Opening Sequences

The opening sequence of a film is very important, it must grab the audiences attention straight away to make sure that they want to carry on watching the whole thing. If the opening sequence is boring then its unlikely that the audience are going to be very interested and want to carry on watching.

Our task is to create the first two minutes of a horror film and is why I am analysing some.

Creating this we were not completely sure which sub-genre we wanted to create but did think that it would be of the slasher genre, which is why I have made a Nightmare on Elm Street my case study. I also analysed some opening scenes of horrors from different sub-genres such as sci-fi and torture just to create a wider knowledge of these.

A Nightmare on Elm Street (Case study)



This is a slasher horror film. This is the first film of a large franchise of these films which all have the same antagonist, the antagonist being Freddy Krugar.  He is very iconic for a number of reasons, now although in many slasher films  the antagonist wears a mask Freddy Krugar does not. He does have a very disfigured face which helps to dehumanise him and wears a very iconic black and red striped jumper. He does have a signature weapon which are his deadly gloves with claw like blades on the end of each finger. The film in its most basic form is about the antagonist Freddy Kruagar who tries to  kill people in there nightmares (which means also in the real world) and the victims struggle to stay alive.

Mise en scene - the scene is very dark as you would expect a horror film to be. We only see Freddy's hands which shown anonymity and is very scary as we don't yet know who he is. Later we see the girl all in white which shows that she is the good character in a dark place with much darker colours. . We can see things moving in the background but are not sure what they are which links back to peoples fears of the unknown.


Sound - As Freddy is creating his claws the sounds of the tools he is using sound very unsettling as well as the music which is made up of very strange noises. He also breaths very loudly which makes it feel like he is close to you. When the title comes up there is some very load music to accompany it which sounds very scary. Later on when we can see the girl; the music is even louder and has changed slightly and sound quite mysterious as well. and we can hear things in the background such as laughs which is very scary.


Camera - The camera angles on Freddy are often pointed down but not in a way to show that he is weak but to keep his identity hidden by only showing his hands and feet, these are camera heights used on his feet. These are quite unconventional shot when it comes to film in general. Many of the camera angle on the girl are high angle shots to show how weak and powerless she is. There is a long shot while she is running down the corridor to show how long it is and how powerless she is just following a corridor. The camera often shakes to show how scared the woman is and shows her fear. There is a close up of her face to show how scared she is when she is cornered.


Editing - The first thing to come on is the production company which flashes on, the colours used as red and black which are often associated with horror. Connotations of red include danger and black includes darkness. There is a fade to black at the beginning after the company title to create a short pause of suspense before we actually see any of the film. When the title comes up 'A Nightmare' is in red and 'On Elm Street' is in white both on a black background. This could imply that 'The Nightmare' is bad and has connotations of danger while 'On Elm Street' is good. The credits come up in random places as it could be on the left or the right. The credits come on quite slowly and in white so that it is easy to view over the dark background. In the first part of the opening the screen is very small and surrounded by black which creates a weird feeling or watching it through a gap and it doesn't feel like a film. It uses lots of straight cuts to keep the momentum going and it makes it feel scarier.

Here are some other clips from horror films.

Alien


Now although nothing story wise really happens in this very short opening/ credit sequence of Alien I wanted to add it onto my blog as I think that it does a great job of setting up the tone of the film. I like the way that the title slowly forms over the course of this opening above the rest of the credits and feels very sci-fi which is the subgenre of this horror film. The music used in the background feels very mysterious and isolating .To add to the music we can hear strange noises within it like one which resembles a heartbeat which is very creepy. Behind the credits we see the camera slowly pan across a planet which helps to show us that this is a sci-fi horror. This shows both the fear of the unknown and alienation which are two of the most important codes and conventions in horror films.

Saw


This is a very scary opening sequence, the first minute is very slow just showing the credits but does so with no music at all which gives it quite an isolation alienated feel. We can hear water in the background which we find out more about after the credits which adds mystery to it. We can see a face under the water but that unknowingness of who this person is or even if they are dead or alive creates suspense which ends in him waking up very suddenly which could make people jump. When he exits the bath we can see more of the low lit room which looks very old and broken. The voice creates more mystery and is very sense. The fact that both the audience and the main character both don't know what is going on creates a kind of link between him and the audience which make the whole situation seem much scarier. The voice that we can hear is very mysterious and low pitched which could create fear. When the lights come on everything is fuzzy and seeing how small the room is feels even more isolating. The dead body in the middle of the room again creates mystery and tension as we don't know how it got there. It is easy to tell from the start that this is a film very much focused on mystery and the unknowing which is something that I may incorporate into our own film.