Disability Representation Deconstruction

For our film opening we have decided to have a disabled killer, subverting a lot of psychological/slasher films. What we are trying to portray is the fact that disabled people aren't always these innocent and uninvolved characters, they can be just as able and as malicious as anyone else. Having done some research, this was an original idea and so we decided to stick with it.

Disability within the media or within the film and television industry is a bit of a taboo subject, it is never represented badly because people don't feel like they can cross that line. When there are disabled characters present, they are usually physical disabilities which the audience can see e.g. they are in a wheel chair or have some sort of physical disformity. This is partly to do with the fact that it is easier for the audience to see a physical disability, but also because mental or internal disabilities are harder to portray tastefully.


In American Horror Story, there is a scene when two boys are going into a haunted house. A little girl pops up and warns them not to go in; she has downs syndrome. The boys are rude to her and threaten to hit her with a bat even though she was trying to help them by saying 'Excuse me; you are going to die in there.' She was polite and trying to warn the boys. When they do go in, she says 'you are going to regret it. You are going to regret it. You are going to regret it.' The repetition, almost like an echo, makes the girl seem a bit creepier because she's obviously seen what happens in the house and knows what goes on, but nonetheless, she is a 'goodie'.

Choosing deafness as our disability subverts the common conventions because firstly it's a disability that people can't see, and also we have made our killer the dead person. This may mean that the audience feel themselves sympathising with the killer, or they may feel guilty about not feeling sorry for the 'deaf guy'. Either way it will be a feeling that they haven't experienced before. 

Deconstruction of Production Companies - Twisted Pictures

Twisted Pictures is an American independent production company, mainly creating films of the horror genre. It was founded in 2004 by Evolution Entertainment's Mark Burg, Oren Koules and Gregg Hoffman. Their most famous films include the Saw series.
In June 2007, the company joined with RKO Pictures to remake four films out of the RKO library - including Five Come Back (1939) and Bedlam (1946).

The ident begins with the typography of 'Twisted Pictures', all in lower case in the centre of the screen. It is a light grey steel colour with a gradient to black on the lower half of each letter.  The steel colour may be in context of the Saw films, which they are most well known for. It is a sans serif font. The pitch black background relates to the darkness of the genre itself.

The animation of the barbed wire suggests the idea of being trapped with no escape, again highlighting the genre of films which the company produces. A large dagger then falls from above and lands between the two words. This suggests violence and pain.

The dagger then turns and wraps the barbed wire around itself, almost suffocating the words, which suggests that the torture it out of its control. 

The screen then flashes to a light grey/blue colour, suggesting it to be thunder, and then the title is released from the barbed wire. Throughout the ident, the sounds are very metallic, which match the visuals. The harsh sounds also represent the genre of the production company, with violent scenes and connotations of pain.

This is the full Twisted Pictures production company ident:

Codes and Conventions of a Film Opening

Within film openings there are codes and conventions which can either be conformed to, or subverted. I decided to look at the different codes and conventions so that as a group we could see which ones our film opening conforms to and which ones it subverts.
The codes and conventions are:

• Name and logo of production companies 
• The film title
• Establishes the genre
• Introduction to narrative
• Establishes setting
• Non-diegetic and diegetic soundtracks 
• Enigma
• Chronology

A successful and effective film opening attracts the audience to watch the rest of the film without giving away too much of the plot to spoil the remainder of the film. At the same time, setting and some characters are usually established so that from the very beginning of the film opening, the audience are able to make a prediction about who the protagonists and antagonists are - if this isn't already clear. 

Film openings are the first taste of the film that the audience get. This means that it immediately needs to establish the genre of the film, which enables the audience to find an understanding about what the film is about. This is linked in with the introduction to the narrative. Openings normally introduce some of the main characters in the film, usually the protagonist, as the antagonist remains a mystery.

The film title is an obvious convention which films of all genres conventions conform to. This separates the film opening from the main body of the film and introduces the name of the film. The typography also helps to establish the genre of the film, through the font and colour scheme which makes it easily recognisable.

Film openings are also normally in chronological order, because this means that it is easy to follow and will catch the audiences attention rather than confuse them straight away with what is going on. Chronology is sometimes subverted in film openings of specific genre, such as psychological horror, because this way it establishes the confusion and mind games immediately in the film.

Film openings are normally enigmatic, because this allows some parts of the narrative to be given away and entice the audience without revealing the whole plot. This attracts the audience to continue watching the rest of the film.

It is also conventional for film openings to incorporate both and non-diegetic and diegetic soundtracks. Both are used for different reasons, as the diegetic soundtrack helps to add to the realism of the scene but the non-diegetic adds depth to the narrative and can also be used as a form of creating different emotions, for example in most horror films it is used to create suspense and tension.