Both The Eye and The Others have a lot of dark lighting and musical suspension. Sudden diegetic sounds cut through the music (screaming, smashing windows, rocks hitting a metal surface) to jolt the audience out of their trance created by the music. In both films the two assumable main characters are both female and do not reveal much about themselves at first. Revealing their character seems to be a gradual process. Both characters are shown mostly to be disturbed or upset by something, but the audience are not shown what it is. This builds on the psychological mystery of the film. In both openings there is a play on the audience's emotions. In The Others, the mix of a children's story and calm music with the dark setting and the screaming is used to confuse and scare the viewers. Whereas, in The Eye, the audience is confused as to who is in the wrong; the shouting, seemingly abusive children or the victim/woman who appears to hang herself in the end. The audience are made to feel a mix of suspicion, fear and pity for the woman. This play on emotions and dark settings make these two films a definite psychological horror.
From this comparison of two successful psychological horrors I have learned more techniques to define my genre. I now have more ideas for music choice and the pace of editing. I will start the shots off a little short, but they will grow shorter as the scene builds up and the music and diegetic sounds will become louder in time with the editing. My main character will remain quite mysterious throughout the opening.
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