The babysitter is the protagonist in the opening scene.

She’s centred in theWe felt that the babysitter shouldn’t

majority of the opening shots. The audience see her reading the child a story,
wear any distinctive make-up, we
and continue her evening downstairs in the lounge. Where she begins to wanted her to look pure and innocent.
hear noises upstairs, goes to investigate and is killed in doing so. Costume: Blue denim
Emily Moore as the Babysitter (COUNTER-TYPE) shirt over a dark green
We wanted to tube neck top and
She’s have her hair tied denim jeans. Quite old
perceived as back so we could fashioned, connotes in
middle-class show more the past. Also plain and
like our emotion on her simple clothing, not
primary target face. And also revealing or
audience. make her appear inappropriate. Makes
a more practical the character seem
person. more innocent.
Halloween’s Laurie Strode
represents the archetype for a Although she has an
final girl. Brunette, pure, American accent that was
brave... Comparing our not intentional, however it
babysitter to Strode, there are means we can also target
several similarities, both have audiences in America with
brown hair, pale skin, and a this for them to relate to.
blue shirt. These factors are key
Camillia Belle as Jill
to signifying that this character
Johnson in When a
appears to show conventions of
Stranger Calls.
a survivor.
We wanted to shock the audience by creating the babysitter to appear to be the
protagonist of the film, by being the centre of the opening shots. And creating her
character to seem strong, pure and innocent so why would she be killed? Which makes
a bigger surprise for the audience when she’s killed, for no apparent reason. This can
also scare he audience more as they fear the killer has little reasons for his murders.
We challenged the convention of stereotype scream queen – the first to die.
In our final scene, in which Rachel
is now grown up, we shot it in a
school, to connote what age
Rachel would now be. Whilst Holly Rowe as an Extra (STEREOTYPE) In a school, you will find a
Rachel and Chase walk down the
large variety of social
corridor we felt it would increase
verisimilitude if we involved groups present. We chose
another actor to walk past them to suit Rachel and Chase
to emphasize the concept of it into a more popular group
being a busy school. Holly simply of people to which the film
walks down the corridor past the could relate a ‘punishment
two and walks through the doors for their sins’ to her friends,
at the end.
who would be involved in
alcohol and parties. Our
We had her in plain
extra does not define a
grey clothing so she
specific social group, but
wouldn’t stand out as
her role to make the action
much to the audience
taking place more realistic
as in this scene, the
is accomplished .
older Rachel and
Chase are the key part Jessica Stroup star as
of the scene. Claire in Prom Night.
We involved She’s not the
props such as a protagonist in the film,
school bag to she’s similar to an extra
We chose not to have a close up or a face shot of our extra as
increase the but has more of a role.
it would distract from our main characters, Rachel and Chase.
verisimilitude. In the full shot Rachel is on the left side of the screen which
the eye is more attracted to, which emphasizes the concept
that Rachel is the antagonist.
The parents of Rachel, leave Involving older actors in a film, can thus attract
the house in the opening older audiences to watch the film. They feel they
scene, in a shot which can relate more to it, if they have someone similar
appears someone might be to them within the film. That's why we felt it was
watching them. They say key to involve them in the film opening.
goodbye and Chris and Jenny Wholley as the parents of Rachel
Inform the babysitter they
will be back late, and they ( STEREOTYPE)
will give her a lift home when
they return. By mentioning
they will return late, it
signifies that a lot of trouble
can happen in that time. Although the image isn’t
very clear and you do not
The mother is white, see a close up of the two,
middle aged, middle class the father is middle aged,
also. Once again you do not white and middle class. He’s
see a clear image of her, dressed in a white shirt,
but she is dressed in a black black trousers and jacket, to
smart coat which covers connote that they are
the remains of her clothing. leaving for an event.
The smart clothing
We chose to create a middle-
connotes that they are
class image of the family, due to
leaving to attend an event.
budget. We could only use
There isn’t a clear accent present in this scene, family and friends as our cast.
however as the film opening is shot in And our location was restricted
Yorkshire, they’re might be a slight noticeable Betsy and Chip Heron (Ana Gasteyer and to where was available,
hint of an accent, however we wanted to Neil Flynn) in “Mean Girls” – these are just therefore we used Becky’s home
attract all audiences and to avoid the an example of average parents that play a and parents, as they
stereotypical view of Yorkshire people and small role in a film found in the film stereotypically represent a
make clear dialect which people can relate to. industry. middle-class family.
Rachel is the little girl. The older version of the character would be the protagonist for the
rest of the film if we were to create an entire production seen at the beginning of our film
opening. She is in bed being read to and ‘tucked in’ by the babysitter.
We wanted her to fit
the stereotype of a
cute little girl. We did
this by braiding her
hair into plaits and
we asked her to wear
pink pyjamas, these
also featured teddy
bears. She has a
conventional
southern English
accent which is easy
to understand
She is represented as
cute and innocent as
she is polite and
smiley. She asks
“Please can you read it
again?”
We wanted the audience to
sympathise with her
character as she has a
scarring experience of
witnessing a murder.
Her name connotes
popularity as there are
examples of characters with
her name in existing media
Rachel Conlon as Rachel (STERYOTYPE) products such as the well
liked Rachel from ‘Friends’.
Her vulnerability is
signified in this shot
as it is a high angle,
making her look
smaller and less
significant.
A famous example of a
likeable child actor is Dakota
Fanning. We wanted Rachel
to be viewed in a similar
light to the characters she
plays. She plays a cute little
girl in ‘Cat in the Hat’
The decorated bedroom and bountiful We represented her as knowing
toys on display connote that she is a well the babysitter quite well as she
looked after ‘princess’ child, belonging must babysit regularly. Even
to a middle class family. However her though they have a good
politeness diverts the audience ‘s view relationship, the exchange of a
from thinking she is spoilt. hug shows this, she still shows
respect to her elder and does
not argue back.
Teenage Rachel and her boyfriend Chase are featured at the end of the film to signify
that the beginning was a flashback to her as a child and the rest of the film will be set
in the present day.

Teenage Rachel and boyfriend Chase

(STEREOTYPE)
They are presented as
the stereotypical,
popular couple. They
are both good looking.
She is pretty, well
dressed and blonde
which connotes the
Scream Queen
archetypal character.
However she also has
elements of the final
Girl appearance such
as her glasses and
modest attire. This
creates a balanced
character, which can
appeal to all kinds of We drew on the characters of Donna and her boyfriend from Prom
social groups of Night to create the characters of teenage Rachel and her boyfriend
audiences. Chase. It may be interpreted that Rachel would grow up to be a shy
They are a young, heterosexual couple outsider as she is scarred from her childhood experience. However
which appeals to the mass youth we wanted her to behave similarly to Donna in the way that she is
audience. There isn’t a distinct accent popular and we did not include any signifiers to connote her
shown, which avoids expected traumatic experience. This would be left until further in the film if
stereotyping, and can appeal again to we were to create the entire film.
a wider audience.