ANALYSIS OF FILM OPENINGS By Amber Bush

Horror film openings

I will be analyzing these three film openings • Saw • The woman in black • Se7en

Saw The film begins with the camera showing weapons of hammers, guns ect, with blood all over them this instantly tells us the genre of the film giving clues of the up coming events which will include gore and lots of blood which indicated by the violent weapons. This gives the connotation of death and threats, which are conventions in horror films.

The camera is unsteady which makes the audience feel on edge as it gives the feel of a more real situation as if we are actually there as it is hand held looking at the floor from a point of view shot. The music builds up in the film opening it sounds busy and high pitched which sounds like the screams of people in pain, which relates with the blood on the floor. The titles are over the top of the blood and weapons in the background, the font of the titles is scary big bold letters the way they fade in and out gives mystery to the film.

The woman in black The film opening is all very normal, you have three children playing contently with each other having a tea party with their dolls, this seems like an ordinary scene. The lighting gives an edge to this as it is dull which contrasts with the children being happy. The dullness keeps the theme of horror while making the audience aware of the dark events up coming in the film. You can tell that this isn’t just a normal happy tea party, the dolls are creepy like, the room is dull which contrasts with the girls outfits of ribbons and pretty little dresses. When they all look up as if someone is speaking to them then look at the window then to jump out of it, we do not see who speaks to them but the three girls look in the direction of the camera this scares the audience which makes them question why they have done this or who has made them do this. This is the convention of mystery which we was in the pervious film opening and this one, this keeps the audience interested in the film.

Se7en

We are first shown a book, this book looks old and authentic it is also very big so may have some importance to the film. From the other shots we see it looks as if someone is doing research, we are shown lots of different books and pictures, with various different equipment that is unusual and the precision of moving bits of material is interesting. The person is cutting things up, looking at pictures, writing things down, highlighting words in a book, as if this person is creating something. We also get the impression of intelligence which is slightly scary as the person seems to know what he/ she is looking for. This is something the audience is asking questions about and wants to be enlightened of what is going on. The mystery keeps the audience watching the film, so it is very important the start leaves some unanswered questions.

The camera shots are very fast moving adding pace to the film opening. This adds suspense and keeps the audience interested in each shot. Quite a lot of these shots seem to be from this persons point of view as if we are them looking down at all of these things. This is quite scary for the audience as they do not know what they are looking at or what they mean.

The fact the identity of the person has not been revealed in the opening keeps the audience wondering who it is adding to the mystery

The editing in this is very jolty and unnerving to the audience with the credits sometimes fading to black with just the name, and the name moving around the screen with no pattern to it. The names are sometimes on the actual screen with the filming in the background. There is lots of writing and things going on in the background which captures the audiences attention all the time. The fading to black is very common in horror film openings and is one of the conventions of this.

The music is the same through out the start, with a steady beat which is quite fast and scary, the use of instruments sound like creaking doors and screams. When there is lots of editing of fast moving writing the music sounds fast so it relates to the editing. The line at the end talks of god, this makes the audience think that there could be religion as a theme in the film, as it is sung in a rocky theme it could also mean the opposite that this person is going against religion.