KG - Conventions of Horror.

I found this on: http://www.filmsite.org/horrorfilms.html and I don't think I could explain it any better: horror films are unsettling films designed to frighten and panic, cause dread and alarm, and to invoke our hidden and worst fears, often in a terrifying, shocking finale, while captivating and entertaining us at the same time in a cathartic experience. Horror films effectively centre on the dark side of life, the forbidden, and strange and alarming events. They deal with our most primal nature and its fears: our nightmares, our vulnerability, our alienation, our terror of the unknown, our fear of death and dismemberment, loss of identity and fear of sexuality.
Which means basically, that for our opening to be a successful horror, should we choose it to be a conventional horror, we need it to be [if we are using the school/playground idea that we have] a seemingly everyday situation that causes fear and panic, something to do with hidden fears maybe, and them surfacing to create tension and fear, whilst being thrilling and captivating for an audience, and I'm also keen on the whole beautiful cinematography thing, so even though it is a horror we can still make the shots look good, not only from an artist's perspective. I think if anything our film should be focused around the ideas of nightmares and vulnerability particularly as the idea is to have a small child as the main character.