, who has visions which haunt him and taunt
him. Some of films best anti-heroes who are complex and
disturbed have been male and this is the main reason I decided
to cast a man in this part, to keep up with this film
tradition.
Race: The race of the heroin addict is a white male, mainly
because my main actor was perfect for the part due to his
strong acting. I could have used any person of any race in my
sequence as I am not really using low key lighting, which in
some cases can make it hard to see the actor is he/she is dark
skinned, because it is set in the open where light can reach
the actors.
Age: The heroin addict in my sequence is as expected, a man,
because first of all, it adds realism to the opening sequence,
and second of all, no one wants to see a 16-year-old shoot up
with heroin, forcing him to cut out his own tongue. Luckily
enough, my 17-year-old cousin looks like a man in his 20s, so
I didnt have to spend any money or time finding a suitable
actor.
Disability: The victim has no visible disability in my opening
sequence. I decided to do this as I thought it may shock the
audience too much if he had a physical disability, plus the
character is already a psychologically damaged character
already. Adding to this, the character does suffer mental
illness, as the years of drug abuse have finally caught up to
him, thus making him mentally scarred and damaged.
Sexuality: In my opening sequence it is not shown whether the
victim is homosexual or heterosexual. I didnt want to draw

the audiences attention to this as I dont think it is

relevant to the narrative in my opening sequence.

Character 2: Michaels hallucination aka his evil side (Nawe)

Since both of the characters are going to be played by one
actor, everything about this character is going to be exactly
the same as stated above, except the fact that they both are
different psychological wise.
Gender: (same as above)
Race: (same as above)
Age: (same as above)
Disability: Since this character is just a vision and not a
real person, he has no qualities like this. The only thing you
could say is that he is the other half of Ewans split
personality disorder.
Sexuality: (same as above)